WHO IS SRI SAI BABA OF SHIRDI?

By Shri H.H.NARASIMHASWAMIJI

Founder - All India Sai Samaj (Regd.), Madras - 600 004

SAI BABA of Shirdi is a name to conjure with. In fact, his name is used as a sacred and
powerful mantra by thousands of persons. He is not a non-historic or remote personality, but one
who was with us in the flesh till 1918, moving familiarly with tens of thousands and that for
decades. A short account of Sri Sai Baba will be interesting and will also prove in many cases
the turning point in the lives of numerous readers, as it has done in the past.

2. Of Sai Baba’s birth, parentage, and antecedents, no person that we have met can give any
account. But Baba himself gave some hints which have been verified and worked upon. He
seems to have been born some time between 1820 and 1850 A.D. in the village Pathri, in the
Nizam’s State. His parents were Brahmins who handed him over at a tender age to a fakir. After
the fakir’s death, some five years later, the child passed in the care of his Guru Deva, Gopal Rau
Deshmukh, a great Bhakta of God Venkateswara of Tirupati. After a splendid period of ten years
of intense love and devotion towards his Guru-God, the boy obtained the Guru’s grace. As
directed by the Guru, he went westward and came to Shirdi in the Bombay Presidency
(Ahmednagar District), and after some wanderings, settled and spent the rest of his life there. He
passed away on the 15th October, 1918 (3 p.m. Vijayadasami Day, after Ekadasi began). The
tomb erected over his remains is now the Sai Mandir attracting the devotion of persons from all
parts of the country.

3. Nobody dies: least of all, a self realized soul like Sai Baba. Atmagnanis or Jivanmuktas
are said to become Vidhehamuktas or nirakara Parabrahmam when the fleshy sheath is cast off.
Exceptions to this rule are mentioned in the Brahma sutras. Bhrugu, Narada, and other eminent
devotee-gnanis have, instead of merging in the Absolute when they cast off the body, continued
to remain in their subtle body (Sukshma sarira, which however could be rendered gross and
visible or sthula at will) in order to co-operate with divine Leelas, rendering service to humanity.
These are styled apantaratmas. Sai Baba is now an apantaratma. Before shuffling off his mortal
coil, he said that his devotees need not be sad or frightened at his casting off his fleshy gown
(kupni) and that wherever and whenever any devotee should think of him, he would be present
and attend to him. This has been found indeed to be true by innumerable persons; and earnest
souls can still take Baba at his word and prove its truth from their own experience.

4. Sai Baba, the soul of truth and reality has never spoken untruth. ‘Anrutam noktapurvam
me nacha vakshya kadachana’ (Untruth, I have never uttered nor will I utter it at any time), was
the remark of Ayodhya Rama as also of this Shirdi Rama.

5. The early decades spent by Baba at Shirdi are almost wholly forgotten. He was first
living under a margosa tree leading the life of a perfect ascetic. Next, he removed to a
dilapidated mosque in the village, and resided there to the end of his life. He had nothing that he
could call ‘mine’. For thirty years and more, he was leading the life of holy poverty, and then his
devotees whom he affectionately termed his children, pressed the pomp and show of royalty
upon him. For the last ten years of his life, he appeared as a prince though he behaved
throughout like a poor fakir, who either owned nothing or everything in the world. His was the
life of perfect celibacy (naishtika rahmacharya with astalitha urdhvarethus), a fact which was
beaming out of his brilliant tiger like eyes. His virtues were numerous - Ananthakalyanaguna -
and would naturally sink into the heart of those coming in contact with him, and thus raise them
gradually on the highest. ‘Apana sarika karita tatkal’, is a saying of Tukaram, which means that
great souls raise the devotees to their own level; vide Bhagavata, where Lord Krishna says,
‘Though devotees do not wish to be one with me, I pull them unto myself’.

6. Amongst his qualities, the most notable was, of course, love - uniform, all embracing,
intense love, showered on all and at all times, without any idea of the extent of sacrifice involved
or any idea of recompense - truly maternal love at its highest. God is love and the means to
reach God is also love. Baba was nothing but the embodiment of love. This love was
perpetually manifesting itself in every act, word, and thought of his, though at times hidden by
his ascetic modes of life. In the beginning he would move and talk with none except under strict
necessity. However, when there was any suffering in the village, he would run to relieve it and
would accept no recompense.

7. ‘Saisangatve nissangatvam’ was the other exception to his rule of asceticism. Where
there were saints or holy people, he would be found in their company. Some of these saints like
Janaki Das and Devi Das were the first to discover his merits; and in the early eighties of the
19th century, some of them revealed the fact that Baba was like a diamond lying on a dung hill,
and that the world would one day discover what a great Rama Bhakta he was. The world has
since discovered that fact, and more, has identified him with Rama, Krishna, Maruti, Datta, etc.

8. At the time of his arrival at Shirdi, Baba appears to have been a thorough adept in the
Prema marga, the path of love and evidently possessed of all power, which naturally issues from
such love. He seldom cared to use his power, but once, a manifestation was wrung out of him.
The shopkeepers who supplied him gratis with oil, one day refused the supply, and gathered in a
scoffing mood to see what the ‘mad fakir’, as they styled him, would do without oil for his
lamps. Baba simply filled up his empty earthen lamps with water, and the wicks inserted in the
water were burning all night! This gave a rude shock to the villagers’ notion that Baba was
negligible and mad fakir.

9. Baba however was never negligible. From the very beginning, he was always helping
humanity at first by dispensing medicines and later by dispensing ‘Udhi’ i.e., Vibhuthi or ashes
from the fire that he always kept burning by him. Udhi has played a very important part in the
grace shown by Baba to people all these years, and it is still being sought and used by people all
over the country. But, as Baba explained, it is not the Udhi itself that works the wonder. {“What
can the Udhi do? Nevertheless, take the Udhi as it is wanted”, said Baba to G.G.Narke} The
devotees’ Bhakti (faith and devotion), for instance, has always to take its part in the good results
produced by the Udhi. The Udhi was generally the material with which His blessings were
issued. The Udhi is the cup enshrining the really valuable blessings of Baba. But these blessings
often came and do come without the Udhi.

10. When people came to him, he would give them the Udhi and say ‘Allah bale karege’ (i.e.
God will bless) and everything he uttered proved effective. Once he said ‘I go on speaking
things here and things happen there.’ Baba’s words were words of authority. When he said that
there should be water on a waterless rock, water was found there. {Charter 350}. When he
addressed the elements they obeyed him. Fire, water, and air were seen by several devotees to
obey his orders. He ordered high flames to sink down and they did. He ordered the rain and
storm to cease and they ceased. He willed a cool breeze to blow near the fire on a blazing
summer day and cool breeze blew there.{Charters 341.4} The dead were revived. The heart of
every one present or absent, he knew without effort and he could control it. He was realized to
be a sarvantharyami. He himself declared,

‘Aham Atma hi Chandorkar Sarva bhutasaya sthitah’

i.e. ‘O, Chandorkar, I am in the hearts of all creatures’.

11. Of the many ‘miracles’ performed by Baba and witnessed by many eminently respectable
persons (many of them still living), it is sufficient to give but a few instances to show how and
why they were resorted to. Baba identifying himself with God and gods declared that there was
never any miracle performed by him. Really, there are no ‘miracles’ in the universe if ‘miracles’
mean the violation of the laws of Nature or of God. People begin to generalize about the laws of
Nature from the few facts known to them and when a strange phenomenon suddenly appears in
apparent contradiction of their artificial ‘law of Nature’, it is declared to be ‘miracle’ - a violation
of the so called law. A truly scientific mind would rather add the new fact to the old facts and try
to remold the old law so as to include the new fact observed. Mankind is not omniscient. One
day, the science of the future will give scientific explanations for the so-called ‘miracles’ of all
times.

12. But beyond the miracles of Baba, there is one bright, marvelous fact, worthy of people’s
adoration and that is, his golden heart of love with its message of universal love. Baba loved all
- Hindus, Moslems, Christians, and Buddhists, the learned and the illiterate, the poor and the
rich, the priest and the criminal - alike. His message to all his devotees is ‘Love ye, one another,
as I love you all’.

13. Baba declared that if people hated one another, his heart was smarting with pain and
sorrow and if persons forgave enemies and endured the ill-treatment, he was highly please. This
is the most valuable lesson for this day and for all time. A story is told in Bhagavatham of the
world going as a cow to Brahma, groaning under the weight of the cruel Asuras harassing
innocent people. That is just the spectacle all over the world to day. Hatred, destruction,
plunder, and absolute disregard for truth and virtue, are the predominant features in the daily
history of the world to-day. Man’s claws and teeth are red with the gore of brother man; and the
criminal is not apologetic but blatant. Civilisation is in imminent danger of being submerged in
pools of human blood and devastating fire leaving the human form a fossil to be discovered
within some rocks by some later race. The only thing that can avert this doom is love, a revival
of the very ancient message to Asuras from God ‘Dayadhwam’ i.e., ‘Be merciful’.

