Shri Sai Baba
of Shirdi
By
RAO BAHADUR M.
W. PRADHAN, J. P.
Ex-member of the Legislative Council
Mumbai Government
Para Brahma
Murti Paramatma Satchit - Anand
SHRI SAI BABA
This
Edition
is
Dedicated As a
token of the Author's absolute surrender
To
The Hon. Sir
John William Fisher
Beaumont, K.
T., K.C., M.A., (CANTAB)
Chief Justice
of H.M.'s High Court of Judicature at Mumbai
THIS WORK
IS
as an humble
tribute to His Lordship's sound
legal
attainments and unfailing devotion
to his Judicial
duties
As Well as
to His
Lordship's broad and sympathetic outlook, uniformly affable
deportment, and
Cosmopolitan Spirit By kind permission Most respectfully dedicated
Author
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
to the 1st Edition by the Hon'ble Mr. G. S. Khaparde -
Member of the
Council of State, India
2. Introduction
to the 2nd Edition by
Rao Bahadur M.
W. Pradhan, J. P.
3. Preface
by Y. J. Galwankar
4. Foreword
by Mr. R. A. Tarkhad, B.Sc.
5. Life
and Teachings of Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi
by Rao Bahadur M. W. Pradhan, B.A., LL.B.,
J. P., Ex. Member, Legislative Council, Mumbai, Advocate (O.S.)
6. An
Appeal to the Tourists of the West
by Mr. R. A. Tarkhad
My dear Babasaheb Tarkhad,
I am very glad
to leam that you wish to publish an English rendering of the Marathi memo left
by our late lamented friend Kakasaheb Dixit about our Sadguru Sai Maharaj of
Shirdi, who to my mind represented perfection so far as it can possibly be
conceived by an imperfect being like myself. No praise that I can bestow is too
high for him, nay, I am afraid, I cannot say anything that will really come up
to the mark. I count it as the greatest piece of good fortune that
circumstances led me to his feet, and the moment I approached them as humbly as
I could, all the load of my worldly cares disappeared though only a few minutes
before it was felt to be exceedingly oppressive and such as to excite disgust
of life.
This is not
only my experience but of tens of thousands of others whom I met there during a
rather prolonged stay. Among them were many highly educated gentlemen, and
ladies, a large number of hard-headed businessmen, many who had renounced the
world and led a life of devotion and piety. The whole of the countryside
worshipped him and gathered round with the instinct with which ants surround a
big lump of sugar. While many came from long distances at great expense and
trouble, each went away satisfied and anxious to repeat his or her visit as
often as it could be managed. It was a sight to see and enjoy.
The wonder of
wonders is, that, of the personage so universally admired and worshipped, not
even a single human being knew the real name. He dropped into the village so to
say from the blue, helped a person to find his lost horse and took up his
residence there for a whole lifetime, helping everybody that came along without
any distinction, securing the love and reverence of all without exception. He
appeared to know the innermost thoughts of everybody, relieved their wants, and
carried comfort to all. He fulfilled my idea of God on earth.
It appears to
me that the idea that you have conceived of publishing something about him,
comes really from higher regions.
India, and for the matter of that, our whole planet of the earth appears
to be approaching a characteristically catastrophic period, when changes, of
which we can form no idea, are likely to be brought about as in the twinkling
of an eye, and to help mankind through it, influences, other than material,
appear to be necessary, and Kind Providence is providing them beforehand. At present man trusts too much to what we
call reason, and appears to forget, that, as instinct in living animals, so
intuition in human beings has a place in his composition. To fulfil the purpose
of his existence, he must cultivate both, with humility and not pride, and
should aim not at worldly wealth and power, but knowledge and identification
with all. God of Nature has hitherto accomplished tremendously great things
with small and obscure beginnings, and this may be one of them. Sai Maharaj
always impressed me as one who believed all religions to be true and helpful to
those born to them, in their further evolution. So he insisted on each following his own ritual, without
interfering with that of another. The basic virtues are one and the same
everywhere, and due abstention and constantly wakeful discrimination supply the
necessary impetus to further progress.
Your humble publication may under Providence, in its own way, contribute
to the desired result. So I heartily welcome it and wish it all success.
With kindest regards
I am,
Yours
sincerely,
Amaraoti,
Sd/-8th January, 1933 G.
S. KHAPARDE
Ever since the
beginning of 1933, when the first edition of this book was published, devotees
from all over India have been, as before, continuously going to Shirdi, more
especially from Southern India. This attraction of South India to Shirdi, has
completely exhausted the stock of books of the first edition. Therefore, the
Shirdi Sansthan Committee, has perforce, to go in for the second edition,
during the present war time, as the demand for the book is very keen. During
the last ten years, Sai Baba's omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience, are
being unabatingly realised and experienced as before, by thousands of devotees,
who concentrate on Sai Baba with love and devotion, whether they be in Shirdi
or thousands of miles away in their own abodes. To broadcast all the experiences
and the inner joy of such countless people individually is physically
impossible. However, the real facts about Sai Baba's divinity contained in the
first edition, were spread, far more extensively by the devotional propaganda
of Mr. B. V. Narasimhaswami, who by his innumerable publications about Sai
Baba's divinity in English, Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, Canarese, Malayalam,
Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati and Bengali, and by his personal tours throughout the
length and breadth of India, has been carrying the knowledge of the peculiar
Avatar of Sai Baba to all the classes and creeds of India.
Similar
propaganda is carried on also by Mr. J. N. Bose, m.a., A.C-W.A- (Lond.) and Master Himadri Bose, his II years
old son in Calcutta, and his friend Mr. S. P. R. Naidu at Matunga, Mumbai.
Messrs. B. A.
Chowgule and B. V. Manjeshwar (at present sub-judges in Ahmednagar district)
have been devotionally spreading the divinity of Sai Baba wherever they go.
Other
significant feature in the worship of Sai Baba as a deity is the appearance of
several Temples, Maths, and Bhajan Melas, established far and wide
throughout the country, not only in South India, the suburbs of Mumbai, and
further North e.g. Bhivpuri, but also in Calcutta.
The South India
people have donated to the Sansthan, through Mr. Durgia Naidu, a building plot
and some funds for the construction of more housing accommodation - an
undertaking made very prohibitive by war conditions at present.
The above
phenomena have very considerably added to the work of the Shirdi Sansthan
Committee, as regards correspondence & etc., but more especially with
regard to the housing and catering of devotees, who being inspired by their
devotion, rush from thousands of miles away to Shirdi throughout the 24 hours
of the day. Most of these devotees come as a rule inadequately provided even
with the bare necessaries of life. To meet the wants of-such devotees, the
Sansthan Committee has been making strenuous efforts to the best of its
ability.
To provide for
more accommodation eight more rooms have since been constructed in the
Navalkar's Wada and the late Mr. Dikshit's Wada has been renovated, and more
building site has been purchased by the Sansthan. Two more water-wells have
been dug to provide for adequate water supply. The credit for these
improvements, to a certain extent, goes to the ex. Hon. Secretary Mr. S. N.
Kharkar.
In order to
facilitate the working of the Sansthan, the Sansthan Committee consolidated the
Sansthan Rules in a separate pamphlet published on 1.10-1941.
As the preamble
in the said rules might be of some interest to the new devotees of Sai Baba the
same is appended to this volume.
The present war
times, as said before, are unfortunately a very great hindrance to undertake
any further improvements e.g. construction of more housing accommodation and to
maintain a provision of various kinds of victuals, which a pronounced diversity
of devotees may desire.
The Sansthan
Committee, therefore, sincerely prays, that Sai Baba should very soon restore
the normal times of peace and tranquility and thus enable it to administer to
the reasonable wants of the devotees of Sai Baba, especially during their stay
in Shirdi.
