From the Diary of an Alumnus
Swami’s Gift of a Second Life
This is the extraordinary story of an alumnus who, after completing his education, was blessed with the opportunity to serve in Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s Organisation. When his younger brother’s birthday approached (he was then studying in Swami’s educational institution), their parents travelled from Hyderabad to Puttaparthi, carrying sweets for the occasion. The alumnus’s friend invited the family for dinner, unaware that the happy evening would soon turn into a nightmare.
During dinner, the father suddenly developed serious complications. He was rushed to the General Hospital and, after examination, the doctors advised the family to take him immediately to the Super Speciality Hospital, as he appeared to have suffered a severe heart attack. Before they could even reach the hospital, he lost consciousness.
At the Super Speciality Hospital, the doctor spoke frankly to the student.
”Your father cannot survive. His heart is functioning at only five percent."
The words shattered him. He did not even have the courage to tell his mother what the doctor had said. Instead, the very next day, he went straight to Swami.
With tears in his eyes, he pleaded,
”Swami . . . please save my father.”
He told Bhagawan everything. Swami listened quietly, His compassionate Lotus Eyes resting upon him, and then gave him three packets of Vibhuti.
”Rub it on his chest," He said.
The boy immediately followed His divine command.
Then, slowly, something began to change.
The father’s condition improved, and after fourteen days the doctors said that he could be discharged. Throughout those fourteen days, Swami enquired about him every day.
On the day before the discharge, Swami called the student.
”What did the doctor say?"
”Swami, the doctor said that my father would not survive."
Swami asked,
”Then what happened?”
The boy replied with tears of gratitude,
”Swami, by Your grace, he is alive."
Bhagawan smiled.
”Tell your father—this is his second life.”
The following day, when the father was ready to leave the hospital, the family told him everything that had happened - the doctors’ verdict, the boy’s prayer to Swami, and the Vibhuti that Swami had given with instructions to apply it to his chest.
Then the father revealed something that left everyone speechless._
”On that day,” he said, “I suddenly found myself looking at my own body lying on the bed. I could see all of you around me. I saw you come rushing in and apply Vibhuti on my chest.”
He paused before continuing.
”The moment the Vibhuti touched my body, I felt myself being drawn back into it. I was somehow forced back inside my body. I entered it again.”
The family listened in stunned silence.
Suddenly, the full meaning of Swami’s words became clear
”Tell your father—this is his second life.”
The doctors had seen a heart functioning at only five percent and had declared that the father could not survive. But Bhagawan, the Omniscient and All-Compassionate Lord, had other plans. What appeared to medical science to be the end became, by His Divine Sankalpa, the beginning of a new chapter.
For the alumnus, this was far more than his father’s recovery from a critical illness. It was a direct experience of Swami’s infinite compassion and unseen protection, and a reminder that when every human possibility seems exhausted, the devotee can still turn to the One whose Will transcends all limitations.
When the doctors say,
”There is no hope,”
the devotee turns to Swami. And when Swami says,
”This is his second life,”
the final word belongs to God.