14. Baba’s whole life was an illustration of how this divine message could be carried out in
life, and the more Baba’s message is heeded, circulated, and preached, the greater is the hope for
humanity avoiding the threatened catastrophe. Incidentally, it may be noted that while the
Kshtriyabalam of Akbar failed, the Brahmatejobalam of Baba is steadily achieving the benefit of
the people. ‘Dikbalam Kshatriyabalam Brahmatejobalam balam’ - Fie upon Kshatriya’s power,
Spiritual power alone is power’, was said by the Kind Visvamitra when he found that all the
arrows showered by him upon Vasishtha were of no avail, by reason of the Brahmadanda which
Vasishtha had placed by his side as a protection. ’Ekena brahmadandena astrah sarvah
vinishkrtah’.

15. One species of miraculous achievements wrought by Baba for the benefit of his devotees
is the blessing given for issue. Whenever Baba blessed anybody and said that there would be
issue, invariably the lady brought forth the child, either male or female, in twelve months,
exactly as stated by Baba. Here are a few examples: Damodar S. Rasane had two wives, but no
issue. His horoscope showed a papi or cruel planet in the putrasthana and astrologers declared
that he would have no issue in this birth. But Baba gave him four mango fruits and directed him
to give them to his junior wife. Baba assured him that he was going to have eight children
through that wife, the first two being males. The lady ate the fruits and had just eight children,
with their sexes as mentioned by Baba. This would remind one of the issue less monarch
Dasaratha, consulting his Kulaguru Vasishtha. According to the directions of this Guru,
Aswamedha and Puthrakameshti yagas were celebrated on a grand scale (even though it was not
stated that there was any papi in the putrasthana of Dasaratha) and four sons were brought forth
by his queens. In Rasane’s case, there was no Vasishtha nor were any yagas. Evidently,
Vasishta, Vamadeva, Risyasringa, Bhrugu, Puthrakameshti and Aswamedha were all inside Sai
Baba who declared that the devotee would have eight children.

16. Another case is more interesting. One Scindhe had seven daughters and no sons. He
went up to the temple of Dattatreya at Gangapur, 200 miles away from Shirdi, and prayed there
for male issue. He vowed that if he were granted a son within twelve months, he would bring the
child to Gangapur and make his offerings. He had his prayers answered and obtained a son in
twelve months. But, for about six years, he did not go to Gangapur at all. Then he came to
Shirdi. Baba looked at him and spoke fiercely, ‘Are you so conceited and stiff-necked? Where
was there any male progeny in your Prarabhda karma? I tore up this body (pointing to his own
body) and gave you a male child in answer to your prayer’. This was not only occasion when
Baba declared that he had overridden the workings of Prarabhda karma. A third case is
interesting from another standpoint. A pleader of Akkalkote had reviled and mocked at Baba in
his student days and had subsequently lost his only son. Fancying that the loss was the result of
his irreverence towards Baba, he came to Shirdi. Baba blessed him and declared that he (Baba)
himself would fetch the soul of the deceased son and place him within the womb of the Vakil’s
wife. In twelve months thereafter, she was delivered of a male child.

17. Incidentally, it may be mentioned that it was the blessings for issue more than anything
else that made the educated, especially from towns, to go to Baba. One Gopal Rao Gundu, A
Revenue Inspector, who had two wives but no issue, sought and obtained Baba’s blessings and
the fruit of those blessings, a son. He broadcast the kindness of Baba and his wonderful powers
abroad, and a large number of educated people including Deputy Collectors, Collectors, and
political leaders like Lokamanya Tilak, flocked to Shirdi.

18. In 1886, Baba died his first death. One day when sitting along with his devotee
Mhalaspathi in the Dwarakamayi (as his mosque was named by him), Baba said that he was
going to Allah and that consequently for three days his body was to be looked after for, after that
period, he might return to the body, and that in case he did not do so, the body should be interred
near the mosque. Presently Baba’s body became a corpse. An inquest was held over the same
and the officer holding the inquest insisted on Mhalaspathi burying the body. But Mhalaspathi
vehemently opposed the proposal and succeeded in preventing the internment. On the fourth
day, Baba’s body revived and for thirty-two years thereafter, Baba worked through that living
fleshy case and finally left it on the 15th October, 1981, with the same prescience and clear
control over all the circumstances which he showed in 1886. This leaving of the body at will and
returning to it at pleasure is an art, a Siddhi, described in the Yoga Sasthras; and Baba’s exercise
of such powers convinced and would convince many of the truth of the Sasthras.
‘Dharmasamsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge’ (i.e. ‘I am born in each age for establishing
Dharma’) said Krishna of Dwapara Yuga to Arjuna. And this divinity of the twentieth century
A.D. in Kaliyuga, like other men of God (Devatmas) of the same period, has frequently by his
conduct proved the truth of, and confirmed, the belief in Dharma and Sasthras.

19. One noticeable feature of Baba’s life after his return to the body was that he began to
encourage the arrival of Bhaktas to his feet. Evidently the object of his return to his body was to
carry out his mission more fully and for a longer period on earth, especially with reference to the
devotees and others bound to him by former ties, rinanubandha. This is well illustrated by his
call to Narayana Govind Chandorkar, B.A., Personal Assistant to the Collector of Ahmednagar,
to come to his feet.

20. When N.G. Chandorkar or ‘Nana’ as Baba affectionately called him, was halting at
Kopargaon, Baba sent word to him repeatedly to come to Shirdi for a visit. Nana after much
hesitation came up to Shirdi and asked Baba why he was sent for. Baba replied that for four
previous births, Nana had been intimate with Baba and that therefore in this life also, he should
get into similar close contact. Again Nana hesitated. But Baba, by the exercise of his wonderful
powers and his kindness especially, filled Nana’s heart with faith and gratitude for numerous
miraculous favors showered upon him. On one occasion when Chandorkar was stranded on a
hot day on a waterless hill (Harischandra Hill) unable to climb up or get down, he suddenly
exclaimed; ‘If Baba were here, he would give me water’. Baba who was then at Shirdi, forty
miles away, mentioned to the people there that Nana was thirsty and should be provided with a
palmful of water. At that time, a Bhil appeared on that hill and pointed out a palmful of water to
Chandorkar, under the very rock over which the latter was seated. Later when Nana visited
Shirdi, Baba informed him that it was ;he who provided water on the waterless rock. Similarly,
on another occasion, when the thirsty Chandorkar prayed to Baba in the midst of a forest for tea
being given him after he should emerge from the forest, tea was suddenly provided in the middle
of the night in a forlorn place. Again when Nana’s daughter was undergoing the tortures of
prolonged parturition, Baba sent a gosavi from Shirdi with Udhi to be used for easing the
parturition. The gosavi wanted to know how he could go to Jamnere, which was N.C.C’s camp,
across thirty miles of country road from the railway without funds, Baba simply answered that
everything would be provided. At the station, the gosavi found a Tonga and a liveried peon
waiting for him, professing to have been sent by Sri Chandorkar. When the gosavi went up in
that Tonga and delivered the Udhi, its use was quickly followed by safe and comfortable
delivery. Then he mentioned the Tonga, the horse and the liveried peon to Chandorkar, who
wondered, as he had not sent any of these and nobody else could have sent these. Both the
gosavi and NGC wondered at Baba’s power to provide everything he wanted at any place and at
any time and at the depth of Baba’s love for his devotees.

21. Nana had innumerable proofs of Baba’s vast, nay, unlimited powers, his perpetual watch
over his beloved devotees, his invariable kindness towards all that approached him, and summed
them all up in the phrase that Baba was omnipotent, omniscient and universally kind. No word
aptly expresses the sum total of these attributes except ‘God’. Chandorkar was convinced that
Baba was God and worshipped him as God; and by reason of Chandorkar’s vast influence,
Baba’s greatness and glory became known to all in various parts of Maharashtra.

22. One Ganpat Rao Sahasrabuddhe, a constable attending on NGC was similarly turned in to
a devout Bhakta and made to quit Government service (in 1905) substituting therefore the
service of God or Baba. Sri Sahasrabuddhe has thence forward been known as Dass Ganu
Maharaj and as a Kirtankar-devotee of Baba all through these forty years. By his powerful
Harikathas and his talents, he has carried Baba to the homes of tens of thousands in Maharashtra.
His works on Baba are the earliest authorities on the life of Baba. The above mentioned two
gentlemen with others like H.S. Dixit and Anna Dabolkar, may be regarded as Baba’s apostles
who carried the faith in Baba to the length and breadth of Maharashtra.

