The Dual Power of the Tongue
Each sense organ given to human beings has one particular use, but the tongue is endowed with dual power. It has both the power of speech and the power of taste. In the Gita, the Lord cautions you to be very careful in using your tongue. He praises the devotee who has attained complete control over the tongue, for such a one will soon develop a pure and steady heart and feel the constant presence of the Lord. To gain such control, devotees have been practicing a number of special disciplines, such as observing silence, controlling their diet, or maintaining a complete fast.
Fasting promotes health for the physical body. In the mental realm it gives joy and bliss. Unlimited and unregulated food is very harmful for devotees. Indulging indiscriminately in unwholesome foods is likely to lead the devotee into the torpidity of inertia. To think that you can go on wantonly indulging yourself in food, while at the same time trying to please God and enjoy the nearness of God, is extremely foolish. These two, indulging in food and gaining the nearness of God, are not compatible. Therefore, right from the beginning you must make a determined effort to keep the tongue under control. Once you gain mastery over the tongue, the other sense organs will automatically come under control.
Sai Baba Gita
mukundan
Friday, March 02, 2007
Gifts of Sai Baba by By Dr. V. N. Shiradhonkar
Gifts of Sai BabaBy Dr. V. N. Shiradhonkar"The ignorant runs after false pleasures and falls into the wide net ofdeath. The wise knows what is eternal; he does not expect anything oflasting value from the inconstant pleasures of life."- KenopanishadSAI-brother K. N. Narayan Swamy has made an appeal-'Dedication to Sai' - inthe January 1988 issue of Sai Padananda, in which he has called upon Saidevotees to contribute articles / experiences on Sainath to several Saimagazines. Prompted by his appeal, my mind mused over the gifts that SaiBaba has conferred upon us.Shirdi Sai Baba is a phenomenon. His physical body has disintegrated intothe elements many years ago. But today belief in him and his power to assistpeople in times of distress is growing. Sai Baba started no cult and spreadno religion which one could identify with him. His teachings have been theessence of all religions. His believers are countrywide and include Hindus,Muslims, Parsis, Christians, and others and several others abroad.Saints exist to give devotees temporal and spiritual benefits. Sai Baba hassaid: "I have come to give such good things to the devotees". Once when oneof His devotees objected to people going to Sai Baba for temporal benefits,Baba told him: "Do not do that. My men first come to me on account of thatonly. They get their heart's desires fulfilled and comfortably placed inlife, and then they follow me and progress further. I bring my men from longdistance under many pleas. I seek them and bring them to me. They do notcome of their own accord. I draw them to me". These words are law eventoday.His assurances (11 sayings) are fulfilled in the case of each Sai devotee inhis own inimitable manner. Sai Baba did not care for money or gifts duringhis life time: He begged for food and ate along with dogs, pigs, beggarsetc. He had a perfect conquest of the palate and perfect sense of equalitythat He displayed to all the living creatures. They indeed see the veryperfection of what the world's scriptures had conjoined for the true seekersof God, viz., not minding what one eats and treating all life as one.What gift can we give Sai Baba who in fact is sustaining us in every momentof our life? We breathe Sai, talk Sai and live Sai. I can only borrow a lineof G.S. Khaparde from his 'Shirdi Diary' -"From the moment I approached Him,all the load of my worldly cares disappeared though only a few minutes,before, it was felt to be exceedingly oppressive and such as to causedisgust in life". So let us contribute our two-pice 'dakshina' - Sraddha andSaburi to our Sai Maharaj.Sourcehttp://www.saileela s.org/magazines/ saipadananda/ july1988. htm
Sri Sai Amrit Vani - March 1st, 2007
Sri Sai Amrit Vani
1st March 2007
Jai Sai Ram
Sri Sai Bajan Sandhya was held on 24th
Feb, 2007 in the Central Park of Sidhartha Extension,
New Delhi from 5 PM upto 9:30 Pm, followed by dinner.
Shri Sandeep Kapoor entertained the large gathering of
about 750 to 800 Sai devotees, with his wonderful
sweet voice. The Bajans were a grand success. I have
uploaded few photos in the photo section of the
yahoogroup ‘mysaibaba20’ . During the Bajan, Baba
blessed Mrs. Gupta with Udi, when she was in deep
meditation in the pandal. Udi was already oozing from
the photo and the Statue of Baba in the mandir of the
house. This Photo and the statue were also taken to
the pandal along with the plate placed below them.
On Thursday again in the evening Mrs.
Gupta had to attend another Sai Sandhya at Vigyan
Vihar, New Delhi. There also Baba showed HIS presence
and blessed with Udi.
Following devotees participated in
absencia in the recitation of Sri Sai Amrit Vani by
reciting Sri Sai Amrit Vani at their places on 1st
march 2007. The list is sorted as per their email ids.
However Mrs. Gupta prayed for all the devotees. In
this list only those devotees are included, who
themselves recited or read Sri Sai Amrit Vani at their
places. The names of the devotees “for prayer”, are
prayed for, but not included in the list. Kindly
mention clearly, against each devotee’s name that
he/she will recite or read or listen to Sri Sai Amrit
Vani, or only for prayers. Please also give the name
of the place.
There was nothing new this Thursday yet we
enjoyed and we could see the following Leelas this
Thursday the 1st March 2007 .
1. Udi started appearing and oozing from the two
photos on the wall from Monday, Hindi words ‘RAM’
‘SHAM’ and ‘OM’, and figure of Trishool were formed
with Udi on one photo. On Tuesday Udi started oozing
from the main photo in the mandir. Hindi words ‘RAM’
‘SHAM’ and ‘OM’ along with other figures were also
formed on the photo in the mandir and Udi started
oozing and falling from the Statue from Wednesday
morning.
2. There was lot of Water from the Charans this week
also. This water was collected in the Thali. The
taste of water was similar to gulab jal and kewara
mix. After Sai Amrit Vani, this water was given to the
needy devotees and again the Thali was filled with
water. This water was taken out of thali 3-4 times
throughout the day and was given to devotees till
evening. Devotees even bring bottles to take the water
home.
3. Lap of Mrs. Gupta was filled with Udi during the
prayers. Udi was there between the falls of the Sari
and all over the sari.
