Chapter XXVIII — "Sparrows Drawn to Shirdi": Lala Lakhamichand; the Burhanpore Lady; Megha's Worship

Source: Shri Sai Satcharitra, trans. Gunaji
Marathi original: Sai Satcharita (archive.org scan) · Devotee testimonies: Narasimha Swami 1936 (Internet Archive) · Full bibliography: /sources.html

URL: https://www.saibaba.org/satcharitra/sai28.html

Sections

Preliminary — The Sadguru's Definition

Hemadpant opens: Sai is not finite or limited; he dwells in all beings from ants to Brahma. He was well-versed in the Vedas and in Self-realisation — the two qualifications that make a Sadguru. A learned man who cannot awaken his disciples does not deserve the title. The Sadguru does away with both birth and death, and is therefore more merciful than any father. Baba often said: "Let My man (devotee) be at any distance, a thousand koss away, he will be drawn to Shirdi like a sparrow with a thread tied to its feet."

Lala Lakhamichand — the First Sparrow

Lala Lakhamichand had served in the Railways, then at Shri Venkateshwar Press, then in the firm of Messrs. Ralli Brothers as a munshi (clerk). One or two months before Christmas 1910, at Santacruz (Bombay suburb), he saw in a dream an old man with a beard surrounded by his bhaktas. Days later at the home of his friend Mr. Dattatreya Manjunath Bijur, he attended a kirtan by Das Ganu — who customarily kept Baba's picture before the audience. The picture matched the dream-face.

That very night at 8 p.m. a friend Shankarrao knocked: would Lakhamichand accompany him to Shirdi? He at once decided to go. He borrowed Rs. 15 from a Marwari cousin and they set off. In the train they did bhajan and questioned four Muslim fellow-passengers about Baba. Near Kopergaon Lakhamichand had intended to buy guavas for offering but forgot; nearing Shirdi he was reminded, and just then an old woman ran after the tanga with a basket of guavas on her head. He bought some; she gave the rest as her own offering to Baba.

At the masjid Baba spoke without prompting:

"Cunning fellow, he does bhajan on the way and enquires from others. Why ask others? Everything we should see with our own eyes; where is the necessity to question others? Just think for yourself whether your dream is true or not? Where was the necessity of the darshan by taking a loan from a Marwari? Is the heart's desire now satisfied?"

Lakhamichand was wonder-struck. Hemadpant's gloss: Baba never liked people to incur debt for darshan, holidays, or pilgrimages.

Sanza and Back-Pain

At noon Lakhamichand received some Sanza (wheat pudding) as Prasad and liked it; the next day he expected it and got nothing. On the third day at noon Arati, Bapusaheb Jog asked Baba what naivedya to bring; Baba said sanza. Two big potfuls were brought. Lakhamichand was hungry and had back-pain. Baba said:

"It is good that you are hungry, take sanza and some medicine for the pain in the back."

The Cough and the Evil Eye

That night Lakhamichand watched the procession to the Chavadi. Baba suffered much from cough; Lakhamichand thought it might be due to someone's evil eye. The next morning Baba said to Shama:

"I suffered last night from cough; is it due to some evil eye? I think that somebody's evil eye has worked on me and so I am suffering."

Baba was speaking Lakhamichand's unspoken thought aloud. Lakhamichand fell prostrate and stayed a staunch devotee, sending garlands, camphor, and Dakshina to Shirdi whenever an acquaintance was bound there.

The Burhanpore Lady — Khichadi

A lady in Burhanpore dreamed Baba came to her door begging khichadi (rice cooked with dal and salt). When her husband (Postal Department) was transferred to Akola, the devout couple decided to make the Shirdi pilgrimage. After visiting Gomati Tirth they reached Shirdi and stayed two months, going daily to the masjid.

For fourteen days, somehow, the khichadi-offering could not be made. On the fifteenth day she came to the masjid at noon — to find Baba and others already eating with the curtain down. No one normally entered when the curtain was down. The lady would not wait. She threw up the curtain and entered. Baba that day was unusually hungry only for khichadi; he was delighted to see her dish and ate morsel after morsel. All who saw it were convinced of Baba's extraordinary love for his devotees.

Megha — the Third Sparrow

Megha of Viramgaon was a simple, illiterate Brahmin cook in the employ of Rao Bahadur H. V. Sathe. A Shiva devotee, he chanted continually "Namah Shivaya" — the five-syllabled mantra — but did not know the Sandhya or the Gayatri. Sathe taught him both, told him Sai Baba of Shirdi was the embodied form of Shiva, and sent him.

At Broach Railway station Megha learnt that Baba was a Muslim. His orthodox mind was perturbed at the prospect of bowing to a Muslim. He begged Sathe to recall him. Sathe insisted and gave him a letter to Dada Kelkar (Sathe's father-in-law at Shirdi).

