Sahasra Deepa Seva To Shri Sainath Maharaj

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Sahasra Deepa Seva To Shri Sainath Maharaj

Yes ! It is the repetition of the Jamner Episode ! It occurred on

14-11-1982 at 1-25 P. M. at Pune. Shivaji Nagar, Bus stand.

To fulfil a sankalpa of lighting 1008 lamps on Diwali night, I set out

to Shirdi by Dadar Express on 13-11-1982 and the train reached Pune the

next day late by 2 hours.

The Pune bus stand was overflowing with Diwali passenger crowd and I

missed the 9-40 Bus, as the conductor refused to take me seeing my heavy

luggage. The next one to leave by 1. 30 P, M. was also heavily booked

and a good Samaritan advised me to go to Shivajinagar bus stand. It was

worse there and the counter clerk said :*'Take your chance when the bus

comes " .

I came out for coffee and saw a lone taxi there. When I asked the taxi

walla what would be his fare to Shirdi, he said Rs. 450/- which I could

rot afford at that juncture. I quietly repaired back to the stand and

was watching the crowd, who were boarding the buses, some jumping in

through the opening above the dickey; the ladies too doing acrobatics to

enter the bus anyhow. At 66, it was impossible for me to do any of those

acrobatics, (with three cartons of Panatis, each weighing 7 kgs. as my

luggage) to board the bus.

I sat in a corner of the bus stand and started chanting the Taraka

Mantra Sai Ram. The Geetacharya's advice passed through my mind :

" Fix your mind on Me and worship Me devotedly and thou shall reach Me

without doubt. I truly promise to you, for you are dear to Me " .

Believe it or not! at 1, 25 P. M. the taxi walla whom I had met earlier,

came to me and said " Chaio Saheb, gadi tayyar hai " . I was dazed for a

second and dumb founded. Oh ! Baba, you as a tongawala took Ramgirbuva

from Jalgaon to Jamner to deliver the Udhi to Nanasahab Chandorkar and

saved his daughter Mainatai from a crisis; and Thou hast come again to

the aid of this fakir. My .eyes swelled with Ananda Bashpa (tears of

joy)

The Taxi walla said that he has a passenger upto Nagar .and he is

willing to take me to Shirdi for any consideration I like.

The passenger was one Mr. Bhosle of Pune, who had booked the taxi to go

to Nagar, with his wife and baby daughter, and was an utter stranger.

While travelling, when I asked Mr. Bhosle whether he knew Mr. C. G.

Chitamber of Nagar; he replied : " Oh ! you know Mr Chitamber ? He is my

intimate dost. " To my surprise again, he drove straight to Mr.

Chitamber's house at Nagar. Mr. Chitamber was equally surprised at my

sudden appearance in his house with his friend. I had the good fortune

to spend at his feet quite a few hours, during the Feb. 82, writers'

convention. After exchanging Diwali greetings and tea, I took leave of

the two great Sayees, and Taxi No. MTF 7817 whizzed off and reached

Shirdi on time at 6 P. M. I made a Sashtanga Namaskar to our Sad guru

Sainath Maharaj, The taxiwalla also was delighted to have an unexpected

Shirdi Darshan.

The Sahasra Dee pas were arranged in rows before the portrait of Sainath

in Dwarakamayi, and all around the three sides of the Mandap in front of

the Samadhi Mandir. The children of the neighbouring houses and Swamis

in Chavadi gave a lending hand to arrange the lamps, And Dwarakamayi was

illumined with the twinkling lights from the panatis and Baba glittered

and glowed with radiance saining (shining) brightly. The Sansthan Pujari

Shri Digamber remarked; " Bahut achha hai " .

Sai Bandhus: I have to mention here that originally I booked my seat to

Kopergaon and after a week I cancelled it and booked it to Pune. All

this had happened by His grace to make me bask in the Sai shade in the

company of the Chitambers and their friend Mr. Bhosle who, just like Das

Ganu Maharaj, had resigned his police job and with Baba's blessings was

now doing service to humanity.

Let me bow to the Sai Bandhus of Tamilnad, Hyderabad, Bombay and

Chandigar, who, by their spontaneous response to my appeal, made it

possible for me to offer this Sahasra Deepa Seva on this Diwali Day. May

their wishes be granted by Sai Maharaj and may their tribe increase

R. S. Ramakrishnan

Madras. 600004 -

(Source Shri Sai Leela May 1983)