This is not Swami’s illness; this is an illness which Swami has taken on, in order to save someone. Swami has no illness, nor will He get ill at any time. You must all be happy; that alone will make Swami happy. If you grieve, Swami will not be happy. Your joy is Swami’s food.

(Then, Baba signed to Kasturi to speak, and after his short speech was over, Baba wanted the mike to be held before Him. He asked through it, "Vinipisthundhaa?" (Do you hear Me?) But, though He asked again and again, the voice was so indistinct that no one could make out what it meant. He then signed for water and when it was brought, he sprinkled a little with His shaking right hand on the striken left hand and on His left leg. He stroked his left hand with the right. Immediately he used both hands to stroke His left leg; that touch was enough to cure it. He cast off the disease in a trice! He started to speak! It was the same musical voice.)

Dhikkulenivaariki dhevude gathi— "For those who have no refuge, God is the refuge." That is exactly the reason why I had to take on the disease that one helpless Bhaktha was to get. He had to suffer this dire illness, as well as the four heart attacks that accompanied it, and he would not have survived it. So, according to My Dharma of Bhakthasamrakshana (Protection of devotees), I had to rescue him. Of course, this is not the first time that I have taken on the illness of persons whom I wanted to save. Even in the previous sareeram (body) at Shirdi, I had this responsibility. The suffering that you saw was too much for this particular devotee and I had to save him, by going through it myself. This is My Leela: My nature. It is part of the task for which I have come: for Sishyarakshana (Protection of disciples).

Persons who were near Me during the past week were asking me to give them the name of the person whom I had saved. I told them that it will make them angry against that person. For Swami, they would say, "had to undergo so much of pain in order to save that one person." Then, they replied, that they would honour the person, because of whose extraordinary Bhakthi, Swami had run to the rescue.

Some people have even asked Me whether it was this person or that, mentioning names of those who had attacks of paralysis, especially on the left side! This is even more ludicrous, because when I save a person, I save him completely. I do not wait until he gets the disease and I do not leave in him a fraction of the disease, so that he may be identified later. It all looks so funny to Me, the guesses and surmises that you make.

Even in Shirdi, Dada Saheb, Nandharam, Balawanth, all were saved by these means. Balawanth was destined to get plague, but, Baba had taken over and the boy was saved.

This is perhaps the longest period when I kept the devotees wondering and worried. That was because of the heart attacks which had to come later on the Bhaktha, from which too he had to be saved. Then, there is another reason, why the eight day period had to be observed. Well, I shall tell you why. That means I must tell you about Myself, about something which I have not disclosed so far, something which I was keeping within Myself, for the last 37 years. The time has come to announce it. This is a sacred day, and I shall tell you.

You know I declared on that very day when I decided to disclose My identity, My mission and My Advent, that I belonged to the Aapasthamba Suthra (descent) and the Bharadhwaja Gothra (lineage). Bharadhwaja was a great sage, who studied the Vedas for full one hundred years; but, finding that the Vedas were anantha (endless) he did tapas for prolonging life, and from Indra he got two extensions of a century each. Even then, the Vedas could not be completed, so, he asked Indra again for another hundred years. Indra showed him three huge mountain ranges and said, "What you have learned in three centuries form only three handfuls from out of the three ranges, which the Vedas are. So, give up the attempt to exhaust the Vedas. Do a Yaga (ritual sacrifice), instead, which I shall teach you. That will give you the fruit of Vedic study, full and complete."

Bharadhwaja decided to perform the yaga; Indra taught him how to do it; all preparations were completed. The Sage wanted Shakti to preside and bless the yaga. So he went to Kailasa but, the time was not opportune for presenting his petition. Shiva and Shakti were engaged in a competitive dance, trying to find out who could dance longer. Eight days passed thus, before Shakti noticed Bharadhwaja standing in the cold. She just cast a smile at him and danced on as before! The sage mistook the smile as a cynical refusal to notice him; so he turned his back on Kailasa and started to descend. To his dismay, he found his left leg, hand and eye put out of action by a stroke. Shiva saw him fall; He came up to him and consoled him; Bharadhwaja was told that Shakti had indeed blessed him and his yaga. Then, Shiva revived and cured him,sprinkling water from kamandalu. Both Shiva and Shakti then granted the Rishi (sage) boons: They would both attend the yaga, he said.

It was the working out of this assurance that you witnessed today, just now. This had to happen, this stroke and the cure. The assurance given in the Threta yuga had to be honoured. I may tell you now that the poor forlorn bhaktha who had to get the stroke which I took over, was a convenient excuse, which was utilised. You see, a railway engine is not made available to haul just one bogey; they wait until a number of bogeys are to be taken along and then, they put the engine into action. So too, the disease had to be gone through, the Bhakta had to be saved, the assurance to be carried out, the mystery had to be cleared, the Divinity had to be more clearly announced by the manifestation of this Grand Miracle. All these were accomplished by this one incident.

Let Me tell you one more thing: Nothing can impede or halt the work of this Avatar. When I was upstairs all these days, some people foolishly went about saying. "It is all over with Sai Baba" and they turned back many who were coming to Puttaparthi! Some said I was in Samadhi, as if I am a Sadhaka! Some feared I was the victim of black magic, as if anything can affect Me! The splendour of this Avatar will go increasing, day by day. Formerly when the Govardhanagiri was raised aloft by the little boy, the gopis and gopalas realised that Krishna was the Lord. Now it is not one Govardhanagiri, a whole range will be lifted, you will see! Have patience, have faith. Tomorrow morning, I shall give everyone of you the Namaskaram blessings that you missed today.