As Baba himself said, that he shall draw his devotees from jaws of death, this miracle proved that Baba’s words always come true. Venkateswara Rao of Kondapalli village which is 22kms from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh was born on 3rd December, 1961 to a couple Srinivasulu and Lakshmi Sitarammamma hailing from the same village. He was not bright in studies. So he had to stop his studies by 7th standard. But being born in a well settled family, he started working as a contractor. In his course of work, unfortunately he met with an incident which changed turned his life topsy turvy. He got enraged and murdered a person unintentionally after a serious argument. At City Court he was given life sentence. He appealed for the first time at State High Court, and his sentence was reduced to 10 years. Then he tried at Supreme Court , and sentence was reduced to 7 years.

During his stay in jail, he was advised to pray Sai Baba. He started meditating on Sai Baba, and he wished to appeal for pardon. Baba appeared in his dream and showed two fingers. He couldn’t figure out the meaning of the two fingers. For the first time he appealed to a Minister for pardon and it was refused. He appealed for the second time and he was set free. So he thought the significance of the two fingers is the two chances he got.

After some days, Baba again appeared in his dream and advised him to take Ayyappa Deeksha and walk to Sabarimala. He followed Baba’s advice and took the Deeksha and walked for 40 days to Sabarimala. After this, Baba again appeared and asked to him to walk to Shirdi. He also obeyed and made a trip to Shirdi. Trip to Shirdi took him 30 days to complete. Until after a long while, Baba did not appear again in his dream, but, he continued to meditate on Baba as always. After 2 years, Baba again appeared in his dream and asked him to make trips to all Jyothirlinga Skhethras on a Cycle. As a staunch devotee of Baba, he obeyed Baba’s instructions with due dedication and respect. He cycled 11,800kms to visit Jyothirlinga Skhethras. He fell severely ill and was hospitalized. Later he had to take train to complete the rest of the trip. He earned a name “Cycle Swamy” after all his trips.

Baba ordered him to offer service to mankind by establishing a Sathram in Shirdi to serve food without any caste and creed concerns. And he obeyed Baba’s orders by starting a Nithyanna Sathram in 2004 with the help of 7 members. Groundbreaking ritual for this Nithyanna Sathram was performed on 12th November, 2005 and from then the building sprung up very quick. The Sathram was registered as Sri Hema Sairam Annapurna Charitable Trust.

After reading the above story, readers may have come across several doubts regarding Baba blessing a sinner. Yes, Baba blesses everybody who worships him with great devotion and dedication. Suffering ends when the past brith’s Karmas are fulfilled and that was what happened with Mr. Venkateswara Rao. He suffered for all his sins, and when he seeked Baba’s blessings, his suffering was subsided. As we hear that everything happens for a reason. The twist in Mr. Venkateswara Rao’s life had also happened for a good reason. If he hadn’t committed the sin, he wouldn’t have resorted to Baba’s feet, and this trust would not have formed