23. Baba’s own miraculous personality surviving his release from his physical body has
however been the principal reason for the success of all this propaganda. His power is still
working and by reason of that along, myriads in Madras and other Presidencies have become
firm adherents to, and worshippers of, Baba. The faith is well grounded in the experience
showered upon them now as liberally and miraculously, as they were showered before Baba’s
passing away. Baba’s figure is occasionally seen by, and his wondrous powers are manifested to,
those that have the necessary faith, at any place, as Baba has no partiality and his grace cannot be
the monopoly of any person or place. Wonders are being worked by him today at various places
and therefore Sai Mandirs have sprung up in many of them.
24. Baba, however, is not a mere worker of miracles. He is a Samartha Sadguru. He applies
miracles or miraculous means to fill with faith and gratitude the hearts of devotees. Gratitude
soon turns into love and then Baba’s real work is seen. Baba purifies the hearts of all of the
dross of low attachments and their consequences, and gradually raises the devotees’ souls to
loftier and still loftier states of being, till they finally merge into himself. People begin with the
notion that Baba is a kind provider of all that they need and in fact resort to him to have their
temporal needs satisfied. But they discover (at least many do) that Baba is after all their
Ishtamurthi, their own Rama or Siva, the God of their fathers who has now taken a new shape to
carry out the ancient divine plan of the Universe, and that ‘God fulfils himself in many ways lest
one good custom should corrupt the world’.

25. The question is often asked whether Baba was a Hindu or Moslem. The first remark to
make about this question is that the cause for this question should be looked into before it is
answered. There is a strong feeling on the part of the Hindus that they should not go near a
Moslem whose views run counter to their cherished ideas, and who would destroy their religious
emblems and idols. Similar is the repugnance on the part of the Moslems to accept purely Hindu
traditions which they consider too idolatrous and unholy. When we come to take an impartial
view, we find, whether we are Hindus or Moslems, that the above question is irrelevant or of
very little importance. First about the irrelevancy. The Sufi and the Orthodox Hindu, both agree
that when a person has reached perfection, i.e., the level of Brahman, the question of caste does
not arise at all. Caste (or ‘Jathi’ as it is called in vernacular) refers to that which has born and
that which has ‘janma’. The self-realiser who is identical with God is not born though his body
was born. But the body is not ‘he’ and there is no need to go into the question as to whether the
body arose from parents who were Hindus or Moslems, or was trained and brought up among
3ither of them. Sri Sankara’s well-known phrase about the realized soul is ‘Jati Niti Kula Gotra
duuragam’ - that it is far above questions of caste, family clan, etc., and Sankara’s Manisha
Panchaka repeatedly closes with the line, ‘Chandaalostu Dwijostu sadgururityeshau manaishaa
mama’ - ‘Let him be a chandala or Brahmin; he (the realized soul) is my Guru’. What does it
matter whether the Kohinoor is lying on a dung hill or in a palace! The Sufis too have exactly
the same view as regards these distinctions. However, the reason for raising the question is a
strong feeling regarding the necessity of protecting one’s own religious sentiments adequately
from being harassed violently by a person of an opposite sect. On this matter, it may be pointed
out that whether Baba was a Hindu or a Moslem, he allowed every sect to keep to its own
method of approaching God. To Hindus, he said: ‘Continue your Rama worship, and worship
the stones which your forefathers worshipped’. He even presented some lingams, silver padukas,
pictures and coins for worship by Hindus. To Moslems, he never gave any of these but allowed
them to follow their nirakara (formless) form of worship as far as it is possible. So the real cause
for raising the question about one being a Hindu or Moslem does not arise in this case on account
of the extreme catholicity of Baba’s views and practice. But prejudices die hard and in spite of
all that is said, persons still hanker to know whether Baba was a Hindu or a Moslem. It may be
pointed out that though his original antecedents were unknown; his continued residence for about
50 years in a mosque was considered a sufficient reason for most people to consider him to be a
Moslem. There is a Tamil proverb that if one drinks anything, even milk, under a Palmyra tree,
he will be taken to have drunk toddy.

26. Let us examine the real facts. Baba’s antecedents as mentioned already were revealed by
himself. Even after they are fully considered, still the question must be deemed doubtful
whether he was a Hindu or a Moslem. But (Janma or Jathi) by actual birth, he was of Brahmin
parents, and hence by a very large number of persons, he is considered to be a Brahmin. But
according to Baba’s own statement, he was handed over in his very infancy to a fakir who
brought him up for about five years according to Islamic faith. After the death of the fakir, Baba
was handed over to a Brahmin Guru by name Sri Gopal Rao Deshmukh of ‘Venkusa’. The stay
of ten years under this Guru and the marvelous initiation into divinity by the Guru’s purna kripa,
ought to clear all doubts, and establish that Baba was Brahmin or at least a Brahmin. But as fate
would have it, the Guru after conferring upon Baba his purnakripa and raising him to divinity,
directed him to go westwards and Baba had to spend the rest of his life in a mosque moving with
all alike as an ativarnasrami, i.e., one beyond all caste rules. We do not know what an expert
lawyer would conclude as to Baba’s caste in these circumstances. But whatever that may be, to
those who considered him a Moslem, he responded as a Moslem and to those who cared to treat
him as a Hindu, he responded as a Hindu; and he expounded the Koran to the former and the
Sasthras to the latter. By the Hindus, he has been worshipped as Ramavatara or Sriman
Narayana for so many decades while others treated him as merely human. This reminds us of an
incident about Krishna. When Sri Krishna went with Balarama and others to a yagasala and
wanted food, the Brahmins were wondering whether they could offer the food prepared for gods
to Krishna, who appeared to have been born in a Kshatriya family but brought up among
(Vysias) cowherds. He was regarded as God by many, but the Brahmins were doubtful about his
caste. By reason of their ignorance (ajanna) they offered no food at all to Krishna. Then Sri
Krishna sent word to the ladies, who ran up all at once with great devotion and gave up all that
they had prepared for the Gods to him whom they considered as the God of Gods. Exactly the
same thing happens now. Persons whose pious leanings render they easily attracted to such great
souls as Baba run up to Baba and never bother their heads over questions of his Jathi or caste,
and like the Brahmin ladies, deserved and obtain the highest blessings while many doubting
Thomasses (samscyatmas) even of the highest castes, go on debating endlessly about the
question of the caste to which a holy man belongs and lose their chance of benefiting themselves
here and hereafter. It depends a great deal upon once’s poorva sambanda or rinanubhanda
whether one is attracted by Sri Krishna or Sri Sai; it may be noted that persons wish to discuss
this question of caste only when their feelings have not been roused. But when one is in intense
pain or great trouble, his heart leaps out with the request, ‘Baba, help me’, never minding a brass
pin as to where Baba was born or how he was brought up; and once he receives innumerable and
miraculous benefits, he gets perfectly convinced that Baba is God to him, whatever he may be to
others and he cares not for discussions as to the legal position regarding Baba’s caste. Baba
himself used to say at times to such Hindus as considered him a Moslem: “I am a Moslem, don’t
come to me” and to persons who regarded him as Sad Guru or Guru-God: ‘I am a Brahmin.
Give me dakshina. This place wherein I am sitting is not a mosque; it is a Brahmin’s mosque; it
is Dwaraka Mayee’. He was everything to everyone. {Ye yatha maam prapadyante,
thaamsthathaiva bhajaamyaham’ - Gita}.

27. Apart from Baba’s caste, some persons raise the question whether he was a Brahmagnani
and if so how he happened to perform miracles. Persons who raise such curious doubts would do
well to analyze their own question and find out its implications. Can it be very seriously
contended that he who performs miracles must be an agnani? Will Sri Krishna and Shankara be
labeled agnanis by these people? If these people analyse their own minds, they will discover the
reason fro their doubts. Spiritual aspirants (Sadhaks) are often decidedly to lose by attending to
the thaumaturgic powers or Siddhis derived from their Sadhana and many Gurus have warned
their devotees from hankering after Siddhis. It is also pointed out by such gurus that there is a
waste of accumulated powers in the exhibition of Siddhis and the performance of Siddhis is
generally attended with the danger of increasing one’s passions especially the rajas and Tamas,
which are embedded in one’s nature. But can these objections ever arise in the case of one like
Sai Baba? The differences between miracle-mongers and souls like Sri Krishna and Sai Baba are
these. Firstly, in the case of the latter, power arises not by the repetition of mantras or by the
adoption of tantras, but simply as part and parcel of their divine nature. Secondly, these high
souls have no hankering for the results of the Siddhis. They do not ask for recompense, nor do
they try to attain ulterior aims of their by having recourse to Siddhis. Thirdly, the Siddhi power,
being part of their nature, does not exhaust itself by any number of miracles. Fourthly, they are
prompted by pure love, Karuna and their employment of powers is a means for achieving the
highest temporal or spiritual ends for themselves and others. None of these statements will apply
to miracle mongers.

28. In this short introduction we cannot possibly give even a very rough outline of the
various activities of Baba. It is enough to say that he was a Pramagnani and Samartha Sadguru.
A guru is one that teaches; a Sadguru is one that teaches and draws one to God; a samartha
Sadguru is one who draws people to God employing all his Siddhis and other high powers for the
purpose. It is not all gnanis who have realized God that perform these miracles or chamatkars. It
is not the dehaprarabdha of several gnanis to exhibit any such power or to assume the role of
samartha sadguru, while it is the dehaprarabdha of others to serve humanity as such samartha
sadgurus and exhibit such powers. No comparison ought to be made about these two sets of
gnanis. Baba ought not to be compared with any other guru. Comparisons are always odious
and hardly necessary for the benefit of any aspirant. If any person feels drawn to Baba by
learning about Baba’s qualities and activities either from one’s own experience or of others well
-known to him, he may at once proceed to have further contact with Baba and get the fullest
benefit of such contact. There is no need for him to worry as to how Baba is to be classed - as an
Avatar or Avalia, Devatatma or Alwar, etc. One may simply feel the taste of sugar and use it
without raising the questions to whether it is derived from beetroot, sugarcane or Palmyra juice.
No wise men ever worry about such matters. They do not attempt to classify various gnanis. We
must all be always humble in our approach to God and divine persons. Any other attitude will
simply thwart our endeavors to reach divinity or to attain the highest benefit by spiritual exercise.

