Om Prema Moortaye Namah!
R B Purandhare was an ardent lover of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba. Baba’s kindness towards him was remarkable even from the beginning. Why should Baba care so much for this petty clerk who went to Shirdi for the first time? That is the question, which any one would ask. And one would like to know the root of that love. The root of love is not always traceable, but in this particular case we have Baba’s own statement to help us. When Purandhare’s mother told Baba to look after him, Baba’s reply was, “I have known him for generations. I have guarded him from his infancy from all sides. I will not eat even a bit of food without him”. That is, as much as to say that Baba remembered the love relations between Purandhare and himself in former lives. When two individuals are greatly attached to each other, we find that no other expression would describe the situation than Love. Friendship, admiration, gratitude, loyalty, faithfulness, regard, worship, all these blend together in many a case, as it did in Purandhare’s case. He learnt about Baba from DasGanu’s kirtans and developed an intense desire to visit Shirdi. Purandhare’s yearning for Baba’s darshan was so strong that he started for Shirdi with his sick child (in spite of his mother’s admonishments). His love was accompanied by intense faith. So, Baba justified his faith in what followed. His child quickly regained health instead of suffering. If supreme power and kindness are combined, what more is necessary to give us the idea of God’s help? So, Purandhare was made firmer in his faith and deeper in his love of Sai Baba by this experience. At every step he had full faith in Baba’s omniscience and omnipotence and he found that his faith was fully justified by the subsequent events. When Purandhare acted upon Baba’s directions, it seemed to several that he was running foolish risks, but everything that Baba said occurred exactly as he said it would.
Purandhare was a poor clerk (on a salary of Rs. 35) with little worldly ambitions. He was living in a rented house and faced lot of trouble (he was ill-treated by many). Baba could not endure the hardship one of his beloved devotee had to go through, so he decided to bless Purandhare by Him owning his own bungalow. The idea that a clerk with a meagre salary could purchase a plot of land and construct a bungalow on it was so queer that Purandhare could not think of it. Yet, very early in his contact with Baba, he told Purandhare: “Bhau, You better buy a plot of land and build a bungalow on it”. Purandhare ignored Baba’s advice and did not take any action as owning a bungalow was an impossible and unthinkable goal. However, on each subsequent visit, Baba used to urge him to construct the Bungalow. At times Baba got mad with Purandhare and rebuked him for not following his advice. On the behest of Baba, once Nana Chandorkar met Purandhare to convince him to consider Baba’s proposal. Purandhare explained his helplessness to Nana and he conveyed the same to Baba. Nana also suggested to Baba that He and other devotees could build a house and gift the same to Purandhare. To this Baba replied: “I don’t want anybody else to pay for it. There is a lot of money of this Bhau with my Sarkar and I alone will enable him to build”. Nana could not comprehend Baba’s response and the matter seems to end there.
At last it occurred to Purandhare that he might at least buy a piece of land, may be one little far away from the Bandra suburb. At once, one of his friend gave him the required money to buy the land, without any paperwork. Purandhare secured the land and hence took the first step in the direction in which Baba wanted him to move. But it is one thing to own a land and a totally different thing to construct a Bungalow on it. So, Purandhare dropped the idea of construction. When he visited Baba, he admonished him for not constructing the house. Love endures all things. Love does not blame. Love does not find fault. So, Purandhare quietly endured Baba’s rebuff without offering a word of explanation. Having exhausted the threats and rebuffs, Baba inflicted on Purandhare, by His own mysterious means, a severe neuralgic headache, which he endured all day and night. It was not Baba’s idea to give him relief till he finished his building. So, all the time Purandhare stayed at Shirdi, he suffered intense pain. Purandhare went home fully convinced that this headache inflicted by Baba would only cease, as Baba said, after he built the house. How is he to get the money? It occurred to him that he could apply for a loan in his office. He applied for the loan and received a sum of Rs. 500 and arranged materials like bricks, etc., for building the bungalow. He was too unwell to look after the construction. So his brother looked after the construction of the house. The house was in a lonely place with no neighboring houses. So, Purandhare was hesitant to move there and live with his family. Baba told him ‘Don’t be afraid. I am there guarding your family all the time’. This was found to be true, because, no danger befell on his family. Purandhare had a lot of financial difficulties and official troubles. He knew so little of how to sustain for every contingency. Baba anticipated everything and gave him mysterious warnings in dreams and visions, and enabled Purandhare to go through all ordeals, without breaking under those. Truely, Purandhare was a beloved devotee of Baba and a blessed soul!
As quoted in Shri Guru Bhagavat regarding ‘Prema Bhakti’:
Mun paae jeun paraabhaaba || Guruhe kara anubhaba
Pooja mun kale tume kara || Helebi se pooja tumara
Hey Gurudeba Gurubara || Na rahu kichhi mo nijara
Sabujanmara paapa-punya || Arpana kari hue soonya
Prabheda na rahu amare || Aatmaa rahu tuma payare
Hey Guru krupaakara sate || Nija roopare gadha mote
Nishchinha heu mo astitwa || Na rahu jaati, dharma, gotra
Thaau gotie parichaya || Daasa boli hey dayaamaya
[“Oh Guru! Please feel the pangs of love I feel for You. When I do puja, please be with me even if the puja is for You. Oh Gurudev, Guruvar! Nothing should exist as my own, offering all the virtues and vices of all my lives, let me become a zero ( just nothing).
Let there be no distinction between us. Let me (my soul) remain at Your feet. Oh Guru! please be kind (and) shape me in Your mould. Let my (very) existence obliterate without (the remnants of) caste, religion or ‘Gotra’ (clan). Oh the Lord of compassion, let me have the only identity of being Your servant”.]
Sources:
1. Life of Sai Baba Vol.3 by B.V.Narasimha Swami
2. Shri Guru Bhagavat Vol.1 by Dr. C B Satpathy