Satsang Baba came to us

Satsang Baba came to us

Baba came to us
By Prahfad B. Huiiyatkar

Fishing for FAILURE
Man swims in the sea of self-satisfaction,
Nibbles at the bait of procrastination.
Swallows the hook of mediocrity, and
Ends up in the net of failure.

There are some experiences which are beyond explanation. They exist as
sunlight. The manifestation of divinity is beyond all our limited
perceptions. As for myself, I cannot explain the cause of incidents; but
they exist as clear as sunlight. I humbly try to catch the spirit.

My parents and grandparents were indeed blessed to see Sai Baba when he was
physically alive. One day Baba gave to my father a coconut, some sweets and
two silver coins to my grandfather, who was then working as a Deputy
Collector at Nasik. He asked my father to give him a 'Dakshina' of nine
rupees and also gave him a chillim to smoke. Both my father and grandfather
started worshiping Sai Baba even after we shifted to Jamkhandi in Karnataka.
The elders in the family objected to this worship and in order not to hurt
their feelings, my grandfather put the photo of Sai into a suitcase. They
worshipped Sai Baba mentally till the last breath of their lives. As I was a
pet grandchild, my grandfather used to narrate miracles of Sai Baba. He
became Dewan of Bhor, later at Ramdurga and finally at Jamkhandi till it
merged in the independent India. In his retired life he spent on spiritual
quests and I remember Mr. B.D. Jatti (who later on became Vice-President of
India) visiting him now and then.

During this time, Gurudev Ranade, who was then the Vice-Chancellor of
Allahabad University frequently called on my grandfather at Jamkhandi. My
grandfather died in 1958.

Then the problems started for us. I graduated at Poona and had got into the
Law College when my grandfather passed away. Since the financial position
became critical after his death, I had to leave the Law college and work as
a teacher at Malvan. Here due to a strange coincidence, I came in contact
with a girl, I liked her and subsequently we married.

After marriage, I learnt that my wife was a very quiet devotee of Sai
Maharaj and as any other young man, in order to please the newly married
spouse; I also started worshipping Sai Baba. She had a photo of Sai Baba
with a horse. Along with her, I started reading 'Sai pothi'. I felt this was
more pretence than devotion!

In 1965, we were blessed with a son. My son was healthy but gave indications
of dumbness. We did not know what to do. We took him to Shirdi when he was
two-year old. He virtually slept off on the’ Samadhi’. When we returned home
two days later, he was saying 'Baba- Baba'. He picked up vocabulary and he
became normal in all respects. This miracle changed my attitude towards Baba
and I accepted him as my God!

We shifted to Goa in 1960. On seeing our worship of Sai Baba a good number
of neighbors also became His devotees. We hold ‘Satsang’ and the number is
ever increasing. In 1977, a devotee by name Avinash went to Shirdi and
brought a small bag of Udhi. My wife told him: "Avinash! You came from
Shirdi. Why did you not bring Baba with you"? He answered: "Baba is coming -
Baba is coming. He is on His way." Avinash's word turned out to be
prophetic. On 9th June 1977 my wife had a dream: "Your brother-in-law is
coming. Do not allow him straightaway. Take out ‘Dristi’ (evil eye) and then
allow him to meet your husband". My wife saw in her dream Sai Baba in orange
robes climbing the footsteps and herself taking out ‘Dristi’ with a piece of
bread and then Sai Baba entering the house. The dream ended. I did not
attach any importance to her dream but she had implicit faith that Baba is
coming to us:
On 22nd June 1977, in the afternoon, someone tapped the front door. I opened
the door and noticed that two cars were parked close to my house and around
20-30 people were standing near the cars. A Sai devotee by name Sri Abajee
Panshikar greeted me and said: "We have brought Sai Murthji to install in
the temple tomorrow. In the temple, arrangements are still to be made. So we
would like to keep the idol in your house for tonight".

We agreed. Baba's idol was brought inside and kept on a table. In the night,
we performed 'Arathi' and sang Sai-bhajans. My wife said: "Baba- you really
belong to us. You should not leave us." I laughed at her request and said
"Baba will go away to the temple."

Next day, around noon people started gathering near the temple. Sai-devotees
Kulkarni, Kishore Sahoo, Jaya Rao came to my house. News came that there was
some difficulty in installing the idol in the temple. Ultimately the crowd
came to my place and in a chorus said: "Let the Murthi be here". They
performed Ganapathi pooja, Sathyanarayana pooja and then the idol was
installed on a table in my house. Baba has stayed permanently with us since
then! In our own humble way we worship Him. People from different parts of
the world have attended ‘arati’ and ‘pooja’ in our house and everyone has
got some experience or the other. Prayers have been answered. Sai Baba is
blessing us and is close to us in every moment of life. Thus Sai Baba came
to us in an incredible manner.
(Source Saipadananda Magazine April 1993)