61. «Relax, your place in life is already booked for you!»
At Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram, the morning program began around nine in the morning, and the evening program around four in the evening. Naturally, everyone wanted to sit as close as possible to the aisle along which Sathya Sai Baba was walking.
In order to take a seat in the first or second row, you had to come early. For two or three hours, people lined up to be among the first to enter the temple and sit in better places. Most often, I also preferred to arrive three hours before the start of the program, but sometimes I arrived as little as five minutes.
Once I arrived just a few minutes before the start of the program and saw there was an empty seat in the front row. Imagine my surprise to see the whole temple densely filled with people, and there is an empty seat in the front row. I asked the minister, “is this place occupied?” He replied it was completely free. Surprised, I took the seat in the front row.
The next day, this story repeated itself. I came to the temple right before the start of the program, but again there was one empty seat in the front row. I asked the attendant again if I could sit in this seat. He replied that the place was free. I was surprised and realized something strange was going on.
I came literally a minute before the start of the program, but the seat in the front row was always free just for me. The people who came and occupied all the best seats miraculously did not notice this one empty seat. This strange miracle took place over several weeks. It seemed that some unknown force reserved a seat in the front row especially for me.
Sometime later, Sathya Sai Baba invited my group for an interview. During this meeting, he talked a lot with the Indian family who came from Chinnaya. He specifically spoke not in Hindi, but in English so that I could understand what they were talking about.
Some phrases he uttered while turning to me. In particular, he said, “God has already determined the fate of every person. The place in the sun that is meant for you can only be occupied by you. You may come sooner or later, but your place in the divine plan can only be yours. And what you have to do in life, you will definitely do. Where you need to be, you will definitely be. What should happen to you will definitely happen.”
Sathya Sai Baba spoke these words and looked at me with a sly look. I understood that he was talking about the strange experience that had been happening to me for several weeks. Human destiny is completely in the hands of God, everything that happens is subject to the divine plan; this, in particular, you begin to feel and realize next to the Avatar.