Sagun Meru Naik lived in Goa when he was 10 or 12 years old. Every day he used to take the cattle for grazing. On one such occasion he saw a sadhu who beckoned to him. The boy was frightened and ran home and told his mother of what had happened. The pious lady looked on all sadhus as the form of Lord Dattatreya. She accompanied her son to the place where the sadhu was. The sadhu asked her for food. The lady gave him sida (a kind of gram) and firewood for cooking it. Then he signed to young Sagun Meru and asked him, "When are you coming?" Sagun did not reply. The sadhu smiled and left the place.
Six years after, Sagun came to Belgaum for doing business and stayed there for seven years. Then a devotee of Lord Dattatreya by name Dattopant became his friend and attracted Sagun to the spiritual path. After some time Sagun wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Narasobawadi, a famous Dattasthan. There he had the good fortune of meeting the famous saint and devotee of Lord Dattatreya, Sri Tembe Swamiji Maharaj. The saint, when he saw Sagun, said to him, "You are the man of a great durbar, What more should I tell you?" Sagun could not understand the significance of these words at that time.
Two or three years afterwards, Sagun went to Hyderabad and was introduced to one Seth who was a devotee of Sai Baba. He took Sagun to Shirdi along with him in 1912.
Baba was returning to the mosque after his usual walk to Lendi and met them on the way. A large group of people were following. Sai Baba addressed Sagun in Kannada, "Whence do you come? What do you want?" Sagun could not reply. For two to three days Sagun felt a strong urge to return to Hyderabad. So, he sought Baba's permission, Baba kept quiet and Sagun had to stay away. On the fifth day Baba told him that his mind was still wavering. Then he recalled the event of his early days: "You don't seem to remember my coming to your place. You were young and brought cows to the tank when I saw you. Your mother gave me sida and firewood. Do you remember now?"
Sagun vividly remembered what had happened fourteen years earlier. He then experienced an outburst of faith in and love for Baba and sat gazing fixed at him.
Baba smiled and said, "Why do you stare at me like a mad man? Our parents are here and we must stay here. You look after me and I will look after you".
(Written by: HH Pujya Acharya E. Bharatwaja in Sai Baba the Master)
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