Shirdi is my Pandharpur and Sai Baba is Vitthala!

Om Jai Sai Ram! Nothing can please the mind and soothe the heart like the leelas of Sainath. To sing his glory to the best of our ability brings us immense happiness. It is only by the grace of the Sadguru that I am able to sing his grace. I place my ego at the lotus feet of my Sadguru and beseech him to guide me in this endeavour of mine.

In the previous post I described how one Guali Bua, an old devotee of Pandarinath of Pandarpur had the darshan of Vitthala in Shirdi. Guali Bua was convinced that Sainath himself is Vitthala of Pandarpur.

Now I shall now write about the most beautiful experience that I had in Shirdi. This experience alone proved to me the omnipresence of Shri Sainath.

It has been my good fortune that I had the oppertunity to visit Shirdi thrice. It was during the last of the these piligrimages that I had a most memorable experience. For you see, I had then taken a fancy to go to Pandarpur. It was the dearest wish of mine to see Panduranga along with mother Rukmini at Pandarpur. During the time that we went to Shirdi, Pandarpur was to be heavily crowded because of ekadashi nearing. In pandarpur many varkari devotees go on foot to catch a glimpse of the swayambhu (Self created) murthi of Lord Vishnu himself in the form of Panduranga.

When I went to sleep that night in Shirdi, I fell asleep quite early. Then sometime after midnight, I was somewhat half awake, half asleep. I could see the room somewhat hazily and then my gaze shifted and I was in a desolate landscape. There were stones and a muddy pathway everywhere. Not a single tree was in sight. In front of me I saw a dusky skinned man standing, wearing clothes that Indian Kings used to wear in ancient times. The man was facing away from me, so I could not see his face. And yet I could clearly discern a crown and ear rings. Then he started walking rapidly. I followed him, and I did not know why. After walking for upto 10 minutes thus, the man went to a brick lying on the road and then turning his gaze towards me stood on the brick. I saw in astonishment, that the king I was following, was indeed the king of kings, the savoir of all, Panduranga! He was the same dusky skinned. Two eyes were quite insufficient to see his handsome and radiant face. The Kaustuba jewels were on him. He put his hands on his waist and stood on the brick just as he stands in Pandarpura. I was bewildered and I fell at his feet weeping. Panduranga then lifted me up and hugged me affectionately like a father hugging his child. That is all I remember. Probably I fell asleep again. I woke up the next morning and remembered the fact that the previous night I had the darshana of Panduranga. I then realized how silly I had been. All the while, being in Shirdi I was thinking of going to Pandarpur. But Sainath himself is an incarnation of Panduranga. To satify my wish, my dear Sadguru appeared to me in the dream vision as Vitoba.

The next day, as I went to the temple, I fought back tears of joy. I felt that I was the most fortunate person on earth, to have seen Panduranga in my dream vision. And then the noon aarthi started, and soon I heard the words "Shirdi maze Pandarpur, Sai Baba Rama vara" - "Shirdi is my Pandarpur and Sai Baba is the husband of Rama (Vitthala)."

Thus I felt pleased, and I went near the Samadhi mandir and prostrated towards Shri Sat Chit Ananda Sadguru Sainath Maharaj.

Thus I was convinced of Baba's words, "Sabka Malik ek" - "There is only one god for everyone". And that Malik (God) is Sainath himself.

Shree Sat Chit Ananda Sadguru Sainath Maharaj ki jai!

Bow to Shree Sai! Peace be to all!