First-person testimony · Part III

Balwant Hari Karnik

Context

The Karnik family of Dahanu appears in Chapter 33 of the Satcharitra. In 1917 Haribhau Karnik came to Shirdi on Guru-Pournima, worshipped Baba, took leave through Shama, and got down the masjid steps. He thought he should offer one more rupee but Shama signalled that he had already taken leave. On his way home, entering the temple of Kala Rama at Nasik for darshan, Saint Narsing Maharaj — who usually sat just inside the door — left his bhaktas, came to Karnik, caught his wrist, and said: "Give me my one rupee." The rupee Karnik had silently intended for Sai Baba was collected by Narsing Maharaj on Baba's behalf — the canonical Satcharitra illustration of "all saints are one and work in unison."

About the 1936 statement

Balwant Hari Karnik's statement (page 257 of Part III) preserves the Karnik-family witness for this and related episodes.

Verbatim excerpt from Narasimha Swami (1940s)

All that time and for 9 months previous, I had numerous complications. My legs etc. were swollen. I had carried on a fast for months taking hardly any food, but more often water and Udhi. Baba’s grace was shown again at the time of my husband’s demise. Two months before that event, Baba was preparing my mind to face that calamity. He appeared in a dream and said to me, ‘Have no fears. I will take away Sri Ram’. (My husband’s name was Ramachandra). I said, ‘Baba, take me away first’. Then Baba replied that there was much work for me to do and I should nerve myself to survive my husband and do the duty allotted to me. I communicated this dream to my husband. He made light of it, saying it was only a dream. That was about two months before the close of Chaturmasya. Sometime later, he developed serious kidney 235 trouble and hiccough supervened. The end was perceptibly drawing near. Then he said to me, that he felt his end was near but that he wished earnestly that he should die after Chaturmasya was over. But at or immediately after he was saying this, symptoms of the close of life were being manifested. His limbs got rigid and he passed into unconsciousness.

Source: B. V. Narasimha Swami, Devotees' Experiences of Sri Sai Baba (All India Sai Samaj, Madras, 1940s; reprint Akhanda Sainama Sapthaha Samithi, Hyderabad). PDF on Internet Archive · OCR full text. Excerpt matched on the term: Balwant Hari Karnik. This is the canonical English excerpt; please consult the original PDF for context.