SHRI SAI SATHCHARITHA "Sada Nimbarvrikshasya mooladhiwasat, Sudhasravinam tiktamapi-apriyam tam, Tarum Kalpavrikshadhikam sadhayantam Namameeshwaram Sadgurum Sai Natham"
Gopalraobuti	Chapter XXII	Hemadpant

Bapusaheb Booty

A great astrologer named Nanasaheb Dengale told one day Bapusaheb Booty, who was then in Shirdi, "To-day is an inauspicious day for you, there is a danger to your life". This made Bapusaheb restless. When they, as usual, came to Masjid, Baba said to Bapusaheb- "What does this Nana say? He foretells death for you. Well, you need not be afraid. Tell him boldly "Let us see how death kills." Then later in the evening Bapusaheb went to his privy for easing himself where he saw a snake. His servant saw it and lifted a stone to strike at it. Bapusaheb asked him to get a big stick, but before the servant returned with the stick, the snake was seen moving away and soon disappeared. Bapusaheb remembered with joy Baba's words of fearlessness.

Amir shakkar

Amir Shankar was a native of the village Korale, in Kopergaon Taluka. he belonged to the butcher caste. He worked as a commission agent in Bandra, and was well-known there. He once suffered from Rheumatism, which gave him much pain. He was then reminded of God, and so, he left his business and went to Shirdi, and prayed to Baba to relieve him from his malady. Baba then stationed him in the Chavadi, which was then a damp unhealthy place, unfit for such a patient. Any other place in the village, or Korale itself would have been better for Amir, but Baba's word was the deciding factor and the chief medicine. Baba did not allow him to come to the Masjid, but fixed him in the Chavadi, where he got very great advantage. Baba passed via Chavadi every morning and evening; and every alternate day Baba went to the Chavadi in a procession and slept there. So Amir got Baba's contact very often easily. Amir stayed there for full nine months, and then, somehow or other, he got a disgust for the place. So one night he stealthily left the place and came to Kopergaon and stayed in a Dharmashala. There he saw an old dying Fakir, who asked him for water. Amir brought it and gave it to him. As soon as he drank it, he passed away. Then Amir was in a fix. He thought that if he went and informed the authorities, he would be held responsible for the death as he was the first and sole informant, and knew something about it. He repented for his action, viz. leaving Shirdi without Baba's leave, and prayed to Baba. He then determined to return to Shirdi, and that same night he ran back, remembering and muttering Baba's name on the way, and reached Shirdi before day-break, and became free from anxiety. Then he lived in the Chavadi in perfect accordance with Baba's wishes and orders, and got himself cured. One night it so happened that Baba cried at midnight- "Oh Abdul, some devilish creature is dashing against the side of My bed". Abdul came with a latern, examined Baba's bed but found nothing, Baba asked him to examine carefully all the place and began to strike ground with His satka. Seeing this Leela of Baba, Amir thought that Baba might have suspected some serpent had come there. Amir could know by close and long contact the meaning of Baba's words and actions. Baba then saw near Amir's cushion something moving. He asked Abdul to bring in the light, and when he brought it, he saw the coil of a serpent there, moving its head up and down. Thereupon the serpent was immediately beaten to death. Thus Baba gave timely warning and saved Amir.

Hemadpant (Scorpion and Serpent)

(1) At Baba's recommendation Kakasaheb Dixit was daily reading the two works of Shri Eknath Maharaj, viz., Bhagwat and Bhawartha Ramayana and Hemadpant had the good forturne to be one of the audience when the reading of the works was going on. Once when a portion from the Ramayana relating to Hanuman's testing Rama's greatness, according to his mother's instructions, was being read, all the listeners were spell-bound. Hemadpant was one of them. A big scorpion (none knew where it came from), jumped and sat on the right shoulder of Hemadpant, on his Uparani (upper dhotar). First it was not noticed, but as the Lord protects those, who are intent on hearing His stories, he casually cast a glance over his right shoulder and noticed it. It was dead silence, not a bit moved here or there. It seemed as if, it also enjoyed the reading. Then by the Lord's grace, Hemadpant without disturbing the audience, took the two ends of his dhotar, folded them, and brought them together, enclosing the scorpion within. Then he went out, and threw it in the garden. (2) On another occasion some persons were sitting in the upper floor of Kakasaheb's Wada, just before nightfall, when a serpent crept through a hole in the window frame and sat coiled up. A light was brought. Though it was first dazzled, yet it sat still and only moved its head up and down. Then many persons rushed there with sticks and cudgels, but as it sat in an awakward place, no blow could be dealt. But hearing the noises of men, the serpent went out hastily through the same hole. Then all the persons there felt relieved.

