Shri Sai Satcharitra Chapter 29

Chapter – 29

Stories of (1) Madrasi Bhajani Mela - (2) Tendulkar (father and son) - (3) Dr. Captain Hate - (4) Waman Naravekar

(1) Madrasi Bhajani Mela

In 1916 a Madrasi Bhajani Mela (Party of the Ramadasi Panth) started on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Banaras. The party consisted of a man, his wife, daughter and sister-in-law. Unfortunately, their names are not mentioned. On their way, the party heard of a great sage named Sai Baba who lived in Shirdi in Kopergaon Taluka, Ahmednagar District. They heard that this saint was calm, composed and very liberal and that he distributed money every day to His bhaktas and to skillful people who came to Shirdi and demonstrated their abilities. A lot of money in the form of dakshina was collected daily by Sai Baba and out of this amount, He gave one rupee daily to a three year old girl, Amani, the daughter of a bhakta, Kondaji . He also gave two to five rupees to certain individuals, Rs. 6/ to Jamali, the mother of Amani and Rs. 10/ to 20 and even Rs. 50/ to other bhaktas as He pleased. Hearing all this, the Mela party came to Shirdi and stayed there. The Mela performed beautiful bhajans and sang very well, but inwardly, they craved money. Three of the party, were full of avarice, but the chief lady or mistress was of a very different nature. She had great regard and love for Sai Baba. Once, it so happened that when the noon day arati was going on, Baba was very pleased with her faith and devotion and was pleased to give her darshan of her Ishtam (beloved deity). Baba then appeared to her as Sitanath (Rama), while to all the others, the usual Sainath. Seeing her beloved deity, she was very much moved. Tears began to flow from her eyes, as she clapped her hands in joy. The people began to wonder at her joyful mood, but they were not able to guess its cause. Late in the afternoon, she disclosed everything to her husband. She told him how she saw Shri Rama in Sai Baba. He thought that as she was very simple and devout, her seeing Rama might be a hallucination of her mind. He discredited her, saying it was not possible that she alone should see Rama, while they all saw Sai Baba. She did not resent this remark, as she was fortunate enough to get Rama darshan now and then when her mind was calm and composed and free from avarice.

Wonderful Vision

Things continued on in this way when, one night, the husband had a wonderful vision in his dream as follows: He was in a big city. The police there had arrested him, tied his hands with a rope and put him in a cage (lock up). As the police were tightening the grip, he saw Sai Baba standing quietly outside near the cage. Seeing Baba so close, he said in a plaintive tone, “Hearing Your fame, I came to bow at Your feet. Why should a calamity befall me when You are standing here in person?” Baba said, “You must suffer the consequences of your actions.” He said, “I have not done anything in this life which would bring such a misfortune on me.” Baba said, “If not in this life, you must have committed some sin in your past life.” He then replied, “I do not know anything of my past life, but assuming that I did commit some sin then, why should it not be burnt and destroyed in Your presence, as dry grass before fire?” Baba answered, “Have you got such faith?” He replied, “Yes”. Baba then asked him to close his eyes. No sooner did he shut them, than he heard a thumping sound of something falling down. Upon opening his eyes, he saw he was free and the police had fallen down, bleeding. Being quite frightened, he began to look at Baba, who said, “Now you are caught. Officers will come and arrest you.” The man then begged, “There is no other savior except You. Save me anyway!” Then Baba again asked him to close his eyes. He did so, and when he opened them, he saw he was free, out of the cage, and Baba was by his side. He then fell at Baba’s feet whereupon Baba asked him, “Is there any difference between this namaskar and your previous ones? Think well and reply.” He said, “There is a lot of difference. My former namaskars were offered with the object of getting money from You, but the present namaskar is one offered to You as God. Besides, formerly, I thought resentfully that You, being a Mohammedan, were spoiling we Hindus.” Baba replied, “Do you not believe in your mind in Mohammedan Gods?” He said, “No.” Then Baba said, “Have you not got a panja (emblem of the hand) in your house and do you not worship the same in Tabut, i.e. the Moharum festival?” Also, there is in your house another Mohammedan deity, Kadbibi, whom you propitiate and appease on your marriage anniversary and other festivals. Is this not so?” He admitted all this. Baba then said, “What more do you want?” Then a desire arose in his mind to get the darshan of his guru Ramadas. When Baba asked him to turn around and see, lo, Ramadas was in front of him. No sooner did he begin to fall at his feet, when Ramadas vanished. He then inquisitively asked Baba, “You look old. Do You know Your age?” Baba replied, “What! Do you say I am old! Just run a race with me and see!” Saying this, Baba began to run and the man followed. Baba disappeared in the dust raised by His footsteps as He ran and the man awakened.