4. Udi also appeared on many other devotees and also
in the books of Sri Sai Amrit Vani.
5. On Thursday as soon as Bhog was offered, it was
duly accepted by Baba and after the Sri Sai Amrit Vani
we noticed that the box, which was placed before HIM
was partially eaten and partially remained pieces of
items in the box. Part of Bhog was on the lips of
many photos and statue of Baba. These parts of the
remains in the box were given to the devotees who
offered that item of bhog to Baba.
6. Presence of Baba during the recitation of Sai Amrit
Vani was very strong.
7. All the boxes of Bhog which were kept on the table
were blessed with Udi,
8. The Charnamrit, the water in which Baba took the
bath in the morning was also sweet as if some honey
has been mixed into it.
9. On the table below the photos, small crystals of
sugars were also found along with the Udi.
10. Many documents, Roll nos and papers, of devotees
kept in the mandir room, were blessed with lots of Udi
as soon as they were placed there.
Jai Sai Ram
Sri Sai Amrit Vani started at
11:04 AM. Noon Aartee started at 12:00 Hrs. followed
by brief Meditation and the prayer, Prayan of one
Chapter from Sai Satcharitra. Mrs. Gupta offered
prayers and thanks to Baba. Finally distribution of
Prasad, Udi and the water from the Charans.
Devotees are requested to write clearly
if they are reciting or reading Sri Sai Amrit Vani
along with us in their places. Not in ambiguous form
like ‘We will follow along’. Such letters will be
treated as for prayers. Following listed devotees
participated in the recitation of Sri Sai Amrit Vani (
in absentia) and have either recited or read or
listened Sri Sai Amrit Vani at their places. Other
devotees were also prayed for but their names have not
been listed. Here problems of the devotees are
mentioned, as many problem are not supposed to be
made public and are confidential in nature and purely
personal.
Next Sri Sai Amrit Vani on 8th March, again
will be held in Sidhartha Extension, New Delhi.
Devotees interested in attending it in person may
contact on phone nos. 26346942, 9810714688 or
9312494767 only after 11 AM (IST) on any day except
Thursdays but no calls on Thursdays PLEASE. They
should NOT bring any bhog with them and be in time.
Kids are also not allowed in the hall. No disturbance
is tolerated during the Sri Sai Amrit Vani .
Sri Sai Amrit Vani is now
available in Tamil script also besides in Devnagri,
English and Telgu, in the file section of the
yahoogroup. Links of Audio MP3 files are given in the
link section of the home page of ‘ mysaibaba20’
yahoogroup. To go to home page of yahoogroup key in or
click http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/mysaibaba2 0 .
Audio Mp3 file has also been made available in the
publication section of http://saimemorial. com , the
site of Sai Memorial Temple of Baba of Lodhi Road, New
Delhi.
This activity of Sri Sai Amrit Vani will be
in addition to any other pooja or sewa or prayer that
you are doing.
Jai Sai Ram.
Ashok Gupta
mysaibaba20@ yahoogroups. com
akg_vg@bol.net. in
veena_gupta_ 2000@yahoo. com
1st March 2007
Jai Sai Ram
Sri Sai Bajan Sandhya was held on 24th
Feb, 2007 in the Central Park of Sidhartha Extension,
New Delhi from 5 PM upto 9:30 Pm, followed by dinner.
Shri Sandeep Kapoor entertained the large gathering of
about 750 to 800 Sai devotees, with his wonderful
sweet voice. The Bajans were a grand success. I have
uploaded few photos in the photo section of the
yahoogroup ‘mysaibaba20’ . During the Bajan, Baba
blessed Mrs. Gupta with Udi, when she was in deep
meditation in the pandal. Udi was already oozing from
the photo and the Statue of Baba in the mandir of the
house. This Photo and the statue were also taken to
the pandal along with the plate placed below them.
On Thursday again in the evening Mrs.
Gupta had to attend another Sai Sandhya at Vigyan
Vihar, New Delhi. There also Baba showed HIS presence
and blessed with Udi.
Following devotees participated in
absencia in the recitation of Sri Sai Amrit Vani by
reciting Sri Sai Amrit Vani at their places on 1st
march 2007. The list is sorted as per their email ids.
However Mrs. Gupta prayed for all the devotees. In
this list only those devotees are included, who
themselves recited or read Sri Sai Amrit Vani at their
places. The names of the devotees “for prayer”, are
prayed for, but not included in the list. Kindly
mention clearly, against each devotee’s name that
he/she will recite or read or listen to Sri Sai Amrit
Vani, or only for prayers. Please also give the name
of the place.
There was nothing new this Thursday yet we
enjoyed and we could see the following Leelas this
Thursday the 1st March 2007 .
1. Udi started appearing and oozing from the two
photos on the wall from Monday, Hindi words ‘RAM’
‘SHAM’ and ‘OM’, and figure of Trishool were formed
with Udi on one photo. On Tuesday Udi started oozing
from the main photo in the mandir. Hindi words ‘RAM’
‘SHAM’ and ‘OM’ along with other figures were also
formed on the photo in the mandir and Udi started
oozing and falling from the Statue from Wednesday
morning.
2. There was lot of Water from the Charans this week
also. This water was collected in the Thali. The
taste of water was similar to gulab jal and kewara
mix. After Sai Amrit Vani, this water was given to the
needy devotees and again the Thali was filled with
water. This water was taken out of thali 3-4 times
throughout the day and was given to devotees till
evening. Devotees even bring bottles to take the water
home.
3. Lap of Mrs. Gupta was filled with Udi during the
prayers. Udi was there between the falls of the Sari
and all over the sari.
4. Udi also appeared on many other devotees and also
in the books of Sri Sai Amrit Vani.
5. On Thursday as soon as Bhog was offered, it was
duly accepted by Baba and after the Sri Sai Amrit Vani
we noticed that the box, which was placed before HIM
was partially eaten and partially remained pieces of
items in the box. Part of Bhog was on the lips of
many photos and statue of Baba. These parts of the
remains in the box were given to the devotees who
offered that item of bhog to Baba.
6. Presence of Baba during the recitation of Sai Amrit
Vani was very strong.
