Shirdi Sai and Sathya Sai are One
and the Same
By Arjan D. Bharwani
15. TENDER TO RUGGED FEET
Shri Loganatha Mudaliar owned a
small piece of land at Guindy (Madras). This was under the illegal
occupation of a Gujrati occultist. Loganatha got him evicted
through the court. Whilst leaving the place the illegal occupant
cast a curse as a result of which Loganatha became insane. The
Mudaliars were not even remotely aware of the Sais. Perhaps in a
demonstration of non discriminatory nature of Divinity, Sathya
Sai appeared to him in a dream and released Loganathan from the
malady with which he was seized.
At this time Sathya Sai was visiting
Madras. He got into His car and kept giving directions to the
driver till the car reached Mudaliar's house. Loganatha was aghast,
astonished and amazed to see the figure of his dream, standing
there, right in front of him. He fell prostrate and overwhelmed
and with deep feelings uttered, "You are God !" Baba blessed all
present there and left, only to be followed by Loganatha to Parthi.
There he beheld a vision, par excellence in which Sathya Sai
appeared in the Form of Shirdi Sai. In a flood of devotion he
embraced the Sainath.
To express his gratitude he decided
to build a house for Sathya Sai on his plot at Guindy. At the
heels of the decision came a letter from Parthi dated July 1946,
which read thus, "You need not build a house for Me. Instead build
a temple for My Former Body (Shirdi). I shall Myself consecrate
the first idol of My Former Body at Guindy. So far there is no
image set up for Me even at Shirdi. Make due preparations. All the
'wiring is done' only 'the connections is to be given'. Start the
work without delay".
The Divinity continued to knit the
thread of commonality. A Muslim fakir appeared in the dream of a
sculptor living near Madras and directed him to go to Guindy.
Instinctively the sculptor followed the bidding. On arrival at
Guindy station a 'guide' escorted him to Mudaliar and instantly
vanished thereafter. The Sculptor set to work diligently and with
sustained effort chiselled an idol of Shirdi Sai which was an
exact replica of that Form, though he had never known or seen it.
The temple was completed and in February 1949, Sathya Sai Baba
came to Guindy for the installation of the idol. Shri Mudaliar
performed the age old honoured ritual of washing and worshipping
the Lotus Feet of the Divine Embodiment. He prayed and pleaded to
Baba to cast an impression of His Holy Feet on a piece of silken
cloth with sandalwood and haldi paste. "Why My Feet ' This day I
have installed here the old Baba. I shall give you the feet of old
Baba Himself '" He then cast the sandalwood paste impression of
the Lotus Feet on the cloth. The impression that came on the cloth
was not that of Parthi Baba' s tender feet but that of large and
weather- conditioned rugged feet of a person who had been walking
barefoot at Shirdi over three decades ago. The silk cloth carrying
the impression of the Lotus Feet is even today preserved in the
temple at Guindy and worshipped.
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