Among the items that Sathya Sai Baba materialized and gave were watches. I have seen many times how he gave people watches that miraculously appeared in his hand.
At one interview, Sathya Sai Baba gave my friend Vyacheslav a beautiful men’s watch that appeared from a flash of light. My friend was happy to receive such a unique gift.
Returning to Russia, the young man thought a lot about the meaning of this gift. Intuition suggested the clock indicates the need to learn to feel and use time more wisely as the greatest gift of God. My friend realized how much time he wasted as he was often late or used time inefficiently.
Vyacheslav began to be more attentive to time. He learned how to properly allocate his time, not to be late for meetings, and to plan in advance many events that related to his work and personal life. Having received a gift and realizing its significance, he began to live according to new rules and allocate his time carefully and accurately. Because of this, many circumstances of his life changed for the better.
Of course, you can say that if any person, even without a wonderful clock, begins to use time correctly, he will be able to achieve great success. Sometimes the Avatar gives lessons and hints to people on what exactly they need to pay attention to in such an unusual way, using supernatural events.
A year later, I again came to the ashram for several months. With joy I met Vyacheslav, who received the wonderful watch from Sathya Sai Baba. A young man told me that a couple of months before going to India, a terrible thing happened.
I anxiously tried to find out what terrible thing had happened in his life. My friend told me that two months before his arrival in India, the watch that Sathya Sai Baba gave him stopped.
At first I did not understand why he was so worried about the fact that the clock had stopped – what is so special about it? Vyacheslav looked at me with surprise and said if an ordinary wrist-watch stops, there is nothing special about it, but since this watch was presented by Sathya Sai Baba, there must be deep symbolism in this.
After being silent for a while, my friend even suggested that maybe he was going to die. Maybe the symbolism of the clock stopping was that his time was up.
I did not know what to say to my friend and advised him to ask Sathya Sai Baba. A few days later we were interviewed. My friend waited for the right moment and asked Sathya Sai Baba why the clock had stopped. Vyacheslav’s voice was frightened, but he was ready to listen to any answer, even the most severe.
Sathya Sai Baba carefully looked at the young man and in a calm tone said that nothing special had happened, the battery had just run out, and all that needed to be done after our meeting was to leave the ashram on the street and find the first watch dealer standing near the entrance and ask him to replace the battery.
At that moment, we didn’t pay much attention to the fact that Sathya Sai Baba emphasized that we should find a very specific watch dealer and ask him to change the battery. First of all, Sathya Sai Baba pointed out that this should be done immediately after the interview and the merchant should be right next to the entrance to the ashram.
We felt that we should follow Sathya Sai Baba’s instructions as closely as possible, and so decided to do as he indicated.
Hearing the consoling words of Sathya Sai Baba, my friend breathed a sigh of relief. He realized there was no danger to his life. Nevertheless, Vyacheslav tried to find out from Sathya Sai Baba the deep meaning of why the clock stopped after only a few months.
Sathya Sai Baba looked sternly at the young man and said, «new battery – new time.» Everyone present at that moment understood that a new stage in life was beginning for the young man.
Subsequent events confirmed the prophetic words of Sathya Sai Baba. Immediately after returning to Russia, my friend began a new happy and successful stage in his life.
However, the story with the clock did not end there. In the next chapter, I will recount the events that show us that any miracle of the Avatar has the deepest meaning. The fullness of the divine plan is sometimes not clear to us from the very beginning, but may be revealed with time.