Baba's Opinion

One devotee named Muktaram, then said that it was good that the poor creature escaped. Hemadpant challenged him saying that serpents should better be killed. There was a hot discussion between them - the former contending that serpents, and such creatures, should not be killed, the latter that they should be. As night came on, the discussion came to an end, without any decision being arrived at. Next day, the question was reffered to Baba, who gave His settled opinion as follows:- "God lives in all beings and creatures, whether they be serpents or scorpions. He is the Great Wirepuller of the world, and all beings, serpents, scorpions etc., obey His command. Unless He will it, nobody can do any harm to others. The world is all dependent on Him, and no one is independent. So we should take pity and love all creatures, leave off adventurous fights and killings and be patient. The Lord (God) is the Protector of all.

Bow to Shri Sai -- Peace be to all

BAYAJABAI -THE PERSONIFICATION OF LOVE

Sri Tatya Kote Patil writes about the itinerant, homeless Baba of those early days at Shirdi thus.

“When Baba first came to Shirdi, he wore a green kufni (a long shirt-like garment extending down to the mid-calf) and a green headdress. After four months he changed the colour of his headdress to white. When Baba first came to Shirdi, he did not have a fixed abode. After a few months of wandering about, he stayed at the mosque for ten months. Later, he started living under the neem tree. Again after a while he moved to the mosque. He stayed there for two or three years and then shifted to the grove of trees between the Lendi and the Seera rivulets. Someone or other among the devotees would arrange for his food there. After staying for two-and-a-half years at the grove of trees, Baba finally moved back to the mosque, and stayed there till he entered samadhi.”

Baba would not go to all the houses in Shirdi to beg for his food. He would beg only at the houses of Patil Bua Waman Gondkar, Nandram Marwadi, Ganapati Kote Patil and Sakharam Shelke. He would hang a cloth around his left shoulder and carrying a tin in his right hand, go first to the house of Patil Bua Gondkar. He would stand in front of the house and shout with his carillon like voice, “Aango Radha, bhakar” (Radha, bring the roti). He would then go and stand in front of Nandram Marwadi’s house and shout, “Nand de khore, bhakar lao” (Oh son of Nand, get the roti). After this came the turn of Ganapati Kote Patil (Bayajabai). He would stand in front of the house and shout “Abaade abaad, Bayajamami roti Lao” (Aunty Bayaja, get the roti). Baba would go these houses to beg food even two or three times a day. Two or three years after Baba came to Shirdi, famine was rampant and the people were suffering. During the famine, Baba went only to the houses of the richer amongst these devotees, such as Nandram Marwadi and Ganapati Kote Patil. When Baba went to beg for food, he would stand in the forecourt beyond the doorway and take the offered food but never step into the house. Bayajabai used to invite Baba to come in and rest a while whenever he came begging, but Baba would always politely decline. The most he would do was to sit in the shade in the forecourt of their house. Bayajabai would plead with Baba to sit inside the house and eat there in front of her but Baba would do as he pleased. Rarely would he sit in their forecourt and have his food there. Bayajabai would be ecstatic with happiness on those occasions when Baba ate in front of her. She would plead, “Eat a little more, try this curry…” and make him eat a little extra. “Have something to drink,” she would beg Baba. Normally Baba ate bhakri (unleavened bread of coarsely ground millet) with a little curry. Sometimes he would ask for milk, curd, buttermilk, pickles, onion or pappadam (very thin chapati-like preparation of black gram, fried in oil or roasted over coals) and eat them with relish. Bayajabai would always keep these foods ready in case he asked for them.

Bayajabai served Baba thus with great love and unswerving devotion for a long time. We are unfortunate that no written record is available to us of what Baba taught Bayajabai or what divine experiences he gave her. One incident is, however, available to us about Bayajabai from the reminiscences of Tatya Patil.