Sai Pradhan Baug,
Santacruz.
9th October,
1943
Moreshwar W.
Pradhan
"A bow to
those good Souls, who enjoy the deep bliss of self. They shower down the water
of self-bliss in order to refresh and cool those troubled souls who are burnt
by the heat of this worldly existence. They are ornaments to 'Chaitanya. They
adorn the Science of the Knowledge of Brahman and they are the charming mansion
where the Eternal God dwells. They do not expect from the people who come to
them, the acquisition of the prescribed Sadhanas (sra^) nor do they expect from
them any proficiency in the Shastras. If people have only faith, they manifest
the Light to them."
-EKANAT
BHAGAWAT
(Translated
from the original Marathi)
1. It gives me a great pleasure to edit
the second edition of 'Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi1 written by Rao
Bahadur M.W. Pradhan, which gives a short sketch of the life and teachings of
Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi - a great Saint of the Maharashtra during the earlier
period of the 20th century. If biography of saints is difficult, that of Shri
Sai Baba is attended with difficulties almost insuperable. A cloud of mystery
hangs over all the affairs of his life and completely veils of his birth,
parentage and early life. None knows definitely anything about that period. In
spite of such difficulties Rao Bahadur Pradhan has made a successful attempt in
giving a short, but a vivid account of Shri Sai Baba's life, which has become
very useful especially to those who had no occasion to see him personally and
for this the Shirdi Sansthan Committee is greatly indebted to the Rao Bahadur.
In this edition the author has naturally surveyed the main incidents regarding
the Shirdi Sansthan during the last 10 years.
2. Other features of this Saint that
struck even casual observers were his unaccountable and marvellous knowledge of
things and events far removed from him in the sense of time and space, and a
remarkable power to foretell coming events or to force events to come to pass
in accordance with his supreme will. Visitors noted with devout admiration that
he was frequently mentioning either expressly or by allusion their inner most
secret thoughts, their remote past, past of which they had lost all memory and
incidents that occurred hundreds of miles away from his residence which none
could possibly have communicated to him. Such miracles are seen to happen at
the desire of great saints. Some Vedantis think that all miracles are brought
about by the use of Siddhis and the Siddhis being obstacles on the path of
self-knowledge, they express their disapprobation regarding such Siddhis and to
some extent are even afraid of them. It is no doubt true that Siddhis are
obstacles on the spiritual path, but we must distinguish between different
kinds of Siddhis. The Siddhis acquired by the practice of Hatha Yoga by
Changdeva are quite different from the
Atma-siddhis of Shri Dnyanadeva. The miracles happened at the desire of Shri
Sai Baba were the Siddhis of the -latter sort. By such divine powers many
persons were first attracted to Shri Sai Baba to secure only temporal gains,
but ultimately he made his devotees aspire to secure spiritual happiness and
attainment of self-realisation, which is the real mission of saints. Shri Sai
Baba has fulfilled this mission to the entire satisfaction of many devotees who
came to him.
3. The ultimate goal of human life is to
realise God within and become merged in him. We may go further and say that
this is the birth-right of every human-being and in'order to achieve this ideal
the Sadhak has to go and bow to the feet of a Sadguru, who is so called;
because he makes the disciple realise the 'Sat-vastu' i.e., the Everlasting Thing
and makes him experience perfect calmness of mind by making him realise his own
self. Shri Sai Baba was, as said above, a real Sadguru at whose feet I had the
great fortune to pass many days during my young age. Listening to his
conversation which was very instructive and delightful and which has become a
source of spiritual inspiration for me even now and it has also become a source
of consolation and solution when I was thwarted with temporal as well as
spiritual difficulties. I have to conclude this preface with a prayer that may
this small book be a source of spiritual inspiration to those who read if and
may Shri Sai Baba give perfect happiness, both temporal and spiritual to all
those who have a strong reliance on him.
Shri Sai
Prasad,
Turner Road,
Bandra,
Mumbai - 400
020.
9th October,
1943
Santa
Dasanu-das, Yeshwant Janardan Galvankar
I feel pleasure
in placing before the public this short sketch of the life and teachings of the
late Divine Master, Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi, by Rao Bahadur Moreshwar
Vishwanath Pradhan of Sai Pradhan Baug, Santacruz.
He has taken
his standpoint, by the translations of the various incidents in Sai Baba's
life, as they have appeared in Shri Sai Leela - a Marathi monthly Journal
written by the able pen of the late Hon'ble Mr. Hari Sitaram Dixit, an eminent
solicitor of Mumbai, and an equally eminent and sturdy devotee of Shri Sai
Baba.
In a
translation, it is always difficult to convey the exact meaning of a theme from
one language into another, nevertheless, it will be admitted, that, Rao Bahadur
Pradhan has done his very best.
I trust,
therefore, readers will kindly forgive me if I take the liberty to mention,
from out of the numerous personal experiences, an incident or two, as a
foreword.
Shri Sai Baba
of Shirdi was undoubtedly a great man -a superman - a man who had attained the
realisation of the All Pervading Self, according to the tenets and experiences
of the highest Hindu thought.
His attainment
was such, that gentlemen of the highest University attainments, men of
unimpeachable social position, as well as mental culture, and almost all the
then leading men of Maharashtra, in Government service and without, great
journalists like the late Mr. B. G. Tilak, deputy collectors, eminent lawyers,
advocates, solicitors, engineers, doctors and mathematicians, flocked to his
feet for his blessings.
Some of the
most orthodox Hindu Shastrees, Christians, Parsees and Mahomedan Moulvies, and
even Butchers from Bandra, vied with each other to pay their obeisance to him.
The place where he used to sit, looked to all outward appearances as a tumbled
down old ramshakle sort of a construction. But in that small oblong room, Sai
Baba sat in the North-East corner. Opposite to him in the opposite comer was
the sacred fire burning night and day (it is still kept burning by the Sansthan
Committee). Next to this sacred Dhuni (fire) were earthenware pots filled with
water for Baba to drink, and perform ablutions. The wall had a nitche, in which
were placed a number of earthenware chilims (clay pipes).
Next to Shri
Sai Baba's place[1] and on his
right hand, were a couple of grinding stones, where occasionally he used to
grind corn and pulses, and in doing that, he was assisted by the village women,
as well as high caste Hindu and Mahomedan lady visitors who happened to be
there, eagerly, and without the slightest feelings of caste, creed and untouc
liability.
There was also
a sack of wheat and a sack of country tobacco. This tobacco was put in the
earthen pipes and smoked, and pipe being offered to various devotees, smoked by
them and passed on to and fro to Baba.
This went on
practically at all the times the visitors came in his presence and even anon.
On the western
wall was a sort of a nitche as is observed in Mahomedan masjids.
Opposite to this nilche in central part
of this room Shri Sai Baba partook of a little of the food, which he daily
begged from certain houses in the village, and of the offerings made by
visitors and others. These he mixed up and distributed himself to some of the
devotees, amongst whom
were high caste Hindus,
Brahmins, Mahomedans and Parsees.
It may safely
be said, that Shri Sai Baba by practical teaching showed the ordinary
house-holder how to perform his domestic duties, grind corn, eat his food, entertain
visitors at the time of taking meals, and worship the Lord according to his own
tenets, in his own home in the most simple and unostentatious manner.
To the
Agnihotri (fire worshipping) Hindu or Parsee, it was a sacred place, owing to
the sacred fire kept burning there, and there Shri Sai Baba used to perform
some observances, when no one was allowed to come up.
