Professor of Geology & Chemistry in College of Engineering, Deccan Gymkhana, age 53, Brahmin, Poona.
10th, 20th, 25th, 28th May 1936.
The first impression I got of Sai Baba was from his eyes. They pierced me through and through. And his image as seated at the Chavadi has left an indelible impression on my heart. As for the inner experiences they gradually grew upon me. First, I fell in with the current and did my Seva (i.e., service) to Baba and attended the Aratis, etc. At an Arati in my early visit Sai Baba was in a towering passion. He fumed, cursed and threatened for no visible cause. I doubted if he was a mad man. That was a passing thought. The Arati was completed in the usual way. In the afternoon (of that day), I went and massaged his feet and legs. Then he stroked my head and said, "I am not mad". Lo! He is seeing my heart. Nothing is concealed from him. He is my Antaryami - the inner Soul of my soul," I thought. Thenceforward, numerous instances occurred in my own experience of his Antaryamitwa When he talked, he spoke as one seated in my heart, knowing all its thoughts, all its wishes, etc. This is God within. I had no hesitation in deciding that he was God. I tested him at times. Each test produced the same conviction that he was all-knowing, all-seeing and able to mould all things to his will. A few instances out of hundreds may be cited here which showed that nothing was beyond Him or concealed from Him, in the past, present and future.
In 1913, Baba told me that my father-in-law would build a Dagdiwada, (i.e., a stone edifice) at Shirdi and that I would be in charge of it. It was only in 1915-16 that my father-in-law began to build it (i.e., the building in which Baba's tomb is erected) and it was after 1918-19, I was one of the Trustees in charge of that tomb. My mother was anxious about my employment. I was ever tossing from place to place and often had periods of unemployment. I was trained in England as a Geologist, Mining Engineer; and here in India I was on the look out for prospecting jobs advertised in the press and took up one job after another finishing each in a short time. My first stay at Shirdi was only for three or four days and I then went back to Balaghat and Burma. After three months my work under B.O.C. ceased, and I went back to Nagpur and thence to Shirdi and stayed four months there with my wife and went back to Nagpur. Again as I got a letter from Madhava Rao that Baba wanted me, I went to Shirdi alone and stayed thirteen months. I was without employment and I did not care. Sometimes, I had stray fancies that a fakir's life was good for me.
It was a day in 1914. Baba had got ready a number of Kupnis (somewhat like gowns or togas which are worn by fakirs) and presented a number of people with them. I was watching the distribution from a distance and hoped that one might be conferred on me, to be kept with me and worn on special occasions, e.g., Bhajans in honour of Sai Baba. Baba stopped distribution even when many Kupnis still remained with him. He beckoned to me a little later and placing his hand kindly on my head stroked it and said, "Do not blame me for not giving you a kupni. That Fakir (meaning evidently God) has not permitted me to give you one."