Padanamaskar to my beloved Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba! Sairam dear Brothers and Sisters.
Here I would like to share with you my divine experiences. You won't find here the miracle stories even though I have witnessed many. I consider it more important to tell you about my real life stories.

My first visit to Bhagavan

I heard about Swami from some of our friends around 2000. My wife, Liudmila, visited Baba in May 2001 for the first time. It was a chance for her to go along with her friend, and I had immediately supported her in this idea.
In the beginning of 2002 I was planning my vacation and my first idea was to go somewhere at seashore. Suddenly, I heard an inner voice that called me to Puttaparthi, and I had told Liudmila that we would go only to Baba.
It was June 2002 when we came to Parthi. Immediately I was accompanied by Swami's devotees, who very kindly and lovingly introduced me to Baba's main principles, teachings and, definitely, stories about His grace and miracles. And I can tell you what really impressed me was the respect for all religions. Before coming to Parthi I didn't know any place where the principle of all religions' unity was elaborated so much. I was born in a dual religion family – my mother is Muslim and on my birth I was initiated to Islam. When I was 22 years old I was baptised in Russian orthodox church, but I could never understand why all these religions and sects don't respect each other and only one is right. Only in Parthi I've got the truth that only ONE religion exists – it is the religion of LOVE. And all religions are right, the only difference is in rituals and traditions; in their essence they are one and the same. For me it matches my understanding of real TRUTH.
Those days Baba used to walk by himself in darshan hall, smiling, gathering letters and spreading unlimited love to all. I sat very close to him in the first line and have experienced this nectar of divine love. It is an unbelievable experience that, unfortunately, I can't describe in words as usual with very real feelings, especially love.
Certainly, I didn't come alone, I took and carried with me all material desires I could imagine those days, because I had heard from my friends that if Baba takes the letters the desires will come true. What do you think? Baba completely ignored my letter. I started thinking that something was wrong here. It was allowed to bring books in mandir those days; while waiting for Baba I went through the books. Suddenly, I noticed one of Baba's expressions: “if you have less luggage you will have more convenient journey”. It was an introduction to controlling of desires. Baba says: “put a limit to your desires”. Then I understood what was wrong. I cut my letter into pieces and threw it out. You can't imagine what kind of relief and peace of mind I got having done that. It was like a whole mountain was lifted from my shoulders. It was the real trigger of realising Baba's teaching on my own experience.
Since that time I understood that I have got something no one can take away from me and it will last till my last breath. It is GOD.

My tests

I've been warned by Swami's devotees that after you believe in Bhagavan he will test your faith. They told me that many families and couples were divorced after meeting Baba or their business went down. I could not say that I did not pay attention to that, definitely, I was scared, but my love to God already was strong.
After my first visit I asked Baba to change my job because I used to work for a cigarette company and I understood that I didn't want to be in the industry that was harming the health of others. After three months I got an assignment in a steel company. By that time I had got a good education and experience in a western company and I was keen to contribute my knowledge and skills to the newly developing Russian entity. But I had to wait for two long years before I got a chance. It was a terrible and depressing time - to receive a good salary and do almost nothing. You may ask why I didn't go to another company. On one hand, I tried to search for such a company but failed, on the other hand, I understood that the company I was serving was quite good in terms of ethics and moving in the right direction; it just needed more time. Probably two years for the company is not such a long period of time as for men...
While fighting with myself on the above, the second test came into our lives – my wife got a serious illness. Several times she was admitted to the hospital but the situation had not improved. Many thoughts were rolling in our heads and one such thought was that she will never become normal. Some people around me told that when they reveal our situation to others, they were surprised that I was still with my wife. I don't know what others thought about it, but when I saw Liudmila in such a condition I understood that I would be with her and serve her forever even if she could not be normal any more.
With God's grace everything was figured out in December 2004. Liudmila became much better and she did not get admitted any more to the hospital. Upon my arrival from Parthi in February 2005 I received the much awaited position in my company where I could completely realise myself as a professional. Unfortunately, due to current circumstances I can't reveal to you all that happened to me in December 2004. What I can say for now is that it is the most precious gift I ever received from my beloved Bhagavan Baba and I would wish everyone to receive the same. The time will come and I will share this with everyone.
Having received all the above experiences I understood that if you really want to serve honestly, God definitely will grant the opportunity. We only need patience and faith in Him. As for the second test, it is very difficult to say, honestly, I think it is one of the greatest tests in my life. Sometimes I think if I hadn't supported Liudmila in this difficult period of time and didn't make a choice to be with her irrespective of her illness, I would have had a completely different destiny. I am so full of gratitude to the Lord that he gave me the strength and right direction to overcome this test. As for Liudmila and I, after all these tests, our relationship only strengthened and we love each other even more, because you can only appreciate relationships after they are tested by difficulties and problems.

A baby

My wife wanted to have a child immediately after marriage, but I had refused. I thought at that time, "what can I offer to a child"? My material position was not so strong and, moreover, I couldn't understand what I could give to a child as a father. My wife was very wise and she replied: “It is not the child who requires more, it is parents who require more”. What to say, only now I can realise this truth.
As you already know, then we had a problem with Liudmila's health and we could not have a child. We always wanted to adopt a child even if we could have our own. But even though Liudmila's health improved we could not have our own baby, so we decided to proceed with adoption. Then the financial crisis of 2008 came and I again had this double mind – let us wait till the crisis passes. By that time we received an advice from our doctor that Liudmila could reduce her medicine dose and I believed that it is better to wait with adoption and try to have our own baby, if necessary even through artificial means. Suddenly, Liudmila felt depressed and it was a sign of the previous illness. Then I told her that we should stop all this, we can wait like that for ages and it will always be a reason to avoid adoption and that immediately we should proceed with the adoption irrespective of all circumstances. Having decided that on that very night Liudmila had a dream where Baba blessed us. Then I could understand that the deterioration of Liudmila's health was a sign from Bhagavan who had shown that I should not have monkey mind.
Finally, we are in the process of adopting a boy, our son. We will take him home upon our arrival back to Moscow. Some people tell me it is not your son, how do you feel? My reply always is the same – many people take a dog or a cat into their families and treat them as a family member. Thus, how such a question may arise concerning a human being? Moreover, we are all ONE as Bhagavan teaches us. Let the final result be as He decides. Neither Liudmila, nor I have any doubts now.

Concluding these stories of my life that happened to me in these six years after meeting Baba, I can tell you that it is the most auspicious time of my life, irrespective of all troubles and tests I have undergone together with my wife. Only now, on looking back we can tell that everything was for our good. God knows better what we need, it is not what we want to get sometimes, but we need to have strong faith that He brings us whatever we need in every second of our life. Life is the most precious gift given to us by God, thus we need to live it for Him gratefully, welcome whatever comes into our lives. Keep walking and enjoy life.

Sairam, Leyosha & Liudmila

Ivanov Alexei,
Deputy CFO Evraz Group SA,
02.01.2009, Puttaparthi, India.