After awakening, the man began to think seriously about his dream vision. His mental attitude was completely changed and he realized the greatness of Baba. After this, the man’s grabbing and doubting tendencies disappeared and true devotion to Baba’s sacred feet developed in his mind. The vision was a mere dream, but the questions and answers therein were most significant and interesting.

The next morning when all the persons assembled in the masjid for the arati, Baba gave him as prasad two rupees worth of sweetmeats and also two rupees from His pocket and blessed him. He made him stay there for a few more days and gave him His blessing saying, “Allah (God) will give you plenty and He will do you all good.” Although the man did not get more money, he received far better things, viz. Baba’s blessing, which stood him in good stead all along. The party got plenty of money afterwards and their pilgrimage was successful, as they did not suffer any trouble or inconvenience during their journey. They all returned home safe and sound, thinking of Baba’s words and blessings and the ananda (bliss) they experienced by His grace. This story illustrates certain methods which Baba followed to improve and reform His devotees.

(2) Tendulkar family

The Tendulkar family lived in Bandra, a suburb of Bombay, and all its members were devoted to Baba. Mrs. Savitribai Tendulkar published a Marathi book named Shri Sainath Bhajan Mala containing 800 abhangas and padas describing the leelas of Baba. It is a book worth reading by those who are interested in Baba. Their son, Baba Tendulkar, was studying hard day and night and wanted to appear for the medical examination. He consulted some astrologers. Examining his horoscope, they told him the stars were not favorable that year and he should appear for the examination next year, when he would certainly be successful. This cast a gloom over him and made him restless. A few days afterward, his mother went to Shirdi and saw Baba.

Amongst other things, she mentioned the gloomy and morose condition of her son, who was to appear for the examination in a few days. Hearing this, Baba said, “Tell your son to believe in Me, to throw aside horoscopes and predictions of astrologers and palmists, and go on with his studies. Let him appear for the examination with a calm mind. He is sure to pass this year. Ask him to trust in Me and not get disappointed.” The mother returned home and communicated Baba’s message to her son. He then studied hard and in due course appeared for the examination. In the written papers he did well, but being overwhelmed by doubts, he thought he would not secure sufficient marks for passing, and so he did not care to appear for the oral examination. The examiner, however, was after him. He sent word through a fellow student stating that he had passed the written exam and that he should appear for the oral one. The son, being thus encouraged, appeared for the oral examination and was successful. Thus, he got through the examination successfully that year by Baba’s grace, even though the stars were against him.

It is to be noted here that doubts and difficulties surround us just to move us and confirm our faith. We are tested, as it were. If we but hold on steadily to Baba with full faith and continue our endeavors, our efforts will ultimately be crowned with success. The father of this boy, Raghunathrao, was serving in a foreign mercantile firm in Bombay. As he grew old, he was not able to attend to his work properly and so he had to take leave and rest. As he did not improve during the period of leave, a further extension of leave or retirement from service was inevitable. The chief manager of the firm decided to retire him on pension, as he was an old and reliable servant. The question regarding the amount of pension to be given was under consideration. He was getting Rs. 150/ and his pension (i.e. half the amount, viz. Rs. 75/) would not be enough to meet the expenses of the family, so they were all anxious about this matter. Fifteen days before the final settlement, Baba appeared to Mrs. Tendulkar in her dream and said, “I would like Rs.100/ to be settled and paid to your husband as pension. Will this satisfy you?” She replied, “Baba, why ask me this? We fully trust in you.” Though Baba said Rs.100/, still, he was given ten rupees more, i.e. Rs.110/ as a special case. Such wonderful love and care did Baba exhibit for His bhaktas.

