From Shirdi to Puttaparthi - Part 2 (The Shirdi Sai Story narrated by Sri Sathya Sai)

The Two Sais: Sathya Sai and Shirdi Sai

Continued from Part 1

Later Devagiriamma became pregnant. She told her husband that by the grace of Parvati she is carrying a child. Nine months later the child was born and it was a boy. One year later, she became pregnant again and a daughter was born. They named them as Eshwara and Gauri. 

Now for the third time she became pregnant. Then her husband’s mind started changing. Gangabhava started thinking that his wife’s experience was true. He too wanted to see Parvati and Eshwara. Devagiriamma said, “Eshwara promised me that He will be born as the third son. When He himself is coming here it is foolish of you to go to perform penance to see Him.” He said, “Even when God is being born to us, we will develop the maternal and paternal feeling towards Him and we won’t think of Him as a God. I will not get that Divine feeling. Therefore I have to go and pray to Eshwara and He should manifest himself.” She said, “If you are leaving the house, then I too will follow you.” 

She sent the son and daughter to her native place with some workers. The husband was walking in the front and she was at the back. Around that village there was a dense forest. These days you don’t find forests. At that time the teachers used to take their students into the forests and in that cool environment the students would be chanting Vedas. Even to reach another village you had to go through a dense forest. She went on telling him that she had pains and asked him to stop for 5 minutes. She gave birth to the boy under a tree. She thought, “If my husband does not want this child then why do I need him.” So she covered the baby with some leaves and some parts of her Sari and followed her husband. They went away and both of them had the vision of God.

The Foster Parents

In that village there was a Patel whose wife had gone to her native village for a festival. This Patel was bringing back his wife in a horse coach. The Patel had a lot of money and therefore he got the horse coach. They also didn’t have children. When they reached that place she heard a baby cry. She saw that this boy was on a piece of Sari and the boy was playing and crying. Drops of honey were falling from the tree in the mouth of the child. She came and called her husband and said that the baby’s body was smeared with blood. They did not know as to who had left him there. They looked around and nobody was seen. Patel’s wife thought that God had himself presented her this boy. She took the boy home. No one asked them who the child was. They were very happy thinking that God had given this child to them. The boy grew up. At the age of 7, the boy used to go to the Hindu temple and read the Quran and in the mosque, he used to chant Vedas. In those times the hatred between the Hindus and Muslims was too much. The Hindus and Muslims started complaining against this boy. The Muslims said, “You come to our mosque and chant Vedas!” The Hindus complained, “You come to our temple and read the Quran!” The Hindus and Muslims boycotted this boy from their places of worship. How much ever the boy was told, he still wouldn’t understand. Even the father tried but he still did not pay heed. The mother wanted to send the boy somewhere. She was thinking of that. Someone came and suggested that the boy should be sent to the ashram of Venkusa.

At Venkusdas Ashram

She took the boy to that Ashram. From inside Venkusdas came outside and said, “Boy, I have been waiting for you for the past 10 years.” He hugged this boy and took him to the Ashram. Then Venkusdas went to the mother and said, “Amma from now on he is my son. I will look after him properly. You can go home peacefully.  She was very happy thinking that this was the end of her troubles.” She said, “Now and then I will come and see my boy”. Then Venkusdas answered, “If you want to see him now and then, it’s alright. If you want you can even stay here”. But she went away. From that day Venkusdas showed immense love for that boy. When he was eating food, he used to make this boy sit by his side and eat. He would make the boy sleep in his room. He taught him all the Vedas, Shastras (scriptures) and the epics. In the school, other children were jealous of this boy. This jealousy is a curse in this age of Kali. Generally, if someone is subject to showering of love, others will develop jealousy and feel that this boy has come only recently and why is he being given so much love. This is jealousy. This jealousy crossed all the limits.

One day Venkusdas was taking this boy to the forest. He sat under a tree and was teaching the boy all Vedanta. Other jealous boys threw stones at this boy from a distance. One stone hit the boy’s forehead. It started bleeding. Venkusdas tore a piece of his a dhoti and tied a piece as a bandage on the boy’s head. That piece of cloth which was tied around His head was not removed by Sai Baba till the end. They thought that it is sunset time and it is getting dark, it isn’t safe for them in the forest and so they came back to the Ashram. At that stage in the film the story of Shirdi Baba ends.  

Continued in Part 3...

Source: Then At Shirdi, Now At Parthi, Discourse 13, My Dear Students Volume 3, March 16, 1998; Discourse at Trayee Brindavan