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OM SAI RAM !!!
The Swami of Akkalkot, one of the greatest saints of India is considered
as the incarnation of Lord Dattatreya. He granted the highest spiritual experience
to many of his visitors and made them very great saints. He lived at Akkalkot
(Maharastra) from 1856 to 1878. When he was about to attain mahasmadhi
in 1878, one of his devotees, Keshav Naik of Tardev said to him, with tears in
his eyes, “Maharaj, if you go away, what support have we?” The Maharaj gave
him padukas to Keshav Naik to be worshipped as his representatives and said,
“My manifestation will be at Shirdi in Ahmednagar district. Go there always.
Be devoted to him. If you do so, you will not suffer my absence. And you will be happy.”
When Akkalakot Maharaj passed away, Keshav Naik and his son Ramachandra Naik,
accompanied by two orthodox brahmins, went to Shirdi. On the way the brahmins
spoke ill of Sai Baba, calling him a moslem and a mad fakir and said that a brahmin
should not bow to him. When they all arrived at the mosque at Shirdi, Sai Baba said
to Keshav Naik, “You and your son may come and visit me if you like. The two
others are karmatha brahmins (zealots.)”
Then Sai Baba asked Keshav Naik to fetch some margosa leaves and distributed
the same to all the four and asked them to tell him how they tasted. The two brahmins
found the leaves unusually bitter and the Naiks found them sweet! Thus Baba separated
the grains from the chaff and confirmed the statement of the late Akkalkot Maharaj
to the Naiks that he was the manifestation of their former guru.
Harischandra Pitale of Bombay had a son who suffered from epileptic fits. On the advice
of his friends he took the boy to Shirdi and by Sai Baba’s grace the boy was gradually cured.
After spending some days in Baba’s blessed presence, the Pitale family sought his
permission to return home. Then Baba called Pitale near and said “Bapu, I have given
you Rs. 2/- earlier. Now I give you Rs. 3/- Keep these also in your shrine and worship them.
You will be much benefited.” Pitale received the gift, and returned home.
The Pitales considered themselves blessed by their visit to Shirdi but could not understand
how Baba could have given them Rs. 2/- earlier; for that was their first visit ever to Shirdi!
Pitale’s mother, after cool reflection said, “Just as you have visited Sai Baba with your wife
and son, so did your father visit the great Maharaj of Akkalkot when you were a small child.
That Swami blessed your father and gave Rs. 2/- and told him to keep them in his worship.
Your father worshipped them carefully till his death. Thereafter the worship was neglected
and the two rupees could not be found. Now it is clear that the same Maharaj has
manifested himself in the form of Sai Baba and gave you the clue to recognize him
as such and blessed you with Rs. 3/- more.” Harischandra Pitale’s joy knew no bounds.
He realized that saints not only bless their devotees but care for their children also.
A devotee by name Bhai Krishnaji Alibagkar worshipped the photograph of
Akkalkot Maharaj.
Once when he was planning to go to Akkalkot, the Swami of Akkalkot appeared
in his dream at night and said, “Now I am at Shirdi. Go there.” So Bhai went to
Shirdi and worshipped Baba and stayed there for six months. As a memento
of his dream-vision, he prepared stone padukas and installed them under the
neem tree (under which Sai Baba sat before he resorted to the musjid) in 1912 .
Upassani Maharaj who was Sai Baba’s devotee was at Shirdi at that
time and he wrote a beautiful verse in Sanskrit on Sai Baba which is inscribed
on the pedestal of the padukas. The padukas can be seen even today.
At the end of his stay at Shirdi, Bhai once again longed to visit Akkalkot. When he sought
Sai Baba’s permission he said, “What is there at Akkalkot? That Maharaj is here now in
my form! Why go there now?”
Once Sai Baba gave jog the darshan of Akkalkot Swami in himself.
Sridhar Narayan Kharkar of Thana was given a picture of Baba and his udi
when he was ill and the next day he recovered! Faith thus struck root in his heart.
But a doubt arose in his mind whether he could keep a Moslem saint’s (i.e. Baba’s)
photograph by the side of the picture of Akkalkot Maharaj. That night he had a dream
in which a fakir, robed like Sai Baba, came towards the verandah where he (Kharkar)
and his friend were sitting. Kharkar stood up to welcome the fakir. Then his companion
said to him, “This fakir (Sai Baba) is not different from the Swami of Akkalkot” and told him
to treat both the saints with equal regard. The next morning Kharkar kept both the
photographs together in the shrine and worshipped them.
Have Faith and be Patient !!!
May Baba Shower His grace, Love And Blessings On Each One Of Us,
OM SAI RAM, SRI SAI RAM, JAI JAI SAI RAM!
« Last Edit: January 06, 2016, 11:34:40 PM by ShAivI »
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JAI SAI RAM !!!