A close friend of mine, a Sai devotee, related to me an incident in his life, depicting the intense compassion of Baba for His devotees.

My friend 'A', a University Professor, had to select some Research Fellows under the U.G.C. Scheme of "Faculty Improvement". He did not notice that the age limit, prescribed by the U.G.C. was 40, and so he committed a blunder in selecting, amongst many, two Fellows whose age exceeded the prescribed limit. After about six months, while these persons continued to work in the University and got the Fellowship, the U.G.C. rejected their selection on grounds of higher age. But the Fellows, who had got the appointment order from the Professor, refused to go back, and claimed full fellowship. The entire blame for the muddle was shouldered by the Professor, whose ad hoc appointment became shaky. The Fellows were prepared to go to a court of law. This disturbed the Professor acutely.

One evening, Professor 'A' sat in his room with the relevant file, brooding over all the papers, and praying to Baba for help. Suddenly, Bhagawan appeared before him, showing him something relevant, putting His finger on a phrase in the appointment order before him. The phrase was: "if accepted". Then, Bhagawan vanished.

The Professor located the phrase pointed out by Baba, read the sentence and the paragraph again, and lo! He was saved. Actually speaking, in the appointment order, the Professor had to write, "if acceptable," but he by mistake (not perceiving the exact difference between `accepted' and `acceptable') wrote, `if accepted', which in the present context meant, `if accepted by the U.G.C.'. So, the appointment order was conditional, and since the U.G.C. did not accept, the Fellows had no locus standi. This saved the Professor from the embarrassment, blame, and mental tension.

It is written in the scriptures that repentance is the greatest atonement and Bhagawan, the source of the scriptures, holds it true.