Professor of Geology & Chemistry in College of Engineering, Deccan Gymkhana, age 53, Brahmin, Poona.
10th, 20th, 25th, 28th May 1936.
Experiences with saints and progress in one's spiritual affairs cannot be revealed. According to the (hackneyed) saying of Kabir 'What one has got, he keeps secret.' This has been the strict injunction of my teacher Sri Sai Baba. The mouth instinctively closes when I try to mention my experiences. I can and may give some superficial account of occurrences and things concerning Sai Baba. These are well-known and no rule of secrecy is violated thereby. But they are chaff and hardly worth any trouble to write or talk about. Yet as you are keen after any bit of information I shall mention some of such facts. Of course, the deepest experience one has is incapable of utterance, apart from any question of rules of secrecy.
In the first place, you see I have placed Sai Baba amongst the household Gods we worship daily at home. Sai Baba is God - not an ordinary Satpurusha. The divine gleam in Sai's eyes denotes that He is the Satpurusha. His powers and actions were wonderful. I will give a chronological account of my spiritual leanings and how I came into contact with Sai Baba.
My early surroundings promoted faith in Sai Baba. My father-in-law, Mr. Buty, my wife and my mother were all great devotees of Sai Baba and worshipped him as God. I used to read Jnaneswari and other works which deal with greatness of Satpurushas.
In 1907-9 I was at Calcutta and was trained in Geological survey and (as a scholar from C.P.) I had got my M.A. in 1905. I was sent in 1909 as State Scholar of Govt. of India to Manchester where I stayed till 1912 and got my M.Sc. in Geology and Mining. I came back in August 1912. My wife, mother and my father-in-law were often at Shirdi and they wrote to me to go over to Shirdi to pay my respects to Sai Baba. I wrote back to say that I would go, if Baba wanted me. My father-in-law then asked Baba and wrote to me that Baba wanted me. So I went to Shirdi in April 1913. Baba was very kind to my relations. He would jump up (occasionally) and play a jig, as it were, before my mother, showing how happy he was to see my mother. Mr. Madhava Rao Deshpande went with me and introduced me for the first time to Sai Baba. Baba replied, "You introduce him to me! I have known him for thirty generations". What wonderful knowledge of the past was this!