You are the very soul of the devotee

Oh Sadguru (Oh the Master)! You are the very soul of the devotees. You are born for Your devotees. When any devotee faces a time of crisis, Your compassionate divine play begins then. When the devotee becomes despondent, You come in to his life from somewhere unexpectedly. You sprinkle his (devotee’s) heart with drops of compassionate love and bestow on him knowledge, energy and strength.

(verses 7 & 8)

Shri Guru Bhagavat, Vol. 1

The year was 1913 and Naam-Saptah was being performed, by some of the devotees. The Dwarkamai was packed as devotees had gathered together, to participate in the week-long programme. Two staunch devotees of Baba, Savitri Bai Tendulkar and Baba Sahib Tarkhad was present there. Baba slowly said, “Go Shama, there is a man sitting against the wall of the Sabha Mandap. He wishes to have Darshan. Go and bring him up immediately”. Shama followed Baba’s direction. Indeed, there was a man huddled next to the wall of Dwarkamai. But he was in a bad shape. The man was not very old. But his hands were shaking and his head was nodding. His mouth was drooling. His body was full of boils that oozed pus. Some of the boils had turned to open sores that were full of maggots. Flies covered his chest. The torn clothes that he had on were filthy and dirty. There was an overpowering stench of foul odour. Shama seemed oblivious of this, and holding the man by his hand, brought him to Baba.

The man fell at Baba’s feet and tears of joy poured from his eyes. Baba placed his hand of benediction on his head and said, “Bhau, what have you brought for Me?” The devotee’s joy knew no bounds at that moment. Slowly and painstakingly, he took out a dirty piece of cloth and opened the bundle. Inside the bundle was a small piece of paper that had two to three pieces of sugar candy. With his shaking hands, he handed the candy to Baba with utter devotion. On receiving the candy, Baba gobbled it up. Then Baba placed his palm on his head and gave him udi and permission to leave. The man slowly but joyously left the Dwarkamai. Baba Sahib Tarkhad watched the whole scenario with keen interest and was so moved by Baba’s compassion and love, that he could not hold back his tears.

[Source: Sai Leela, 1930]