When a
Mahomedan visitor come up to pay his respects, with flowers, and lump sugar and
coconuts, Fatia was uttered in which Baba joined. The flowers were hung up in
the central nitche mentioned above, the lump sugar was partly distributed
amongst all those present there as well as the village urchins outside, and
partly returned to the party as prasad or present. The coconuts were broken up
and similarly distributed.
All the while
the Hindu devotees sitting there, witnessed this Fatia, and partook of the
lumps of sugar, as well as pieces of coconuts with pleasure and joy.
The Hindus
worshipped Shri Sai Baba, with all the rituals as observed in the Hindu temples
throughout India.
Sandal paste
was applied to Baba's forehead, chest, hands and feet. Kumkum with rice was
similarly applied.
The toes of his
feet were washed and the water was partaken as sacred tirth (holy water).
The arati was
performed at noon with all the din and paraphernalia of worship as in a Hindu
temple.
Bells were
rung. Sacred lamp with its five light was waived before him, cymbals clashed,
the big drum sounded, the huge bell in the compound sent its deep notes for
miles and miles around, and hundreds of devotees recited in perfect unison the
words of the arati and the sacred Sanskrit hymns. The Mahomedans present there,
enjoyed all this and freely partook of the offerings distributed by the Hindu
Bhaktas.
This wonderful
place was called Dwarka Mai by Shri Sai Baba, who was heard many a time to say
that whoever stepped into this Dwarka Mai, had his future assured-It will thus
be seen, that this wonderful place owing to the sacred fire was a temple to the
most Orthodox Hindu and Parsee, owing to the nitche, it appeared as a masjid to
the Mahomedan and to the Christian, owing to the sound of bells etc., a
Church. So in this unique place all
the principal creeds of me world were united and the common worship of the
Universal God, brought home to each and all, in a unique and loving manner.
Morever, to the ordinary house-holder, it was an object lesson for carrying on
his daily worship alongside with his daily earthly duties, and toleration for
the views and rituals of all others, in a most vivid and unmistakable manner.
It will be seen that Shri Sai Baba created such an atmosphere of universal
tolerance, good will and unity, and proved by his practical example the oneness
of the worship of the Divinity to all the various casts and creeds, that, it
may be said with pardonable pride that though the foundation of universal
tolerance was laid down by all the saints of India and more particularly by the
saints of Maharashtra, so ably described by the late Hon'ble Mr. Ranade in his
'Rise of the Maratha Power.' Shri Sai Baba, brought it home to all in an
emphatic and practical manner.
The Gujarati,
the Bengali, and the Tamilian mind is very devotional. The Maratha mind is more
practical and requires positive proof, as to the authority and capacity of the
preacher of The Great Truth, Manifestation of the Divinity in Man is what the
Maratha mind insists upon and when that is forthcoming and realised, it will at
once unbend and worship such a person.
Thus even men
of untouchable classes, like Chokharnela (a Mahar), Rohidas (a Chamar), Sajan
Kasai (a Butcher) and a host of other untouchable saints are held in the
highest esteem, and revered by one and all.
The
manifestations of the Divine attainments of Shri Sai Baba, the realisation of
the Universal Self, insisted upon as the highest attainment of the Hindu
thought was patent to everyone, high or low, the learned and ignorant, men and
women, to all the thousands and thousands of devotees, and seekers after the
Truth, who flocked to Shirdi for his benediction.
Their
experiences have been various and have been published in the Shri Sai Leela, a
Marathi monthly Journal. The western minds and thoughts and men and young women
imbued with the present day teachings of west, with only a superficial aspect of
life, are apt to utter in a hurried and thoughtless manner that Shri Sai Baba
was a mere clairvoyant and a hypnotist.
That he was
miles and miles above these misleading lowest rungs of the ladder of
spirituality viz.: clairvoyance and hypnosis the loitering in whose rungs, the
highest Hindu thought strictly enjoins to avoid and not be ensnared or
entangled in, such a lapse being absolutely detrimental to the progress towards
Self Realisation, culminating in the Realisation of the Universal Self.
The writer
would therefore mention a couple of such incidents from his own personal
experiences, for the readers to ponder upon.
A friend
staying in Bandra, was one day leaving his place in the morning to go to his
office. Near the door of his block, his wife remembered that she had certain
expenses to make, and asked him for a rupee. He knew the necessity of this
request and opening his purse discovered that he had no loose coin in it, but
currency notes. He told his wife that he would get these cashed in his office
and in the evening on his return home, he would pay her the rupee, to which she
gave her assent.
On descending
the staircase and coming upon the first landing, when fumbling for his
handkerchief, he found a rupee in that pocket. As there was ample time for him
to catch his train, his duty was to go up to his flat and hand over that rupee
to his wife. Instead of doing that, nonchalant as most husbands are everywhere,
he went to his office and after getting the notes cashed, gave a rupee to his
wife on his return home in the evening, and forgot all about it thereafter.
Some days
passed since, when both of them happened to go to Shirdi. No sooner they made
their obeisance than Baba said to his wife, "Mother, now-a-days one had
become so untruthful, that though there was a rupee in his pocket he would say
there was none!"
Now the lady
not knowing anything about the matter remained unperturbed, whereas the man
remembering the whole incident, threw himself at Baba's feet, and embracing
them, shed tears of repentance and joy.
Repentance for
his callousness in not having gone up and paid that rupee to his loving and
trusting wife, joy for the feeling of assurance of Shri Sai Baba's watch on the
guidance and progress of their worldly affairs.
Now as the man
had completely forgotten this incident, could it be said that this was a case
of mere clairvoyance?
Now as regards hypnosis:-
Owing to the May vacation for schools, the youngest son of the above
mentioned friend thought of spending his holidays at Shirdi, mother accompanying
him.
They were to
have left on a Friday evening but as this day approached and my friend found
that they had made no preparations, he asked them the reason of the delay. They
kept silent, at which the man felt puzzled. After repeated queries the mother
said that the boy had given up the idea of going to Shirdi, as there was no one
at home to attend to the worship of the Shrine of Shri Sai Baba in their home
at Bandra. Upon which, my friend told them not to be anxious as he himself
would perform the worship exactly as the boy was doing. This they would not
believe, as my friend having the views of the Prarthana Samajist, had never
performed the worship of the Idea (misnamed Idolatory) according to the regular
formal outward Hindu technique; and only believed him, when he took an oath
about it before the Shri's picture in the Shrine. They accordingly left for
Shirdi that Friday night.
My friend was
connected with a factory in Mumbai and had to leave early in order to be
present at the factory when the gates were swung open for the workmen to enter.
Next day was a
Saturday. My friend got up a little earlier, took his bath and before
proceeding with the pooja, prostrated himself before the Shrine and said,
"Baba! I am going to perform the pooja exactly as my son has been doing,
but please let it not be a mere matter of drill."
So saying, he
performed the pooja and laid before the Master a few pieces of lump sugar as
naivedya (offering). This sugar was distributed when he returned home in the
noon for his lunch.
After
performing the pooja he felt a great deal of mental and physical exhilaration.
He then locked the door, and left for his work. The servant came to the place
later, and after opening the door with a duplicate key and sweeping the place,
attended to the cooking of the food and waited till his return from the
factory; when the food was served and the offering aforesaid of the morning
pooja was distributed as the prasad or present.
Having more
time to spare, the evening pooja was performed with greater satisfaction.
The next day
was a Sunday, a holiday, and passed away with pleasure.
The following
day Monday was a working day and by evening my friend who had never performed
pooja like this in all his life, felt great confidence within himself, that
everything was passing quite satisfactorily according to the promise given to
his son.
Next day,
Tuesday, he performed the morning pooja as usual and left for his work. Coming
home at noon time, the food was served and he was just about to partake of it, when
he saw that there was no prasad (present).
