Sai Baba the Master by E.Bharadwaja

[Guest guest]

One Mr. Keshavrao Pradhan stayed at Ukrool near Bombay. Though he had

heard of Sai Baba he did not believe in Him. He did not visit Baba till

his friend compelled him to do so in 1916. Later he was quite changed. He

repeatedly visited Shirdi and invited Baba to Ukrool. Baba simply gave him

a picture of himself and said, “Go to your place and raise a temple of

this (i.e., his form which you call Baba). Don’t come here again. Go!”

When Pradhan again visited him, Baba said, “When I have come to your

place, why are you here? Your place is your Shirdi now!” Pradhan submitted

that he had not the confirmatory experience of this fact.

 

Later Pradhan raised a mandir at Ukrool and installed an idol of Baba in

it. Ever since Baba spoke the above words, those who lived nearby the Sai

mandir, including Pradhan and his family, had strange experiences. At

night they used to hear the sound of the mandir-doors being opened, saw

from a distance, Baba’s physical form moving in the precincts of the

shrine. Finally they saw him withdrawing into the mandir at about 3 a.m.,

and closing the doors of the mandir. Several leelas of Baba took place

there and the number of devotees visiting the shrine rapidly increased.

Even after Baba’s mahasamadhi the devotees had clear proof of his

spiritual presence there.

 

Source http://www.saibharadwaja.org)

For instance, in 1940 the temple was being renovated after Pradhan’s

demise. But the funds were not forthcoming. A devotee named Narayan

Purohit undertook parayana of ‘Sri Sai Satcharitra’ to secure Baba’s help

in the matter. In three or four days Baba appeared in his dream, moving

about in the precincts of the temple saying, “Where is my dhuni? If there

is no dhuni, how can this be Shirdi? How can the temple be complete?” Then

he threw stones at all, fuming and fretting. Accordingly, with the consent

of the trustee a dhuni (8’ X 4’) was made. Sri A.R. Walewalkar, son of

Dabholkar (the first biographer of Baba) lit up the Dhuni in 7-4-1949 at

10 a.m. He stayed at Bhivapuri (which is close to Ukrool) under the

instructions of Baba in a dream.