Sai Baba the Master by E.Bharadwaja

[Guest guest]

Another devotee’s experience occurred long after Baba’s mahasamadhi (in

1918). Vinayak Daji Bhave, a clerk in the Railway Department, was anxious

to find a guru. So he undertook a devout daily reading of the “Guru gita”

which is said to be efficacious in such matters. After a month, he visited

a temple of Datta on a Thursday. But, to his wonder, there he saw a

samadhi (i.e. tomb of a saint) in the place of the usual idol of Datta!

Next morning he happened to see, for the first time, late Sri Dabholkar’s

(Hemadpanth) book on Sai Baba in which he saw a picture of Sai Baba’s

samadhi. At once he recognised it to be the one that he saw at the Datta

temple earlier and inferred that Sai Baba was his guru. For a time he took

Baba’s udi and read books on Baba. After some time the doubt cropped up in

his mind that a tomb cannot be a substitute to a living guru who could

communicate with him. So again he did parayana of the Guru gita for a

week. Then the great saint Narayan Maharaj of Khedgaobet appeared in his

dream. Inferring that Narayana Maharaj was his guru, he went to

Khedgaonbet. There Sri Narayan Maharaj appeared in his dream and said, “I

and Sai Baba are not different from each other. Why do you not go there?”

Thus confirmed, Daji Bhave accepted Sai Baba as his guru. Later a sadhu

read his palm and said, “Sai Baba is your guru”. The appearance of Sai

Baba’s samadhi in the place of Lord Datta’s idol in the Datta temple and

its confirmation by Narayana Maharaj establish Baba’s identity with Lord

Dattatreya beyond any doubt.

 

About 1900, one Balasaheb Binnevala, a close relation of Nanasaheb

Chandorkar, went to see Sai Baba, but only to oblige Nanasaheb. He was a

worshipper of Lord Datta. When he went and saw Sai Baba, the latter

appeared to him as having the three heads of Lord Data. Balasaheb was at

once convinced that Sai Baba was Datta.

 

Source http://www.saibharadwaja.org)