When Megha entered the masjid, Baba was indignant. "Kick out the rascal," he roared, and to Megha:

"You are a high caste Brahmin and I am a low Moslem; you will lose your caste by coming here. So get away."

Megha trembled — Baba had read his mind. He served some days then went home; thence to Tryambak (Nasik District) for a year and a half. He returned. This time, at Dada Kelkar's intercession, he was allowed in.

Baba taught Megha internally, not through oral instruction. Megha came to see Baba as Shiva incarnate. He went miles each day for bela leaves; worshipped every village god first, then came to the masjid, saluted Baba's gadi, worshipped Baba, shampooed his legs, and drank the Tirth (washings) of Baba's feet.

Once Megha came to the masjid without worshipping Khandoba, because the temple door had been closed. Baba refused his worship: "The door was open then, go." Megha went, found it open, completed Khandoba's worship, returned.

The Gomati Bath on Makar-Sankranti

On Makar-Sankranti, Megha wished to apply sandal-paste to Baba and bathe him with Ganges water. Baba was at first unwilling; on repeated requests he consented. Megha walked eight koss (going and returning) to bring water from the Gomati river.

At noon Baba protested again — as a Fakir he had nothing to do with Ganges water. Megha did not listen. Baba then sat on a pat (wooden board), protruded his head, and said:

"Oh Megha, do at least this favour; head is the most important organ of the body, so pour the water over that only — it is equivalent to the full or whole bath."

Megha agreed. Lifting the pot, he was so overwhelmed with love that he cried "Har Gange!" and emptied the entire pot over Baba's whole body. He set the pot down and looked: Baba's head was drenched but the rest of his body was quite dry.

Trident, Pindi, and Megha's Death

Megha worshipped Baba in two places: in the masjid in person, and in the Wada the big picture given by Nanasaheb Chandorkar. After twelve months Baba gave him a vision. One early morning Megha was lying with eyes closed but internally awake. He saw Baba's form clearly. Baba threw Akshata (rice grains marked with kumkum) and said:

"Megha, draw a Trident."

Megha eagerly opened his eyes — no one was there, but rice grains were scattered. He came to Baba and asked permission to draw the Trident. Baba:

"Did you not hear My words asking you to draw Trident? It was no vision but direct order and My words are always pregnant with meaning and never hollow."

Megha protested: "All the doors were closed, so I thought it was a vision." Baba:

"I require no door to enter. I have no form nor any extension; I always live everywhere. I carry on, as a wirepuller, all the actions of the man who trusts Me and merges in Me."

Megha drew a red Trident on the Wada wall beside Baba's picture. The next day a Ramadasi bhakta arrived from Poona and offered Baba a Pindi (image of Shiva). Megha was present. Baba said:

"See, Shankar has come, protect (worship) Him now."

At the same hour in the Wada, Kakasaheb Dixit — standing with a towel on his head after his bath, remembering Sai — saw a Pindi in his mental vision. While he wondered, Megha came and showed him the Pindi just received. It matched.

Baba then installed the Pindi near the big picture Megha worshipped, completing the Trident-and-Pindi.

After many years of regular worship, Arati every noon and evening, Megha passed away in 1912. Baba passed his hand over the corpse and said:

"This was a true devotee of Mine."

Baba directed that at his own expense the customary funeral-dinner be given to the Brahmins. Kakasaheb Dixit carried out the order.

Verbatim Sai Baba quotes documented in this chapter

1. (Recurrent saying — sparrow metaphor) "Let my devotee be at any distance, a thousand koss away from Me, he will be drawn to Shirdi like a sparrow with a thread tied to its feet."
2. (To Lakhamichand at first darshan) "Cunning fellow, he does bhajan on the way and enquires from others. Why ask others?… Where was the necessity of the darshan by taking a loan from a Marwari? Is the heart's desire now satisfied?"
3. (To Lakhamichand about sanza and back-pain) "It is good that you are hungry, take sanza and some medicine for the pain in the back."
4. (To Shama, voicing Lakhamichand's unspoken thought) "I suffered last night from cough; is it due to some evil eye? I think that somebody's evil eye has worked on me and so I am suffering."
5. (To Megha at his first attempt to enter) "You are a high caste Brahmin and I am a low Moslem; you will lose your caste by coming here. So get away."
6. (To Megha at the Gomati bath) "Oh Megha, do at least this favour; head is the most important organ of the body, so pour the water over that only — it is equivalent to the full or whole bath."
7. (To Megha in the Trident vision) "Megha, draw a Trident."
8. (To Megha on the nature of his coming and going) "I require no door to enter. I have no form nor any extension; I always live everywhere. I carry on, as a wirepuller, all the actions of the man who trusts Me and merges in Me."
9. (To Megha at the Pindi's arrival) "See, Shankar has come, protect (worship) Him now."
10. (Over Megha's corpse) "This was a true devotee of Mine."