29. We may very well close this short pamphlet with the practical question (1) what are the
benefits that Baba can confer? And (2) what has one to do in order to obtain these benefits? The
first may be met by a counter question. What benefits does one expect when he is approaching
Baba? Are they temporal or spiritual? Whatever they may be, there is no benefit that is beyond
the power of Baba to confer. He is worshipped every day with phrases like ‘All-powerful’ (sarva
sakthi murthaye namah) etc., and the experience of devotees proves that he is able to confer
benefits of every sort - curing disease, both physical and mental, giving relief to departing and
departed spirits and to those who are suffering from obsessions or infirmities, removing domestic
troubles, etc.

30. One more word about these labels and comparisons. People are sometimes unconsciously
assuming to themselves ability to judge of all grades of spiritual nature and power and say that
Krishna is superior to Rama, Buddha is superior to Chaitanya, etc., and cause irritation to others
and confusion in their own minds. If we find the water in one creek or bay saltish, should we say
this creek or bay is superior or inferior to the ocean? God is one. Divinity manifests itself in
innumerable places and ways and according to the needs of the times, and each god-man does
the work of alleviating man’s miseries and raising him upward. When the question is asked, why
should one give up his Siva or Rama worship and go to Sai, the answer is that there is no need.
If one feels Sai is different from Rama or other Ishta Devata and that the latter serves all the
purposes of the Devotees, if one is thus satisfied and contented, Sai Baba has never asked and
does not ask such a person to change his position. Baba is highly conservative and wants each
man to stick to his religion, caste, guru. Ishta Devata, Idol, mantras and sampradaya. It is only if
one feels that he is still left with a desire for further benefits which his customary contact with
his Ishtamurthi, guru, mantras, etc., does not acquire for him, and if he is disposed to place faith
in Baba’s powers to grant these or other benefits, that Baba allows or directs him to come to his
feet. Baba does not interfere with his loyalties. Faith in Baba is added on to the old loyalties.
That faith works miraculous benefits and tends to strengthen itself. Gratitude and love follow
faith and the resultant benefits. Through these, Baba purifies the heart and draws the devotee
higher and higher up the spiritual ladder. That man who came for worldly goods finds his desires
purified, his mentality changed and thinks more and better of Baba till at last, finding that Baba
is only one of the numerous names and forms assumed by God, resigns himself to Baba. He then
realizes the absurdity of instituting comparisons between Sai and other names or forms and of
asking why one should go to Sai. It is only those who are specially blessed by poorvakarma that
can be drawn by each of these personalities, and when so drawn no question arises, and all
doubts are driven off. One huge wave of faith, love and knowledge drowns the soul and draws it
to the feet of God, in Sai form and in all forms.

31. What are we to do to obtain our desired ends with the help of Baba? There are some who
raise questions even preliminary to this. Is it not better not to desire at all? Is it not degrading to
go on praying or asking for this or that? To persons who really care for nothing i.e., to advanced
Viraktas, this question really will not arise. They are not compelled or induced to go to Sai Baba.
See Bhagavatha - ‘Nirgrantinopi.. Iththam bhutha guno Harih’ - i.e., viraktas are attracted by the
nishkamya leelas of the Lord. Sai Baba’s leelas were purely unmotivated by desire. His whole
life in the flesh was one continuous self-sacrifice for the sake of humanity. In serving Man, he
was serving God; and he advised his devotees to do the same.

32. Undoubtedly it is better not to desire than to have desires and to seek their gratification
through the help of Sai Baba etc. But how many are there who can calmly reason thus and find
power to crush the roots of desire in their hearts? If there are any such among the readers, they
are not asked to seek Baba’s help or God’s help, if that is different, to attain any objects. Even
the desire for Mukti - liberation - is a desire; and even to attain that, people pray and seek the aid
of experts, i.e., sages who know the way to liberation and who are gracious enough to extend
their help to those who seek help.

33. The vast majority want benefits, temporal and spiritual, temporal first and then spiritual.
The body and its adjuncts, a family. Etc., have to be maintained with sufficient prouision for
health and some degree of comfort before people can think of spiritual things. Sai Baba may be
approached by all who feel the need for this urgent help. The more impassioned their appeal, the
more faith they have in Baba, the quicker will be the results, other things being the same. To
these we may suggest the ways and means of contacting Baba.

34. There are no special ways for approaching Baba, i.e., ways different from those adopted
for approaching other high and noble personalities. How do we approach our mother? It looks
ridiculous for us to ask such a question. The mother has showered her love on the child long
before it is aware of such love. Thus Baba has similarly played the part of an unseen mother
showering benefits on her children, the devotees, even from their previous births. But how are
they to approach Baba now? Let them sincerely wish to do so. At once the approach has been
started. They are improved from that very instant. They get more and more enthusiastic and get
more and more benefits. These produce gratitude first and finally strong love. Let the reader
daily think of Baba, seeing his figure in the medals, pictures etc. he keeps with himself and let
him read about Baba’s great deeds more strong than ll poetic thought. Baba’s 108 Namavalis is a
mnemonic device for forcefully recalling these qualities. Let him attend Bhajans and Pooja
where sincere devotees gather. One song from a sincere devotee, one artless song, will thrill the
hearer and fill him with awe, joy, piety and lofty sentiments that will last a long time. Le one
always go in for service to humanity or to lower creatures for the sake of Baba i.e., viewing Baba
as existing in each individual person or creature that he sees. Baba himself will direct the further
steps of the earnest enquirer. Ways and means for further contact and further growth will be
disclosed by Baba himself in innumerable ways to each ardent devotee. The manner in which he
imparts these varies. Some of highly emotional nature see him at times even today and some talk
with him during waking hours. Others get such contact in their dreams. Still others earnestly
wanting some response and piously opening some book with a prayer, find their response in that
book. Others resort to chits. Others simply rely on the correctness of their intuition that the
though suggested to them at a particular time is the thought given by Him. In these and other
ways, people get their contact and benefits from Sai. Sai is not different from God. Are not all
these ways adopted by devotees in various religions to get access to and a response from their
God or Ishta Devata? The same applies to Sai Baba. There are numerous Sai Bhaktas who have
such intense faith in Him as their God and who get their response and benefits from hi. If any
reader is very earnest and wishes to pursue this matter further, it must be very easy for him or her
to ascertain who are the Sai Bhaktas in their district or province with such Bhakti and, if these
are noted for their pure and lofty nature, they can and might be approached with perfect safety
and advantage.

*****

IS SAI BABA LIVING AND HELPING NOW?

Sai Baba seems determined to solve the above question to the satisfaction of innumerable
enquiries found here, there and everywhere in the country. It is not merely a question arising
from curiosity. It often arises from necessity. Persons there are in thousands who get into trouble
and cast their eyes about in every direction in quest of relief. ‘Is there no God? Is there no Saint?
Is there no Mantra? Is there not anything that will come to my rescue?’ Is that what a person cries
out. At such stages when there is some person or other in the neighborhood connected with Sai
Baba, then that person in distress runs up to Sai Baba, with the assurance (born of need) that He
is not only living and helpful, but that He is the only person that can help one in such junctures.
Therefore it is of the utmost importance that people throughout the country should be kept
informed in their own languages or in any common language, English or Hindi, of the fact that
Baba is now living and working to benefit all and sundry in a way in which no other person
known to us is shown to be working. There is no other person shown to have such chamatkaric
superhuman power and intent solely upon benefiting all persons that put their trust in him. Of
course, mere chamatkar or magical feats or psychic power, unaccompanied by a noble purpose or
by divine qualities is not worth the attention of pious people’s intent on achieving their own
spiritual welfare. But supranormal events always draw the attention of the educated and cultured
classes and of others. So, without further excuse, we shall proceed to describe and narrate
various circumstances and events which carry conviction to the mind of even the dullest that
Baba is living, is powerful, is beneficent and is just the divine person that one needs in any
juncture.

