(In his case, Baba helped his elder brother in 1909 even though none of them knew
about Baba. This is a case to show that Baba would help people even when they did
not know Baba. Baba, being a Divine Satguru, represents all Gods). (His experiences
with Baba bear eloquent testimony to Baba's Miracles mostly after Baba's Mahasamadhi)
(Baba also appeared as a school peon by name Ganpat Shankar and accompanied him
to Nasik & guided him in all his religious rites & when he enquired about him in
the school, he came to know that there was no such person in the school).
Santaram Balwant Nachne or simply S.B.Nachne came in contact with Baba in 1909.
He was a simple and ordinary person. He had many problems and domestic calamities
and in spite of all these things, he withstood all of them with strength derived
from Baba’s Grace. His simple life and instances in his life bear eloquent testimony
to the supernatural powers of Baba before and after Baba’s Mahasamadhi and prove
that Baba was active and helping with protective eyes and ever vigilant care always,
all the devotees who love Baba with unswerving faith. Baba was protecting and helping
them in the same way in which Baba was protecting and helping the devotees earlier
when he was in mortal coil.
In 1909, some events took place which did not appear, prima facie, to be connected
with Baba. In the same year, one day his elder brother was undergoing an operation
near his throat in Bajekar's Hospital at Bombay; and all his relatives were very
anxious about the outcome of the operation. Nachne was at Dahanu at that time and
a sadhu approached his house and asked him for one or two slices of bread. But his
family invited him inside the house and gave him a full meal. His sister-in-law
was serving him all dishes but she intentionally omitted serving him "Bendi Baji"
i.e., a dish made of lady's fingers, thinking that it was a dish that should not
be offered to a saintly guest. But the sadhu himself asked for Bendi Baji and it
was then served. Then the sadhu blessed them and also informed them that the operation
at the hospital in Bombay had been successfully performed on that day. His friend
by name Haribhav Moreswar Panse had also told him that he hoped that the operation
at Bombay would be a success by the Grace of Sai Baba of Shirdi. Through his friend
only he heard about Sai Baba for the first time.Later in the evening, he learnt
from his father who returned from the hospital that the operation had been performed
successfully and that after the
operation a sadhu had appeared in the hospital, approached the patient and passed
his hands over the operated portion of the body and said that every thing would
go on well. The operation was successful and his brother recovered. The same year,
his father attended Das Ganu's Kirtan and Das Ganu described Baba as Datta Avatar
and also said that Sai Baba was a walking God in Shirdi with wonderful powers coupled
with great kindness. He got a picture of Baba from Das Ganu and they started worshipping
it in their house.
In 1912 Nachne visited Shirdi for the first time. He was working in a Mamlatdar’s
office and the Mamlatdar was B.V.Dev. He had also appeared for his departmental
test(revenue test) and before the results, he started to Shirdi along with two of
his friends, Sankar Balakrishna Vaidya and Achyuta Date. On the way, they alighted
at Kopergaon station. There the Station Master learning of their visit to Shirdi,
expressed his views on his own and said that Baba was a hypnotist and a magician
but unfortunately he was being treated as a divine saint. This rude disparaging
statement about Baba raised some doubts in his mind.. However they reached Shirdi
and had darshan of Baba who was then returning from the Lendibagh. Baba must have
evidently read his thoughts after Station Master’s vituperative expression and looked
at him and said "What? Have you come away without taking leave from the Mamlatdar?”
Nachne said "Yes". Baba himself spoke like that even before Nachne said anything
about himself and advised him not to behave like this. This removed all the doubts
that he had in his mind following the Station Master's vituperation. He then felt
that Baba was a real divine saint who knew everything that happened in places far
away from him. At that time he absented himself without taking leave from the Mamlatdar.
Because of Baba’s Grace, later the Mamlatdar only cautioned him and said if this
happened again he would take action against him. All of them stayed for three days
in Shirdi. Each day Nachne came to know about Baba's kindness and supernatural powers
he then became a staunch devotee of Baba. Before Nachne was about to leave Shirdi,
Baba took udhi from Nachne’s hand and applied it to his forehead and this was a
mark of Baba’s Grace extended to him. In his first visit on one day, Baba said to
the other devotees in the masjid among whom Dixit, Jog and Dabolkar also were there,
pointing to Nachne “I had been to this man’s house for a meal. He did
not give me bendi baji”. Nachne’s mind immediately went back and recollected the
incident of 1909 and realized that Baba had visited his house already in the form
of that sadhu, even before they came to know about Baba. What surprised him more
was that Baba did not at all resemble the sadhu whom he had observed quite closely
at Dahanu when the sadhu visited their house and thereby he came to the conclusion
that Baba could take any form and appear anywhere at any time.
Nachne once visited Baba in 1912 and took leave from Baba and at the time of leaving
Shirdi Baba blessed him and said on his own, “Come to Bombay for service”. At that
time he was working in Dahanu, a rural area and in those days it was very difficult
to get transfer from rural area to Bombay city. But Baba blessed him on his own.
He got transfer to Bombay in 1918 and Baba told him in 1912 itself.