7. All the boxes of Bhog which were kept on the table
were blessed with Udi,
8. The Charnamrit, the water in which Baba took the
bath in the morning was also sweet as if some honey
has been mixed into it.
9. On the table below the photos, small crystals of
sugars were also found along with the Udi.
10. Many documents, Roll nos and papers, of devotees
kept in the mandir room, were blessed with lots of Udi
as soon as they were placed there.
Jai Sai Ram
Sri Sai Amrit Vani started at
11:04 AM. Noon Aartee started at 12:00 Hrs. followed
by brief Meditation and the prayer, Prayan of one
Chapter from Sai Satcharitra. Mrs. Gupta offered
prayers and thanks to Baba. Finally distribution of
Prasad, Udi and the water from the Charans.
Devotees are requested to write clearly
if they are reciting or reading Sri Sai Amrit Vani
along with us in their places. Not in ambiguous form
like ‘We will follow along’. Such letters will be
treated as for prayers. Following listed devotees
participated in the recitation of Sri Sai Amrit Vani (
in absentia) and have either recited or read or
listened Sri Sai Amrit Vani at their places. Other
devotees were also prayed for but their names have not
been listed. Here problems of the devotees are
mentioned, as many problem are not supposed to be
made public and are confidential in nature and purely
personal.
Next Sri Sai Amrit Vani on 8th March, again
will be held in Sidhartha Extension, New Delhi.
Devotees interested in attending it in person may
contact on phone nos. 26346942, 9810714688 or
9312494767 only after 11 AM (IST) on any day except
Thursdays but no calls on Thursdays PLEASE. They
should NOT bring any bhog with them and be in time.
Kids are also not allowed in the hall. No disturbance
is tolerated during the Sri Sai Amrit Vani .
Sri Sai Amrit Vani is now
available in Tamil script also besides in Devnagri,
English and Telgu, in the file section of the
yahoogroup. Links of Audio MP3 files are given in the
link section of the home page of ‘ mysaibaba20’
yahoogroup. To go to home page of yahoogroup key in or
click http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/mysaibaba2 0 .
Audio Mp3 file has also been made available in the
publication section of http://saimemorial. com , the
site of Sai Memorial Temple of Baba of Lodhi Road, New
Delhi.
This activity of Sri Sai Amrit Vani will be
in addition to any other pooja or sewa or prayer that
you are doing.
Jai Sai Ram.
Ashok Gupta
mysaibaba20@ yahoogroups. com
akg_vg@bol.net. in
veena_gupta_ 2000@yahoo. com
Monday, February 26, 2007
Satsang "SHIRDI DIARY' DADASAHEB KHAPARDE
"SHIRDI DIARY' DADASAHEB KHAPARDE
By V.B. KherSince August 1985, the "Shirdi Diary" of the Hon'ble Mr, Ganesh ShrikrishnaKhaparde is being featured in the issues of Shri Sai Leela month aftermonth. The "extracts" of Shirdi Diary reproduced therein first appeared inShri Sai Leela in 1924-25. I deliberately refer to what was published as"extracts" for I am not sure that the whole of Shirdi Diary has yet seen thelight of the day. When the Shirdi Diary was first serialized in Shri SaiLeela, G.S. Khaparde the right hand man of the late Lokamanya Tilak hadretired from the centre of political activity to its periphery, with therise on the political firmament of Mahatma Gandhi who had cast a spell onthe Indian National Congress and the masses. Sai Baba the Sadguru andspiritual mentor of Khaparde had also passed away and Khaparde was insemi-retirement. He had ample time to look back on his life and think of hisinterests which he could not pursue in the midst of his hectic politicallife as an activist and a leader. So it was with his permission andknowledge that the Shirdi Diary made its appearance in the issues of earlieryears of Shri Sai Leela i.e. 1924-25. The reader may rightly raise thequestion on what basis I make this assertion. And he would be justified indoing so. I have to answer this query and place material available at mydisposal before the reader.
Fortunately for all of us Balkrishna alias Babasaheb Khaparde, the eldestson of G.S. Khaparde authored a biography of his father. The biography iswritten in Marathi and was first published in 1962. In the preface, theauthor has stated candidly at the outset that the book is "not a biographybut edited material gathered from Dadasaheb Khaparde's diaries for thepurpose of the biography".The hero of the biography was born on 27th August, 1854 on the day of GaneshChaturthi and was therefore named after the Lord of the Ganas. We shall nowtouch upon the early life of Ganesh only in passing. His father ShrikrishnaNarhar alias Bapusaheb who had experienced poverty in his childhood had byhis enterprise and dint of hard work risen to the position of a Tahasildar(Mam-ledar) in the British Raj in the Province of C.P. fr Berar. Ganesh hadhis primary and secondary education in Nagpur and Amraoti. He failed twicein Matriculation because he was more interested in study of subjects andbooks other than those prescribed in the curriculum. Besides, he was weak inmathematics. After matriculating in 1872, he joined the Elphinstone Collegein Bombay. He was a favourite student of Dr. Ramakrishna Bhandar-kar who wasthe Professor of Sanskrit. Ganesh had studied Sanskrit extensively in atraditional manner under a shastri during his childhood at Akola and had,therefore, an excellent grounding in the subject. Moreover, he was avoracious reader of the Sanskrit literature, and before joining theElphinstone College had already poured over Bana's Kadambari andBhavabhuti's Uttararama-Charita, So he found the Sanskrit taught in theCollege a child's play. He also enjoyed reading English literature.Professor Wordsworth who taught him English was the grandson of WilliamWordsworth, the famous nature-poet of the English language. Under these twoprofessors he acquired a sound knowledge of these two languages. In fact hisknowledge of Sanskrit was so good that he was selected unanimously to debatein Sanskrit with Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj, whenthe latter visited the Elphinstone College. No wonder that Ganesh wascomplimented by the Swami himself on his high standard of performance.
