DEVOTEES' EXPERIENCES OF SRI SAI BABA BY H.H. NARASIMHA SWAMIJI - PART II

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Sairam,Devotees Experiences – Shri Rao Bahadur S.B.Dhumal

I shall give only one more instance in matters professional. There

was a charge against and conviction of three brothers for grievous

hurt in as much as they had attacked their opponents and broken a

bone of one of them. The injured man had been attended to by a

medical man, who was not a qualified or certified Doctor and treated

for over twenty days in his private hospital. I was engaged for the

appellants and I went up with the appeal memo and a bail application.

The Sessions Judge, who was a senior European Officer remarked on

hearing my application that the case was strong (against the

appellants) and he was not going to allow bail. I at once thought of

Baba and then turned to the Judge. I told him that the evidence of a

bone being broken was that of a "quack" or unqualified person and

that the prosecution evidence was interested and unreliable and that

as all three appellants, who were agriculturists, were in jail, the

agricultural work of their family could not be carried on, that in

case their sentence should be confirmed, they could be sent to jail

finally etc. At once the Judge allowed bail. When the case came up

for argument, the Public Prosecutor asked me if I was going to argue

on the merits for an acquittal against such a strong judgement, or

whether I would briefly ask for clemency, in which latter case he

would not oppose. Though I felt the strength of the judgement, I put

on a brave face and said that I would go the whole hog and fight for

an acquittal. I did argue for a reversal before the Judge but wound

up with a prayer for reduction of sentence. The Judge retorted that

if I was merely asking for mercy of the court I need not have taken

so much time to contest the conviction. When the Public Prosecutor

was arguing, the Judge wanted to know how he made out a case of

grievous hurt as the opinion of an unqualified man, a quack could not

be accepted as to the breakage of a bone. The reply was that the

injured man had been in the Hospital for over 20 days. The Judge

sharply answered, "That is an argument which you can advance before a

3rd Class Magistrate, Remember you are arguing before a Sessions

Judge and not before a 3rd Class Magistrate". On receiving this snub,

the Public Prosecutor collapsed; there was no further argument and

the appellants were acquitted.

Regarding public work, I may first mention that I was the first Non-

Official President of the Nasik District Local Board (nominated by

Government) and that I served in that capacity from 1-11-1917 to 13-5-

25. I had personally to sign thousands of papers myself without the

use of a facsimile seal - a proceeding which took many hours of my

day; and one consequence of this heavy public work was to ruin my

legal practice and reduce my income-tax from 260 odd rupees to zero -

in recognition of which sacrifice, this Sanad of Rao Bahadur was

granted to me in 1927 - a very poor and unsubstantial recognition you

may say - but it is still some form of recognition. Anyhow I faced

the work and went on trusting in Baba for the proper execution of my

office. A peon had to carry these papers to me and blot each

signature and after some hours the work would be over and the papers

sent back to the office. One day, when the papers were before me, a

visitor for whom I had much regard came in and stayed talking with me

till midnight and so the signatures had to be postponed till the next

day. The next morning, I found no time and as I was leaving the town,

I sent back the papers to the office. When I returned to the town

that night. I found only that day's papers brought for my signature

and when I wanted the previous day's papers, I found that they all

bore my signature. The peon had been sent away for his meal, the

previous midnight and how the thousands of signatures had been

affixed to the papers I could not guess. I have no other explanation

for it, except Baba and His superhuman powers.

 

-- to be contd

 

 

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