Baba's Leelas or chamatkars are very varied and have extended over a very long period.
Somewhere about the close of the last century they began. They are continuing still up-to-date,
and from time to time in new places and in varied ways. Baba is showing all people irrespective
of religion, caste, age, sex, and position etc, that he is that superhuman, beneficent power that
people call their Ishta or Ishta Devata or Guru-Deva, and that he is available to any earnest soul
and responds to every earnest call. There are several books (notable Gospel of Sai Baba and Sai
Satcharita) setting out Baba's Leelas upto recent times. For the sake of convenience, we may
begin with Baba's recent Leelas through Matru Sri Krishna Bai of Ramacbandrapuram near
Rajahmundry, East Godavari District, Andhra State. Her husband is Mr. Sehagiri Rao,
Superintendent of the office of the Accountant General, Posts and Telegraphs, Simla. That
gentleman got first a very superficial contact with Baba, as numerous South Indians at Nagpur
(where Mr. Seshagiri Rao was at the time) adored Baba and communicating facts about Baba, It
is the need, as we already stated, that creates faith. On one occasion in 1946 Mr. Seshagiri Rao
was in a tight fix. In his official capacity as Senior Divisional Accountant, Nagpur Telegraph
Division, he was entrusted with the Treasury keys, and be had put them in a drawer and kept the
key of the drawer alone with him. One morning when he came and opened the drawer, to his
dismay he could not discover the keys. There was no sort of explanation for the disappearance of
the keys. All the same he would get into hot waters with his superior and might suffer in his
prestige and position. He did not know what to do. So, he suddenly offered a prayer that if
Baba is really powerful and helpful, he should discover for him the keys. Soon after making
that prayer he went to the box again and opened it. This time alone, behold! the keys were there
right in front of him, and it was a wonder where they had gone, how not found at so many
previous searches by himself and his servants, and how suddenly they reappeared. So, he had
some faith in Baba. But it was his wife that had to play the all important part of a very
powerful, spiritual dynamo for the spread of Sai propaganda, She also had at first only a very
superficial knowledge of Sai Baba. In 1950, in May-June, she was with her father at
Ramachandrapuram and her husband had come from Nagpur to stay at Ramachandrapuram for
recuperation of his health. He wanted to start back on the 16th June 1950 to Nagpur. But
suddenly on the 14th she took ill. She did not get up from her bed until 10 in the morning,
whereas her usual hour for quitting bed was between 5 and 6. So, the husband went into her
room at 10 a.m. to see what the matter was. She slowly opened her eyes and called him to
her side. Her voice was feeble. She said weeping. “I am going to die; please look after my
children”. This was a stunning statement and a great shock to the husband. He asked her, 'What
are you ailing; from!' She Said, “I cannot say what I ail from, but 1 feel terrible pain.'Mr.
Seshagiri Rao thought that this must be heart attack. Then she pointed to a portion of the
room, and said 'There, that fellow, that fellow; 1 am nearing my death by reason of that fellow '
Then Mr. Seshagiri Rao thought that it was all hallucination, and the best thing would be to get
medical aid. But she again said, "You do not believe me. I see that fellow is there. You tell me
that I will become all right." Mr. Seshagiri Rao asked his father-in-law to get medicine. She
could not even gulp down water. So, some medicine was forced down her mouth, and yet she
was restless. In the evening at 6 or 7, she again called her husband to her said, and repeated, “I
am going to die. You do not believe me.” To overcome her fears, the husband took a photograph
of Sai Baba (which had been given to him by his Nagpur clerk) and kept it under her pillow and
told her, 'This Sai Baba (photograph of Sai) will ward off all evil spirits.” He was not quite sure
that Sai would, but necessity made him say it. Then he went upstairs to sleep. Downstairs the
lady was sleeping and her father was watching. At 12 midnight the lady cried out, 'Father, father,
I am dying. Somebody is taking out my life.' Then the father got up and rushed and saw that her
body had already been partly dragged out of the cot and her legs were dangling down. H» put her
body into her bed and retired. Thon a conversation was heard in her room. The lady was uttering
the name of Sai Baba and Raghavendra Swami. She said that these two had come to rescue her.
She asked her father, who ran up to her. 'Lift up the pillow. Take out a packet, and put its
contents into my mouth.' That gentleman thought she was raving, as nobody had put any packet
of medicine under her pillow. But she repeated her words, and said, "Simply obey; do not argue."
Then the father lifted up the pillow, and there was a packet there. That was opened. It contained a
Tulsi leaf as big as a betel leaf. There was also Vibhutti. Then he took up both these, put the
Vibhutti into her mouth and retired. She then had very good sleep. The father on further
examination found that the whole of her sari was covered with Vibhutti and (here were "Kolam"
borderline marks of Vibhutti on all the four sides of the cot. Then the husband came down and
saw all these things for himself. In addition, he noted the impression of a hand on her head.
Thereafter she recovered completely. Some time later Krishna Bai said that Raghavendra Swami
and Sai Baba wanted one anna nickel piece to be kept under her pillow. Her husband placed it
under the pillow. They were waiting to see who would take that one anna piece, and how it
would disappear. They went for their meals. At that time, in Krishna Bai's room some
conversation was going on. He got up and entered the room. He found the room was full of a
sweet smell. She said that the one anna coin was taken away by these two, namely, Raghavendra
Swami and Sai Baba, and in its place they had left something, and she wanted them to see what it
was. The husband removed the pillow, and found that there was no one anna piece, but in its
place, there were fresh Tulsi leaves and bilva leaves. These were left as a protection to her. That
is what she said. That day she was all right, and, therefore went upstairs to sleep. At 12 midnight
again there was some conversation in this lady's room. The husband went up and found that she
was reciting four Gita stanzas.

B.C. IV (7) (1) Yadayadahi

B. G. (8) (2) Paritranayasadhunaro

B. G. V (22) (3) Ananyaschintayantomam

B. G. XVIII (66) (4) Sarvadharma Parityajya

Raghavendra Swami had asked her to get these by heart. She pleaded that she did not know
Sanskrit, it seems. But Raghavendra Swami did in fact, teach her these four stanzas, and other
parts of Gita, explaining their meanings also. She said that Raghavendra Swami and Baba had
kept three things under her pillow, in addition to Tulsi leaves and Bilva leaves. She said, “Please
look for them”. Seshagiri Rao lifted up the pillow and searched. He found three things, namely,
(1) a packet of Vibhutti (2) a big Tulsi leaf enclosing kumkum and (3) mrittika, that is, the sacred
earth of the Tulsi plant used with great reverence by Madhvas especially - the lady belongs to the
Madhva Sect, Later her husband went to his own room, and found under his own pillow
sandalwood paste in two pieces. His father-in-law also had the same in his room. They were all
fragrant. These evidently were shown to them to put faith in Baba and to believe that there is
some superior and great powerful force which cannot be easily understood by ordinary men.

From that time onwards, as a regular feature at about 6-30 p.m. Vibhutti marks would appear on
the forehead of the lady. This went on for 8 months that is, till about February, 1951. That was
seen by many people. Then Sai Baba asked the lady to do Sai Pooja on all Thursdays. Her Pooja
was very peculiar. During that Pooja, she would be going on talking in an undertone, something
midway between delivering a lecture and loud thinking. On closer examination of what she
spoke, the husband found she was discoursing on philosophic truths, Gita Slokas, their meanings,
the definition of Maya, Prakriti, etc. Some phenomena also began to be exhibited through her or
by her. At the beginning of the Pooja she would place an empty dubba (a closed receptacle) in
front of her, and at the close of the Pooja, mysteriously that empty dubba would be found to be
full of Vibhutti. This is from Baba himself this Vibhutti was distributed to all people as Sai
prasad. Another remarkable fact was that Baba said on one occasion that 'this lady had eight
more births to get Mukti (Liberation) but he would compress all those eight births into this very
birth on account of his infinite compassion for her. He could not prevent Prarabhda but could
compress Prarabhda. So she had to die and come back to life every month in the course of eight
months. During her monthly period, she would become hopelessly ill; her face would show
signs of a dying person, i.e., livid pallor. Yama kinkaras would come; their songs and shouts
would be heard in the room etc. There were also other indications of impending death, that is, on
all the four sides of the cot, lines which bad been drawn with Vibhutti previously would
disappear. At such times, Baba. Said, 'She and all connected with her should make Nama
Smaran' i.e. remember God. Even doctors who attended on her at such times would join in the
Nama Smaran. At 12 midnight, she would cry out, ‘I am dying”. Immediately Mr. Seshagiri
Rao and others would cry out 'Baba! Baba!' Her life actually did depart from her body which
became a livid, corpse, and then Sai Baba again gave her life. On one occasion, she vomited
blood from her mouth. Sixteen times are vomited, and the vomit still went on. Seshagiri Rao
just then returned from his office. All the medicines he tried to stop the vomit failed. Then he
took Baba to task for not curing his wife. Baba through the mouth of his wife answered. "Your
husband is abusing me, because I do not cure you. I can cure anybody but not you. If you are
to be cured now you will have to take another birth to work out your Prarabhda. So you must
undergo this trouble now. Again he said,’ When I have assured him that there is no danger to
life, why should be angry?' So saying he stopped the blood vomit in a most miraculous way. As
she was lying down, something like a root fell on her hand from above, and that stopped the
blood vomit. Sai Baba was not opposed to cure her disease, but be wanted that her Prarabhda
should be worked out. On the last and final, occasion, the Lord of Death himself came (Yama).

