APPASAHEB KULKARNI
(Baba declared that there is no difference between Baba and his photo. There are several instances which bear eloquent testimony to this effect, but few are given below. Search for God should not be made on empty stomach as per Baba's dictum.)
Appasaheb Kulkarni was the revenue accountant or karnam of Shirdi village. He was also called as Atmaram Kulkarni. He was a devotee of Baba. Once jamabandi (revenue inspection) was going on in Kopergaon and Appasaheb Kulkarni from Shirdi had to go for jamabandi work under the supervision of Nanasaheb Chandorkar, Deputy Collector. Before going to Kopergaon, Appasaheb went to Baba for permission. Baba gave permission and also asked him to invite Nanasaheb Chandorkar to Shirdi. Though diffident, he decided to invite Nanasaheb Chandorkar to Shirdi village to see Baba and conveyed the invitation of Baba to Nanasaheb who was surprised as to how a begging fakir in a small village could invite him to see him. Nanasaheb declined Baba's invitation and did not visit Shirdi. But Baba repeated his invitation for the second and third time. Ultimately, Nanasaheb visited Shirdi and took darshan of Baba. Thus Appasaheb was instrumental in bringing Nanasaheb to Shirdi.
Once the villagers in Shirdi accused Appasaheb of embezzling funds from the village accounts and reported the matter to the higher revenue authorities and Appasaheb was charged with embezzlement of funds and received notice from the authorities and was terribly frightened. He then went to Baba and prayed for saving him. Baba took pity on him and advised him not to get frightened but proceed to Nevasa by the side of Pravara river and meet the enquiry officer there.
Baba also told him to go first to Mohiniraj (Lord Vishnu took the form of a female as Mohini) Temple and pray in the temple first and then meet the enquiry officer. He did everything as per Baba's orders and then met the enquiry officer and pleaded his innocence. On being satisfied, the officer exonerated him by declaring the charge as baseless. Appasaheb felt extremely happy and thanked Baba for the miraculous help. Baba told him that in Mohiniraj Temple, Jyaneshwar Maharaj started writing the commentary on Jyaneshari Geeta at the age of 12 years and completed it at the age of 15 years in the year 1290 and during the time of Yadava King, Ramachandra who ruled Devgiri Kingdom. Baba did not go to any other place in his life time except Rahata which is near Shirdi and inspite of this situation Baba knew all the places and much about Nevasa, the name of the river flowing there, the Mohiniraj temple and also about Jyaneshwar Maharaj and Jyaneswari.
In 1917 he was transferred to Thana and began to worship Baba's picture presented to him by Balasaheb Bhate, former Mamaltdhar and a staunch devotee of Baba. With utmost devotion, he did the worship. He offered flowers, sandal-paste, and naivedya daily to Baba in the picture and desired very much to have darshan of Baba. In this connection it should be understood that seeing Baba's picture with unswerving devotion amounts to seeing Baba in person. The following story bears eloquent testimony to this aspect.
One day Baba Saheb Tarkhad (R.A.Tarkhad) and his son Jyotindra Tarkhad, both devotees of Baba, had a dream in which both of them saw a beautiful carved mandir with Baba seated on it. Accordingly they got a beautiful Sandalwood mandir carved by a special carpenter. They then wanted Baba's portrait for placing in the sandalwood mandir. It is interesting to see how wonderfully Baba arranged his photo to them. One Friday evening, both the father and son went to chor bazaar in Bombay. A Muslim shopkeeper ran to them and asked them to collect a parcel meant for them. As the shopkeeper was new to them, they enquired from him as to how he knew that particular parcel was meant for them. Then the shopkeeper narrated that on one day a saintly and elderly person came to his shop and handed over a parcel and also paid Rs 50/- towards his service charges. The elderly person also asked the shop keeper to hand over the parcel to a Hindu father with an English hat and his son wearing a black Gandhi cap. Exactly Tarkhad and his son wore the hat and cap respectively as described by the elderly person. Then they went to the shop and asked him to open the parcel. When the parcel was opened, it contained a framed photo of Lord Saibaba exactly suitable to be kept in their sandalwood mandir. Later Tarkhad family went to Shirdi and had Baba's darshan in the masjid. At that time, Baba told a devotee who was trying to take Baba's photo, "Please go to my Bhau's (Tarkhad's) place where you will find me alive in the photograph in the mandir" Tarkdad and his son were very happy to hear that statement from Baba and tears of joy rolled down from their eyes. As per Baba's declaration, this affirms that there is no difference between Baba and his photo.
