It is the proposition of Das Ganu that Shri Gopalrao Deshmukh of Sailu near Pathri was the guru of Sai Baba . Gopalrao Deshmukh obtained the jahagir of Jintur Pargana in the Nizam’s State. He was of humble disposition and was kind and merciful. He cured diseases and possessed eight maha siddhis . The fame of Gopalrao spread all around and people flocked from great distances to have his darshan. In course of time Sailu became a place of pilgrimage like Pandharpur or Dwarka.
In one of his pilgrimages, Gopalrao reached Ahmedabad and visited the mausoleum Darga of Suvagshah where a miracle happened which is worth recording . When Gopalrao approached the maulsoleum, the tomb perspired with joy and burst into speech. The following words came forth out of the mausoleum. “Salaam Alekum ! Oh you great Sage Ramanand in your previous birth, truly, you have not forgotten me even though you have changed” your form and appear before me as a Deshmukh in the Moglai (Nizam’s Dominion). From the town of Manwat, ten miles from Sailu, your former disciple Kabir will come to you as a child of a Fakir. The caretaker of the mausoleum was amazed and wondered wherefrom the voice came .
The legend of Suvagshah has been sung by the Marathi poet-saint Sri Mahipati in the forty-third chapter of his Bhakta Leelamrita .
As predicted, the wife of the Fakir of Manwat came to Sailu to see Gopalrao. She was an old woman in her fifties and was clad in rags. She had green bangles on her wrists and carried on her back a boy of five who was Kabir in his previous birth. The poor woman was stopped at the gate by guards who would not allow her to enter the courtyard. So putting the boy down, with folded hands she sent a prayer to Gopalrao, “Oh virtuous one, you are protector of the weak and my sole refuge. It is over a month since my husband departed telling me before his death to go to you for shelter.”
The prayer reached Gopalrao’s ears and he came out. He welcomed them saying that he was waiting for the day when Kabir would come to him. The boy recognised his master and sought refuge in him. Both the woman and the boy were provi¬ded with a roof by the master. Day by Day, the master grew fond of the boy but that aroused the jealousy of the members of the household who wished him harm. When the boy was twelve years old, the Fakir’s wife died.
One day at dusk, both the master and the boy disappeared into the dense forest nearby and did not return home for four months to the anxiety and fear of the household. They suspected the Fakir’s deceased wife of having cast a spell over Gopalrao for how else could one account for the fascination of a saintly Brahmin for a Muslim boy? So they argued and decided that the only way out was to destroy the boy. Thus resolved, a group of men entered the forest where they found the master fast asleep with the boy by his side. One of the group hurled a brick at the boy with the intention of killing him but it missed its aim and hit the master on his head. Actually, the brick was suspended in the mid-air by the master’s power for over an hour but its force had to terminate at some point. The master offered his head as the target for the boy’s sake and suffered the injury. The master sat up at once and spread lime over the bleeding injury and bandaged it. The person who was responsible for the evil deed fell down dead instantly by the power of the master with his brick which was the gift of the master to the boy (later known as Sai Baba) and was used by Him in his later life for resting, and which when broke, Sai Baba exclaimed that His time was up.
At the sight of the master’s bleeding head the boy burst into tears. He craved forgiveness of the master for the suffering caused to him, and asked to be sent away. The master replied, “Do not regret for I have now very few days to pass. But to-day I wish to transfer all my powers to you. Go to the cowherd yonder and get me milk of a black cow. There is not a moment to lose. ” The boy hurried to the cowherd and asked for milk of a black cow for the master. The cowherd pointing to a black cow replied that the only cow of that colour was barren and could yield no milk. To the master he said that the cow had not calved even once in the-last fifteen years. But the master gently touched the cow’s udders and milk oozed out. The master gathered three seers of creamy milk and handed it over to the boy. He then removed the piece of cloth covering his head and tied it round the boy’s head saying “I have given you my entire wealth. The three seers of milk given to you are karma, bhakti and jnana. I have sanctified the milk; hence drink up the whole of it and you will get jnana . The boy touched the feet of the master with his head and swallowed the milk. And lo, everything to his vision appeared as if imbued with God.
The master caressed the boy and said, “Remember that you were Kabir in your former birth and I was Ramananda. For your sake I have given up the ascetic’s life in this birth. I say unto you that remain a celibate, be of tranquil mind, and regard God and the world as one. Make your abode in one place and raise those who surrender unto you. My mission being achieved, I will proceed to Sailu and enter Mahasamadhi. ”
To the men who had leagued against the boy, the master said, “why do you hide your faces from me? The men immedi¬ately fell at his feet and entreated him to revive their dead com¬panion. But the master said that the powers that he had, now resided in the boy and they should beseech him. They did as they were told but the boy was puzzled and looked at the master, who by a gesture, wished him to revive the dead man. The boy took the dust off his master’s feet and applied it to the forehead of the dead. He rose to life and the men carried the master and his disciple to Sailu in a procession.
Next day, the master assembled all his disciples and address¬ing them said, “To-day, I will abandon my earthly tabernacle and at that place a Peepul tree will rise. If you dig a little near the tree, you will discover a purple, four-armed idol of Venkatesa. Erect a temple on that spot.” He read aloud eighteen chapters of the Bhagwad Gita and asked all assembled to take the name of Narayana. Then he gave the loin cioth he had, on to the boy, for making a kafni, and signalled to him to leave at once. Thrice he repeated the name of God and left his physical frame. Things occurred as the master had said and a temple was erected on the hallowed spot in due course.
At the master’s order, the boy left Sailu and went towards the West until he came to the terrain of Aurangabad. At Daulatabadi he worshipped at the shrine of Janardana Swami. And with a mind filled with renunciation and vairagya he lived in solitude in search of Brahman.
One day, Chandbhai, a Muslim, came to the forest in search of his missing horse and saw the boy ( Sai Baba) sitting under a tree. Mistaking him for a ghost or a sprit, he took to his heels in fright, but the boy assured him that he was a man, a fakir, spending his time in the forest. He invited Chandbhai for a smoke. Chandbhai sat down beside him and stuffed his clay pipe. But there was no fire to light it. The fakir smiled and struck the ground with his tongs and produced fire. Chandbhai was dumb¬founded and honoured the fakir as if he were Paigambe r. Turn¬ing to the fakir, he said “O Samartha, for four days and nights I have been wandering in search of my lost mare without food or drink, but cannot find her”. The fakir asked him to look beyond the yonder hedge and Chandbhai really found his missing mare. He then invited the fakir to his house. The fakir agreed to go the next day. Chandbhai had in the meanwhile spoken to the villagers about this, the fakir’s, wonderful powers. So when the fakir arrived the next day, the whole village turned out to pay him homage . After passing a few days with Chandbhai, the fakir accompanied him to Shirdi with the wedding party of Chandbhai’s brother-in-law where he lived for the rest of his life.
Shri B. V. Narasimhaswami has adopted the story of Sai Baba’s guru narrated by Das Gunu with some frill and embelli¬shment in Volume 1 of the biography of Sai Baba,
Topic: DAS GANU MAHARAJ’S THEORY (Read 10929 times)