ॐ सांई राम
About Shree Saibaba
Chandbhai, the headman of a village called Dhoopkhede (in Aurangabad , India ), once lost his horse and was looking for it. Suddenly he heard a voice say "You look tired. come here and rest a while". He turned around and saw a young Fakir . The fakir smiled at him and said "What are you looking for in this jungle, Chandbhai". Chandbhai was surprised and he wondered how the fakir knew his name. Slowly, he said "I have lost my horse. I have looked for it everywhere, but cannot seem to find it". The fakir told him to look behind a clump of trees. Chandbhai was pleasantly surprised to find his horse grazing peacefully behind those trees. He thanked the fakir and asked his name. The fakir said "some people call me Sai Baba."
Sai Baba then invited Chandbhai to have a smoke with him. He got the pipe ready, but there was no fire to light it with. Sai Baba thrust a pair of tongs into the ground and brought out a burning coal. Chandbhai was wonderstruck. He thought "this is no ordinary person" and invited Baba to come to his house and be his guest for a few days.
Next day Baba went to Chandbhai's house and found everybody in a very joyful mood and festivities going on all around. He found that Chandbhai's wife's nephew was getting married. The bride was from Shirdi and the marriage party was going to Shirdi. Chandbhai invited Baba to accompany the marriage party to Shirdi. At Shirdi they camped in a field next to Khandoba's temple.
After the wedding, Saibaba stayed on at Shirdi. At first he lived under a neem tree and begged for food whenever he needed it. He then went to Khandoba's temple, intending to stay there, but the temple priest met him at the entrance and told him to go to the mosque. That is how Baba, started staying at the Mosque which was later called Dwarkamayi.
Baba preached at Shirdi all his life and performed numerous miracles to convince people that God exists. He healed people's diseases, provided moral and material comfort to his devotees. Baba helped bring Unity and Harmony between all communities. He said that God is one, but called by different names. He said follow your own religion and seek the truth.
One day a rich millionaire named Booty came to Sai Baba and said he was going to construct a stone building for Shri Krishna. Baba helped him plan the building. Before the building was completed Baba fell very ill. On the 15th of October 1918 , he breathed his last. His last wish was to be buried in Booty's building.
Booty's stone building came to be known as the Samadhi Mandir. Shri Sai Baba was buried here and a beautiful shrine was built over it. To this day, people flock to Shirdi to pay homage to Shri Sai Baba.
MIRACLES OF SAI BABA
The villagers of Shirdi and afar soon found out that this was no ordinary fakir but an avatar (incarnation) of a very high order. He demonstrated through his miracles and utterances, the purpose and intention for which he had come. He would often say, "My Leela is inscrutable". To each one he met, he imparted knowledge according to the capacity of the recipient to absorb it. Baba's Leela's (miracles) were plenty and varied, and we recount just a few which occurred during and after his lifetime.
Lighting lamps with water
Long before Sai Baba's fame spread, he was fond of burning lights in his Masjid and other Temples . But for the oil needed in those little earthenware lights that he lit, he depended on the generosity of the grocers of Shirdi. He had made it a rule to light earthenware lamps in the masjid every evening and he would call on the grocers for small donations. But there came a time when the grocers got tired of giving oil free to Sai Baba and one day they bluntly refused to oblige him, saying they had no fresh stocks. Without a word of protest Sai Baba returned to the masjid. Into those earthenware lamps he poured water and lighted the wicks. The lamps continued to burn deep into the . The matter came to the notice of the grocers who now came to Sai Baba with profuse apologies. Wouldn't Sai Baba kindly pardon them? Sai Baba pardoned them, but he warned them never to lie again. "You could have refused to give me the oil, but did you have to say that you didn't have fresh stocks?" he admonished them. But he had made his point.
Premonition of burning fields
Once, harvesting in Shirdi had been completed and the foodgrains of the entire village had been stored in a yard. The summer was on. The heat was intense as only those who have lived in Shirdi know. One afternoon Sai Baba summoned Kondaji Sutar and said to him: "Go, your field is on flrel" Frightened, Kondaji ran to his field and. frantically looked around for any sign of fire. There wasn't any. He returned to the masjid and informed Sai Baba that he had looked everywhere but had found no trace of fire and why did Baba have to frighten him? Unfazed, Baba said : "You better turn back and look again." Baba was right after all. Kondaji noticed that a sheaf of corn was indeed on fire and smoke was billowing from it. A strong wind was fanning the fire and word had gone round to the villagers who now came running to the scene. "Sai Baba," the people shouted "help us, help us put the fire out!" Thereupon, Sai Baba walked casually towards the yard, sprinkled some water on a stack of sheaves and said: " There now! The fire will die down!" And so it happened.