While many other examples are there, few examples are given below: When invited, Baba attended Hemandpant's shimaga dinner in the form of his photo, representing Baba's presence. Once Shama sought Baba's permission to go to Kashi and Prayaga, Baba gave permission and also said, "we would be ahead of (you)", conveying that Baba's photo which was hung in the house of a priest in Prayag, represented Baba's presence there, much before the arrival of Shama in Prayag. All these indicated that keeping a photo of Baba is tantamount to Baba being present there in person.
Once while he was working in Thana, he had to go on tour to Bhivandi for a week. In his absence, the following wonderful thing took place on the third day in Thana. At noon a fakir visited Appasaheb's house. As observed by his family members, his features resembled exactly those shown in Baba's photo. They asked him whether he was Sai Baba of Shirdi. He said 'No', but also said that he was an obedient servant of Sai Baba and was visiting their house at Baba's orders to enquire after the welfare of the family members. Then the fakir asked for dakshina. His wife gave him a rupee and the fakir gave her a small packet of Udi, and asked her to keep this in the shrine along with the photo for worship. Then the fakir left the house and went away.
Meantime, Appasaheb could not proceed with his tour as his horse fell sick at Bhivandi. He returned home in Thana in the afternoon on the third day just after the fakir left their home. He also learnt from his wife about fakir's visit. He thought in his mind that he missed the darshan of the fakir and also felt that giving only one rupee as dakshina to the fakir was not to his taste. He also developed an idea that in case he had been present there in the house at that time, he would have offered him at least ten rupees. With this type of thinking and without taking any food, he immediately went out and started searching for the fakir in several places. But he could not find the fakir. Search for God should not be made on empty stomach as per Baba's dictum and that was why he could not find the fakir. He then returned home and took his food. Then after meals he went out for a walk with a friend by name Chitre. After going some distance, they saw a man approaching them quickly. Then Appasaheb thought that he must be the same fakir that visited his house few hours before, as his features resembled those of Baba in the photo. Appasaheb then understood that when he searched on empty stomach, he could not see the fakir but now after taking food, he was able to see the same fakir even without any search. Then the fakir asked him for dakshina. Appasaheb gave him a rupee. He demanded more and so Appasaheb gave him two rupees more. Still he was not satisfied. Then he borrowed Rs.three from his friend and gave them to the fakir who wanted still more. Then Appasaheb asked him to accompany him to his home. Then they all returned to his home and Appasaheb then gave him again three rupees, in all nine. The fakir looked unsatisfied and demanded again. Then he told him that he had a currency note of Rs.Ten. Then the fakir asked for the same and took it and returned the nine rupees in cash and went away. Appasaheb then knew that he originally thought in his mind that he would pay Rs.Ten and that sum only was demanded finally by the fakir and the fakir returned the nine rupees, consecrated by Baba's touch. The figure 9 is also significant as it denotes the nine types of devotion. .This had happened in 1917.
While working at Thane, Appasaheb went on tour for recruitment of soldiers for the first World War. He had intense desire to visit Shirdi and have darshan of Baba, but was unable to get leave for the purpose. In this background, Appasaheb was only worshipping Baba's photo and could not visit Shirdi to have darshan of Baba. While he started worshipping Baba's photo, Baba himself came to Thane and gave darshan to Appasaheb. Baba also gave darshan after his stomach was full and demanded the same quantum of money which Appasaheb thought of originally giving. Baba also gave Udi-packet.