(Source Shirdi Diary)http://www.saileelas.org/books/dairy.htm
By V.B. KherSince August 1985, the "Shirdi Diary" of the Hon'ble Mr, Ganesh ShrikrishnaKhaparde is being featured in the issues of Shri Sai Leela month aftermonth. The "extracts" of Shirdi Diary reproduced therein first appeared inShri Sai Leela in 1924-25. I deliberately refer to what was published as"extracts" for I am not sure that the whole of Shirdi Diary has yet seen thelight of the day. When the Shirdi Diary was first serialized in Shri SaiLeela, G.S. Khaparde the right hand man of the late Lokamanya Tilak hadretired from the centre of political activity to its periphery, with therise on the political firmament of Mahatma Gandhi who had cast a spell onthe Indian National Congress and the masses. Sai Baba the Sadguru andspiritual mentor of Khaparde had also passed away and Khaparde was insemi-retirement. He had ample time to look back on his life and think of hisinterests which he could not pursue in the midst of his hectic politicallife as an activist and a leader. So it was with his permission andknowledge that the Shirdi Diary made its appearance in the issues of earlieryears of Shri Sai Leela i.e. 1924-25. The reader may rightly raise thequestion on what basis I make this assertion. And he would be justified indoing so. I have to answer this query and place material available at mydisposal before the reader.
Fortunately for all of us Balkrishna alias Babasaheb Khaparde, the eldestson of G.S. Khaparde authored a biography of his father. The biography iswritten in Marathi and was first published in 1962. In the preface, theauthor has stated candidly at the outset that the book is "not a biographybut edited material gathered from Dadasaheb Khaparde's diaries for thepurpose of the biography".The hero of the biography was born on 27th August, 1854 on the day of GaneshChaturthi and was therefore named after the Lord of the Ganas. We shall nowtouch upon the early life of Ganesh only in passing. His father ShrikrishnaNarhar alias Bapusaheb who had experienced poverty in his childhood had byhis enterprise and dint of hard work risen to the position of a Tahasildar(Mam-ledar) in the British Raj in the Province of C.P. fr Berar. Ganesh hadhis primary and secondary education in Nagpur and Amraoti. He failed twicein Matriculation because he was more interested in study of subjects andbooks other than those prescribed in the curriculum. Besides, he was weak inmathematics. After matriculating in 1872, he joined the Elphinstone Collegein Bombay. He was a favourite student of Dr. Ramakrishna Bhandar-kar who wasthe Professor of Sanskrit. Ganesh had studied Sanskrit extensively in atraditional manner under a shastri during his childhood at Akola and had,therefore, an excellent grounding in the subject. Moreover, he was avoracious reader of the Sanskrit literature, and before joining theElphinstone College had already poured over Bana's Kadambari andBhavabhuti's Uttararama-Charita, So he found the Sanskrit taught in theCollege a child's play. He also enjoyed reading English literature.Professor Wordsworth who taught him English was the grandson of WilliamWordsworth, the famous nature-poet of the English language. Under these twoprofessors he acquired a sound knowledge of these two languages. In fact hisknowledge of Sanskrit was so good that he was selected unanimously to debatein Sanskrit with Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj, whenthe latter visited the Elphinstone College. No wonder that Ganesh wascomplimented by the Swami himself on his high standard of performance.
(Source Shirdi Diary)http://www.saileelas.org/books/dairy.htm
Satsang "SHIRDI DIARY' DADASAHEB KHAPARDE
Dadasaheb as Ganesh came to be known in his later life became first a juniorfellow and then a senior fellow in the Elphinstone College and in thesecapacities assisted in teaching Sanskrit and English. It may be stated herethat Dadasaheb was a born linguist for he was at home in other languageslike Gujarathi and was an orator of no mean order in all these languages.Following graduation, Dadasaheb majored in law in 1884 and soon commencedhis legal practice. After an early stint of service as a mu nsiff between188 5 to 1889, he returned to the bar and soon established a name as aleading lawyer. From 1890, he started participating in public life aridbecame the President of the District Council in 1890. By 1897, when theannual session of the Indian National Congress was held in Amraoti, he hadbecome a prominent figure in the national life and was elected as theChairman of the Reception Committee. We will now go back a little in timeand see how and when Dadasaheb started maintaining his diary of daily eventsand how many such diaries of his are available.
A pocket diary of 1879 of Dadasaheb has been found. Though there are someimportant entries in it, many of its pages are blank and there are onlystray sentences on some pages. However from the year 1894 upto 1938fortyfive diaries maintained by Dadasaheb Khaparde in his own hand areavailable. Thus in all forty-six diaries are extant which are lodged in theNational Archives. It appears that no diary prior to 1879 or between 1880 to1893 was kept by him. Of the diaries of 1894 to 1938, excepting the one of1938 which is a "National Diary" of Indian make, four are "Collins Diaries"and the remaining "Lates Diaries" made abroad. During the first world war"Lates diaries" were not to be had and so those of another make were pressedinto service. Each diary is 12.5" long and 8" broad with one page for eachday and weighs 4 Ibs. and 26 tolas.
Dadasaheb carried his diary with him in travel. It was his regular habit torecord entries pertaining to the day in the diary before retiring to sleepat night and he observed this rule meticulously. There are many entrieswhich show that he wrote the record of the day at midnight, or even aftermidnight at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. in the waiting-room of railway stations beforegoing to bed. As he found it inconvenient in later years to record the day'sevents before lying down to rest at night, he began to record the previousday's everus the next morning. So references to his dreams, visions andsound sleep are found in these diaries. Whether the event was trivial orimportant, an entry about it is to be found in his daily record. The namesof hisvisitors, the gist of their conversation and dialogues with importantentities, in question and answer form, in detail, are faithfully entered inbold, neat and legible hand writing without any erasing or overwriting pageafter page. Even when he was indisposed, he did not fail to write his diary.Only on the day of his demise i.e. 1st July 1938 and the day before he didnot make any entries, the last entry being of 29th June, 1938.
(Source Shirdi Diary)http://www.saileelas.org/books/dairy.htm
A pocket diary of 1879 of Dadasaheb has been found. Though there are someimportant entries in it, many of its pages are blank and there are onlystray sentences on some pages. However from the year 1894 upto 1938fortyfive diaries maintained by Dadasaheb Khaparde in his own hand areavailable. Thus in all forty-six diaries are extant which are lodged in theNational Archives. It appears that no diary prior to 1879 or between 1880 to1893 was kept by him. Of the diaries of 1894 to 1938, excepting the one of1938 which is a "National Diary" of Indian make, four are "Collins Diaries"and the remaining "Lates Diaries" made abroad. During the first world war"Lates diaries" were not to be had and so those of another make were pressedinto service. Each diary is 12.5" long and 8" broad with one page for eachday and weighs 4 Ibs. and 26 tolas.
