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Chapter
XXIX
Stories
of (1) Madrasi Bhajani Mela - (2) Tendulkars (Father and
son) - (3) Dr. Captain Hate - (4) Waman Narvekar.
This
Chapter described other interesting and wonderful stories
of Sai Baba.
(1)
Madrasi Bhajani Mela
It
was in the year 1916 that 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 that there
lived at Shirdi in Kopergaon Taluka, Ahmednagar District,
a great sage named Sai Baba, who was calm and composed,
and who was very liberal and who distributed money every
day to His Bhaktas and to skilful persons, who went and
showed their skill there. A lot of money in the form of
Dakshina was collected daily by Sai Baba and out of this
amount, He gave daily one rupee to a three year old girl
Amani, the daughter of a Bhakta Kondaji and Rs. 2 to 5 to
some, Rs. 6 to Jamali, the mother of Amani and Rs. 10 to
20 and even Rs. 50 to other Bhaktas as He pleased. On
hearing all this the party came to Shirdi and stayed
there. The Mela did very good bhajan and sang very good
songs, but inwardly they craved for money. Three of the
party were full of avarice, but the chief lady or mistress
was of a very different nature. She had a regard and love
for Baba. Once it so happened, that when the noon-day
Arati was going on, Baba was much pleased with her faith
and devotion, and was pleased to give her darshan of her
Ishtam (Beloved Deity). To her Baba appeared as Sitanath (Rama)
while to all the others the usual Sainath. On seeing her
beloved Deity, she was very much moved. Tears began to
flow from her eyes and she clapped her hands in joy. The
people began to wonder at her joyful mood; but 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 she was very
simple and devout, and her seeing Rama might be a
hallucination of her mind. He poohpoohed her, saying that
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 Ramadarshan now and then,
when her mind was calm and composed and free from avarice.
Wonderful
Vision
Things
were going on like this, when the husband got a wonderful
vision in his dream one night as follows :- He was in a
big city, the police there had arrested him, tied his
hands with a rope, and put him up in a cage (lock-up). As
the police were tightening the grip, he saw Sai Baba
standing quiet outside, near the cage. On seeing Baba so
near, he said in a plaintive tone - "Hearing Your
fame I came to Your Feet and why should a calamity befall
me when You are standing here in person?" Baba said -
"You must suffer the consequences of your
action" 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 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 - "Have you got such faith?" He
- "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, and opening his eyes, he saw
that he was free and the police had fallen down, bleeding.
Being much frightened he began to look at Baba who said -
"Now you are well caught, officers will now come and
arrest you." Then he begged - "There is no other
saviour except You, save me anyhow." Then Baba again
asked him to close his eyes. He did so and when he opened
them, he saw that he was free, out of the cage and that
Baba was by his side. He then fell at Baba's Feet. Baba
then 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 namaskaras 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 Mahomendan, were spoiling
us, the Hindus". Baba "Do you not believe in
your mind in Mahomendan Gods?" He said
"No". Then Baba said - "Have you not got a
Panja (Emblem of Hand) in your house and do you not
worship the same in Tabut, i.e. Moharum festival? Also
there is in your house another Mahomedan Deity by name
Kadbibi, whom you propitiate and appease on your marriage
and other festivals. Is it not so?" He admitted all
this. Then Baba said,"What more do you want?"
Then a desire arose in his mind to get the darshan of his
Guru Ramdas, when Baba asked him to turn back and see. And
when he turned, lo, Ramadas was in front of him. No sooner
did he begin to fall at His Feet, Ramadas vanished. Then
he inquisitively asked Baba,"You look old. Do You
know Your age?" Baba - "What! Do you say I am
old! just run a race with Me and see." Saying this
Baba began to run and he too followed. Baba disappeared in
the dust raised by His foot-steps while running and the
man was awakened.
