A young man named Ganesh Gopal lived in Sawantwadi in Thane near Mumbai. He was employed in Khatau Mill where he looked after petty works and got a salary of Rs. 15 per month. His health didn’t keep good, then and there he would be ill and take leave from work. His mother wished that if he was taken to Sai Baba in Shirdi and Baba cast His one loving glance at his son, his disease would get uprooted.
At that time the total expenditure to go to Shirdi from Mumbai came to Rs. 8-10. This limited monthly income allowed the only day-to-day expenses for survival with no savings at the end of the month. So a trip to Shirdi was out of the question.
Our Baba played sports sitting in Shirdi and made arrangements to call His devotees to Shirdi. Ramnavmi fair was held in Shirdi in the year 1911. There was a severe scarcity of water and Baba solved it with His Divine powers. However, to arrive at a permanent solution for the problem of scarcity of water, in the year 1913, it was decided to install a pump near the well in Shirdi, and Ramchandra Tarkhad volunteered the responsibility.
Sathe Wada and Dixit Wada provided free lodging and meals to the visitors. Kakasaheb Dixit looked after food arrangements. Baba had given a fertile farming field to Dadasaheb Kelkar to cultivate grains for free food for the devotees coming to Shirdi. Apart from this, Baba gave him Rs. 5 for daily expenses.
Dada Kelkar took the utmost care to feed all the devotees for free, even then if anyone wished to have food on payment, they could easily go to Balabhau Chandorkar’s hotel and in eight annas they were served dishes made out of pure ghee. The train fare from Dadar, Mumbai to Kopergaon, and the Tonga fare from Kopergaon to Shirdi summed to Rs. 8-10. With Rs. 15 income per month, it was nearly impossible for Ganesh to bear the travel expenses of the Shirdi trip.
Before Ramnavami of that year, Tarkhad got holidays for the Holi festival. So he decided to take two mechanical engineers of Khatau Mill to Shirdi to get the job done. Tarabai also got ready to go to Shirdi. It was her practice to celebrate every Holi festival in Shirdi. Ganesh thought, “I can send prasad and flower garland to Baba through Mr. Tarkhad” and he wished that Baba should accept his love (in the form of garland and prasad) and shower His blessings on him. Those times, the train going to Kopergaon halted at Dadar station which originated from Boribandar station. So he went to Dadar station to meet Tarkhad to hand over the garland and prasad for Baba.
Tarkhad lovingly asked Ganesh, “Oh dear son, will you come to Shirdi with us? If so, then come and join us! I have an extra ticket with me, you do not worry about expenses. Thus years of Ganesh’s yearning to go to Shirdi got fulfilled unexpectedly.
On March 22, 1913, Saturday, the installation of the pump was finished. The next day devotees gathered in Baba’s darbar including Ramchandra and Tarabai Tarkhad along with a few others. Baba asked for Dakshina from Ramachandra Tarkhad. He instantly put his hand in his long coat and took out a currency note of rupees five and placed it in the hands of Baba. The latter returned the note with the instruction, “Preserve it well”.
After some five minutes, Baba cautioned again and said, “Bhau, a lot of thieves will be hovering around you, so preserve the note carefully”. A five rupees note was equivalent to the salary of a month for many people in those times and a family will sustain itself with that meager amount. Ramchandra put the note in the secret pocket on the shoulder of his long coat. He again made sure that the note resided there, intact!
The morning darbar of Baba resigned after the noon arti. Ramchandra went to Dixit Wada for lunch with a few other devotees. He took out his coat and again checked the note. After being sure that it was secured in the pocket, he left the coat on the first floor of the Wada and went for lunch. After lunch when he went to the first floor to check the note, it had disappeared! The devotees and Ramchandra took a lesson from this incident that Baba asked for Dakshina to impart spiritual teaching from a very common incident or He wants His devotees to learn a big principle or to show how important a thing is!
Our next post is going to be an interesting topic "Shirdi Sai Baba and Yoga". Hope you drop by to go through that post as well
More to Read
© Shirdi Sai Baba Life Teachings and Stories – Member of SaiYugNetwork.com
Please baba call us to shirdi ,I know after your darshan my husband’s all financial problems will be solved…He will take the right decision.
Om Sai Ram 🙏
Om Shri Sachithananda Satguru Shri Sainath Baba Maharaj ki Jai……Om Sai Ram Baba Maharaj ki Jai
Om Shri Sachithananda Satguru Shri Sainath Baba Maharaj ki Jai……Om Sai Ram Baba Maharaj ki Jai, Baba please help and Solve my Financial problems……Please help me Baba
THANK SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING BABA JI 🙏 🙏🙏🙏🙏PLEASE BABA YOU ONLY TOOK CARE OF MY HUSBAND’S HEALTH WITH YOUR BLESSING ONLY HIS KIDNEY TRANSPLANT TOOK PLACE THANK YOU SO MUCH BABA,🙏🙏YOU ONLY PLEASE TAKE CARE OF HIM 🙏🙏PLEASE BABA SEE HIS CREATINE ,POTASSIUM READING COME BACK TO NORMAL WHAT ALL SMALL DIFFERENCE IS THERE WITH YOUR BLESSING YOU WILL BRING IT TO NORMAL SAIBABA JI PLEASE BABA WE HAVE ALL THE FAITH ON YOU BABA🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏OM SAI SRI SAI JAI JAI SAI🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
OM Shri Shachdanand Sadhguru Sainath Maharaj Ki Jai. Oh Sai baba please ward off my trouble s.Oh baba I have come to Mumbai in search of a legal job in a good company,,you know baba I am serching a good legal job since June 2020, I have don’t get a job I will be ruined please help me to get a good legal job in Mumbai &end my search baba.
OM SAI RAM
Please Baba call us for your darshan, it’s since 6years i have been waiting for after my knee replacement
BABA please call me 2 SHIRDI soon to hv your dharshan. I would like 2 stay at shirdi permanently.
Om Sai baba, thanks for the blessings. Dear devotees, I would like to share my experience here. By baba’s grace I got very good ranking and got a training post in uk. But as it’s in new place I was worried a lot about my daughter’s mid year admission and getting good school. I prayed to baba, in one of the school I came to know that there is vacancy. However no houses I was getting near to the school and last week I finalised thinking that it’s baba’s wish. Today surprisingly got a call from another school that there is a vacancy and it is hardly 100m away from home. It’s a miracle to me.. 1 week back when I enquired, they said there is no vacancy. Thank you baba for such a wonderful miracle. My faith has become more stronger now. I am just waiting for my visa. With baba’s grace and blessings I will get it soon. Dear devotees please keep faith and Shraddha, definitely baba will bless everyone. Anant koti, Bhramand Nayak Rajadhiraj, yogiraj,Para Brahma Shree Sadguru Sachidanand Sai bath Maharaj ki Jai.
Thanks baba for all the miracles you have done in our lives you have protected my family and placed my daughter in a good company pls be behind us protect us pls i am eagerly waiting for a call from you to shirdi pls call me soon for your darshan om sai ram appa