Sai Baba the Master by E.Bharadwaja

[Guest guest]

Lord Dattatreya

To the devotees of Lord Dattatreya, Sai Baba was Datta. Once two visitors

came from Goa for Baba’s darshan. Baba asked one of them for Rs. 15/- as

dakshina and the man gave it. The other man volunteered to offer Rs. 35/-

but Baba did not accept it. Later Shama made bold to ask him why he made

such distinction between the two visitors. Baba said, “Shama, you do not

know anything. I do not take anything from anyone. Musjidimai (i.e. mother

musjid) calls for her debt and the debtor pays it and becomes free. Have I

any home, property or family to care for, that I should need money? I

require nothing. At first the man was poor and could not secure any job.

He then took a vow that if he got a job he would offer his first month’s

pay to Lord Datta. He soon got a job and his first month’s pay was Rs.

15/- Later he was promoted and his pay rose up to Rs.790/- p.m. But in his

prosperity he cleanly forgot all about his vow. Debt, enmity and murder

have got to be atoned for. The force of his karma has driven him here and

I asked for the amount from him as dakshina”. The visitor in question

confirmed that Baba’s words were nothing but the truth. By revealing his

knowledge of his vow and the circumstances in which it was made and also

demanding it Baba showed that he was Lord Datta.

 

Balwant Khojokar was at Shirdi in 1911 on the occasion of holy Datta

Jayanthi i.e., the day of Lord Dattatreya’s first manifestation as the son

of Sage Atri and his wife Anasuya. Khojokar’s son writes about the

incident that took place on that day; “At about 5 p.m. or so, Baba was

seated at the mosque with devotees around him. Suddenly he said, ‘I am

having the pangs of labour. I cannot bear it. I am about to be delivered!’

Evidently he was identifying himself with Anasuya of yore, mother of Lord

Dattatreya, who at that time of the day had her pains of labour ages ago

and so he too was undergoing sympathetic pain. At the time of sunset, he

drove out all people from the mosque and again, after a little while, he

called in all people to come to him. Then he was in glee. This, according

to puranas, was the time of Datta’s birth. People went in, and among them

was my father. What he saw on Baba’s seat and in the place of Baba was

small child, charming three-faced figure of Datta as an infant. That

vision lasted for a moment. Khojokar realized that Sai Baba was Datta.”

 

Source http://www.saibharadwaja.org)