After
awakening he began to think seriously about the
dream-vision. His mental attitude was completely changed
and he realised the greatness of Baba. After this, his
grabbing and doubting tendencies disappeared and true
devotion to Baba's Feet sprang in his mind. The vision was
a mere dream, but the questions and answers therein were
most significant and interesting. Next morning when all
the persons assembled in the Masjid for the Arati, Baba
gave him as prasad two rupees' worth 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". He did not get more money there,
but he got 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 had not to suffer any trouble or inconvenience during
their journey. They all returned home safe and sound,
thinking of Baba's words and blessings and the Anand(Bliss)
they experienced by His grace.
This
story illustrates one of the methods, which Baba followed
(and is following even now) in some cases to improve and
reform His devotees.
(2)
Tendulkar family
There
lived in Bandra (a suburb of Bombay) a Tendalkar family,
all the members of which were devoted to Baba. Mrs.
Savitribai Tendulkar has 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.
The son, Babu 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 that the stars were not favourable that year and
that he should appear for the examination next year, when
he would be certainly successful. This cast a gloom over
him and made him restless. A few days afterwards 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 to her,"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 to
get disappointed". The mother returned home and
communicated Baba's message to her son. Then he studied
hard and in due course appeared for the examination. In
the written papers he did well, but being overwhelmed by
doubts he thought that he would not secure sufficient
marks for passing. So he did not care to appear for the
oral examination. But the examiner was after him. He sent
word through a fellow- student, stating that he had passed
in the written examination and that he should appear for
the oral. The son being thus encouraged appeared for the
oral examination and was successful in both. Thus he got
through the examination that year successfully by Baba's
grace, 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 only hold on steadily to Baba with full faith
and continue our endeavours, our efforts will be
ultimately crowned with success.
The
father of this boy, Raghunathrao was serving in some
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 a
reliable servant. The question regarding the amount of
pension to be given was under consideration. He was
getting Rs.150/- p.m. 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 wish that Rs.
100/- should be paid (settled) 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 his
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 came to know that the whole thing was a
dream. Then he decided to send all these things to Baba at
Shirdi. When he came to Gwalior some days afterwards, he
sent Rs.12/- by money order to a friend, with instructions
that Rs. 2 should be spent in buying shidha articles and
walpapadi vegetables, and those should be offered to Baba
with Rs. 10 as Dakshina. The friend went to Shirdi and
purchased the things mentioned, but walpapadi was not
available. In a short time a woman turned up with a basket
on her head, which curiously enough contained the
vegetables. It was purchased and then all the things were
offered to Baba on behalf of Captain hate. Mr. Nimonkar
prepared the 'naivedya' (rice and walpapadi vegetables)
next day and offered the same to Baba. 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 of this from his friend.
Consecrated
Rupee
At
another time Captain Hate wished that he should have in
his house a coin of rupee consecrated by Baba with His
touch. He came across a friend who was bound for Shirdi.
With him Hate sent his rupee. The friend went to Shirdi
and after the usual saluation gave first his Dakshina
which Baba pocketed. Then he gave Hate's rupee, which Baba
took in His hand and began to stare at it. He held it in
front, tossed it up with His right thumb and played with
it. Then He said to the friend, "Return this to its
owner with the Prasad of Udi, tell him that I want nothing
from him, ask him to live in peace and contentment."
The friend returned to Gwalior, handed over the
consecrated rupee to Hate, and told him all the h0appened
at Shirdi. This time Hate was much pleased and realised
that Baba always encouraged good thoughts, and as he
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 brought a
rupee. On one said (obverse) of it were engraved the
figures of Rama, Laxman and Sita and on the other
(reverse) side was engraved the figure of Maruti, with
folded hands. He offered it to Baba with a hope that He
should consecrate it with His touch and return it to him
with Udi. But Baba immediately pocketed it. Then Shama
spoke to Baba, regarding Womanrao's intention and
requested Him to return it. Then Baba spoke in the
presence of Wamanrao as follows :- "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. Then 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
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