He asked the
servant, who told him that there was no offering made that morning and that my
friend completely forgot to perform that part of the pooja. At this time my
friend left his seat prostrating himself before the Shrine, expressed his
regret, at the same time chiding Baba for his want of guidance in making the
whole affair a matter of mere drill.
Then he wrote a
letter to his son stating the facts and requested his son to lay it before
Baba's feet and to ask Baba's forgiveness for my friend's remissness.
This happened
in Bandra at about noon on this Tuesday.
At about the
same time, when the noon arati in Shire was just about to commence, Baba spoke
to my friend's wife "Mother! I had been to your place with a view to
having something to eat. I found the door locked. But there was , little window
pane broken, through which I got in, and found, to my great regret, Bhau (meaning
brother - that is my friend) had left nothing for me to eat, so I have
returnee, uncomfortable with severe cravings of unappeased hunger."
The lady did
not understand it, but the son who was sitting close by, understood, that,
there was something wrong with the pooja in Bandra and therefore requested!
Baba's leave to be allowed to return.
As Baba would
not give him such permission he wrote a letter stating all that took place
there and implored his father not to neglect the pooja.
Both these
letters crossed each other on their journey and were delivered to the
respective parties the next day.
Is this a
case of hypnosis?
Sceptics will
naturally make light of these experiences Having graduated in science the
writer was a sceptic himself and can well understand the working of the minds o
people in the same position as he was in, till he had the! great and good
fortune of sitting at the feet of this wonderful Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi in
1910.
The writer has
had numerous unique experiences which have appeared in Marathi in the Shri Sai
Leela monthly. These as well as the experiences of various other people, I dare
say, may appear in English print sometime hereafter.
Bandra
1st January,
1933
R. A. TARKHAD
A
SKETCH
OF
THE
Life
and Teaching
OF
Shri
Sai Baba of Shirdi
On the 24th of September 1931, when a leaderette appeared in the Times of India on 'Baba Jan' the then departed lady saint of Poona, a reference had been made in that lucid and learned leaderette to the late well-known Saint Sai Baba of Shirdi. On reading the same, most of Shri Sai Baba's devotees, with a very close contact with the Saint for over a decade, were sorely disappointed to find that most of the significant facts of Sai Baba's life, long career and teachings had remained unknown to, (and inspired and propagandist publications had impressed) some of the responsible leaders of public opinion in India. Such devotees therefore, considered it their sacred duty to suggest, that, the true history of Sai Baba as had been observed by eye-witnesses in continuous touch with Sai Baba, and as jotted down by them, especially by the late Hari Sitaram Dikshit (of revered memory as one of the well-known devotees of Sai Baba), should be translated into English for the benefit of the vast mass of English knowing people in the world.
Messrs. R. A.
Tarkhad and B. V. Deo (well-known devotees of Shri Sai Baba), desired me to
undertake this job which appeared to me to be very onerous. I had, therefore,
to pluck up courage and I have tried to discharge this pleasant duty to the
best of my humble abilities.
Of course,
instances of spiritual and physical miracles performed by Shri Sai Baba are too
numerous to mention. A few of them have been sung by the
late Mr. G. R. alias! Annasaheb Dabholkar, First Class Resident Magistrate o
Bandra, in his learned 'Sai Sat Charita”[2]
which is a fitting supplement to Das Ganu Maharaja's narration of Sai Baba's
earlier miracles through some
of his famous publications e.
g. Bhaktalilamrut and Santakatharnrut, etc.
I have,
therefore, tried to confine myself scrupulously to those instances jotted down
by the late Hari Sitaram Dikshit, in his short sketch (in Marathi) of Shri Sai
Baba (vide Shri Sai Leela, Vol. I).
Just as the
taste of the pudding is in the eating of it, so whether Shirdi (containing as
it does the very sanctified" and sacred remains of Sai Baba, with its
inexhaustible supply of 'Udi' i.e. ashes from the sacred fire of 'Dhuni' which
is ever kept burning in the Dwarkamai, and which 'Udi' has unchangingly
continued to work the same miracles as it used to do in the life time of Sai
Baba) is one of the important: places of pilgrimage can only be realised by a
personal visit to the Shrine of Sai Baba in the humble yet sacred village of
Shirdi, on the Manmad-Ahmednagar Trunk Road, about eleven miles away from the
Kopargaon Railway Station and eight miles from the town of Kopargaon on the
bank of the sacred river Godavari.
Shri Sainath
(alias Sai Baba) Maharaj, the Saint of world fame, first appeared in Shirdi as
a very handsome lad of sixteen about the year 1872 A. D. Shirdi is a small
village abutting on the Agra Trunk Road, in the Kopargaon Taluka,
in the
Ahmednagar District. Upto now there is no reliable information about the birth
place and parentage of Shri Sai Baba. This much is certain that Sai Baba was
very familiar with several places in the Nizam's territory. In his talks he
several times used to mention Shelu, Jama, Manvad, Pathri, Parbhani,
Nowrangabad (Aurangabad), Bid, Bedar, all Moglai places. Once a man from Pathri
had come to take Baba's darshan. Baba's enquiries made from this man about the
Pathri village and several of its well-known residents, showed that he knew the
place very intimately; but this alone does not warrant that Pathri was Baba's
birth place.
So also whether
Baba was born a Brahmin or a Musalman cannot be authoritatively stated.
Once Baba said
to the late Hari Sitaram Dikshit (well-known in Mumbai as Bhausaheb Dikshit and
in Shirdi as Kakasaheb Dikshit) that after Baba left his body, Baba would
return as a lad of eight years (i.e. exactly as Lord Shri Krishna had done).
Many devotees of Baba believed him to be an incarnation, and not as an evolved
saint, and all this belief of theirs was based on their own personal
observation of what Baba spoke and did. Although Sai Baba at times used to
please himself by uttering "Yade Haqq" (i.e. I always remember God)
and avoided the expression "Anal Haqq" (i.e. I am God), still
innumerable cases have been recorded where Baba's thousands of devotees have
realised the omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of Shri Sai Baba.
Shri Sai Baba
came to Shirdi along with a marriage procession of a relation of one Chandbhai,
the Patil of the village of Dhoopkhede.
Prior to this,
one of the said Chandbhai's horses had strayed into the jungle and could not be
traced for a long time. On a lookout for his missing horse, Chandbhai while
wandering in the jungle, sighted Sai Baba sitting under a tree. He had never
seen Baba before. Sai Baba called him, saying "Go a smoking chilim"
Chandbhai said, that he was in search his missing horse and could not afford to
thus loiter on hi way. Sai Baba told him not to worry, and that his horse woul
be found grazing on the otherside of a hedge further on. this, Chandbhai
hastened to that spot, and to his great astonishment found his valuable and beloved
missing horse grazing exactly as stated by Sai Baba. Chandbhai was a devout and
Go fearing person, and promptly presented himself before Sai Baba with his
horse, in a suppliant mood and expressing his desire to partake of the chilim[3]. But there was no fire fo lighting the
chilim, nor water
for moistening the chilim cloth. Sai Baba by a stroke of a pair of pincers at on place produced
the fire and by another stroke nearby, water came out and thus this enviable
jungle chilim party, convinced Chandbhai that Sai Baba was certainly a being of
a very high order, and therefore, requested him to go with him (Chandbhai in
his house. Sai Baba told Chandbhai
that he would come the following day, and did accordingly. After a few days'
stay at Chandbhai's to the greatest good luck of the people of Shirdi Sai Baba
came to Shirdi with the said marriage procession which camped in a field near
the Khandoba's temple on the outskirts of the village. One Mhalsapati, a goldsmith by cast of
Shirdi was a devotee of Shri Khandoba and visited the temple daily. There, when
this Mhalsapati first saw Sai Baba the former spontaneously accosted him thus,
"Welcome Sai Baba' and this is the name i.e. 'Sai Baba' by which
thereafter this Said of saints became known to the world. Sometime after coming to Shirdi, when Sai
Baba happened to be examined on commission in a case, in answering the question
as to what his name was, Sai Baba said, "I am called Sai Baba". Mhalsapat
brought Sai Baba inside the village and there introduced him (Baba) to his
(Mhalsapati's) friends, Kashiram Shimpi and Appa Jagle. These three Shirdi
folks (i.e. Mhalsapati, Kashiram and Appa Jagle) were in the habit of welcoming
according to their means, whoever came to their village, especially people who
had renounced the world or were of an ascetic nature.
