2.2 - Baba’s Earliest Period

The influences of the father or the mother living with them will mould the mind of the child. Baba had no mother or father to mould him but he had first a foster father, the fakir and next a master who ultimately became his Deeksha Guru. If we understand the nature and character of Gopal Rao Deshmukh we can understand Baba’s nature. Gopal Rao Deshmukh maintained a character and reputation unattained by any other Zamindar of his time.

One incident in his life illustrates this point. One evening as he sat on the parapet wall of his fort, it was quite dusk. In that half darkness, a fair damsel of about twenty years came very close to the ramparts on the ground level. Thinking that there was nobody, sat down and exposed her body. Sight of a nude usually provokes lust. Others in his position would have immediately ordered to some one to go and grab the lady and bring her for their gratification. Gopal Rao was also human and the sinful impulse lasted only for a moment. His conscience revolted, and he at once thought of Lord Venkatesa. He appealed to The Lord for forgiveness. He treated every woman other than his wife as a mother to him.

“No lustful thoughts should be directed to any person other than one’s wife” – Paradarmsha.

So, considering this lustful thought as an enormous sin, he rapidly went down to his Prayer Hall. He kneeled before the idol of Lord Sri Venkatesa; he repented with tears this momentary lust, and then resolved to punish his eyes for having cast lustful glances at a mother, which is nothing short of incest. He at once seized two sharp needles and poked his eyes with them. With eyes which shed blood, and he moaned. His relations blamed him for the folly of losing his eyes for such a trivial matter. As his eyesight was absolutely essential for guarding them and the Juntur Parganna form the Muslims, and as they were necessary also for purposes of worship, his Guru asked him to pray to Lord Venkatesa for recovery of sight. Accordingly he prayed and to everybody’s astonishment got back his sight. The fame of his purity, nobility of character and the power of curing ailments, with the power of Lord Venkatesa spread abroad. Blind people and others came to him, and his very touch was curative. To a woman born blind, he applied chillies to her eyes with Venkatesa’s name on his lips. This cured her and restored her sight. This incident, therefore, shows the nature and characteristics of Baba’s Guru, Gopal Rao Deshmukh.

In his highest moments of absorption, Gopal Rao uttered works, which were the words of Lord Venkatesa. He became one with Lord Venkatesa to that time. So Baba always referred to his Guru as Venkusa, a contraction of Venkatesa. Perfect chastity, thorough self-control, invariable righteousness, perfect truthfulness generosity, and serviceability to all, which were the leading characteristics of his Guru, became transplanted and took deep root in the disciple, Sri Sai Baba.

Baba’s being favoured by the Master evoked considerable jealousy amongst the Guru’s retainers and some of them resolved to kill young Baba by hurling brickbats at him. During a chaturmasya, between August to November, Gopal Rao was in the garden and young Baba was attending upon him. The villains hurled bricks at Baba. One of the bricks came very near Baba’s head. Master (Guru) saw it, and by his order it stood still in mid air unable proceed further or hit Baba. Another man threw a second brick to hurt Baba. But Gopal Rao got up and got the brick on his head. This led to profuse bleeding. Baba was moved to tears, and he begged his Master to send him away as the Master declined to send him away. As for the injury, the master bandaged it with a shred torn from his own cloth.

He suddenly said, “I see that the time has come for me to part with you. To-morrow at 4 p.m. I shall leave this body, not as a result of this injury, but by my own yoga power. Therefore, I shall now vest my full spiritual personality in you. For that purpose, fetch milk form a black cow”. Young Baba went to Hulla the Lambadi in charge of the cow. She pointed out a cow which was barred, had not calved, and could not yield milk. He came with the cow to the chieftain Gopal Rao who just touched it from horns to tail and told the lambdi, ‘Now pull at the teats.’ The lambadi’s pull drew out plenty of milk and this milk was given to Baba with Gopal Rao’s blessings that the full power and grace of the Guru should pass on to young Baba. This was the Giksha, the investiture of the Guru’s personality and power which young, Baba underwent.

So far as mystic powers were concerned, immediately an opportunity arose for proving the transfer of power Saktinipata. The villain whose brickbat had hit Gopal Rao, fell down dead, the moment Gopal Rao was hit. His companions were horrified, and they came with repentance to Gopal Rao’s feet and prayed for pardon not only for themselves but also for their dead companion whom they requested Gopal Rao to revive. The Chieftain pointed out that the power of revival now rested in the young man, and that they should appeal to him. They accordingly appealed, and Baba took some of the dust of his Guru’s feet and placed it on the corpse. The dead man arose at once.

The Guru’s declaration that he would pass away the next day form this life into the beyond was fulfilled. After making the fullest preparations for settling all his temporal affairs, Gopal Rao with his full consciousness sat up in the midst of a religious group carrying on puja, bhajan and nama smaran, in the presence of his Ishta Devata Sri Venkatesa and at the solemn hour he had himself fixed for departure, his soul left in perfect peace and happiness like Parikshit in Bhagavata. Before leaving the body, the Master waved his hand westward to the young boy, and bade him leave Selu and proceed westward to his new abode. Shirdi lies on the banks of the Godavari due west of Selu, and Baba by slow degrees moved on from place to place and arrived at Shirdi and after sometime made it his permanent residence.