I serve within his house Baba

[Guest guest]

……“Baba takes charge of his bhaktas even when he does

not expressly use the words which he used to Dixit

" Kaka why have you any cares, all cares are mine " .

Baba said of Dabolkar " I serve within his house " i.e.

Baba agreed to look after the temporal welfare as well

as the spiritual welfare of Dabolkar.

 

The reality of this protection and guarding influence

not only in his case but also in those of his

relations, Dabolkar noted time and again. Having found

Baba a precious gem or mine, he took with him to Baba

his two sons-in-law, one after another (R. R. Samant

and Galwankar) as also the rest of his family. The

experiences of these two sons-in-law are found in

Devotees' Experiences, Vol II, published by All India

Sai Samaj, and they prove how Baba looked after their

interests.

 

Galwankar's statement is specially interesting. He

stated in 1938 when he was still in official harness

that Baba fixed him birth after birth on the high

moral and spiritual level of truth and integrity and

provided satisfactorily for all his wants. Once Baba

appeared to Galwankar and asked him " What do you

want? " Galwankar wanted nothing but Baba's grace and

he got it. He used to get sudden spells of bliss of

Baba. In the midst of his official work he would

suddenly stop and for some moments he would be

enjoying the bliss of Baba. His services to Sai Baba

are his gift of sites, etc. and what he did when

appointed as trustee of Sai Sansthan, an office which

he held upto his death in 1945. The benefits to other

relations are not recorded by Dabolkar or others, but

some of the benefits to Dabolkar himself have been

recorded. We shall just refer to one and close.

 

The receipt in miraculous circumstances of Baba's

portrait is considered of great value. In Chapter 40

of Sai Satcharitra Oabolkar records such a favour. One

Ali Mohamed, a friend of his, had many big pictures of

saints including Sai Baba. To a very orthodox

Mohamedan, pictures of saints are taboo.

 

In a fit of iconoclastic zeal all the pictures he had

were thrown away in the ocean near Bombay but

strangely enough Sai Baba's picture which was over the

door escaped notice and was not thrown away and AlIi

Mohamed did not want to destroy Baba's picture. He

came and gave it to Dabolkar on the Holi festival of

1917. Just a few hours earlier Dabolkar had a dream or

vision. A sanyasi (evidently a form taken by Baba)

came to him and said that he would attend the Holi

dinner as Dabolkar's guest.

 

So while serving leaves and dishes to the entire

family, a central seat with a fully served leaf was

placed in expectation of the Sanyasi or Baba in any

other form. None appeared and the family was just

about to start their meal when steps were heard on the

stairs. Dabolkar got up and met the visitor, Ali

Mohammad, who then gave him the picture, promising to

account for the presentation at a more convenient time

later on. The picture reverently received was placed

in the seat of honour, the central seat, reserved for

the guest. Thus Baba kept up the promise made the

previous night to attend the Holi or Shimga dinner.

 

That convenient occasion came only in 1926. Then Ali

narrated to Dabolkar how Ali was operated on for a

swelling in the leg and had to stay for months at

Bombay in his brother-in¬-law's use. That

brother-in-law told him that his (Ali's) health would

improve if he threw away or destroyed all the pictures

of saints kept in Ali's Bandra house.

 

A manager was sent to carry out the order for

destruction and all other pictures had been taken and

thrown away or destroyed. For some unaccountable

reason, Baba's picture alone escaped the fate of the

rest. Ali had faith in Baba and yet did not dare to

keep his portrait. So after consultation with some

friends, he took it to Dabolkar as the proper

recipient for the same. The presentation following the

dream vision impressed Dabolkar, as a remarkable

chamatkaric favour of Baba to himself.”……