All people including Seshagiri Rao were by the side of her bed. They left a sudden fragrance in
the room and an overwhelming fear in their hearts. That indicated that Yama was present. Then
some conversation was going on in the room between the unseen Sai Baba and the unseen Yama.
Yama said that he had to do his duty. Baba said,’ Go on. Carry out your duly. Sounds alone were
heard by those in the room. Then Mr. Seshagiri Rao and others were all overjoyed. Thus, all her
future janmas due to Prarabhda were wiped out. She recovered her health soon. The lady through
Baba's favour was able to have clairvoyant ideas as to what things were going on and where. On
one occasion, she and her husband had to leave Rama-chandrapuram for Nagpur. The lady said at
3 p.m. ‘Let us start’. But by starting at 3 p.m. they would not get any train at Rajahmundry for
Bezwada, according to the railway time table. At Rajahmundry they would have to wait for
several hours. But as his wife insisted, the party started, and by bus they reached Rajahmundry at
6 p.m. They went to the booking office and asked about trains. The booking clerk said, 'The train
which should have come in the morning has come only just now. You can start and go to
Bezwada.The booking clerk gave them the tickets. So they reached Bezwada at 1 in the night.
They were so late that they did not know where to stay. But at Bezwada there was Mr. Seshagiri
Rao's cousin. Mr. Seshagiri Rao did not know his address. There was no one to tell them of his
address. Suddenly, a young boy of sixteen came and said, 'I will take you to the house of a
municipal councilor who will direct you.’ He took them to the municipal councilor who showed
Seshagiri Rao the house of his cousin. The young man suddenly disappeared. The lady said,
'That young man must be Baba himself.' Again, sometime later, Mr. Hanumantha Rao, the father
of the lady got a letter which bore the mark of Shirdi as the despatch station with a signature
purporting to be that of Sai Baba attached to the bottom of the letter. The postal mark was Rahata
Post. The letter said, 'Go and see the Pooja performed by your daughter at Nagpur.' It also
contained Gita Slokas. There was also warning that Hanumantha Rao should not treat the lady
merely as his daughter. He must treat her as Baba's disciple. So, in obedience to the letter, he
came to Nagpur and saw her Pooja. There he was impressed with the wonderful spirituality of his
daughter's Pooja.

Baba said that he must carry out certain things through Krishna Bai. In order to communicate his
ideas Baba was writing on plantains. This was one of the things which the father saw. Baba wrote
sometime on several plantains but at other times on one. Sometimes Baba would write on very
small leaves in microscopic letters. One evening when Seshagiri Rao was meditating in his room,
Baba appeared and told Krishna Bai in her room, 'Your husband is praying to me in his room.
Why not your husband comes here? When the husband went to her room, he saw a wonderful
thing. The table near her was smeared with Vibhutti. On that, a huge person sat. That was Baba.
The breadth across the two parts of his nether body on the table was over four feet. This
phenomenon was repeated at Ramacbandrapuram also twice or thrice. One of the men said at a
Pooja, 'Let us see how Baba is eating." The Pooja room was full of a number of Baba's pictures.
On one picture, under the mouth, a small peda was placed. This peda moved from the mouth of
one photograph to another photograph, and, after going to the last photograph, disappeared. Then
the audience said, 'We are satisfied as to your eating.' Again this lady's grandmother came up one
day and said that she would believe in Baba if Sai Baba himself put one peda prasad into her
mouth. People laughed at the idea. But late in the night, she suddenly woke up and said
something like a lizard had fallen into her mouth. Light was brought, and it was discovered that
it was not a lizard but a peda that was in her mouth. So, she got convinced that Baba was
working Leelas there. Mr. B. Venkataratnam, Ex-Minister of the Madras Government, attended
her Pooja. On one occasion, when she was going on talking in a peculiar, unconscious way, like
one possessed, she asked him whether on such and such a day some body did not go to his house
for food, whether he had not tried to send him away, and whether he did not accommodate that
man on that day when he insisted on accommodation. Again Baba through her asked, 'Did he not
ask for Rs. 2 when leaving the place?' Mr. Venkataratnam's reply was in the affirmative to all
these questions. Again Baba asked Mr. Venkataratnam, whether on the day previous to his
coming to Ramachandrapuram, be did not give a two-anna piece to a beggar on the way. Mr.
Venkataratnam admitted it. Then Baba said, ‘I was that beggar.' Similarly, Sri G, Viswanatham
Chetty, Joint Registrar of Co-operative Societies, attended her Pooja. He said while leaving the
place that he had a heavy programme and therefore could not return for a long time. But after he
left, the lady said, 'You will see that he comes back and for three days attends the Pooja.' Actually
for a variety of reasons, Mr. Chetty could not leave Ramachandrapuram for three days and he did
attend Pooja on all the three days. (The above are extracted from Mr. K. Seshagiri Rao's lecture
at the Mylapore A. I. S. S. Sai Mandir in February 1953 in obedience to Baba's order to him to
publish all he knew of Baba's Leelas as manifested through Srimathi Krishna Bai).

Mr. G: V. Chetty had plenty of experiences of a most convincing sort, and therefore, he is a
staunch Bhakta. On one of the earlier occasions, that is, at the commencement of his contact with
Sai Baba, there, he had striking proofs of Baba's being alive, being useful and responding
through human voice to the calls of his Bhaktas. Out of true devotion, when be was proceeding
one day to Ramachandrapuram from Kakinada, he got a very large rose garland, called 'Nela
Malai' in Tamil, because its rolls from the neck to the ground. That garland was full of roses and
the number of petals may therefore be easily guessed to be something in four figures. This
garland was placed round Baba's neck i.e. on the portrait. He also carried flowers, fruits, etc.
When the Pooja was over, he noted that somehow (mysteriously) every petal of every rose in that
huge garland had on it written (OM SAI. If any one of us attempts to write 'Om Sai* on rose
petals, the chances are that very few petals would be left on the stalk, and the petals would all be
on the ground. Besides, it would be a matter of several hours for us to complete the inscription
on thousands of petals. On the other hand, suddenly in a few minutes the whole garland became
full of inscriptions. Mr. G. V. Chetty was blessed with response in other respects alto. The
plantains he took got inscriptions on them. He had taken an apple and placed it before Baba. At
the close of the Pooja, the lady asked him to take the apple. Then he wondered ‘what, with no
signs of Baba accepting, am I to take the apple?' He only thought so but said nothing. But Baba
knew it, and through the mouth of the lady said, 'What does he say that there is nothing worth of
note? Let him lift up the apple.’ When the apple was lifted up, it was noted that the bottom
portion had disappeared; cut of clean with a knife, and the cut portion had disappeared, that is,
accepted by Baba. Invisible hands did all inscriptions and removal of cut part while he and all
were in the Pooja room. Seeing that Mr. Chetty was quite happy and quite sure that his offering
had been accepted by Baba, Similar to this, and numerous other incidents took place. Mr.
Chetty got also specific answers for his problems about his son, his daughter, etc. Baba's
answers were so clear and full that be (Mr, Chetty) could answers clearly the question at (be top
of this pamphlet without a moment's hesitation, that Baba is undoubtedly living and is
undoubtedly helpful at least to those who have faith (Bhakti) in him. Now, on one of those
occasions, Baba’s Leelas took a peculiar shape. One Mr. Ramachandra Rao from Nagpur,
businessman and a devotee of Baba, through that lady, and some others came to
Ramachandrapuram. They had an idea that a temple must be built for Baba, and that instructions
must be got from Baba. They put the question to the lady. The answer was that Sri B. V. N.
Swami, President of the AH India Sai Samaj, must come. Sri B. V. N. Swami and with him a
number of Bhaktas started from Madras. The chief amongst the Bhaktas was one Mr. S. N. C.
Sriman Narayana Chaudhry, formerly Public Prosecutor (at Guntur) whose mental health was
affected, and who consequently, could not practice. They took with them three apples and one
casket (sampatam) full of halva, and this was opened by Swami and again closed after noting
that it was full. All these with other fruits and flowers were taken to Ramachandrapuram, which
was reached at about 11-30 a.m. on I8-3-I952 and placed in the small Pooja room about
10'xlO*, where Pooja was going on, and where the entire ground floori was full of Bhaktas and
their offerings. On a wall 'there were many pictures of Sai Baba, The lady herself (Krishna Bai)
was In deep concentration and going on with Sai Pooja. At the close of the Pooja (i.e. by noon or
12-30 p.m.) her father asked the devotees the question. 'Have you counted your offerings?" The
swami and others laughed, because there was no necessity to count what they offered to God.
But then S. N. Chaudhry said that he had placed three apples for naivedya, but there were only
two then. It was Impossible physically for anyone to get into the room across the seated Bhaktas
and carry away one apple. But there it was, that one apple had disappeared. The lady herself then
lifted up the casket and opened the lid and lo! And behold! There was a deep ploughing up of the
halva. A finger had evidently been inserted and a good quantity or halva removed. Where the
removed halva had gone, and who removed It was a. mystery. The only explanation was that
Baba had accepted the halva prasad also. On the fruits that had been placed, inscriptions were
found. It was made clear to S. N. Chaudhry, Sri B. V. N. Swami, and others that Baba was
gracious enough to accept the presents of the party. Then Mr. S. N. C answered to himself the
question at the head of this pamphlet. He felt firmly convinced of the truth that Sri Sai Baba is
living now, and is mysteriously helping his devotee by acceptance of their gifts. This at once
effected a change in him. He was no more abnormal. He lost his diffidence fear, etc. From that
day onwards, he began to attend to his private and other work, and he could also attend court and
is now having good practice. So, many other persons also got convincing answers to the above
question. As for the Swami, he found that the lady at the close of the Pooja was rapidly lecturing
away in Telugu on matters of philosophy and religion. The best lawyers and pundits there could
not repeat or translate what she said. On the second day, questions wore put to Baba through her.
The answers came. The answers related to the health of some of the visitor present, their
relations and other matters. On the whole (he answers were intelligent and satisfactory. This
again helps us to answer the question mentioned above. As for the main matter, for which Sri B.
V. N. Swami was invited, the answer was that Sri B. V. N. Swami's present work was quite
satisfactory, that he need not do anything more than simply remain at headquarters and ask his
devotees and friends to carry out Baba's work, and that everything would get on all right. That
settled the question of Sri B. V. N. Swarai's responsibility for a new temple building. But Sri B.
Venkataratnam Garu was there. He is the President of the Co-operative Bank at Rama-
chandiapuram. He, with the help of others, has succeeded in building a beautiful temple and
placing in it marble images of Sai Baba, Radha and Krishna and he has carried out the other
instructions of Sai Baba, as to the fitting up of the temple and the pratishta itself. That installation
took place on 11th April 1954, that is, on the Rama Navami day. The Pooja by the lady is now
going on in that temple.