(3) Captain Hate

Captain Hate, who was staying in Bikaner, was a great devotee of Baba. Once Baba appeared to him in his dream and said, “Did you forget Me?” Hate then immediately held Baba’s feet and replied, “If a child forgets its mother, how could it be saved?” Then Hate went into the garden and took out fresh walpapadi vegetables, and arranging ‘shidha’ (ghee, wheat flour and dal, etc.) and dakshina, was about to offer all this to Baba when he was awakened and realized that the whole scene was just a dream. Inspired by his dream, however, Captain Hate decided to have an actual arrangement of everything made and then offer it to Baba in Shirdi.

When Hate arrived in Gwalior some days afterward, he sent Rs.12/ by money order to his friend, Mr. Nimonkar, with instructions that Rs. 2/ should be spent in buying shidha articles and walpapadi vegetables, and that those items should then be offered to Baba with Rs.10/ as dakshina. Nimokar went to Shirdi and purchased the things mentioned, but walpapadi was not available. In a short time, however, a woman turned up with a basket on her head which curiously enough contained the walpapadi. The vegetables were purchased and Mr. Nimonkar prepared the ‘naivedya’ (rice and walpapadi). Everything was then arranged and offered the next day to Baba on behalf of Captain Hate. All the people were surprised to see that Baba, while dining, took and ate walpapadi and did not touch rice and other things. Hate’s joy knew no bounds when he heard about this from his friend.

Consecrated Rupee

On another occasion, Captain Hate wished he had a coin consecrated by Baba’s touch in his house. Hate came across a friend who was bound for Shirdi and sent a rupee with him. The friend went to Shirdi and, after the usual salutation, gave Baba his own dakshina first, which Baba pocketed. Then he gave Captain Hate’s rupee. Baba took it in His hand and began to stare at it. He then held it in front, tossed it up with His right thumb, and played with it. Baba then said to the friend, “Return this to its owner with the prasad of udi. Tell him I want nothing from him. Ask him to live in peace and contentment.” The friend returned to Gwalior, handed over the consecrated rupee to Captain Hate, and told him all that had happened at Shirdi. Hate was extremely pleased. He realized Baba always encouraged good thoughts and just as Hate had wished intently, Baba fulfilled the same accordingly.

(4) Waman Narvekar

Now let the readers hear a different story. A gentleman named Waman Narvekar loved Baba very much. He once bought a rupee. Engraved on one side (obverse) of it were the figures of Rama, Laxman and Sita. Engraved on the other (reverse) side, the figure of Maruti with folded hands. Waman Narvekar offered the rupee to Baba with a hope that He would consecrate it with His touch and return it to him with udi. Sai Baba, however, immediately pocketed the rupee. Shama then spoke to Baba regarding Wamanrao’s intention and requested him to return it, but Baba said in the presence of Wamanrao: “Why should it be returned to him? We should keep it ourselves. If he gives Rs. 25/ for it, it will be returned.” Then, for the sake of that rupee, Wamanrao collected Rs. 25/ and placed them before Baba, at which point Baba said, “The value of that rupee far exceeds 25 rupees. Shama, take this rupee. Let us have it in our store. Keep this in your shrine and worship it.” No one had the courage to ask Baba why He followed this particular action. He only knows what is best and most suitable to each and all.

Bow to Shri Sai - Peace Be to All