Sai Baba the Master by E.Bharadwaja

[Guest guest]

Baba was fond of illuminating the local temples and the mosque with

oil-lamps at night. He used to beg oil from the grocers everyday and

after

sunset, he used to light the earthen lamps and keep them burning

throughout the night. At one stage, the grocers felt that they were

wasting what little oil they were giving him. So one day all of them

agreed among themselves and said ‘No’ to him and they curiously

watched

what he would do next.

 

Baba calmly returned to the mosque, drew water from the well, rinsed

the

oil-can well with a little of it, and gulped it down at one drought.

Again

he filled the can with the water and, returning to the mosque, poured

it

in the lamps and lighted them. To the utter amazement of the prying

scoffers, the lamps went on burning through out the night. The grocers

begged his pardon. Baba exhorted them never to utter lies but to be

truthful and to have faith in god. The darkness of their ignorance

was, as

it were, driven out by the lamps of faith that he lit in their hearts,

pouring the water of his grace into them, and the external act was a

living symbol of what he was subtly doing with their spirits.

 

News of this miracle flashed across the village and the neighborhood

like

a lightning and his fame thundered, as it were, heralding a downpour

of

his grace on devotees. It was the herald of a new chapter in the

annals of

the village and also in the lives of the countless devotees that were

to

bask in his grace and protection. The streets of Shirdi were to

overflow

with streams of devotees from all parts of the country.

 

(To be contd....)

 

Source http://www.saibharadwaja.org)