In 1913, when he was about to start to Shirdi, his friend by name H.M.Panse came
to him and told him that he had been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment but
was on bail and that he was thinking of preferring an appeal. He asked Nachne to
approach and pray to Baba on his behalf and seek Baba’s Grace on him. When Nachne
reached Shirdi, Baba was in the chavadi. Nachne went to chavadi and found Baba in
an angry mood. Seeing the position of Baba, Nachne did not say any thing. Even then,
on seeing Nachne, Baba himself said on his own that his friend need not worry at
all and that he would be acquitted on appeal. Then Panse preferred an appeal and
was acquitted with the Grace of Baba.
During his visit to Shirdi in 1913, Baba said to a group of people including Nachne
that they should not trust mad men.At that time Nachne thought that it was a general
statement and was not relevant to him. After an incident in 1914 then he thought
that what Baba said 1913 was meant for him only and perhaps Baba cautioned him in
advance. The incident took place in 1914, when he was working as cashier and was
living in a rented house near the Maruti Temple in Dahanu. There was a Talati named
Ramkrishna Balwant Phanse who lived in the vicinity and had become mad due to some
problems. One day that Phanse came and stood near the kitchen door in the house
of Nachne when Nachne was performing puja in the puja room for their deities and
also for Baba. Suddenly Phanse jumped upon him and started strangling him and put
his mouth close to his neck and tried to bite and also said that he
would kill him. Then he got perplexed and took a spoon and tried to push it in the
mouth of Phanse and in the process his two fingers went inside his mouth. Panse
suddenly closed his mouth and his teeth pierced into his hand and his neck also
got choked and his nails went deep into the skin and blood started oozing out from
the hand of Nachne who had also fainted. When he was unconscious, his brother and
his mother came to his help and freed him from the clutches of the mad man. He regained
consciousness only after doctors’ treatment. In his next visit to Shirdi, Baba told
Anna Chinchnikar, a staunch devotee, pointing at Nachne, “Anna, had I been even
a little late, he would have been gone. That mad man almost throttled him. I saved
him….. ”. On hearing these words from Baba, he was overwhelmed with ecstasy.
In March 1915, Moreshwar Phanse and Nachne were returning from official duty and
were passing through a thick jungle in a dark night in a bullock cart and reached
the Ranshet Pass, notorious for the presence of many tigers. Suddenly the bullocks
got frightened and started behaving in a peculiar manner and without control. Lickily
the bulls were not dragging the cart sideways as there was a ravine by the side
of the narrow road. When they tried to find out the reason they saw a tiger standing
before the cart. They also observed that the edge of the road was broken. If their
cart tilted even a little towards that side, all of them would have been thrown
with the cart into the ravine by the side of the road. Nachne was more courageous
and told Phanse to hold on to the reins while he got down to rectify the cart’s
position. But he was scared very much and was unable to do so. Besides, one of the
bullocks began to sit down. But keeping full faith in Baba, he started screaming
“Jai Sri Sai Baba! Save us Sai Baba!” Miraculously the tiger got up, jumped towards
their right and rushed into the jungle. Thus chanting Sai Baba’s name saved them
from a dangerous calamity.
In 1915 after the Ranshet Pass incident, Nachne started for Shirdi and at the railway
station one V.S.Samant gave Nachne a coconut and two annas as dakshina to Baba and
asked him to present them to Baba. Nachne reached Shirdi and went to the masjid
and gave Baba the coconut and forgot to give dakshina of two annas. When he asked
for permission to leave Shirdi, Baba gave permission but told him that he should
not keep back with him a poor Brahmin’s two annas and thus made him recollect about
the dakshina which he forgot. Then he remembered and gave Baba two annas as dakshina.
Baba
immediately told him that he should do sincerely any work entrusted.
Children born to Nachne died quickly and his wife went alone to Shirdi in 1915 and
wanted to pray to Baba for his Grace. In Shirdi, she took the help of Shama and
got a coconut from Baba who dropped it into her cloth while Baba’s eyes were brimming
with tears. Why Baba’s eyes were full of tears was not known at that time. Later
a son by name Kalu Ram was born to them and his mother passed away when the boy
was two years old and the boy, Kalu Ram who was a wonderful genius, also passed
away at the age of eight years. Due to these anticipated calamities in his family,
Baba gave the coconut to her with eyes brimming with tears and on these happenings
only the earlier matter was understood. Despite all these happenings, Nachne did
not lose faith in Baba and on the other hand, he had unswerving faith in Baba and
fully devoted to him. He had Baba’s mercy and Baba helped him even in small matters.
In one of his visits to Shirdi in 1915, Baba embraced Nachne and exhibited Baba’s
full protection to him.
Even after Baba’s Mahasamadhi also, Baba was helping him in several ways. He had
many experiences about miracles after Baba’s Mahasamadhi. He later married three
wives, one after another, and had many children and a large family. Many of his
friends knew that Baba was helping him in several ways. He also made lot of efforts
in propagating about the supernatural powers and miracles of Baba and his kindness
in helping the devotees. He released his experiences with Baba upto the year 1912
and the years immediately following, by way of an article in Sai Leela Masik in
1923. Later he worked as Head Clerk in Talukdar's office in 1936 when he was interviewed
by B.V.Narasimha Swamiji and it is in this interview all the details about his experiences
with Baba came to light.