Dadasaheb carried his diary with him in travel. It was his regular habit torecord entries pertaining to the day in the diary before retiring to sleepat night and he observed this rule meticulously. There are many entrieswhich show that he wrote the record of the day at midnight, or even aftermidnight at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. in the waiting-room of railway stations beforegoing to bed. As he found it inconvenient in later years to record the day'sevents before lying down to rest at night, he began to record the previousday's everus the next morning. So references to his dreams, visions andsound sleep are found in these diaries. Whether the event was trivial orimportant, an entry about it is to be found in his daily record. The namesof hisvisitors, the gist of their conversation and dialogues with importantentities, in question and answer form, in detail, are faithfully entered inbold, neat and legible hand writing without any erasing or overwriting pageafter page. Even when he was indisposed, he did not fail to write his diary.Only on the day of his demise i.e. 1st July 1938 and the day before he didnot make any entries, the last entry being of 29th June, 1938.
(Source Shirdi Diary)http://www.saileelas.org/books/dairy.htm
Satsang "SHIRDI DIARY' DADASAHEB KHAPARDE
Dadasaheb Khaparde visited Shirdi in all five times during Sai Baba's lifetime. The chronological dates of his visit to Shirdi and the period of hisstay there are as given below:First Visit - From 5th December, 1910 to 12th December 1910.Second Visit - From 6th December, 1911 to 15th March, 1912.Third Visit - From 29th December, 1915 to 31st December, 1915.Fourth Visit - On 19th May, 1917 in the company of Lokamanya Tilak.Fifth Visit - A short visit of unspecified number of days in March, 1918.
Let us now consider each visit separately and see what information isavailable in the biography of Dadasaheb Khaparde in addition to what isalready published so far in earlier volumes of Shri SaiLeelain 1924-25.First visit in December, 1910Dadasaheb Khaparde arrived in Bombay from Pune and with his eldest sonBalakrishna went to Shirdi on 5th December. He stayed there for seven daysand on getting permission from Sai Baba to depart on 12th December, arrivedin Akola on 13th December. Normally, he travelled by the first class in dayswhen there were three to four classes of railway travel. However, on thisoccasion as he did not have sufficient money on his person, he travelled bythe second class and reached Amraoti on 19th December via Akola. It isrecorded that he walked down from Amraoti railway station to his residence!That a person of Dadasaheb's standing should even have no money to hire avehicle to go to his residence may cause great surprise, Dadasaheb's annualincome by way of legal practice at one time was of the order of rupees90,000 to 95,000 when there was no income-tax legislation and living wascheap. Yet the state of affairs described above was inevitable in thecircumstances as Dadasaheb lived beyond his means.
At one time, he had seven horses including two Australian-bred; twocarriages, one state and the other ordinary, with staff to look after them.He was generous to a fault and gave shelter to a number of families. He keptan open house and his house was always full of guests on whom he spentlavishly for their comfort and entertainment including nautch parties! Nowthe reader can appreciate why he had to foot the distance from the railwaystation to his residence. The account of this visit as reported in Shri SaiLeela appears to be complete on comparison with the narration in thebiography.
Second visit in December, 1911
The second visit of Dadasaheb Khaparde to Shirdi was the longest, his stayextending to hundred days. This is significant and needs examination in somedetail for inspite of the desire of Dadasaheb and his wife to return toAmraoti time and again, Sai Baba detained them in Shirdi and would not letthem go. And since Dadasaheb had implicit faith in his Sadguru, Dadasahebdutifully obeyed the orders of Sai Baba believing and knowing full well thatBaba's decision was in his interest.Now what could have been the reason for Sai Baba keeping Dadasaheb for sucha long time in
Shirdi? The readers are aware that Dadasaheb Khaparde was a prominent aideand supporter of Lokamanya Tilak. Tilak had been arrested on 24th June, 1908and tried on the charge of sedition. His trial began on 13th July, 1908, andhe was convicted and sentenced to six years' imprisonment on 22nd July,1908. Within a few days thereafter, i.e. on 15th August 1908, Dadasahebsailed for England to prefer an appeal to the Privy Council against thejudgment of the Bombay High Court convicting Lokamanya. He reached Dover on31st August, 1908 and immediately proceeded to London. As planned he filed apetition in the Privy Council but the Privy Council refused leave to appealagainst the Bombay High Court's judgment. The next move of Khaparde toappeal to the House of Lords failed for lack of support. A memorial sent toLord Morley, the Secretary of State for India also proved to be of no avail.All attempts having proved futile, Khaparde sailed for India via Rangoon on15th September 1910 after a stay of over two years in England. He 'had leftno stone unturned to get the judgment against Tilak reversed. He had gone athis own expense to England to campaign for his leader's release. HisHerculean labour in England brings out not only his qualities of loyalty anddevotion to his leader but also selflessness and the price he was preparedto pay in terms of energy, time and expense for a cause he believed to bejust. Dadasaheb's mother passed away on 27th September, 1910 while he was onthe high seas. Khaparde reached Rangoon on 16.10.1910 and met Tilak inMandalay Jail on 22.10.1910. Having reached Calcutta on 27.10.1910, hereturned home on 5.11.1910 after an absence of two years, two months andtwenty-two days.
(Source Shirdi Diary)http://www.saileelas.org/books/dairy.htm
Let us now consider each visit separately and see what information isavailable in the biography of Dadasaheb Khaparde in addition to what isalready published so far in earlier volumes of Shri SaiLeelain 1924-25.First visit in December, 1910Dadasaheb Khaparde arrived in Bombay from Pune and with his eldest sonBalakrishna went to Shirdi on 5th December. He stayed there for seven daysand on getting permission from Sai Baba to depart on 12th December, arrivedin Akola on 13th December. Normally, he travelled by the first class in dayswhen there were three to four classes of railway travel. However, on thisoccasion as he did not have sufficient money on his person, he travelled bythe second class and reached Amraoti on 19th December via Akola. It isrecorded that he walked down from Amraoti railway station to his residence!That a person of Dadasaheb's standing should even have no money to hire avehicle to go to his residence may cause great surprise, Dadasaheb's annualincome by way of legal practice at one time was of the order of rupees90,000 to 95,000 when there was no income-tax legislation and living wascheap. Yet the state of affairs described above was inevitable in thecircumstances as Dadasaheb lived beyond his means.
