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Shirdi Sai and Sathya Sai are One
and the Same
By Arjan D. Bharwani
28. THE DEMAND OF THE BALANCE OF RUPEES SIXTEEN
In Prasanthi
Nilayam, the real heaven on earth_there resides a nonagenarian,
Sharada Ma, also affectionately nickÄnamed as 'Pedda Pottu'
because of the big kum-kum dot she applies on her forehead. She
was a great devotee of the Shirdi Sai Form. She had been to
Shirdi at the age of 3 and 7 years with her father, who was the
Collector in Nizam dominion. She was married at a very young age
and was blessed with four children, unfortunately none of them
survived. With deep grief and burdened with unbearable sorrow,
she came to Shirdi in 1917. She fell at the feet of Sri Sainath
and pleaded with Him to grant her spiritual solace and 'diksha'.
She begged Sri Sainath to permit her to stay permanently under
His care at Shirdi. Sri Sainath had then replied, "Hold on! Not
now' Your 'karmic backlash', has first to be suffered and
exhausted, before I can grant you the liberation you seek. I
shall come again and be born in Andhra. At that time you will
come and stay with me permanently". Time passed - she came to
know about Sri Sathya Sai. Like a sparrow with a thread tied to
its feet, she was drawn to Urvakonda, loaded with doubts and
suspicions about the young Sai of this place being the same, as
her Lord Sri Sainath. There she joined the crowd gathered at the
house of Shri Seshma Raju for Baba's Darsan. Baba's eyes fell on
her and He beckoned her by a wave of His hand to come and sit
near Him. She narrates how she heard Baba speak in the same soft
voice in Hindi as He used to do at Shirdi. Baba said to her,
"Ah! my daughter, you have come!" Immediately after saying this,
He demanded from her a balance amount of Rs. 16/-. The poor lady
not knowing anything about the said balance, was taken aback and
could not say anything. Then Baba; said, "You may recollect that
once you had collected Rs. 40/- and had sent the amount to me at
Shirdi for Dassera celebrations through t Balaram. He had given
me only Rs. 24/-. I am narrating this incident only to prove to
you and also convince you that I am the Sai of Shirdi come again.
You have not touched my feet so far. As you came in, you have
been sitting only".
This
fortunate and blessed lady is till today basking in the Divine
sunshine at Prasanthi Nilayam.
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