Divine Intervention on Balarama Jayanti

On the morning of Balarama Jayanti a sick baby calf appeared near the back gate of our ashram. His entire body was covered in open sores with maggots inside them. One of his legs was completely rotting and the flesh was hanging off. One of his eyes was swollen extremely large. Seeing the critical state he was in we tried to bring him inside the ashram where we could begin treatment. He was scared of us but I was able to lure him inside our compound by showing some food. He was very skinny and hungry as well.

We started spraying the wounds with anti maggot spray. An entire can was used up immediately as he had so many open sores. In the meantime we determined who his mother was by his reactions when she walked by. She is one of the regular visitors to our ashram for daily cow feeding. We kept the mother together with the calf for his comfort while we began treatment.

When the vet arrived in the evening to treat him he told us the calf is infected with lumpy skin disease, which is very contagious and dangerous. We isolated the calf and his mother in a separate section of our property. The calf was days away from dying if treatment had not been started. After examining the calf the main concern was his eye. The eye socket was extremely swollen and infested with maggots deep inside.

At first the vet felt the eye had already been eaten by the maggots, as there were two large cavities eaten away inside the socket and he could not locate the eyeball. Due to the seriousness of the situation and possibility the maggots can eat further in to vital organs the vet had to treat aggressively which may also be bad for the eye. His assumption was the eye was already damaged and we needed to save the life of the calf as the first priority. Antibiotic injections were started, and naphthalene powder was administered to kill the maggots.

After five days of draining the puss from the eye socket and manually removing the dead maggots inside, the vet was surprised to find the eye ball was actually still there, but had been pushed back by the massive swelling. His eyelid had to be removed because it was rotting, now leaving a bit of a scary hole, which we hope will fill in over time.

It is still very likely that his eye is damaged and he won’t be able to see. That is the realistic expectation. But we have seen so many miracles performed by Lord Jagannatha, so there is always a slim hope that He will intervene and restore the eyesight of this baby calf. We are praying every day for him and trying our best to treat him.

The baby is eating well, and even trying to drink milk from his mother. He especially loves to eat ripe bananas.

He likes to spend most of his time next to the yajna kunda (dhuni) for warmth. The calf sitting next to the dhuni reminds me of something told to me many years ago by 103 year old sadhu Chakratirtha Baba. He told me the heat from the dhuni can cure all sickness and disease. As evidence he mentioned he once saw a cat in his ashram get bitten by a cobra. Afterwards the cat sat next to his dhuni for several days without moving and fully recovered just from the heat of the yajna kunda.

Is it possible for Lord Jagannatha to perform another miracle for this small calf? Maybe, if we all pray intently for this child it could happen. We are praying every day requesting the Lord to protect him and restore his eye sight. Please also say a prayer for him. After being told for five days that his eye had already been eaten and there was no hope for him to see again, it was a small miracle to find out his eye was still intact. Maybe by the power of prayer the Lord will hear all of our requests and help this child to see again.

Whatever the outcome of the treatment, we will keep and maintain this calf for his entire life in the protection of Lord Jagannatha’s goshala. He arrived here at the back gate of our temple on the appearance day of Lord Balarama (Balarama Purnima), and it must be by divine arrangement of the Lord (the original deities of our temple are Sri Sri Revati Balarama) If treatment had not been started immediately he would be dead, so it is already a miracle that he wandered to this temple on Balarama Purnima where he could be treated.

Everyday his wounds are being cleaned, sprayed, and medicinal ointments applied three times a day. He has already received the necessary course of antibiotic injections which have reduced the swelling, and the puss has since been drained from the eye. Now it will take a long time for recovery, and lots of patience, prayer and love.

Since he arrived here on Balarama Purnima we will name him Balarama. There is another bull in our goshala who was born many years ago on Balarama Purnima whom we named Baladeva. So now we will have both Balarama and Baladeva. Earlier this year on Rama Navami a similar sick bull calf arrived at our ashram whom we named Sri Rama. Some how the paramatma in their heart guides them to come here for treatment when they are in distress.

If you would like to help support the treatment, when you donate please choose “help animals” as the purpose of the donation. If you have any questions please call or whatsapp to Srinath Das at (+91) 8300181008.