Pleader, Brahmin, aged 63, Nasik
Nasik, 16th October, 1936 & Shirdi, 28th October, 1936
Once Baba told me, "At every step of yours, I am taking care of you. If I did not, what will become of you, God knows". This was no overstatement. At another time, when we two were alone, Baba told me, "Bhau, the whole of last night, I had no sleep".
I : Baba, why so?
Baba : I was thinking and thinking of you, all the night.
At this declaration, I was overpowered by a sudden gush of love, gratitude, surprise, etc., feelings which could find no other expression than a free flow of tears. What intense love he had for me! What an amount of trouble he took for my sake! Just as I was always thinking of him, he was kind enough to think of me - with this difference. My thought of him, though loving, was weak, and I could render him no real service. But his love was accompanied by such vast insight and such power that I was helped in every act and event. He could and did foresee things far ahead and took every required step to avert the evil and accelerate or promote the good that was coming to me. There are numerous instances that may be cited to show this. Outsiders may not be convinced that every such benefit derived by me was and is due to his guidance and ordering. But some instances of his help are so glaring that any fair-minded inquirer who is open to conviction, will be immediately convinced of the truth of what has been stated by Baba and by me.
Emboldened by his love, I used to write to him and Sri Madhava Rao Deshpande would read my letters to him and communicate his replies to me. In some cases, even during his lifetime and in all cases after his Mahasamadhi (1918 October) I addressed my queries to him mentally or by prayerfully placing chits {or casting lots) before his portrait and I invariably got his answer showing me what was the correct and safe course for me to follow. I invariably followed his advice, however much it might run counter to "common-sense", "medical opinion", "rules of prudence*' etc., and invariably discovered that the path chosen for me by Baba was the safest and wisest.
Hygiene, etc.
I have lived in this ancestral house of mine in the main road of Nasik, all my life. When plague broke out and dead rats were found in the house, I wrote to Shirdi for Baba's direction before moving out and left the house as soon as I got his reply. As I am ever under his protection and doing nothing without his guidance, I felt perfectly safe in remaining in the house, till I got his reply. He has said that at every step he was guiding me. I knew he was guiding me - I had implicit faith in the truth of his words. He knew everything that was happening or was to happen at Nasik or in any other place and would not allow any harm to befall me while I was placing this child-like trust in and reliance on him. During all these twentynine years of such reliance, there is not a single instance in which such protection failed or such trust found misplaced.