Chapter XXXIII — Greatness of Udi: Scorpion Sting; Plague; the Jamner Miracle; Narayanrao; Balabuva Sutar; Appasaheb Kulkarni; Haribhau Karnik
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/sai33.html
Sections
Preliminary — On Saints
Hemadpant opens: bow before the great saints; their merciful glances destroy mountains of sins; their casual talk gives imperishable teaching; their minds do not know "this is ours, that is yours." The debt of obligation owed to them cannot be repaid in this or many future births.
Udi — Spiritual Meaning
Baba spent Dakshina on charity and bought fuel for the Dhuni — the sacred fire he kept ever burning. The ash was Udi. Hemadpant's gloss:
Baba taught by the Udi that all visible phenomena are as transient as the ash. Our bodies, composed of the five elements, will fall down after all enjoyments are over and be reduced to ashes. The Brahman is the only Reality; the universe is ephemeral; no one in this world — son, father, wife — is really ours. We come alone and we have to go alone. Udi taught discrimination (between Unreal and Real); Dakshina taught non-attachment. Both are needed to cross the sea of mundane existence.
When Baba was cheerful he sang:
"Oh, playful Rama, come, come, and bring with you sacks of Udi."
Udi — Material Significance
The Udi was found to cure many physical and mental maladies. It also conferred health, prosperity, freedom from anxiety, worldly gains. The chapter records seven cases.
Scorpion Sting — Narayan Motiram Jani
Narayan Motiram Jani of Nasik was a devotee of Baba serving under another devotee, Ramachandra Vaman Modak. He once came to Shirdi with his mother. Baba told her: he should leave service and start his own business. The prophecy came true; he opened "Anandashram" boarding house in Nasik which thrived.
Once a friend was stung by a scorpion — pain severe and unbearable. No Udi was at hand. Narayanrao stood before Baba's picture, invoked his name, took a pinch from the joss-stick ashes burning in front of the picture, applied it on the seat of pain. The pain vanished.
Bubonic Plague — Roadside Earth as Udi
A devotee in Bandra learnt his daughter — staying elsewhere — was down with bubonic plague. He sent word to Nanasaheb Chandorkar for Udi. Nanasaheb received the message on the road near Thana Railway Station while travelling with his wife to Kalyan. He had no Udi. He took up earth from the road, meditated on Baba, invoked his aid, applied the earth on his wife's forehead.
The Bandra devotee saw all this. Going to his daughter's house, he was glad to learn she — who had suffered three days — had begun to improve from the very moment of Nanasaheb's invocation at Thana.
The Jamner Miracle (1904-05)
About 1904-05 Nanasaheb Chandorkar was Mamlatdar at Jamner, in the Khandesh District, more than 100 miles from Shirdi. His daughter Mainatai was pregnant and could not deliver — labour pains for two or three days, all remedies failing. Nanasaheb remembered Baba and invoked his aid.
At Shirdi at that hour, Ramgirbuva (whom Baba called Bapugirbuva) was about to leave for his native place in Khandesh. Baba called him: stop at Jamner on the way and give Udi and Arati to Nanasaheb. Ramgirbuva: "I have only Rs. 2; the railway fare to Jalgaon takes that — I cannot afford the 30-mile cart from Jalgaon to Jamner." Baba: "God will give" — and asked Shama to write out the Arati composed by Madhav Adkar (translated at the end of the Satcharitra), giving a copy with the Udi.
Ramgirbuva left. He reached Jalgaon at 2:45 a.m. with two annas. Plague regulations were in force; he was in difficulty.
About 3 a.m. a peon in boots, turban, and full livery came up calling: "Who is Bapugirbuva of Shirdi?" He led Ramgirbuva to an excellent tanga with a fine pair of horses. They drove. At dawn at a brooklet the driver watered the horses; the peon offered refreshments. Ramgirbuva, suspecting from beard and livery that the peon was a Moslem, hesitated; the peon assured him he was a Hindu Kshatriya of Garhwal and that Nanasaheb had sent the refreshments.
They reached Jamner at dawn. Ramgirbuva alighted briefly for a call of nature; on returning the tanga, driver, and peon were gone. He went to the Katcheri, made enquiries, found Nanasaheb at home, gave him Baba's Udi and Arati.
Mainatai's case was at its most critical. Nanasaheb asked his wife to give the Udi mixed with water to their daughter to drink, and to sing the Arati. In a few minutes news came: the delivery was safe; the crisis had passed.
When Ramgirbuva thanked Nanasaheb for the peon, tanga, and refreshments, Nanasaheb was startled — he had sent none to Jalgaon station.
