Three Miracles of Shirdi Sai Baba

Shirdi Sai Baba was a saint revered by Hindus and Muslims alike who lived during the 19^th century between 1838 to 1918. He has a large number of followers or devotees in India and abroad. The saint is said to have spent most of his lifetime in Shirdi, which is why he is affectionately called Shirdi Baba by his devotees. The word Sai means a holy person in Persian and Baba means father in several Indian languages.

There are several shrines dedicated to the saint inside and outside the country. The biggest mandir in India is the Sai Baba temple in Shirdi. Sai Baba’s actual name is unknown to date. He was given this name by the temple priest Mahalsapati when he set foot into Shirdi. Sai Baba is portrayed wearing white or saffron torn clothes with a turban and has a stick in hand.

There are various legends about the miracles experienced by his devotees. The Shri Sai Satcharita is a storehouse of the teachings and miracles of Sai Baba during his lifetime.

Read on to know some miracles experienced by his followers as mentioned in the Shri Sai Satcharitra.

Bhausaheb Dhumal Wins His Case

Once, a person called Bhausaheb Dhumal was on his way to Niphad in connection with a court case pertaining to one of his clients. He had very little chance of winning the case. Dhumal decided to stop in Shirdi for Baba’s darshan and proceed to his destination immediately after the darshan. However, Sai Baba did not allow him to go after the darshan and made him stay back for a week or a little more. Meanwhile, the magistrate dealing with the case suffered from acute pain in his abdomen. As a result, the case was adjourned.

Sai Baba allowed Dhumal to proceed to Niphad for the case. The case dragged on in court for a few months and was addressed by four magistrates. Finally, the verdict came in his favour and his client was set free.

Bala Ganpat Shimpi Gets Cured

Bala Ganpat Shimpi was an ardent devotee of Sai Baba. He was suffering from a very serious type of malaria. Shimpi tried various forms of treatments but he could find no relief to his illness. He also developed a high fever. Finally, he made his way to Shirdi and decided to surrender himself at Baba’s feet. Baba lent him a patient ear and told him to mix a few morsels of rice with curd and feed a black dog that he would find in front of a nearby Lakshmi temple.

When Shimpi went home, he found some rice and curd readily available. He soon mixed the two and took some quantity to the Lakshmi temple. As Baba had said, he found a black dog at the entrance waving its tail at him. He kept the curd rice in front of the dog and it ate the rice immediately. Surprisingly, the moment the dog finished eating the curd rice, Ganpat Shimpi was cured of his malaria once and for all.

Relief from Insomnia

A gentleman from Bandra used to suffer from insomnia for a long time. Whenever he lay down to sleep, his departed father always appeared in his dreams. His father used to scold and abuse him a lot, which disturbed him to a great extent and deprived him of his dreams. Insomnia also made him restless and he did not know what to do until he met a devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba. The devotee had no solution to his problem but gave the gentleman some udi, the sacred ash of Baba, and asked him to put some holy ash on his forehead. He also told the gentleman to keep the udi packet under his bed.

The gentleman felt that there was no harm trying out what was told to him. So, he tried this remedy and found to his surprise and joy that he had a blissful sleep that night. He continued doing so every day and found that he had uninterrupted sleep on all the days. This made him a devotee and he prayed to Sai Baba daily. He also kept a photo of Baba in his room and worshipped Him daily. On Thursdays, he also put a garland around the photo and offered naivedya or prasad to Sai Baba. Over time, he was cured of insomnia completely.

The above are just some of the many miracles of Sai Baba. Devotees consider Thursday as the day dedicated to Shirdi Sai Baba. They pray with utmost devotion to Him and read his teachings from the Shri Sai Satcharita recite hymns from the Sai Chalisa on this day. They also do pooja to him and offer him yellow flowers. Some devotees also observe a fast on Thursdays.

Written by Deepthi K