After the
marriage, the marriage procession went back, but Sai Baba chose to remain in
Shirdi to the great joy of the above trio, who eventually become Sai Baba's
devout worshippers. Both Kashiram and Appa died after some years on Ekadashi'[4]
days, thus giving proof of their devotion to Shri Sai Baba. Kashiram worshipped
Sai Baba with his 'Tan' (body), 'Man' (mind) and 'Dhan' (his wealth). Sai Baba
used to wear white or orange colour 'Kafani'[5],
but Kashiram had prepared a green Kafani and cap for Sai Baba. But later on Sai
Baba wore white Kafani and folded a pieces of white cloth on his head. Kashiram
used to provide tobacco for chilim and firewood for the 'Dhuni[6]'
and also to give him some money. Later on he placed every month all his cash
before Sai Baba requesting the latter to take as much as he liked. At that time
Sai Baba never took any money from anybody as dakshina; still from
Kashiram he used to take a pice or two always... Kashiram had become so much
attached to Sai Baba that he always prayed that Sai Baba should take money from
him. If on any occasion Sai Baba refused to take anything from Kashiram, he was
grieved and shed tears. That this mentality was a kind of egoism and a
hindrance to the realisation of one's self, has been taught by Sai Baba to
hundreds of his later devotees, by bringing home to them, that, nobody was rich
enough to give whatever dakshina Sai Baba would ask for and so it
eventually happened to Kashiram, who later on could not pay what Sai Baba asked
for, as his financial state became poorer and poorer, and then he fully
realised that it was mere vanity on his part to think, that he could pa
anything that Sai Baba would demand. After suci conviction, Kashiram's financial
condition graduall improved and he became happy, but never again panted before,
to pay whatever Sai Baba would demand.
Kashiram was a
trader in cloth and so visited seve villages on bazaar days. Once while returning from Naw. bazaar, he
was waylaid by dacoits. Kashiram was
horse-back and the dacoits did not go for him first; but waylaid the carts that
were going along with him and when they saw Kashiram, they ran towards him, and
began to ransack him. Kashiram surrendered everything except a small bundle,
which the robbers thought contained money. As a matte of fact it contained
powdered sugar. A saint Janakidas
Baba; had advised Kashiram to put such sugar before ants, and as Kashiram
always carried a packet of sugar with him, and considered it a great treasure;
and come what may, be would never let this packet go. In the struggle, Kashiram
saw a sword nearby; dropped by one of the robbers. Kashiram got hold of this
sword and killed two of the robbers outright; but a third robber gave a blow
with an axe on the head of Kashiram, who fell do in a pool of blood, almost
dead. The remaining robbers too!
Kashiram for dead and left him there. After a time, Kashir; regained
consciousness and recovered after some days, he had complete faith in Sai Baba
as God incarnate, he decline' to be removed to the hospital but urged the
people to take him straight to Shirdi.
At Shirdi, Sai Baba asked Madhavrao Deshpande to attend on him, and
Kashiram recovered with the treatment ordered by Sai Baba. The Government of Bombay rewarded Kashiram
with a sword for this valour against th dacoits. While Kashiram had been
struggling with the dacoits, Sai Baba in Shirdi, was vociferating and abusing
in anger looking towards the direction of Kashiram. The devotees nearby at once
felt, that some devotee of Sai Baba must be in grave danger, and all this anger
and fighting mood was meant to fight against, and avert the danger, of his
devotee, a phenomenon which ultimately appeared to be too true. There were many
armed robbers against Kashiram was able to defy them and escape from the jaws
of death. But as it is said the killer is always helpless before the Saviour.
Kashiram lived after this for some years and died in Shaka 1830[7]
on Chaitra[8]
Ekadashi Day.
This incident
at the start, which is only one out of hundreds if not thousands that happened
later on, is a convincing proof of what Sai Baba really was; and
1stly. It
proves that Sai Baba was completely merged in the Atman pervading the entire
Universe, and therefore could at once know what was happening everywhere in the
entire Universe.
2ndly. He had the power to so arrange the struggle that Kashiram could slay two robbers; that the axe blow on head could not entirely kill Kashiram; that the robbers could be deluded to take him for dead and that within such a long period intervening between Kashiram's bleeding and his arrival at Shirdi, hemorrhage or later tetanus would not put an end to Kashiram's life - miracles, which only the One in Tune with the Infinite, could perform.
One of the
above trio in Shirdi, Mhalsapati lived till the year 1922.
Mhalsapati was
admirably attached to Sai Baba and therefore was very intimate with him. Sai
Baba used to sleep one day in the masjid (called at Sai Baba's own desire
Dwarkamai) and the next day in the Chavdi.[9]
When Sai Baba slept in this Dwarkamai, Mhalsapati was with Sai
Baba throughout
the night and they both had a tete a tete off and on, and what was 'Pendya to
Shri Krishna', this Mhalsapati was to Sai Baba. Till the end of his life,
Mhalsapati sat up throughout the night in the Dwarkamai even after Sai Baba's
Samadhi, on every alternate day. In fact this Mhalsapati was an emblem of
poverty, viveka[10], vairagya[11]
and contentment.
Since the time
Sai Baba came to Shirdi, he used to stay in the masjid, which, at that time had
been in a very dilapidated condition. At day time, he moved about, but always
returned to the masjid at night. If anybody invited him for dinner, he went,
and treated and gave medicine to the people, but never accepted any money for
the same; not only that, but personally nursed the patients, and there are
still living, some, who had the good luck of being nursed by Sai Baba. Later on
Baba stopped giving medicine and only continued to give his Udi' (ashed out of
the fire which was constantly kept burning in the Dwarkamai, and this 'Dhuni
has been similarly maintained by the Shirdi Sansthan Committee upto this
date).
That Sai Baba
gave medicine to the people was told by Sai Baba himself to the late Hari
Sitaram Dikshit. He addressed Dikshit by the name Kaka[12].Sai
Baba said, "Kaka, I used to give medicines to people before. Later on I
gave up that, and began to remember Hari[13],
Hari, and while remembering Hari, Hari, Hari met me."
Uncle.
When Sai Baba
first came to Shirdi, there lived a Sadhu by the name of Devdas. At this
Devdas's place several Sadhus came at various times. And as this was the trunk
road for going on foot to the southern plates of pilgrimage, like Rameshwar,
Pandharpur, Shirdi got sanctified by the footprints of many a holy man, off and
on. One such, by name Jankidas, was staying in Shirdi for many days. He, was a
Sadhu of a high order, and very often he and Sai Baba gathered for a tete a
tete. So also the well-known Gangagir Baba used to come here. After Sai Baba's
advent in Shirdi, when this Gangagir Baba first came, he saw Sai Baba carrying
two earthen pots full of water from the well. Gangagir at once asked the
villagers nearby as to when this entity (meaning Sai Baba) had come to Shirdi.
