Sai Baba the Master by E.Bharadwaja

[Guest guest]

For instance, twelve years before Baba arrived at Shirdi, a young boy

of

ten or eleven years, named Devidas, came to the village and lived in

the

Maruthi temple. Devidas had fine features and bright eyes. He was a

jnani,

dispassion incarnate. Many natives like Tatya Kote, Kashinath and

others

regarded him as their guru.

 

When Baba arrived at Shirdi and began to live in the mosque, he often

used

to join Devidas and stay with him in the Maruthi temple or in the

village

chavadi. As we shall note a little later, this Devidas was responsible

for

Baba’s permanent stay at Shirdi.

 

Later, another saint by name Janakidas came to Shirdi and Baba spent

much

of his time with him. Sometimes Janakidas went to the mosque and

stayed in

Baba’s company.

 

Similarly a vaisya (i.e., one of the merchant caste) householder saint

by

name Gangagir came frequently to Shirdi from Puntamba. When he first

saw

Sai Baba carrying water from the well, he said, “Blessed is this

village

of Shirdi; this dung hill got a precious jewel. This man is carrying

water

today, but he is not an ordinary fellow. This land is really

fortunate”.

 

Another famous saint by name Anandaswami of Yewala Muth, a disciple of

the

celebrated saint Sri Akkalkot Maharaj, came to Shirdi in 1885. On

seeing

Baba he said, "Though he looks like an ordinary stone (i.e., an

ordinary

man) he is a diamond. You will soon realize this".

 

One interesting aspect of Baba’s personality, besides his earlier

fondness

for wrestling, was his love of songs and dance. In the early years of

his

life at Shirdi he used to go to the takia, the public resting place

for

Moslem visitors to the village, at night. There, in the company of

sojourning devotees and fakirs, he would dance and sing melodiously,

with

small trinkets tied around his ankles. The songs he sang were mostly

in

Persian or Arabic, which the local people could not understand.

Sometimes

he sang the more popular songs of Kabir. This went on till as late as

1890. Subsequently he stopped singing himself but his love of

devotional

music could be recognized. He encouraged his devotees to sing kavvalis

and

kirtans and to chant the attributes of god incessantly for seven days

on

end.

 

In spite of the testimony of many saints regarding Baba’s greatness,

many

were still ridden with the doubt that he was a little cracked in the

head.

One miracle that they witnessed had ultimately set their doubts at

rest.

 

 

(To be contd....)

 

Source http://www.saibharadwaja.org)