"Satyam Vadha - Dharmam Chara"

[SS91]

It was the year 1903. A person was charged with theft of some

articles, and brought to the court of the magistrate, Dhulia.

The accused told the court that Sai Baba had given him those

articles. Therefore, summons were issued to Sai Baba, by the

Magistrate, to appear in the court to give evidence.

On a suggestion from Nana Chandorkar, all the devotees prepared an

appeal to the magistrate, stating that Sai Baba was a great divine

personality and all of them regarding him as God and it was not

proper to ask such a ‘Mahatma’ to appear in the court. In case the

court felt that the evidence of Sai Baba was very essential, then it

could send a Commissioner to Shirdi to record the evidence of Sai

Baba. The court accepted the plea of the devotees and sent Nana

Joshi, who was the Assistant Collector and First Class Magistrate to

Shirdi to record the evidence of Sai Baba. In Shirdi no one knew

that Nana Joshi was coming.

But Baba knew about this and made arrangements before Dwarakamai, by arranging tables and chairs, making it appear like a courtroom. From the questions put by the Court Commissioner and the answers given by Baba, we glean some facts about Baba. The questions and answers were as follows: Commissioner :Your Name
Sai Baba :All call me by the name of Sai Baba
Commissioner :Your father's name?
Sai Baba :His name was also Sai Baba
Commissioner :Your Guru's name?
Sai Baba :Venkusa
Commissioner :Your religion?
Sai Baba :The religion of Kabir
Commissioner :Your age?
Sai Baba :Millions of years
Commissioner :You take oath that you will tell the truth only
Sai Baba :I never told any lies before and I shall never tell lies in future also
Commissioner :Do you know the accused?
Sai Baba :There are none whom I do not know
Commissioner :The accused says that he is your devoteeand he knows you.
Sai Baba :I am with all and all are mine.
Commissioner :Did you give those articles to the accused?
Sai Baba :In this world, whoever wants anything, I give them
Commissioner :What kind of right do you have over the articles given to him?
Sai Baba :Everything in this world is mine. There is nothing which does not belong to me.
Commissioner :This is a matter of serious nature involving theft. The accused says that you have given him these articles
Sai Baba :What is all this fuss? I have no connection with this affair


The Commissioner was surprised at the answers given by Baba to all the earlier questions. But he was confused at the answer given to the last question and did not know how to decide the case. But after thinking over it for sometime he sent for the village diary and found that the accused had never visited the village and also that Sai Baba had gone out of the village. Therefore, the statement of the accused that Baba gave him the articles was false. The accused was punished.

From the answers given by Baba to the questions of the Commissioner it was evident that there was no living being or articles unknown to Baba in this world and he had control over everything. We also learn that he never told lies under any circumstances. This is an important aspect we have to learn from him. Truth is God. In Ramayana, Rama was looked upon as God only because of this quality.

This is how the divine words, "Satyam Vadha - Dharmam Chara" originated.



OM SAI SRI SAI JAYA JAYA SAI!!!
Let us pray at the feet of Sai Baba who is the incarnation of all gods and protector of all, to show mercy on us, and increase our devotion towards him.