Gangagir said, "This is a precious jewel. His worth is very high. It is
the greatest good luck of this village that you should have such a gem
here." Saying this, Gangagir Baba went to take Sai Baba's darshan and both
had a very loving tete a tete. Similar expressions had been uttered by
Anandnath Maharaj, a disciple of the well-known Swami of Akkalkot. When this
Anandnath Maharaj had come to Nevargao near Yevala, Madhavrao Balvant
Deshpande, Dagadu Bhawoo Gaike, Nandaram Shivram Marwadi and Bhagchand Marwadi,
all of Shirdi, went there for his darshan. After darshan, when these four were
leaving for Shirdi, this Anandnath Maharaj suddenly came running towards their
cart and sat in it saying he would go with them (to Shirdi). People from
Nevargao and Yevala, made great efforts to dissuade Anandnath Maharaj from
leaving them thus, but without avail. Anandnath Maharaj when he came in the
presence of Sai Baba said thus - "He is a diamond. You do not know his
real worth. Although he may be on dung-hill, still remember that he is a real diamond."
At that time, the real worth of Sai Baba had not been realised by the people,
generality of whom took him for a mad Fakir.
The state of
Sai Baba at that time as quoted by Mr. H. S. alias Kakasaheb Dikshit, was thus:
"Rags to wear, he would sit where he chose, and though appeared to be a
madman, had realised the entire Universe within him." At times, Sai Baba
sat on the rivulet side, at other time underneath the nim tree on the outskirts
of the village, sometimes in the field of someone, his clothes in tatters, at
times he appeared to be in great anger; a line of conduct, which to the worldly
folks appeared to be that of a madman. But these Shirdi folks happened to be
very soon disillusioned, when Sai Baba's superhumanity steadily asserted
itself. Sai Baba had taken to lighting many lamps all over the Dwarkamai and
none could fathom his intention for doing so. For this lighting, he begged for
oil from the oilmen and banias. For some days these people supplied him with
it. One day, all of them declined to give it. But did this come in the way of
Sai Baba's daily routine? No! There was a drop of oil in the tin pot with which
he had gone to ask for oil. After refusing the oil, those Shirdi folks followed
Sai Baba, to see how he was going to light his lamps ('panatis[14]')
that day. Sai Baba returned to Dwarkamai, drank the drop of oil that was in the
pot, filled the pot with aqua pura, and poured it in the 'panatis. When doing
this the people naturally jeered at him as at a madcap. But when Sai Baba
struck a match and lighted the lamps one by one, and when these lamps remained
lighted throughout the night, then these worldly folks came to their senses,
and approached Sai Baba in suppliant postures to be forgiven and condoned
cendened. Some of them, who had actually persecuted him, became terribly
afraid; because they had thoroughly mistaken Sai Baba who was kind and loving
to friend and foe alike. He loved everyone of the village equally and whenever
any danger or calamity threatened the village or any individual, Sai Baba gave
timely warning and those who listened to his advice invariably realised the
enormity of the danger and thus had miraculous escapes from them.
Although the
entire village had come to put implicit faith in Sai Baba, still very few
happened to be intimate with him. Owing to Sai Baba's serene yet austere
outlook, nobody dared take any undue liberty with him; and then very few
frequented the Dwarkamai. One Madhavrao Balwant Deshpande, who had been a
school teacher in a school next to the masjid (Dwarkamai) began to frequent the
masjid, there prepare the chilim and smoke the same in Sai Baba's company. This
went on for sometime and Madhavrao became attached to Sai Baba, so much so,
that gradually he left off everything and his only business in life was to
serve the steadily growing stream of devotees that began to pour into Shirdi
incessantly. All this service of Madhavrao was purely honorary. This Madhavrao
was the living lexicon of Sai Baba of Shirdi, and as such, a reliable guide for
many a new comer to the Shrine of Sai Baba in Shirdi. Madhavrao died in the
year 1939.
As a rule Sai
Baba never went out of Shirdi, but at times he went to one of his devotees by
name Babasaheb Dengle in the neighbouring village of Nimgaon on the north, and
at times to the village of Rahata, three miles towards the south, to the house
of Chandrabhan Shet Marwadi. After the death of Chandrabhan, Khushalchand Shet
looked after the business of the shop. Sai Baba off and on invited this
Khushalchand. and when anybody from Rahata came to Sai Baba, he would
invariably ask him whether he had met Khushalchand!
Nanasaheb
Dengale, a brother of Babasaheb Dengale lived in Jali Nimgaon. He had no son.
As he did not get a son by his first wife, he married a second, but to no
effect. Then Babasaheb Dengale sent him to Sai Baba whose benediction 'hat he
would get a son proved true; and thus Nanasaheb who came into frequent contact
with Government officials always sang the song of Sai Baba's super-human powers
to these officials. This induced Chidambar Keshav alias Annasaheb Gadgil, the
Chitnis of the Collector, to take Sai Baba's darshan, and he did so with some
others. Annasaheb Gadgil's faith in Sai Baba increased day by day and he became
one of Baba's staunch devotees.
The masjid
(Dwarkamai) in which Sai Baba sat and slept every alternate night had been in a
very dilapidated condition. There was plenty of dust on the ground, which was
being added to by the help of dust falling from the dry mud roof. Nanasaheb Dengale brought for Sai Baba a
wooden plank for sleeping upon. Sai
Baba instead of keeping this plank on the floor and sleeping on it, tied the
plank like a swing to the rafter of the masjid with old rags, and commenced to
sleep on it. The rags were so worn out, that, it was a question whether they
could hold the weight of the plank itself. But here again Sai Baba disclosed
his 'Leela[15]' by
enabling the withered rags to sustain the weight of the plank with himself
sleeping on it. On the four corners of
this plank Sai Baba lighted a lamp (panati) at each of the four corners. It was a sight courted by many as observer
to see how Sai Baba mounted this plank.
But the fact is, that although many kept watching the event, nobody ever
noticed, how and when Sai Baba mounted this plank. All that they could observe,
was, Sai Baba about to mount the plank and Sai Baba asleep on the plank. This
naturally attracted crowds of people, and careful observers were posted by
relays, for a number of days without effect. But as crowds began to increase to
detect this unbelievable feat. Sai Baba to get rid of the bother, one day broke
the plank into pieces.
The desire
which drew Nanasaheb Dengale to Sai Baba also inspired Gopalrao Gund, Revenue
Circle Inspector of Kopargaon, who, though he had three wives, had no son. He
oot a son by Sai Baba's benediction and naturally became attached to Sai Baba.
At one time, he thought of rebuilding the dilapidated masjid and stored a
sufficient heap of stones for the purpose. But Sai Baba refused him permission
to rebuild the masjid, because that service was reserved for some future
devotee. The stones collected by Gopalrao were, by the desire of Sai Baba,
utilised in renovating the tomple of 'Sham God' and other temples of the
village. Sai Baba. was mindful of preserving all the places of worship in the
village. He got rebuilt and extended the Maruti's temple and also took care of
the Muslim Turbaf of the place. It is mentioned above that Sai Baba at times
used to sit under a nim tree on the outskirts of the village. Sai Baba once
said that there was a 'Turbaf of a Pir underneath that nim tree. People
therefore dug up the earth there, and were surprised to discover that, that was
so, On that day, Sai Baba w:as taken out in a procession accompanied
by music and singing. As regards this Turbaf Sai Baba once told Kakasaheb
Dikshit that that was the place of his ancestor, and that it would be conducive
of great good to those that would burn incense thereon every Thursday and
Friday.