He was also helping others by praying to Baba on behalf of his several friends and
others and was a very broad minded person.
In 1926, at the time of Diwali, his child, Sai Harnath who was 9 months old was
playing with other children in the upstairs and suddenly a lighted cracker fell
on him. Then a fakir appeared and shouted and told a lady, his mother in the ground
floor and asked her to go up and see what was happening there. Then the lady went
to upstairs andsaw Harnath’s cloth was burning and immediately extinguished the
flame. While the upper and nether
cloth got burnt, nothing had happened to the body of the child and there was no
scar or even injury to the body of the child.
There was an incident in 1927 when Sai Harnath was two years old. He was very active
and once he was playing in the upstairs. At one end of the terrace, there was a
broken wall. While playing, child-Sai without noticing the broken wall at the edge,
rushed to the end of the terrace and fell down from the top on the debris below.
The father became very anxious and ran to the place to see the condition of the
boy. But at that place child-Sai was standing and laughing. The child also said
that Baba helped him by receiving him in his hands when he was falling and protected
him.
In 1932, Sainath, his another child gave his younger brother, Vasudev a ring which
Vasudev, while playing put the ring in his mouth and it got stuck up in the throat
and doctors came and tried to remove with medicines but all attempts were of no
use. Finally Nachne gave the child some udhi and tirtha and put his own finger deep
into the mouth of the child and pulled it back and saved the child.
In 1934, Vasudev then aged three years was suffering from pneumonia, measles and
an abscess on the chest and the child became very weak and the surgeon was also
afraid of conducting the operation because of the weakness of the child. Nachne
applied antiphlogistine over the abscess which got opened, prayed to Baba and also
put some udhi in the wound. One Vasantrao Madhav Jadhav, Deputy Collector who knew
about the child’s condition asked Nachne whether he was sure of recovery and if
so within what time. Then he told Jadhav that he was sure of recovery and that too
within 24 hours. That night Baba appeared in Nachne’s dream and said, “Why did you
say 24 hours? Why not immediately?” The child miraculously recovered immediately
and Jadhav got convinced about Baba’s miracles and took some udhi from Nachne for
his own son who was also suffering from pneumonia and after administering Baba’s
udhi, Jadhav’s son also got cured immediately. But all these were clear cases of
Baba’s miracles after Baba’s Mahasamadhi.
In 1935, Anand, his 2 year old child, while playing, dashed against a boiling milk
vessel and burning stove—all of which fell on the floor in different directions
and the boy also fell down. His clothes should have been burnt
with injuries to his body. But nothing had happened to the boy.
Nachne prayed to Baba even for other children also. Once in 1923, he was sitting
in the upstairs in Andheri and saw on the road a car going speedily in the narrow
lane and there was a little girl on the road and was unable to cross the road fast
and the car suddenly ran on her. He immediately saw the danger and cried out and
asked Baba to save the little girl On examination it was found that the brake of
the car was not working but somehow a stone got stuck up into the gear and the engine
stopped. The girl was then taken to the hospital where the doctors were not hopeful
of recovery. Nachne thought that Baba stopped the car miraculously and that Baba
alone could save the child. After some days the child got fully recovered from the
injuries.
Nachne helped two of his friends with Baba’s Grace after Baba’s Mahasamadhi. Once
his cashier-friend was dismissed for misappropriation and he approached him. He
advised him to go to Shirdi and pray in the Samadhi Mandir for Baba’s Grace and
seeing his hesitation, he told him that Baba was not a Muslim and advised him to
go to Shirdi and seek Baba’s Grace. He went to Shirdi and prayed in Samadhimandir
and brought with him Baba’s photo and started performing puja to Baba’s photo. Surprisingly
he was given time to repay the amount of Rs.3,000/- which he had misappropriated
and the case was then closed without any prosecution. Another friend of his,V.C.Chitnis
was dismissed from service and on Nachne’s advice, he went to Shirdi and prayed
to Baba in the Samadhimandir and returned. He preferred an appeal and miraculously
got himself reinstated in service.
His second wife passed away in 1929 and he wanted to do religious rites for her
in Nasik and started alone for Nasik, leaving his father who was ill along with
his three year old son at home. At the Victoria Terminus railway station he found
a fellow passenger who took more interest in him and also provided a blanket and
a bed sheet during that chill night and also said to Nachne that he was also traveling
to Nasik and voluntarily took care of Nache’s valuables for keeping safely. He also
said that his name was Ganpat Shankar working as a peon in the Bombay Arts School,
Andheri. They both reached Nasik and Ganpat also guided him in performing the religious
rites and took him to the main temples in Nasik and then left him. After returning
to Andheri, Nachne wanted to meet him and went to the school and made enquiries
and to his
surprise he came to know that there was no such person working in the school. It
was all due to the vigilant and continuous care of Baba who appeared as Ganpat and
helped him in this matter.