BABA's LOVING CARE TO HIS BHAKTAS
Baba's watch over the pilgrimages of Mahlsapathy and his other movements show Baba's great and mysterious power and His wonderful love and guardianship of the bhaktas. These are well illustrated inmany instances of which a few more may be mentioned. On one occasion when Mahlsapathy and party reached Jejuri, 150 miles from Shirdi, plague was raging there, and Mahlsapathy sat down dejected leaning against his palki (kavadi), not knowing what to do. Suddenly he saw Baba behind him; and Baba vanished. Then he got emboldened and told his companions: `Baba is with us and we need not worry'. Accordingly the pilgrimage was satisfactorily over, and there was no loss of life. When he returned to Shirdi, Baba told him, `I found you leaning against the palki at Jejuri.' Mahlsapathy was convinced that his eyes did not deceive him at Jejuri and that Baba was everywhere guarding his bhaktas.
On another occasion when Mahlsapathy and his group had gone for an annual Jejuri pilgrimage, they were returning followed by another group i.e., Malam Bhagat Pilki. Then they met thieves who were armed with axes and who wore masks or were covering their faces with thick blankets. As they approached the Palki to rob it, Mahlsapathy courageously took a handful of Bhandar, i.e., coloured rice and sandal and threw it at them as prasad. Then they quietly retreated to an adjoining wood. Then Mahlsapathy and his friends went on followed by Malam Bhagat Palki, and they noted that there was no image in their own palki. All the party looked into it (i.e., Mahlsapathy's palki) to see whether all their images were there. They found none. Then some one said, `Are we to carry an empty palki to Shirdi?' That day was a Sunday, which is Khandoba's day. At the very outset, Mahlsapathy said, `No pilgrimage on Sunday'. But the others disagreed, and now Mahlsapathy told the others, `There is the evil of doing pilgrimage on Sunday'. Suddenly Mahlsapathy got in to a trance and Khandoba talking through him said, `Arre, what day is this? Is it not my day? Why are you carrying palki? Today I am busy hunting out on a hill. After hunting is over, I will come to Shirdi. You had better go now'. The he woke up from trance, and the palki went on and came to Khandoba's temple at Shirdi. People at Shirdi, for instance, Shakaram Kandulkar and others came to the palki to take a darsan. Shankaram looked into the palki and found all the images there. `What is the talk of all images missing?' he asked the people. He showed them, and said `Here are all the images'.
Mahlsapathy's case is an excellent instance of Baba's method of unifying religion and creeds successfully. Mahlsapathy was only an ordinary, conservative, orthodox worshipper of Khandoba. Sai Baba, he considered a Muslim and even objected to his entry into Khandoba's temple when Sai Baba came to Shirdi with Chan Bhai Patel's party. This same man became Baba's ardent devotee and worshipped him. In fact not only was he the first in point of time amongst the worshippers, but he was also the foremost in excellence. Mahlsapathy felt that Baba was God. Whatever may be the difference in name and form, Scanker, Scani, Ganapati, and Khandoba are all one, and Baba with divine powers was the same. Mahlsapathy also went to Pandharpur to worship Vittal (a form of Mahavishnu) and had no sectarian i.e., (Siva Vishnu) prejudices. He and his group honoured all saints, Hindu and Muslim, and they applied Tukaram's famous saying `Jo Sant, Toch Dev! Jo Dev, Toch Sant', meaning `God is the same as the Saint and the Saint is the same as God' to fakirs as well as Hindu saints. He was the first to do puja to Baba and even applied sandal to him. Baba's objection to his being worshipped in that fashion melted away under the keen sense of Mahlsapathy's love and devotion.
Baba's watch over the pilgrimages of Mahlsapathy and his other movements show Baba's great and mysterious power and His wonderful love and guardianship of the bhaktas. These are well illustrated inmany instances of which a few more may be mentioned. On one occasion when Mahlsapathy and party reached Jejuri, 150 miles from Shirdi, plague was raging there, and Mahlsapathy sat down dejected leaning against his palki (kavadi), not knowing what to do. Suddenly he saw Baba behind him; and Baba vanished. Then he got emboldened and told his companions: `Baba is with us and we need not worry'. Accordingly the pilgrimage was satisfactorily over, and there was no loss of life. When he returned to Shirdi, Baba told him, `I found you leaning against the palki at Jejuri.' Mahlsapathy was convinced that his eyes did not deceive him at Jejuri and that Baba was everywhere guarding his bhaktas.
On another occasion when Mahlsapathy and his group had gone for an annual Jejuri pilgrimage, they were returning followed by another group i.e., Malam Bhagat Pilki. Then they met thieves who were armed with axes and who wore masks or were covering their faces with thick blankets. As they approached the Palki to rob it, Mahlsapathy courageously took a handful of Bhandar, i.e., coloured rice and sandal and threw it at them as prasad. Then they quietly retreated to an adjoining wood. Then Mahlsapathy and his friends went on followed by Malam Bhagat Palki, and they noted that there was no image in their own palki. All the party looked into it (i.e., Mahlsapathy's palki) to see whether all their images were there. They found none. Then some one said, `Are we to carry an empty palki to Shirdi?' That day was a Sunday, which is Khandoba's day. At the very outset, Mahlsapathy said, `No pilgrimage on Sunday'. But the others disagreed, and now Mahlsapathy told the others, `There is the evil of doing pilgrimage on Sunday'. Suddenly Mahlsapathy got in to a trance and Khandoba talking through him said, `Arre, what day is this? Is it not my day? Why are you carrying palki? Today I am busy hunting out on a hill. After hunting is over, I will come to Shirdi. You had better go now'. The he woke up from trance, and the palki went on and came to Khandoba's temple at Shirdi. People at Shirdi, for instance, Shakaram Kandulkar and others came to the palki to take a darsan. Shankaram looked into the palki and found all the images there. `What is the talk of all images missing?' he asked the people. He showed them, and said `Here are all the images'.
Mahlsapathy's case is an excellent instance of Baba's method of unifying religion and creeds successfully. Mahlsapathy was only an ordinary, conservative, orthodox worshipper of Khandoba. Sai Baba, he considered a Muslim and even objected to his entry into Khandoba's temple when Sai Baba came to Shirdi with Chan Bhai Patel's party. This same man became Baba's ardent devotee and worshipped him. In fact not only was he the first in point of time amongst the worshippers, but he was also the foremost in excellence. Mahlsapathy felt that Baba was God. Whatever may be the difference in name and form, Scanker, Scani, Ganapati, and Khandoba are all one, and Baba with divine powers was the same. Mahlsapathy also went to Pandharpur to worship Vittal (a form of Mahavishnu) and had no sectarian i.e., (Siva Vishnu) prejudices. He and his group honoured all saints, Hindu and Muslim, and they applied Tukaram's famous saying `Jo Sant, Toch Dev! Jo Dev, Toch Sant', meaning `God is the same as the Saint and the Saint is the same as God' to fakirs as well as Hindu saints. He was the first to do puja to Baba and even applied sandal to him. Baba's objection to his being worshipped in that fashion melted away under the keen sense of Mahlsapathy's love and devotion.
Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji
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