Sai’s Golden Test – Live Experiences Of The Tarkhad Family

Previously Posted:

• Preface and Introduction
• Chapter 1 – First Meeting With Lord Sai
• Chapter 2 – Second Meeting Along With Babasaheb Tarkhad
• Chapter 3 – Sai Baba’s Sandalwood Mandir
• Chapter 4 – Sai Baba The Saviour Of Ganesh Murti
• Chapter 5 – Frightful Sight Of Goddess MariAai
• Chapter 6 – Meeting With Lord Vithoba Of Pandharpur
• Chapter 7 – Facing Death In A Cloudburst In Shirdi
• Chapter 8 – Resurrection Of A Dead Body

Continued: Live Experiences Of The Tarkhad Family With Shri Sai Baba Of Shirdi

Dear Sai devotee readers I am inclined to think that you all must have liked the experiences I have narrated so far. Our normal lifecycle is such that we first put on the mantle of family hood and then come across all the sweet/bitter experiences of life. On going through them we get attracted towards spiritualism for final peace of mind. But this cycle was exactly reversed in case of my father. He first went through all holy experiences and then had to grind the axe of tough family life. One thing was clear that because of his association with Sai Baba he had possibly learned the art of facing any eventuality. I also believe that the path of Bhakti is such that when one starts practicing it, he gets better equipped to face any kind of fear in life.

By now my father had visited Shirdi an ample number of times and was sufficiently rich with divine experiences to his credit. The time had come that he faces some twisting moments. Those were the winter days when days are shorter and the nights are longer. One such day when it was dusk and twinkling stars could be seen in the sky, Baba told my father to accompany him. It was an out-of-the-blue invitation because Baba would never leave Dwarkamai at that time of the day. He walked towards “Lendi Baug” and then passing through it they came to the bank of the rivulet as described in the earlier chapter. By then it was quite dark and the moon had risen in the sky. Then Baba told my father that he is going to show him some fun and that is the reason he has brought him to that place. My father was very pleased because he was anyway getting some special personal attention. Then they sat down and Baba started moving the soft soil with his own hand. He then asked my father to look in the soil and whether he is able to see anything. My father saw and replied in the negative. Baba then repeated the act and my father looked at the place for the second time and said that he can only see the soil. Then Baba repeated the act for the third time and this time he hit the back of my father’s head with his hand and told him to look carefully. When my father looked at the place he saw some shining metal over there and it was glittering even more because of the moonlight. Baba enquired with my father whether he is seeing anything. My father then replied that it is some metallic object and it is shining. Then Baba told him “Bhau that metal is nothing but Gold and you can take as much as you want.” Then my father told him that, “Baba I do not want this. With your blessings we have everything and I do not come to Shirdi with the intention of getting such materialistic returns from you.” Then Baba cautioned him stating that “Bhau this is Goddess Laxmi, She is pleased with you and once you decline her boon she will never ever come back to you, atleast not in this birth. So please rethink”. Then my father told him that, “Baba you are putting me to some acid test and I will not fall prey to this ‘Maya’ and once your blessings are there with me then I can live a peacefully comfortable life without this ‘Maya’. Then Baba moved the mud back in its place and both returned to Dwarkamai.

One interesting thing happened at that time. One of the natives of Shirdi had seen what was happening at the bank of the rivulet. He guessed that SaiBaba had shown some buried treasure to my father over there. He decided to visit that place late at night and dig the same and unearth the treasure. Accordingly, he got up at midnight to venture on the treasure hunt. But alas! No sooner had he laid his hands to pick up the crowbar than a scorpion stung him on his fingers and he was uncomfortable throughout the night. By morning the pain was unbearable so wisely he decided to go to Saibaba and pleaded guilty. He had realized that he cannot disclose his last night’s plan of treasure hunt to anyone other than Baba. When he entered Dwarkamai he was in severe pain. My father was present there. He saw the native was pleading to Baba with guilt and was saying that he will never ever commit such a sin again but was requesting Baba to relieve him from the agonizing pain due to the scorpion sting. Baba then told him that the one who was destined to have the treasure declined to take it, which does not mean that any other person can get it. In this world, the Lord has made a rule that each one will get according to his own ‘Karma’ and if one tries to break this rule then he is bound to get punished by the Lord. My father understood the conversation. Baba then applied his sacred ‘Udi’ to the scorpion-stung finger of that native and told him not to misbehave in future. He blessed him that Lord will relieve him of this agonizing pain.

So much was the ‘Golden Test’ my father was put through at Shirdi and I think he was successful in the same because he did not fall a Prey to ‘Maya’. But one thing was certain in his future career he could not accumulate wealth. Goddess Laxmi had refrained from going to him and his financial status was so but we shall not go into that history.

© Shri Virendra Tarkhad (Resource available on the internet) – Shared by Shirdi Sai Baba Books.com (Member of SaiYugNetwork.com)