AMBROSIA IN SHIRDI-PART1

Starting the series with some of the Leelas of his holiness Sri Saibaba that occurred before 1918 as mentioned in the book," Ambrosia in Shirdi", that haven't been mentioned in Sri Sai Satcharitra.

EXCERPTS INHERITED FROM THE BOOK ," AMBROSIA IN SHIRDI ",
COMPILED BY : SAI BHAKT VINNY,

Leela 1

"/ may be here in My physical body, and you may be far away beyond the seven seas. Yet, whatever you do there I know instantly. Wherever you may be, when you spread your hands before Me in supplication with faith and devotion, there I stand behind you day and night, as steadfast as your faith and devotion is," said Baba to Cholkar (Sai Satcharitra Ch.15).

Baba's words are true for each and every bhakta (devotee) even now as they were then. This is such a Leela where Baba literally went beyond the seven seas to rescue a bhakta.

It was during World War I Capt. Jahanghir F. Daruwala was at sea, with his fleet of ships. To his utter dismay he realized that all but three of his ships were hit by the enemy and were sinking fast. Soon these three ships with the passengers, and himself would meet the same fate. Being a good Captain he hoped to ferry the remaining ships to safety.

He had Baba's photograph in his pocket. He promptly took it out and earnestly prayed to Baba to come to their rescue. Just as he has praying, Baba sit­ting in the Dwarkamai shouted "Haq, haq". The devo­tees surrounding Baba, were astonished to see Baba completely drenched, from head to toe. The water flowed in torrents, and the Dwarkamai soon became a pool of water. The devotees simply removed buckets and buckets of water from the Dwarkamai for about an hour. Then they gave Baba dry clothes to wear.

As Baba was silent about the cause of His being drenched, one of the devotees drank the water as tirth (holy water) and found it extremely salty. He wondered at that, but kept quiet. Simultaneously, at sea, Capt. Daruwala saw Baba in person, pull and tow his ships to safety. On the third day after this incident Baba re­ceived a telegram from the Captain, thanking Him for the rescue operation. Immediately on his return he came to Shirdi and fell at Baba's feet. He thanked Baba for answering his prayers so swiftly and saving the lives of his crew and the passengers. Capt. Daruwala was an ardent devotee and he took a great deal of interest in Baba's affairs. He donated Rs.2,200/- in two install­ments for the repair of the Sabha Mandap. As a small, ''thank you'' gesture.