Baba came to us By Prahfad B. Huliyatkar

[Guest guest]

Baba came to us

By Prahfad B. Huliyatkar

 

Fishing for FAILURE

Man swims in the sea of self-satisfaction,

Nibbles at the bait of procrastination.

Swallows the hook of mediocrity, and

Ends up in the net of failure.

 

There are some experiences which are beyond explanation. They exist as

sunlight. The manifestation of divinity is beyond all our limited

perceptions. As for myself, I cannot explain the cause of incidents; but

they exist as clear as sunlight. I humbly try to catch the spirit.

 

My parents and grandparents were indeed blessed to see Sai Baba when he

was physically alive. One day Baba gave to my father a coconut, some

sweets and two silver coins to my grandfather, who was then working as a

Deputy Collector at Nasik. He asked my father to give him a 'Dakshina'

of nine rupees and also gave him a chillim to smoke. Both my father and

grandfather started worshiping Sai Baba even after we shifted to

Jamkhandi in Karnataka. The elders in the family objected to this

worship and in order not to hurt their feelings, my grandfather put the

photo of Sai into a suitcase. They worshipped Sai Baba mentally till the

last breath of their lives. As I was a pet grandchild, my grandfather

used to narrate miracles of Sai Baba. He became Dewan of Bhor, later at

Ramdurga and finally at Jamkhandi till it merged in the independent

India. In his retired life he spent on spiritual quests and I remember

Mr. B.D. Jatti (who later on became Vice-President of India) visiting

him now and then.

 

During this time, Gurudev Ranade, who was then the Vice-Chancellor of

Allahabad University frequently called on my grandfather at Jamkhandi.

My grandfather died in 1958.

 

Then the problems started for us. I graduated at Poona and had got into

the Law College when my grandfather passed away. Since the financial

position became critical after his death, I had to leave the Law college

and work as a teacher at Malvan. Here due to a strange coincidence, I

came in contact with a girl, I liked her and subsequently we married.

 

After marriage, I learnt that my wife was a very quiet devotee of Sai

Maharaj and as any other young man, in order to please the newly married

spouse; I also started worshipping Sai Baba. She had a photo of Sai Baba

with a horse. Along with her, I started reading 'Sai pothi'. I felt this

was more pretence than devotion!

 

In 1965, we were blessed with a son. My son was healthy but gave

indications of dumbness. We did not know what to do. We took him to

Shirdi when he was two-year old. He virtually slept off on the'

Samadhi'. When we returned home two days later, he was saying 'Baba-

Baba'. He picked up vocabulary and he became normal in all respects.

This miracle changed my attitude towards Baba and I accepted him as my

God!

 

We shifted to Goa in 1960. On seeing our worship of Sai Baba a good

number of neighbors also became His devotees. We hold 'Satsang' and the

number is ever increasing. In 1977, a devotee by name Avinash went to

Shirdi and brought a small bag of Udhi. My wife told him: " Avinash! You

came from Shirdi. Why did you not bring Baba with you " ? He answered:

" Baba is coming - Baba is coming. He is on His way. " Avinash's word

turned out to be prophetic. On 9th June 1977 my wife had a dream: " Your

brother-in-law is coming. Do not allow him straightaway. Take out

'Dristi' (evil eye) and then allow him to meet your husband " . My wife

saw in her dream Sai Baba in orange robes climbing the footsteps and

herself taking out 'Dristi' with a piece of bread and then Sai Baba

entering the house. The dream ended. I did not attach any importance to

her dream but she had implicit faith that Baba is coming to us:

On 22nd June 1977, in the afternoon, someone tapped the front door. I

opened the door and noticed that two cars were parked close to my house

and around 20-30 people were standing near the cars. A Sai devotee by

name Sri Abajee Panshikar greeted me and said: " We have brought Sai

Murthji to install in the temple tomorrow. In the temple, arrangements

are still to be made. So we would like to keep the idol in your house

for tonight " .

 

We agreed. Baba's idol was brought inside and kept on a table. In the

night, we performed 'Arathi' and sang Sai-bhajans. My wife said: " Baba-

you really belong to us. You should not leave us. " I laughed at her

request and said " Baba will go away to the temple. "

 

Next day, around noon people started gathering near the temple.

Sai-devotees Kulkarni, Kishore Sahoo, Jaya Rao came to my house. News

came that there was some difficulty in installing the idol in the

temple. Ultimately the crowd came to my place and in a chorus said: " Let

the Murthi be here " . They performed Ganapathi pooja, Sathyanarayana

pooja and then the idol was installed on a table in my house. Baba has

stayed permanently with us since then! In our own humble way we worship

Him. People from different parts of the world have attended 'arati' and

'pooja' in our house and everyone has got some experience or the other.

Prayers have been answered. Sai Baba is blessing us and is close to us

in every moment of life. Thus Sai Baba came to us in an incredible

manner.

 

(Source Sai Padananda April 1993)