Once Gopalrao
Gund thought that an annual fair (Urns[16]')
should be held in Shirdi in honour of Shri Sai Baba. He communicated his idea
to Tatya Patil, Dada Kote Patil, Madhavrao Deshpande etc. of the village who
readily fell in with the view, and began to raise funds for the same, but the
then Kulkarni of the place opposed the idea, with the result that an order from
the Collector was issued disallowing the holding of the fair. But Sai Baba had
given his clear benediction for the holding of the fair and therefore, the
protagonists of the fair again applied to the Collector, who cancelled his
first order and gave the permission. At the desire of Sai Baba that fair was
fixed for Ramnavami[17]
day. It is being held every year on the Ramnavami day since that time upto now.
Devotees from all over India began to
pour into Shirdi steadily and three such Utsavas were celebrated in Shirdi
during Sai Baba's time; 1st the Ramnavami Utsav, 2nd the Guru Pournima[18]
Utsav, 3rd the Gokul Astami[19]
Utsav and these were added to by the 4th Utsav (after Sai Baba's Samadhi on the
Vijayadashami(Dussera)day in 1918) i.e. the Punyatithi[20]
Utsav on the annual Dussera Day. The Shri Shirdi Sansthan Committee of Sai Baba
which has been entrusted with carrying out the scheme (for the maintenance of
the Shri Sai Baba Shirdi Sansthan) sanctioned by the District Court of
Ahmednagar, has, after mutual deliberations inter se, entrusted the management
of the Ramnavami Utsav to Hari Bhakta Parayan Das Ganu Maharaj, the well-known
modern poet and kirtankar, who has been attending to it with zeal and energy
worthy of admiration.
The second
utsav fell to the lot of the late Gopal Mukund alias Bapusaheb Buti, the
well-known millionaire of Nagpur C. P. and whose magnificent edifice of black
stone costing over a lac of rupees is now the Samadhi Shrine of Shri Sai Baba.
The sons of the late Bapusaheb Buti attended to this utsav till 1940, and since
1941, the Sansthan has been attending to this utsav, the sons of Buti are now
contributing Rs. 100/- as part of the expenses.
The third utsav
of Gokul Astami has been entrusted to the villagers of Shirdi headed by Tatyaji
Ganpatrao Kote Patil, one of the special favourites of Sai Baba. The Shirdi
people upto this day make it a point to make this utsav successful.
The last and
the 4th utsav, the Punyatithi utsav came to be entrusted to Sai Baba's devotees
outside Shirdi especially to those on the Bombay side; and upto this day this
utsav has also been attended to with all possible zeal and devotion all round.
Be it said in passing, that the present permanent fund of the Sansthan has been
started from the savings of the collections of spontaneous contributions for
the first Bhandara on the 13th day after Sai Baba's Samadhi in 1918A.D.
On account of
the very scrupulous care bestowed on it from the very start, by the late
Kakasaheb Dikshit, the first Hon. Secretary, and the late Annasaheb Dabholkar,
the first Hon. Treasurer, and continued by their successors in office the
permanent fund is somehow able to meet the annual cost of the maintenance of
the Sansthan and it is upto the devotees to see that this fund is adequate to
keep the steadily expanding Sansthan satisfactorily cared for.
Shri Sai Leela,
originally a monthly Magazine containing, inter alia, Sai Baba's 'Leelas' as
manifest from the countless experiences of the mass of devotees, was, at the
start, so ably managed by the aforesaid two devotees Messrs. Dikshit and
Dabholkar that for sometime, it proved to be a gaining concern, of the
Sansthan. Later on, this publication, for manifold reasons, dwindled down to be
a losing concern, so much so, that the Sansthan has to remain contented for the
time being by making it a quarterly issue. It is at present managed by a
sub-committee appointed for the same.
At the time of
the Ramnavami fair i.e. on Ramnavami day itself, two huge flags were taken in
gorgeous procession to the masjid where these were fastened at the two comer
tops. One of them came from the late Shankarrao Raghunath •Deshpande alias
Nanasaheb Nimonkar and the other from Damushet Kasar of Nagar. Nimon is a
village in Sangamner Taluka. Nanasaheb was an Hon. Magistrate and was
considered as one of the leading men in the Taluka. He did Magistrate's work
for many years, which he gave up on account of old age. He sometimes visited
his uncle at Shirdi, and took Sai Baba's darshan at the desire of his uncle.
Gradually Nanasaheb's faith in Sai Baba increased, so much so, that, the last
three years he spent in the service of Sai Baba incessantly day and night. He
left Sai Baba only for his daily bath, worship and food; during the rest of the
time he had dedicated himself to the service of Sai Baba. Although he was past
60 years, he never desired for any rest away from Sai Baba, who called him by
the name Kaka. He did not live long after Sai Baba. By Sai Baba's grace he had
a calm end. He was so mindful of Baba-that he saw Sai Baba everywhere. Whenever
anyone approached him, Nanasaheb said, "Come Sai Baba." To his wife
he said the same, "Come Sai Baba." At this, his wife thought that he
was delirious or getting unconscious, and therefore, replied to him that she
was not Baba, but his wife. To this Nanasaheb replied, "Who is within you?
Of course Baba, you are Sai Baba," In this way Nanasaheb remembered Sai
Baba right upto his end.
The second
bunting flag of Ramnavami came from the late Damodar Savlaram alias Damushet
Kasar as said before. Although he had three wives, he had no son, and
therefore, he was very sad. Once Govindrao Sapkar, the father-in-law of
Madhavrao Deshpande suggested to him, that he should go to Shirdi and get Shri
Sai Baba's benediction. He did accordingly and got a son. This confirmed his
faith in Sai Baba, and since then, he commenced to bring a flag on he has kept
doing this upto this day.
A few years
before Ramnavami Utsav was started. Sai Baba had attracted to himself a devotee
by name Narayan Govind alias Nanasaheb Chandorkar. He was a resident of Kalyan
and at that time a Chitnis of the Collector of Ahmednagar. To him one day
Keshav Anant alias Appa Kulkarni of Shirdi said, that Sai Baba had called him.
At first Nanasaheb did not believe Appa, and told him, "Why do you take
Sai Baba's name? Tell me frankly what you want from me." At this when Appa
assured Nanasaheb that the latter was really called by Sai Baba, Nanasaheb came
to take Sai Baba's darshan and very soon became a staunch devotee of Sai Baba.
He repeatedly visited Sai Baba and benefitted himself by Baba's ambrosial
advice during their sittings which at times were for hours together. At such
sittings Nanasaheb was convinced about Shri Sai Baba's mastery over the
Sanskrit language. Nanasaheb's devotion to Sai Baba was very great indeed. For
two things, Nanasaheb will be ever remembered by the other devotees of Sai
Baba. The first is, that he got rebuilt and extended the old dilapidated masjid.
As Nanasaheb had no time, Nanasaheb Nimonkar at the former's request undertook
to supervise the work personally and he carried it out excellently. Permission
for starting the work was obtained from Sai Baba, through Mhalsapati. Although
permission had been given, when the work was going on, Sai Baba used to pull
down the work and large heavy stones and other heavy building implements were
hurled away by him from time to time. In this manner the work was pushed
through. These acts of Sai Baba may appear strange to outsiders, but those who
had been in closer touch with Sai Baba will feel convinced that Sai Baba never
did anything without any good reason. At last the work of the masjid was
completed and on the day it was so completed, as Sai Baba had gone to Nimgaon,
he was brought from there in a procession with music, bands, etc. and ushered
in state into the new masjid (Dwarkamai). In the construction of the new
masjid, the three carpenter brothers Kondaji, Gabaji and Tukaram proved of the
greatest use. And after the construction, the management of the masjid
continued with these three brothers for many years. This Kondaji died
afterwards and Gabaji and Tukaram are still living. Upto the end of Sai Baba's
life, the sweeping of the masjid, the cleaning of Shri's utensils, the heating
of water and serving the same for washing Shri's mouth etc., was done by
Tukaram. Sai Baba as a rule would not allow these things to be done by anybody
else. Upto now, the flag procession of Ramnavami day starts from the house of
these carpenters.
