RAIN RAIN GO AWAY

I remember another funny incident. We were in Coorge, where the rain fall is the highest in the South, and once it starts raining it goes on for 10-15 days. Baba was there, so there was a public meeting in the open. I was to translate His Telegu speech into Kannada, the language of the area. Before Baba spoke, He asked me to say something. And like a fool, I started with rain as the subject.

Everyone in the audience, there were about 10, 000 people, were looking back at the hills in the distance, because they were conscious that the rain would be coming soon upon them. So I said in my speech, “Why are you turning back like that all of you, looking at the mountain ranges in the distance'? There won't be any rain because wherever Baba is, He has said His functions will never be disturbed by rain”, and I told them a story that is in the Bhagavad Gita.

The story is that Indra - the God of rain, felt that he was insulted by Krishna who wanted the Indra worship to be stopped and he wanted the mountain in that region to be worshipped. Krishna said, “Why is everyone worshipping God in the sky, we must worship this mountain because it is full of trees, and it is this mountain that brings down the rain that grows the grass for our cattle to feed and therefore we must be thankful to the mountain and not to some imaginary God who lives in the sky”. Hence, Indra worship stopped and Indra got angry and He poured tonnes of rain on every square inch of the ground. Krishna lifted up the hill with one finger, they say, and underneath the hill, the entire population of man and the cattle were sheltered.

I told the audience that Swami can stop the rain without lifting up the hill, as was done in Krishna's time.

When Swami began His speech, I had to translate, so I was standing by His side. When I looked at the mountain range in the distance, I saw the rain coming closer. It came down the hills, it was attacking the plains, it was coming towards the town. It came very close; the distance was so small that we could feel the cold wind that was accompanying it, and all the time I was engaged in praying within my mind, “Swami, please stop that rain, If it comes here, people will be disillusioned. I am sorry Swami, I should have asked you whether I could give the story of You being able to control the rain. I should have asked You! But I did not, so You have to pardon me for my impertinence”.

I was feeling terrible! My mind was in a dither. But I had to listen to Swami and translate His speech, and so I had to cut down my fear. I was terribly tortured during that one hour whilst Swami spoke. I continued to pray to Him in my mind, “Swami, stop this speech, the rain is coming. Swami please stop, the rain is coming”. But He would not stop; He even spoke for extra time. And finally He said.
This Kasturi, though he gave the story of the rain, does not have faith, all the time he worried in his mind whether I will be able to stop the rain. The rain will come now. It will be here in about 15 minutes. So all of you get home”.