The chapter cites B. V. Deo of Thana, Retired Mamlatdar, who investigated with Bapurao Chandorkar (Nanasaheb's son) and Ramgirbuva and wrote an elaborate article (part prose, part poetry) in Sai Leela Vol. 13 Nos. 11-13. B. V. Narasimha Swami's "Devotees' Experiences, Part III" includes signed statements from Mainatai (No. V, p. 14, dated 1 June 1936), Bapusaheb Chandorkar (No. XX, p. 50, dated 16 September 1936), and Ramgirbuva (No. XXVII, p. 83, dated 1 December 1936). Ramgirbuva's own words: "At about 3 a.m. a peon in boots, turban and well equipped with other details of good dress came to me and took me to a tanga and drove me on. I was in terror… By the time I attended my call of nature the tanga and its driver had disappeared."
Narayanrao's Dream-Cure (post-1918)
Bhakta Narayanrao had seen Baba twice in life. Three years after Baba's Mahasamadhi he wished to visit Shirdi but could not. Within a year he fell sick, suffered much; ordinary remedies failed. He meditated on Baba day and night.
One night in dream Baba came to him through a cellar and said:
"Don't be anxious, you will be improving from tomorrow, and within a week you will be on your legs."
Narayanrao recovered exactly as said. Hemadpant: "Baba is ever alive, for he transcends both life and death. He who loved Him once whole-heartedly gets response from Him at any time and at any place."
Balabuva Sutar — "I Know This Man Since Four Years"
Balabuva Sutar of Bombay, called "modern Tukaram" for his piety and bhajan, came to Shirdi for the first time in 1917. When he bowed, Baba said: "I know this man since four years."
Balabuva wondered — this was his first trip. Then he remembered: four years earlier he had prostrated himself before Baba's portrait in Bombay. Baba had registered the bow as if before himself.
The episode is offered to illustrate the principle "seeing Baba's picture earnestly is equivalent to seeing Him in person."
Appasaheb Kulkarni — the Rs. 9 at Thana
Appasaheb Kulkarni was transferred to Thana in 1917 and began earnest daily worship of Baba's picture (presented by Balasaheb Bhate). He offered flowers, sandal-paste, naivedya — and longed to see Baba in person.
Appasaheb went on tour to Bhivandi; not expected back for a week. On the third day a fakir came to his house at noon — features exactly those of Baba's photo. Mrs. Kulkarni and children asked if he was Sai Baba. He said no; he was an obedient servant of His, sent to enquire after the family's health. He asked Dakshina; Mrs. Kulkarni gave Re. 1. He gave a small packet of Udi to be kept in the shrine, then left.
Appasaheb's horse fell sick at Bhivandi; he returned home that afternoon, learnt of the fakir, regretted he had paid only Re. 1. "Had I been present, I would have offered not less than Rs. 10." He searched the masjid and other places without taking food (the chapter notes Baba's Chapter 32 dictum that no quest should be made on an empty stomach). His search failed.
After meals Appasaheb went walking with Mr. Chitre. A man approached rapidly — features matching the photo. The fakir held out his hand, asking Dakshina. Appasaheb gave Re. 1. He demanded again; Appasaheb gave two more. He demanded; Appasaheb borrowed Rs. 3 from Chitre. He demanded again. Appasaheb said he had a Rs. 10 currency note. The fakir asked for it, took the note, returned Rs. 9 in cash, and left.
The figure 9 is significant: it denotes the Nava-vidha Bhakti (Chapter 21). It is also noted that Baba gave Rs. 9 to Laxmibai Shinde at his last moment.
The Udi-packet was found to contain flower-petals and Akshata. Later Appasaheb got hair from Baba at Shirdi; he put Udi-packet and hair in a talisman worn on his arm. His pay rose from Rs. 40 to many times that; power and influence followed; spiritual progress was rapid. The chapter's prescription: those fortunate enough to receive Udi should, after bath, apply it to the forehead and take a little mixed with water in the mouth as holy Tirth.
Haribhau Karnik — Rupee Recovered by Narsing Maharaj
In 1917 Haribhau Karnik of Dahanu (Thana District) came to Shirdi on Guru-Pournima in Ashadha. He worshipped Baba with full formality, offered clothes and Dakshina, took leave through Shama, and got down the masjid steps. He thought he should offer one more rupee, was just turning to climb back — but Shama signalled that as he had already taken leave he should go.
On the way home, entering the temple of Kala Rama at Nasik for darshan, Saint Narsing Maharaj — who usually sat just inside the big door of the temple — left his bhaktas, came to Karnik, caught his wrist, and said:
"Give me my one rupee."
Karnik paid willingly. He understood that Sai Baba had recovered through Narsing Maharaj the rupee he had silently intended to offer. Hemadpant's closing teaching: "All saints are one and work in unison."
Verbatim Sai Baba quotes documented in this chapter
- (To Ramgirbuva, on the Jalgaon-Jamner trip) "God will give."
- (Cheerful Udi song) "Oh, playful Rama, come, come, and bring with you sacks of Udi."
- (To Narayanrao in post-Mahasamadhi dream) "Don't be anxious, you will be improving from tomorrow, and within a week you will be on your legs."
- (To Balabuva Sutar) "I know this man since four years."
- (Through Saint Narsing Maharaj to Haribhau Karnik) "Give me my one rupee."