At one time, he had seven horses including two Australian-bred; twocarriages, one state and the other ordinary, with staff to look after them.He was generous to a fault and gave shelter to a number of families. He keptan open house and his house was always full of guests on whom he spentlavishly for their comfort and entertainment including nautch parties! Nowthe reader can appreciate why he had to foot the distance from the railwaystation to his residence. The account of this visit as reported in Shri SaiLeela appears to be complete on comparison with the narration in thebiography.
Second visit in December, 1911
The second visit of Dadasaheb Khaparde to Shirdi was the longest, his stayextending to hundred days. This is significant and needs examination in somedetail for inspite of the desire of Dadasaheb and his wife to return toAmraoti time and again, Sai Baba detained them in Shirdi and would not letthem go. And since Dadasaheb had implicit faith in his Sadguru, Dadasahebdutifully obeyed the orders of Sai Baba believing and knowing full well thatBaba's decision was in his interest.Now what could have been the reason for Sai Baba keeping Dadasaheb for sucha long time in
Shirdi? The readers are aware that Dadasaheb Khaparde was a prominent aideand supporter of Lokamanya Tilak. Tilak had been arrested on 24th June, 1908and tried on the charge of sedition. His trial began on 13th July, 1908, andhe was convicted and sentenced to six years' imprisonment on 22nd July,1908. Within a few days thereafter, i.e. on 15th August 1908, Dadasahebsailed for England to prefer an appeal to the Privy Council against thejudgment of the Bombay High Court convicting Lokamanya. He reached Dover on31st August, 1908 and immediately proceeded to London. As planned he filed apetition in the Privy Council but the Privy Council refused leave to appealagainst the Bombay High Court's judgment. The next move of Khaparde toappeal to the House of Lords failed for lack of support. A memorial sent toLord Morley, the Secretary of State for India also proved to be of no avail.All attempts having proved futile, Khaparde sailed for India via Rangoon on15th September 1910 after a stay of over two years in England. He 'had leftno stone unturned to get the judgment against Tilak reversed. He had gone athis own expense to England to campaign for his leader's release. HisHerculean labour in England brings out not only his qualities of loyalty anddevotion to his leader but also selflessness and the price he was preparedto pay in terms of energy, time and expense for a cause he believed to bejust. Dadasaheb's mother passed away on 27th September, 1910 while he was onthe high seas. Khaparde reached Rangoon on 16.10.1910 and met Tilak inMandalay Jail on 22.10.1910. Having reached Calcutta on 27.10.1910, hereturned home on 5.11.1910 after an absence of two years, two months andtwenty-two days.
(Source Shirdi Diary)http://www.saileelas.org/books/dairy.htm
Satsang "SHIRDI DIARY' DADASAHEB KHAPARDE
Dadasaheb Khaparde visited Shirdi in all five times during Sai Baba's life
time. The chronological dates of his visit to Shirdi and the period of his
stay there are as given below:
First Visit - >From 5th December, 1910 to 12th December 1910.
Second Visit - From 6th December, 1911 to 15th March, 1912.
Third Visit - From 29th December, 1915 to 31st December, 1915.
Fourth Visit - On 19th May, 1917 in the company of Lokamanya Tilak.
Fifth Visit - A short visit of unspecified number of days in March, 1918.
Let us now consider each visit separately and see what information is
available in the biography of Dadasaheb Khaparde in addition to what is
already published so far in earlier volumes of Shri SaiLeelain 1924-25.
First visit in December, 1910
Dadasaheb Khaparde arrived in Bombay from Pune and with his eldest son
Balakrishna went to Shirdi on 5th December. He stayed there for seven days
and on getting permission from Sai Baba to depart on 12th December, arrived
in Akola on 13th December. Normally, he travelled by the first class in days
when there were three to four classes of railway travel. However, on this
occasion as he did not have sufficient money on his person, he travelled by
the second class and reached Amraoti on 19th December via Akola. It is
recorded that he walked down from Amraoti railway station to his residence!
That a person of Dadasaheb's standing should even have no money to hire a
vehicle to go to his residence may cause great surprise, Dadasaheb's annual
income by way of legal practice at one time was of the order of rupees
90,000 to 95,000 when there was no income-tax legislation and living was
cheap. Yet the state of affairs described above was inevitable in the
circumstances as Dadasaheb lived beyond his means.
At one time, he had seven horses including two Australian-bred; two
carriages, one state and the other ordinary, with staff to look after them.
He was generous to a fault and gave shelter to a number of families. He
kept an open house and his house was always full of guests on whom he
spent lavishly for their comfort and entertainment including nautch parties!
Now the reader can appreciate why he had to foot the distance from the
railway station to his residence. The account of this visit as reported in
Shri Sai Leela appears to be complete on comparison with the narration
in the biography.
Second visit in December, 1911
The second visit of Dadasaheb Khaparde to Shirdi was the longest, his stay
extending to hundred days. This is significant and needs examination in
some detail for inspite of the desire of Dadasaheb and his wife to return to
Amraoti time and again, Sai Baba detained them in Shirdi and would not let
them go. And since Dadasaheb had implicit faith in his Sadguru, Dadasaheb
dutifully obeyed the orders of Sai Baba believing and knowing full well that
Baba's decision was in his interest.