The best way of winding up this small pamphlet is to refer to very recent instances in the East
Godavari District. Some twenty miles from Pithapur Railway Station are the Thotapalli Hills,
and on them, His Holiness Sri Omkaar Swami has put up a Shami Ashram, that is the main
mother Ashram. He is carrying on his life of peace and propaganda for peace with the aid of an
English Journal Peace and a Telugu Journal Shanthi. The Swamiji's work is mainly
philosophical. He is the author of 'Cosmic Flashes’. Showing his elevation of thought and dignity
of expression with a mastery of style rarely to be seen.

What, however, came to this philosophical Swami at the beginning of this year was Sri Sai's
grace to inspire in him some more spiritual development based on attachment to Sai. It is for
such spiritual developments that Baba shows his chamatkars. About March last, chamatkars
began in the Thotapalli Shanthi Ashram in a strange way. There was Birthday celebration going
on and some lady devotees of the Swami had gone there. They were staunch Sai Bhaktas, and
they carried their Sai pictures, etc. with them. After the usual Pooja on that Ashram were over,
these ladies sat up in a small room and carried on their Sai Pooja. Others of the Ashram and
visitors joined them. This Swamiji, seeing the vast crowd and the insufficiency of the room,
asked them to go upstairs to his own meditation room. Then perhaps as a result of the Swami's
dedication of his meditation room for Sai Mandir, Baba's Leelas began to be shown abundantly.
Naivedyas placed included plantain fruits, and inscriptions in Telugu letters (Sai) appeared on
these fruits. On the flowers placed before Baba, inscriptions similarly appeared. People were
wondering, and one of those present placed a wood apple as an offering to Baba and prayed that
an inscription should appear on it. The letters 'SAI’ appeared on it. His Holiness Omkaar Swami
himself came up with a coconut without bark, and placed it as an offering before Baba. Then the
letters 'SAI’ in Telugu were found to be written on the two sides of the coconut. The Swami is
retaining that coconut with these inscriptions. Faith, full faith began to develop all round. Sri
Rajaji of the Ashram had a gold ring and he offered it to Sai Baba with these words. 'Baba, I will
give this to you in case you write your name on it’, and placed the ring before the picture in the
Pooja. At once the Telugu letters 'SAI' appeared on the ring. Some others who did not believe
began to offer watches, chains etc, and placed them before Baba, and the name 'Sai' appeared on
every one of them.

Some one present, feeling that the rich and the well to-do classes alone were the beneficiaries in
the chamatkars, wanted something to be done for the Daridra Narayana and sickly Narayanas.
He took up a ball of Vibhutti and offered it at the Pooja. Lo.'and behold, in a few minutes, the
letter ‘SAI MANDU’ in Telugu appeared on the ball. Mandu means, medicines. The whole ball
was therefore the medicine which was consecrated by Baba and could be given to all and sundry.
There was a patient with high fever in the Ashram. A bit of that Vibhutti ‘Sai Mandu' with water
given to him removed the fever and enabled him to discharge his normal duties immediately.
The Ashram cow had some disease, and the milk drawn from its udder was blackish and this
Mandu was smeared over the cow, and Lo! And behold, thereafter the milk yielded by the cow
was sweet and normal. So, Sai had really given his 'Mandu' medicine for the benefit of the dumb,
the poor and the helpless. Faith in Sai was very powerful and combined with the previous faith
of the Ashramites. This was shown in a remarkable incident one evening. A lady taking leave of
the Swami at his Ashram at dusk was going over the lawn to reach her room, but, on the way
a serpent crawled over one of her feet and she placed the other foot on its tail. At once she
noticed that it was a serpent. She cried out 'OM SAI'; and the serpent instead of striking at her
quietly bowed its head, retreated and climbed up a tree.

People said, ‘Baba is here doing wonders. So we must build a permanent temple for him', Then a
piece of paper was found in front of the devotees with the following written on it, namely, "This
is Sai's Sarmidhya (or presence)" in Telugu. The same Telugu letters were seen simultaneously to
appear on the wall of the Pooja room. People were convinced that undoubtedly Sai Baba was
present, and was responding to the devout and earnest prayers of the Bhaktas there. But as the
Swamiji said, Sai being a form of God, He is present not only in one place, and people should
not overstress the miraculous appearance of Baba's Leelas, though He is more easily communed
with there. So Omkaar Swami invited and invites people to go there for such Holy Communion.
On Rama Navami night he got up at midnight and wrote out a manifesto containing all the above
facts and extending an invitation to all devout Bhaktas to go to Shanthi Ashram for communing
with Sri Sai and not for the mere curiosity or fun of getting inscriptions on watches and chains.
As for himself, the Swami declares that he felt that a Divine presence was now covering him up
both inside, outside, and on all sides. He has composed songs in English and Telugu mentioning
that he felt identical with Sai, and that the feeling was one of Bliss. This appeared in an issue of
the Telugu journal ‘Shanthi' and has been broadcast. This is an excellent answer to doubting
Thomases who still ask, 'Is Sai Baba living and will he help or can he help?' Even the dullest
intellect must now see that such questions are ludicrous or flippant. We need not repeat other
instances where Baba had come to help. The number of such instances now is legion. Baba has
shown His powers at Coimbatore, Madras, and so many other places. We may perhaps make an
exception in favour of Coimbatore and Ahmedabad and close this pamphlet.

Coimbatore

Coimbatore was specially lucky in having extraordinary benefits granted to some of its citizens.

During the last great world war, a Coimbatorean, (Medical) Captain Devaraj, was in the
Mediterranean on board a ship. The enemy attacked that ship with bombs, and the vessel very
badly suffered damage. Captain Devaraj was at one end, and Sri Sai, his Guru-Deva saved him
completely from any harm.

This became widely known, and at Coimbatore many Bhaktas turned their hearts to Baba.
Amongst these one prominent devotee was Sri Soundararajan. He started Sai Pooja and Sai
Bhajan at home. He constructed a small cottage for the public 10 carry on Pooja and Bhajan at
one end of the town. One evening when Pooja with Bhajan was going on, there was a fairly good
crowd, and amongst the crowd came in a snake. It crawled over the foot of a boy who in fright
cried out ‘snake, snake’. But he was the only one frightened. The snake stood coiled 5 or 6 feet
from the crowd and seemed to follow the music of the Bhajan. It was dangling its head from side
to side but kept its place. People who looked at it were wondering what sort of snake it was that
was not frightened at the sight of men and could appreciate the Bhajan music. It kept on there
from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., the time for closing the Bhajan temple. The men who were all anxious to
depart went away then and came back next morning. What a strange thing was it for them to
note! The next morning when they came they saw the snake was still in the Temple. The temple
was a mere thatched cottage and not a pucca building. It is near the road side. The people there
made up their minds that the snake was nothing but Sai Baba, and that they should offer their
worship to Sai Baba by taking heaps and baskets of flowers of samanai (Chrysanthemum). A
number of devotees stood all round this snake and picked up these flowers and dropped them
over the head of the snake uttering the

Ashtothra Namavali of Sai Baba, namely, Om Sri Sainathaya Namah, etc. The snake stood all
this quietly and when over a thousand flowers had fallen on its head, it was still in their midst,
and then they were quite sure and perfectly convinced that this snake was nothing but Sai Baba,
and they called it Naga Sai. Then one of the devotees said, ‘You are undoubtedly Baba. If we
tell people that we worshipped you like this, they will not believe us. So we must take a
photograph of you. So, Baba, you must remain in your position till a photographer is brought
from the town.' It took more than half an hour for a photographer to come, but the snake was still
there. The photographer placed his camera close to it and took an excellent snap of it. Even
men - let alone children - snake there heads at the time of taking photographs, and thus spoil the
photos. But Sai did not quail in the least. The firm attitude of Naga Sai was shown by the
excellent photograph that was the result. Then after 11 a.m. the Naga Sai that had come in at 5
p.m. the previous day left the place. This place is fairly close to the town, and Coimbatore
being highly populous, thousands of people, hearing of the marvel, came from the town and
beheld Naga being in the midst of the temple and getting worshipped. The photograph is now a
standing proof of Baba's Leela. Baba showed this Leela evidently in order to strike the attention
of even the dullest in these days of atheism, indifference, and scorn at religious matters.
Something wonderful is necessary to shake people out of all this. So, Baba showed these
chamatkars to convince them. This result was that more and more, thousands upon thousands,
came day after day to look at the place where Baba came and got worshipped. They put up a
Naga Sai temple of Baba at Coimbatore and it is highly popular.

Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad is a still stranger-though not so very dramatic - instance of Baba's chamatkars. Here
a well-known lawyer of good standing, Sri C. C. Mankewallah, was the person to whom or for
whose benefit Baba's Leelas were performed. We may give his experience as it appeared in the
September 1953 issue of the Sai Sudha, in the words of Sri Mankewallah himself.

From 1948 to 1952, for five years continuously, I suffered from Dropsy and gastric ulcer. I had
no appetite. I vomited blood and could not eat anything or even take water. My weight became
abnormal, viz. 300 pounds last year, from January onwards. I was bed ridden. Doctors attended
on me. About 1952 April, the chief doctor of the hospital and other consulting doctors of the city
gave up hope of my recovery. On one day, the chief doctor noticing that blood in profuse
quantity was coming out of my mouth and that my weight due to dropsy was abnormally high,
viz. 300 pounds said that there was no sufficient blood in the body and that surrounding poisons
would prove fatal in 2 days. Some friends and relations had advised me to worship Sai Baba
(whose temple was opposite to my house) in April, 1952 and I had hung up Baba's picture in
front of me and worshipped him. After looking into his photo, I got affection for him. First, I had
apprehension that I should not worship a Mohammedan Saint. But, the continuous attraction of
His photo on my mind and relation's talk gave me a sudden vision of Baba when I was awake at
6 p.m. He then said to me. "I am not a Fakir. But I am an incarnation of Guru Datta. There are
nine gems (including me) who are incarnation of Datta, namely. Tajuddin Baba of Nagpur,
Dhuniwala Dada of Khandwa, Vishnu Debananda Saraswathi of Narmada, the Mahant of
Akkalkote, etc." The next day, I got 2 books in Gujarati on Baba and read them. Some days later
when the doctor completely gave up hopes and stated that life will pass away in 2 hours (at
noon), then Baba appeared in front of me at about 1 p.m. First a light came from the door and
Baba came in that light, and my mother Sri Sivaganga and I saw Him and Heard his words. He
said "Baccha, Mad gabra tumara sub dukha me hardeya" to me; and to my mother he said
"Tumara sub dukha me hardeya" which means, "Child, fear not, All your disease (or troubles) I
have taken away." "Send your grandson Turt immediately to Shirdi."

Then he disappeared through the door. As my son had not sufficient experience of travel and as
my sudden death would necessitate the presence of my son for funerals as apprehended by some,
I and my mother had to consult together, but we told my son to start in the evening for Shirdi,
and he did. At 6p.m. on that day, Baba again appeared and told us. "Do not be afraid. I am with
your son also. Tomorrow at 12 O'clock you will receive a wire from your son that he has reached
Shirdi safe." After 6 p.m. the doctor visited me. He again gave up hopes of my survival and
mocked at the above experience, which was narrated to him. He said. "This is mere
hallucination.” In 1 or 2hours, life would depart. This he said to my mother, and other close
relations. Next day, at 12 noon, I got my son's wire "Reached Shirdi safe." Then from that
moment, I began to purge. I purged continuously for 24 hours. Urine also passed. No blood
passed. Next day, all poisons had passed out in that way, in the stools and urine; and my body
became light. It is weighed. The weight was 75 pounds. The heart beating and the pulse were
normal. The doctor came when the purging was going on. He was surprised. He was present at
the weighing and the resumption of normal pulse and normal beating of the heart. The doctor
was satisfied that I had now become safe and was saved by the "mysterious ways of Baba". From
that date of my health regularly improved. In 2 months, I could and did take ordinary food. I am
alright since then. I am doing regular lawyer's work now as before. I am always praying to Baba.
In other matters, e.g., domestic, Baba is guiding me and protecting me. Then I went to Shirdi and
I have now completed all my South Indian pilgrimages. I will visit Shirdi again on my way back
home. I came to Madras 3 or 4 days back, as the guest of Mr. Ambalsi Khapadia of Adyar. On
8th night and on 9th morning. I had a vision of Baba (about 5 a.m.). He commanded me to visit
his temple in Mylapore and all his devotees there. So I came here yesterday and to-day.
In 1953 was the first appearance of Baba to Sir Mankewalla but this did not stop with 1953. In
1954 he had repeated appearance and help of Baba. That was for his benefit. But Baba appeared
before him in August 1954 for the benefit of the public. This pamphlet had been written, and
attempts were being made to print it in August. There was inordinate delay on the part of some
printer who undertook the task of printing it. Meanwhile Baba made use of the delay for
furnishing the best answer to the question at the top of this pamphlet. He appeared on the
morning of 23-8-1954 to Sri Mankewalla and the message he gave was for publication and
broadcasting in this pamphlet and in the History of Sai Baba that was being written by Sri B. V.
N. Swami and nearing completion for which also the following message in the best Epilogue as
it is for this pamphlet. This message published in Sai Sudha, September, 1954, runs as follows:—

“It is with great sense of surprise, joy, and blessedness that I am penning these few lines to you,
being yester night reminded by Shri Sai Baba, who, with His habitual smiling face, inspired me
in semi awakened state at the dawn of the morning to refer this matter to you, and to bring to
your notice that Shri Baba is always present before his Bhaktas. He is the guiding and all
pervading power that shapes the ends of devotees and even of the universe. He has once saved
me from the jaws of death, and he only guides me in all my and everybody's career, in this world.
I saw Baba standing before me with his stick laughing, and telling me the above fact and
especially asking me to refer the same to you. Why? That I do not know.”

By the grace of Shri Baba after I recovered from (attack of the icy hands of Pluto) death I
appeared in many civil and criminal cases including cases under sections 302, 307 I. P. C.
murder, and homicide, and I have become successful in all cases. Every moment in life, I feel the
presence of Shri Baba. I always feel that like a parent taking care of his child, He always takes
care of me. I have sometimes to pass through severe tests in life. I had to struggle hard with
worldly affairs, but in all, lam triumphant. Even in spiritual worship, Baba's presence is felt. He
always reminds me at the proper time and make* me feel that he is present watching all my
movements, and guiding and shaping my life's career in a wonderful way.

I again remind you that I am writing you this at the express command of Shri Baba, who has
commanded me to refer this matter to you."

Again to make assurance doubly sure, Baba was invited to write his name at Thotapalli hills,
Shanthi Asram on a silver plate. His autograph in Telugu was, accordingly found on the plate. He
sent that by the kindness of Sri Omkaar Swami to Sri Rajeswarananda who presided on 6-10-54
at the 81st birthday celebration of Sri B. V. Narasimha Swami and presented to Sri B. V.
Narasimha Swami. It is now kept among articles in the Pooja room of the A.I.S.S. Mylapore Sai
Mandir to enable all devotees to see for themselves how Baba is the "Living" God of his
devotees actively helping every one in the universe.

From all these the above instances are only an infinitesimal fraction of the miracle and
benevolent acts done by Baba throughout the country - one would see that Sai Baba is
undoubtedly now living and retaining the same nature and carrying on the same mission. During
his life in the flesh up to 1918 at Shirdi, Baba said 'Malm Allahnm.' His nature functions and
mission were all divine. There are undoubtedly to help people who put faith in God, especially in
the form of Sai. So, Sai is still carrying on his mission of removing the distress, of strengthening
faith, of helping devotees of trouble, (Paritranaya Sadhunam), and of leading those who
surrender themselves to him to the highest goal that man can attain, (Dharina samstapanartaya).
Baba is continuing his life in ethereal or Apantaratma shape without any fleshy body, though
whenever he chooses, like Narada and Bhrigu, he does put on his fleshy body and appears to
people in order to carry out his high and divine plans for the benefit of individuals or society.
This will, therefore, suffice for this short pamphlet to enable people to shake off their doubts,
fears, and inertia, and rouse them into a determination to get to know more of Baba, to get more
contact with him, and to get all that they want, especially freedom from disease, trouble, etc.
with his aid, ultimately freedom from all bondage, sorrow and misery.

“BOW TO SAI PEACE TO ALL”

Source: http://www.saileelas.org/books/issaibaba.doc
With Sai love from Sai brothers
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