Stopping the rain
There is the story of one Rao Bahadur Moreshwar Fradhan who had come to Shirdi to take Sai Baba's darshan along with his wife. As the couple were about to leave, it began to rain heavily. Thunder and lightning rent the air. As the Pradhan couple looked round in dismay, Sai Baba prayed. "Oh Allah!" he intoned, "let the rains cease. My children are going home. Let them go peacefully!" The storm thereupon ceased, the downpour reduced to slight drizzle and the Pradhans were able to reach their destination safely.
Raising the water level in well
When Sai Baba first came to Shirdi it had of no basic facilities. There was a well put only in name. It had no natural spring water and if ever there had been one, it must long ago have dried up. Water had to be fetched from a distance. When, therefore, Sai Baba gave his permission to the villagers to celebrate the Ram Navami Fair, (Baba's Birthday) the big problem facing the organizers was one of water supply. So What should they do but go to Sai Baba with their problem? "'Oh yes," said Sai Baba, 'so you want plenty of water, do you? Here, take this and drop it in the well and wait and see." "'This," turned up to be a platter of flowers on which some prasad (blessed food) had been placed along with the remnants of alms Baba had received earlier in the day. The villagers had no qualms about doing as they were did. Their faith in Sai Baba was total. No sooner had that platter of leaves been dropped in the well, it is said, water rose from the bottom as if by divine command and completely filled it. And great was the rejoicing of the people.
Saving a child from drowning
One report has it that word had spread that the 3-year old daughter of a poor man called Babu Kirwandikar had fallen into the well and had been drowned. When the villagers rushed to the well they saw the child suspended in mid-air as if some invisible hand was holding her up! She was quickly pulled out. Sai Baba was fond of that child who was often heard to say : I am Baba's sister!" After this incident, the villagers took her at her word. "it is all Baba's Leela", the people would say philosophically. They could offer no other explanation.
Flow of Godavari (river) from Baba's feet
These were instances of things they had seen with their own eyes. It was not secondhand information they had gathered. Sai Baba was to them as real as their homes and their fields and their cattle and the distant hills.Das Ganu once had an unforgettable experience. On a festive occasion, he sought Baba's permission to go to a place called Singba on the banks of the
Other miracles
There was that other occasion when many thought that the masjid which housed Sai Baba itself would be consumed by fire from the flames which leapt up from the dhuni. All that Baba did was to take some swipes at a wooden pillar in front of him. With every blow the flames subsided and the fire died down. "Miraculous," said his devotees. Often they would notice him stirring some hot concotion over the kitchen fire, not with a ladle but with his bare hands. There never was a time when his hand was scalded. What supernatural powers did he have? On yet another occasion, Sai Baba was partaking of food with three of his devotees in the masjid when, without any cause for provocation, he exclaimed- "Stop!" Then, as if nothing had happened, the four continued with their meal. Lunch over and the dishes cleared, they stepped out of the masjid, when large chunks of the ceiling fell on the very spot where they had been seated only a few minutes earlier. Did Sai Baba's powers extend even to inanimate matter, the devotees wondered. Instances have been quoted by his devotees as to how Sai Baba commanded the rains to stop and the winds to cease.
Understanding Sai Baba
The Dwarakamayee of Sai Baba was open to all, irrespective of caste, creed or religion. Among those who came to see him and got his darshan (establishing spiritual contact with the Guru) and blessings were ministers, government officials, business people and village folk. He was the common man's God. He Stayed with them, hejoked with them, He slept and ate with them, he smoked a chillum (pipe) with them, he sang and danced with them, having no pretensions of a God. But all of them Knew that He protected them. Even today, though He has left his gross body, they feel his presence and realise his worth all the more. Baba would also refer to the sounding of the drum of the beginning of eternity within the soul. This "anahat" sound emerged from Baba's heart from every limb, every bone and pore of his body. It was permeated with divine essence and Baba claimed that though one day his physical body will not exist, his remains will communicate with from the grave. Therefore, the most important place in Shirdi is Baba's temple - the Samadhi Mandir is his grave, which literally millions have visited and still continues to draw many more.
ELEVEN ASSURANCES OF SAI BABA
Whoever puts his feet on Shirdi soil, his sufferings would come to an end.
The wretched and miserable would rise into plenty of joy and happiness, as soon as they climb the steps of my Mosque.
I shall be ever active and vigorous even after leaving this earthly body.
My tomb shall bless and speak the needs of my devotees.
I shall be active and vigorous even from my tomb.
My mortal remains would speak from my tomb.
I am Ever living to help and guide all, who come to me, who surrender to me and who seek refuge in me.
If you look at me I look at you.
If you cast your burden on me, I shall surely bear it.
If you seek my advice and help, it shall be given to you at once.
There shall be no want in the house of my devotees.