Now what could have been the reason for Sai Baba keeping Dadasaheb for
such a long time in
Shirdi? The readers are aware that Dadasaheb Khaparde was a prominent
aide and supporter of Lokamanya Tilak. Tilak had been arrested on 24th
June, 1908 and tried on the charge of sedition. His trial began on 13th July,
1908, and he was convicted and sentenced to six years' imprisonment on
22nd July, 1908. Within a few days thereafter, i.e. on 15th August 1908,
Dadasaheb sailed for England to prefer an appeal to the Privy Council against
the judgment of the Bombay High Court convicting Lokamanya. He reached
Dover on 31st August, 1908 and immediately proceeded to London. As
planned he filed a petition in the Privy Council but the Privy Council refused
leave to appeal against the Bombay High Court's judgment. The next move
of Khaparde to appeal to the House of Lords failed for lack of support. A
memorial sent to Lord Morley, the Secretary of State for India also proved to
be of no avail.
All attempts having proved futile, Khaparde sailed for India via Rangoon on
15th September 1910 after a stay of over two years in England. He 'had left
no stone unturned to get the judgment against Tilak reversed. He had gone
at his own expense to England to campaign for his leader's release. His
Herculean labour in England brings out not only his qualities of loyalty and
devotion to his leader but also selflessness and the price he was prepared
to pay in terms of energy, time and expense for a cause he believed to be
just. Dadasaheb's mother passed away on 27th September, 1910 while he
was on the high seas. Khaparde reached Rangoon on 16.10.1910 and met
Tilak in Mandalay Jail on 22.10.1910. Having reached Calcutta on 27.10.1910,
he returned home on 5.11.1910 after an absence of two years, two months and
twenty-two days.
(Source Shirdi Diary)
http://www.saileelas.org/books/dairy.htm
time. The chronological dates of his visit to Shirdi and the period of his
stay there are as given below:
First Visit - >From 5th December, 1910 to 12th December 1910.
Second Visit - From 6th December, 1911 to 15th March, 1912.
Third Visit - From 29th December, 1915 to 31st December, 1915.
Fourth Visit - On 19th May, 1917 in the company of Lokamanya Tilak.
Fifth Visit - A short visit of unspecified number of days in March, 1918.
Let us now consider each visit separately and see what information is
available in the biography of Dadasaheb Khaparde in addition to what is
already published so far in earlier volumes of Shri SaiLeelain 1924-25.
First visit in December, 1910
Dadasaheb Khaparde arrived in Bombay from Pune and with his eldest son
Balakrishna went to Shirdi on 5th December. He stayed there for seven days
and on getting permission from Sai Baba to depart on 12th December, arrived
in Akola on 13th December. Normally, he travelled by the first class in days
when there were three to four classes of railway travel. However, on this
occasion as he did not have sufficient money on his person, he travelled by
the second class and reached Amraoti on 19th December via Akola. It is
recorded that he walked down from Amraoti railway station to his residence!
That a person of Dadasaheb's standing should even have no money to hire a
vehicle to go to his residence may cause great surprise, Dadasaheb's annual
income by way of legal practice at one time was of the order of rupees
90,000 to 95,000 when there was no income-tax legislation and living was
cheap. Yet the state of affairs described above was inevitable in the
circumstances as Dadasaheb lived beyond his means.
At one time, he had seven horses including two Australian-bred; two
carriages, one state and the other ordinary, with staff to look after them.
He was generous to a fault and gave shelter to a number of families. He
kept an open house and his house was always full of guests on whom he
spent lavishly for their comfort and entertainment including nautch parties!
Now the reader can appreciate why he had to foot the distance from the
railway station to his residence. The account of this visit as reported in
Shri Sai Leela appears to be complete on comparison with the narration
in the biography.
Second visit in December, 1911
The second visit of Dadasaheb Khaparde to Shirdi was the longest, his stay
extending to hundred days. This is significant and needs examination in
some detail for inspite of the desire of Dadasaheb and his wife to return to
Amraoti time and again, Sai Baba detained them in Shirdi and would not let
them go. And since Dadasaheb had implicit faith in his Sadguru, Dadasaheb
dutifully obeyed the orders of Sai Baba believing and knowing full well that
Baba's decision was in his interest.
Now what could have been the reason for Sai Baba keeping Dadasaheb for
such a long time in
Shirdi? The readers are aware that Dadasaheb Khaparde was a prominent
aide and supporter of Lokamanya Tilak. Tilak had been arrested on 24th
June, 1908 and tried on the charge of sedition. His trial began on 13th July,
1908, and he was convicted and sentenced to six years' imprisonment on
22nd July, 1908. Within a few days thereafter, i.e. on 15th August 1908,
Dadasaheb sailed for England to prefer an appeal to the Privy Council against
the judgment of the Bombay High Court convicting Lokamanya. He reached
Dover on 31st August, 1908 and immediately proceeded to London. As
planned he filed a petition in the Privy Council but the Privy Council refused
leave to appeal against the Bombay High Court's judgment. The next move
of Khaparde to appeal to the House of Lords failed for lack of support. A
memorial sent to Lord Morley, the Secretary of State for India also proved to
be of no avail.
All attempts having proved futile, Khaparde sailed for India via Rangoon on
15th September 1910 after a stay of over two years in England. He 'had left
no stone unturned to get the judgment against Tilak reversed. He had gone
at his own expense to England to campaign for his leader's release. His
Herculean labour in England brings out not only his qualities of loyalty and
devotion to his leader but also selflessness and the price he was prepared
to pay in terms of energy, time and expense for a cause he believed to be
just. Dadasaheb's mother passed away on 27th September, 1910 while he
was on the high seas. Khaparde reached Rangoon on 16.10.1910 and met
Tilak in Mandalay Jail on 22.10.1910. Having reached Calcutta on 27.10.1910,
he returned home on 5.11.1910 after an absence of two years, two months and
twenty-two days.