Appasaheb examined the Udi-packet given to his wife when he was not present in the house and found that it contained some flower-petals and Akshata (sacred rice mixed with turmeric). Then some time afterwards he got a strand of Baba's hair during his visit to Shirdi. He put the Udi-packet and the strand of Baba's hair in a small silver container as talisman and always wore it on his arm. Then he realized the power of the talisman and was very fortunate to get Rs.40/- as pay in the beginning, but afterwards he got many times increase in salary and also got plenty of money. He also rose to the position of Deputy Collector. He was also held in high esteem and got wider influence. Besides these temporal benefits, he also attained rapid progress in his spiritual pursuit.
Sri C.B.Satpathy is an ardent devotee of Sri Sai Baba and was associated with the construction and inauguration of several Baba temples (more than 200 in number) in India and abroad. He had visited USA, U.K., Canada, Australia, African countries and Latin American countries for Baba's mission and teachings. He also wrote books on Baba. An equally ardent devotee of Baba is Sri A.R.Nanada who is well known to Sri Satpathy and Sri Nanda also wrote books on Baba. An interesting instance which came up to the observation of Sri Satpathy during his visit to Havana in Cuba, has been collected from their books on Baba to show that Baba's photo alone was curing the diseases of the general public in Havana on looking at Baba's photo with utmost faith. During his visit to Havana, Sri Satpathy came across a Spanish woman devotee by name Ms.Maria, aged about 78 years during 1996. She had received a photo of Baba from someone from India and except this photo, she did not have any knowledge about Baba nor did she visit India or any temple of Baba. But she was worshipping Baba's photo with utmost faith for the last 20 years and with her unswerving devotion, she was curing the diseases of the general public by asking them to look at the photo of Baba with utmost faith and on verification this phenomenon was found true. She was also meditating frequently and had experiences of spiritual ecstasy while meditating. But some others felt that she was irrationally crazy about Baba's photo. This instance amply proves that gazing at Baba's photo is tantamount to looking at Baba Himself with a prayer.
In those days the talk was that Baba's hand was without bones and that he would never send away empty-handed, anyone who approached him with faith. Based on this aspect, many people like singers, astrologers and street circus performers came to Baba and exhibited their talents and received presents. When ankita devotees of Baba visited Shirdi along with their family members, Baba used to give them clothes. Baba accepted dakshina from the devotees only to help them temporally and spiritually. Baba never associated himself with any other financial matters of the devotees. If any devotee came forward to Baba with any such proposal, Baba flatly refused and did not involve himself in any such matters. Baba did never yield to the lure of the lucre. Baba was not in need of money and on the other hand, he gave plenty of money in several ways to the devotees and others.
The compiler has written the article under Saibaba's afflatus-divine inspiration after referring to the universally available material traceable to several common sources existing everywhere containing facts, ideas and incidents about Saibaba and the compiler expresses thanks to the writers concerned in this regard. An attempt has been made in this article to collect the information about the years of happening of certain important events and of miracles, in a chronological order but it is really difficult to know these details precisely for want of historical details in certain instances despite a serious attempt to collect them. The information compiled in this article is based on the compiler's best knowledge gathered from several sources and the compiler has brought out the article with expressions of his own. The readers can use the material for their information/welfare at their discretion and the compiler is not responsible in any manner whatsoever in this regard. While every attempt has been made to collect the details accurately, the compiler is not responsible for the correctness of the details. The compiler also appreciates his children who have helped him in the compilation / sequencing and the chronological arrangements of the incidents. The article is not meant for any commercial use. There is no copy right for this article and this article is placed in the public domain for wider publicity. Any review/comments/suggestions to improve the contents in the article are welcome for initiating any suitable rectification/modification/addition.
MAY BABA BLESS US ALL
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