The second
great thing which the fate Nanasaheb Chandorkar did was the news he spread
broadcast about the benevolent and marvellous deeds of Sai Baba and thereby
gave the benefit of Sai Baba's benediction to people at large. After being a
Chitnis, Nanasaheb was a Mamlatdar and then a District Deputy Collector and as
such he had to tour through large areas. During such tours, wherever he went,
he never failed to sing the songs, very devotionally, of Sai Baba and thus
incited an urgent desire amongst his audience to take the benefit of Sai Baba's
darshan. Nanasaheb was the cause of the benefit of the darshan to the late
Kakasaheb Dikshit (Hon. Hari Sitaram Dixit, LL.B., J.P., Solicitor, Mumbai) as
also to thousands of persons from Mumbai and the District. For attracting the
attention of the Mumbai people, besides Nanasaheb, two other persons also were
instrumental. One of them is Hari Bhakta Parayan Ganesh Dattatraya
Sahasrabuddhe alias Das Ganu Maharaj. He was at first in the Police Department
and was very fond of Tamashas[21].1
Through Nanasaheb he came to take Sai Baba's darshan, and gradually became so
much attached to Sai Baba that he left service, and by publishing his
devotional books (Pothis) and through his public Kirtans[22]
commenced to advertise far and wide, the name, fame and spiritual worth of Sai
Baba. This is Das Ganu's career upto the present day, a career which has now
elevated him so far, that he is one of the leading Kirtankar Varkaris[23]2
of Pandharpur, well-known for his entertaining histories of ancient saints and
other works both in prose and poetry and is an avowed disciple of Sai Baba, who
chants not only in Shirdi and Pandharpur, but also amongst the thousands of
devotees of Shri Sai Baba. Modern Bhakta Lilamrut, Santa Kathamrut, Bhakti
Saramrut, his commentaries in poetry of Ishavasyopanishad and Amrutanubhava of
Shri Dnyaneshwar Maharaj, and Shri Shankaracharaya's Charitra in 1942 are among
his principal productions. Nanasaheb brought Das Ganu to Mumbai and gave the
large public of Mumbai the benefit of Das Ganu's inspiring and attractive
Kirtans where the heart of the audience was captured wholesale by listening to
the saintly and miraculous fame of Sai Baba. This brought about an incessant
stream of visitors to Shirdi from Mumbai and the surrounding country far and
wide, since the year 1910 A.D.
The other
person was the late (the Hon'ble Mr. Hari Sitaram Dixit) Kakasaheb Dixit, from
whose sketch of Sai Baba m Marathi this sketch in English has been attempted.
This Kakasaheb about this time i.e. 1910, began incessantly to stay in Shirdi
at the feet of his Master Sai Baba. He was thus out of the public life of
Mumbai and many of his friends and well-wishers, worldly as they were,
published in the papers that Dixit had become a Buwa i.e. an ascetic and
therefore many went to Shirdi to see who it was that caused such a change in
Mr. Dixit.
When the late
Nanasaheb first came to Shirdi, there was no place for the visitors to stay in
it. But this want was soon removed. The late Rao Bahadur Hari Vinayak Sathe was
a Deputy Collector in this District. Since many years his first wife was dead,
and he had no wish, as he was over fifty years, to get re-married. But as he
had no male issue his friends were after him to get re;married. At
last he decided that he would go to Shirdi and do as Sai Baba would advise. He
came to Shirdi and Baba advised him to get married again and said he would
"•get a son, The Rao Bahadur selected a girl and informed her father, the
late Ganesh Damodar Kelkar, that the girl should be shown to Sai Baba.
Accordingly, when Kelkar brought the girl to Sai Baba, the latter put a melon
in her 'Oti' (lap) and applied kunku to her head. Shortly after, the marriage
took place. At the desire of Sai Baba, Rao Bahadur Sathe built a big Wada[24]
by purchasing lands surrounding the aforesaid nim tree. The Wada built by
the late Rao Bahadur Sathe, had been purchased on 30.9.1924 by the late R. S,
Navalkar, b.a., ll.b., Advocate,
O. S., Mumbai. Mr. V. N. Gorakshakar, who is now one of the five life Trustees
of the Sansthan, with great efforts, successfully induced the heirs of the late
R. S. Navalkar to make a gift of the said Wada to the Shirdi Sansthan in 1939.
On the said Wada, the Shirdi Sansthan. in 1941, built a structure containing
four double rooms for the use of the devotees of Sai Baba as per rules made
therefor. Three years later, Sai Baba got another Wada built by Kakasaheb
Dikshit, thus providing for some accommodation for the devotees staying or made
to stay in Shirdi, because it was not certain when Baba would allow a devotee
to leave Shirdi. A few years later, Shrimant Gopalrao Mukund alias Bapusaheb
Buti of Nagpur, built at Baba's instance, a third Wada This is a black stone
mansion the line of which may not be found in the whole of the Taluka, costing
over a lac of rupees. This contains Shn's Samadhi. This Bapusaheb Buti was a
permanent resident of Shirdi ever since 1910 A. D. As it is over quarter of a
century since Bull's Wada was constructed it stands in need of large repairs to
preserve the same from natural deterioration. It remains to be seen, how Sai
Baba is going to solve this problem of the Sansthan.
After the
building of the first Wada, Shirdi began to get the appearance of a Sansthan.
Sai Maharaj allowed his devotees to perform his 'Arati' and all the
paraphernalia of stately worship gradually began to come into evidence. The
Chavdi was richly decorated with mirrors, hanging lamps, pictures etc. and the
procession to the Chavdi assumed a very stately appearance with din of music,
bhajan, a horse and a palanquin, Chopdars etc., accompanying the procession.
And nothing could surpass the manifest divinity in Sai Baba's expression, when
he made a halt of about 5 minutes in front of the Chavdi looking towards the
sky and making signs with his right hand before the procession entered the
Chavdi. Indeed, a sight celestial for the worldly mortals to see! The floors of
both the masjid and Chavdi were covered with mosaic tiles etc., and the entire
credit of all this splendour is wholly due to the late Sundrabai Kshirsagar
alias Radhakrishna Bai. She was a devout devotee of Sai Baba, to whom she had
dedicated her mind and efforts. As she had no money of her own, she made all
efforts to import splendour into the Sansthan through such of the several rich
devotees as could be influenced by her sweating services in token of her
devotion to Sai Baba. She was great organiser during her eight or nine years'
stay in Shirdi, where she died at the age of 35. In the life-time of Sai Baba,
she never spared herself to add worldly grandeur to the daily curriculum of a
saint who nevertheless would not be distracted or deluded from the enjoyment of
his own grandeur within himself by these outward shows. But whatever
Radhakrishna did in nine years in transforming the rural aspect of Shirdi into
an urban one, others would not be able to achieve in a quarter of a century.
She was a woman of resolute will and assertive temperament. It was she who
introduced the night Shej[25]
Arati and the Kakad[26]
Arati in Chavdi. By her death the Sansthan is deprived of a splendid caretaker
of the Sansthan property.
But as
wonderful are the ways of Sai Baba, He has graced the Sansthan with another
lady full of Vairagya and selflessness in the person of Mrs. Jankibai Tambe
alias Shrimati Sai Mai (daughter of the late Purushottam Sakhararn alias
Balasaheb Bhate - a devout devotee of Sai Baba) who is admiringly filling up
the gap created by the demise of Radhakrishna. This Sai Mai has dedicated all
her moveable and immoveable property to the Sansthan by a deed of settlement
dated 2.1.1943.
Not onl