(Source Shirdi Diary)
http://www.saileelas.org/books/dairy.htm
Satsang "SHIRDI DIARY' DADASAHEB KHAPARDE
"SHIRDI DIARY' DADASAHEB KHAPARDE
By V.B. Kher
Since August 1985, the "Shirdi Diary" of the Hon'ble Mr, Ganesh
Shrikrishna Khaparde is being featured in the issues of Shri Sai Leela
month after month. The "extracts" of Shirdi Diary reproduced therein
first appeared in Shri Sai Leela in 1924-25. I deliberately refer to what was
published as "extracts" for I am not sure that the whole of Shirdi Diary has
yet seen the light of the day. When the Shirdi Diary was first serialized in
Shri Sai Leela, G.S. Khaparde the right hand man of the late Lokamanya
Tilak had retired from the centre of political activity to its periphery, with
the rise on the political firmament of Mahatma Gandhi who had cast a
spell on the Indian National Congress and the masses. Sai Baba the Sadguru
and spiritual mentor of Khaparde had also passed away and Khaparde was in
semi-retirement. He had ample time to look back on his life and think of his
interests which he could not pursue in the midst of his hectic political life
as an activist and a leader. So it was with his permission and knowledge that
the Shirdi Diary made its appearance in the issues of earlier years of Shri Sai
Leela i.e. 1924-25. The reader may rightly raise the question on what basis
I make this assertion. And he would be justified in doing so. I have to answer
this query and place material available at my disposal before the reader.
Fortunately for all of us Balkrishna alias Babasaheb Khaparde, the eldest
son of G.S. Khaparde authored a biography of his father. The biography is
written in Marathi and was first published in 1962. In the preface, the
author has stated candidly at the outset that the book is "not a biography
but edited material gathered from Dadasaheb Khaparde's diaries for the
purpose of the biography".
The hero of the biography was born on 27th August, 1854 on the day of
Ganesh Chaturthi and was therefore named after the Lord of the Ganas.
We shall now touch upon the early life of Ganesh only in passing. His father
Shrikrishna Narhar alias Bapusaheb who had experienced poverty in his
childhood had by his enterprise and dint of hard work risen to the position
of a Tahasildar (Mam-ledar) in the British Raj in the Province of C.P. fr Berar.
Ganesh had his primary and secondary education in Nagpur and Amraoti.
He failed twice in Matriculation because he was more interested in study of
subjects and books other than those prescribed in the curriculum. Besides, he
was weak in mathematics. After matriculating in 1872, he joined the Elphinstone
College in Bombay. He was a favourite student of Dr. Ramakrishna Bhandar-kar
who was the Professor of Sanskrit. Ganesh had studied Sanskrit extensively in
a traditional manner under a shastri during his childhood at Akola and had,
therefore, an excellent grounding in the subject. Moreover, he was a voracious
reader of the Sanskrit literature, and before joining the Elphinstone College
had already poured over Bana's Kadambari and Bhavabhuti's Uttararama
-Charita, So he found the Sanskrit taught in the College a child's play. He also
enjoyed reading English literature. Professor Wordsworth who taught him
English was the grandson of William Wordsworth, the famous nature-poet
of the English language. Under these two professors he acquired a sound
knowledge of these two languages. In fact his knowledge of Sanskrit was so
good that he was selected unanimously to debate in Sanskrit with Swami
Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj, when the latter visited the
Elphinstone College. No wonder that Ganesh was complimented by the
Swami himself on his high standard of performance.
(Source Shirdi Diary)
http://www.saileelas.org/books/dairy.htm
By V.B. Kher
Since August 1985, the "Shirdi Diary" of the Hon'ble Mr, Ganesh
Shrikrishna Khaparde is being featured in the issues of Shri Sai Leela
month after month. The "extracts" of Shirdi Diary reproduced therein
first appeared in Shri Sai Leela in 1924-25. I deliberately refer to what was
published as "extracts" for I am not sure that the whole of Shirdi Diary has
yet seen the light of the day. When the Shirdi Diary was first serialized in
Shri Sai Leela, G.S. Khaparde the right hand man of the late Lokamanya
Tilak had retired from the centre of political activity to its periphery, with
the rise on the political firmament of Mahatma Gandhi who had cast a
spell on the Indian National Congress and the masses. Sai Baba the Sadguru
and spiritual mentor of Khaparde had also passed away and Khaparde was in
semi-retirement. He had ample time to look back on his life and think of his
interests which he could not pursue in the midst of his hectic political life
as an activist and a leader. So it was with his permission and knowledge that
the Shirdi Diary made its appearance in the issues of earlier years of Shri Sai
Leela i.e. 1924-25. The reader may rightly raise the question on what basis
I make this assertion. And he would be justified in doing so. I have to answer
this query and place material available at my disposal before the reader.
Fortunately for all of us Balkrishna alias Babasaheb Khaparde, the eldest
son of G.S. Khaparde authored a biography of his father. The biography is
written in Marathi and was first published in 1962. In the preface, the
author has stated candidly at the outset that the book is "not a biography
but edited material gathered from Dadasaheb Khaparde's diaries for the
purpose of the biography".
The hero of the biography was born on 27th August, 1854 on the day of
Ganesh Chaturthi and was therefore named after the Lord of the Ganas.
We shall now touch upon the early life of Ganesh only in passing. His father
Shrikrishna Narhar alias Bapusaheb who had experienced poverty in his
childhood had by his enterprise and dint of hard work risen to the position
of a Tahasildar (Mam-ledar) in the British Raj in the Province of C.P. fr Berar.
Ganesh had his primary and secondary education in Nagpur and Amraoti.
He failed twice in Matriculation because he was more interested in study of
subjects and books other than those prescribed in the curriculum. Besides, he
was weak in mathematics. After matriculating in 1872, he joined the Elphinstone
College in Bombay. He was a favourite student of Dr. Ramakrishna Bhandar-kar
who was the Professor of Sanskrit. Ganesh had studied Sanskrit extensively in
a traditional manner under a shastri during his childhood at Akola and had,
therefore, an excellent grounding in the subject. Moreover, he was a voracious
reader of the Sanskrit literature, and before joining the Elphinstone College
had already poured over Bana's Kadambari and Bhavabhuti's Uttararama
-Charita, So he found the Sanskrit taught in the College a child's play. He also
enjoyed reading English literature. Professor Wordsworth who taught him
English was the grandson of William Wordsworth, the famous nature-poet
of the English language. Under these two professors he acquired a sound
knowledge of these two languages. In fact his knowledge of Sanskrit was so
good that he was selected unanimously to debate in Sanskrit with Swami
Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj, when the latter visited the
Elphinstone College. No wonder that Ganesh was complimented by the
Swami himself on his high standard of performance.
(Source Shirdi Diary)
http://www.saileelas.org/books/dairy.htm
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