Thana, 13th September, 1936
As for the continuance of my line, by Baba's blessings, that was made secure. In 1922, i.e., one year after Kaluram's mother died, my parents were arranging for my second marriage. A choice had to be made between a girl that would bring some wealth or pecuniary contribution with her and a poor girl. The proposal of the first girl that would bring in Rs.600 was being considered by my father. I did not favor it. Baba came in my mother's dream and said to her "Do not accept this girl in marriage for your son." In the same dream my mother saw another girl. A little later the uncle and guardian of a poor girl offered her hand in marriage to me. I referred him to my mother. She saw the girl and found it was the very girl she had seen in the above-mentioned dream. This settled the question and the latter girl was married to me in 1922, and several children were born of this marriage and with Baba's blessings are getting on well. "Baba's blessings" is no empty formal phrase. I will cite several instances to show how he has guarded them and saved their lives as he saved mine (at least twice, as already mentioned by me).
In 1926, my son, Sainath alias Hareswar, was eight or nine months old. Kaluram had crackers and Bengal matches. One of my children threw away a lighted match. It fell on Sainath and his clothes caught fire. He wore a cloth beneath his waist and a frock next to the skin. Both these caught fire. The children did not realise the seriousness of the situation and raised no alarm. My wife was outside the house engaged with something. Suddenly a Fakir appeared before her and pointing his arm and finger towards the terrace on which the children were playing, said "See what is going on there." My wife at once went inside and noticed the fire on the child's clothes. With great presence of mind and resourcefulness, she ran to the child, seized the clothes and rolled them between her palms and thus boldly extinguished the fire. The front half of the frock from bottom to the neck was burnt out and part of the nether cloth also. But the child (Sainath) came off entirely scatheless. Though the frock worn next to the skin was burnt out, his skin had not been burnt, nor was his nether portion burnt. This complete safety was evidently due to the same cause as the sudden appearance of the Fakir. The Fakir had also suddenly disappeared. When she came out after extinguishing the fire, there was no trace of the Fakir. Who could the Fakir be, how had he known the fire accident the very moment it happened and why should he be at the trouble to watch over the children and fetch their mother to save them at the nick of time? In 1928, Sainath, then two years old, had an accident. As usual he was running about; and one day he fell down the stairs. There was a heap of the debris at the bottom, I ran up and was surprised to see him standing without any injury at all. He told me, "Do not fear. Baba bore me up."
In 1932, Sainath gave his younger brother Vasudev a ring and the latter stuffed it into his mouth instinctively. The ring went into the throat and stuck there. There was an alarm and for nearly one hour every one in the house was excited and medicaments were tried to induce the throat or stomach to throw out the ring. Finally, I took Sai Baba's Udhi and put it in the child's mouth. Then inserting my finger deep within his mouth, I felt the ring and pulled it out. In 1934, the same child Vasudev had measles, pneumonia and an abscess on the chest. He was getting weaker and weaker. The doctor was afraid to operate on the abscess on account of the weakness. I applied antiphlogistine over the abscess. The abscess was opened. It was a wide open wound. The doctor would not help me. So I relied upon my doctor, Sai Baba, and trusting in him put a bit of his Udhi into the wound. The Deputy Collector, Vasant Rao Madhav Jadhav, (now D.C. at Poona) asked me whether I was confident of a cure and within what time the gaping wound would be cured. I answered "In 24 hours." That night, Baba appeared in my dream and said, "Why did you say 24 hours? You should have said immediately." I apologized for my mistake in the dream itself. Next morning, the wound was healed up. Jadhav wondered and wanted Baba's Udhi and blessing for his own son aged 4 1/2 years who was down with pneumonia. I gave him the Udhi on the sixth day of that child's fever. The very next day the fever stopped, though the attendant doctor stated that the fever would run its course for 9 days (i.e., that it would last 3 days after I gave the Udhi). Jadhav sent up his thanks offering of Rs.7 to be sent to Sri Sai Baba's Samasthan.
In 1935, i.e., last year, milk was being boiled on my stove. Anand, my two-year-old child, came running up, stumbled over a stick and fell upon the milk and stove. Just fancy what should happen in such a case. One would expect his skin to be scalded by the boiling milk and clothes to catch fire. But here the milk was dashed down on one side and the stove on the other side; and the child lay between the two, neither scalded, nor catching fire on his clothes. This year, i.e., 1936, Vasudev and his younger brother rummaged among the contents of an almyrah and found a box full of what they thought to be peppermint lozenges. Vasudev ate some and gave some to his younger brother. The taste was unpleasant and they did not eat much. But what little was eaten made Vasu smart. His tongue was protruding. My wife inserted her finger into his mouth and extracted what she believed to be chunam, i.e., lime. We were then shown by Vasu the packet or box of "Sweetmeats" that he had been consuming. It was "Pharoah's snakes" - the piece of fireworks that burn out forming ashes that lengthen and wind about in the form of snakes. We then took him to the doctor who administered an emetic, which did not act. Then I gave Baba's Udhi and Tirtha - which acted at once and resulted in his vomiting out all the poisonous stuff he had swallowed. After all this was over, Vasudev mentioned that he had given the Peppermint to his two year old younger brother. Evidently the latter ate but little, as there was no trouble. But to expel what little he might have swallowed, we administered our emetic, viz., Udhi and water with Baba's name to him and he had a good vomit.