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"Baba is Lord Datta" is the 35th Leela in the series. In this clip, Vinny Ma narrates the story of Shankarao who was ardently devoted to Lord Datta. However, he did not know anything about Sai Baba. It so happened that while worshipping a picture of Lord Datta, he saw that the picture gradually transformed into that of a Fakir in a white Kafni with a cloth around His head.
Later when he saw Baba's photo, he recognised Him as the same Fakir in Lord Datta's picture. After receiving more information on Sai Baba, he visited Shirdi where he felt a lot of peace. Thereafter, he visited Shirdi very often and once, he was graced with Baba's Darshan. That's when he knew that he had found his Lord Datta in Baba.
Transcript
Shankarao Baivalli resided in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, and was ardently devoted to Lord Datta. He did not know anything about Baba, and had little interest in finding out anything about Him. But all this changed in 1936. Shankarao’s sister requested him to accompany her to Shirdi that year, but he refused her invitation.
A short while later, while worshipping Lord Datta, he lovingly gazed at the photograph, and to his amazement, it gradually changed to the figure of a Fakir wearing a torn Kafni and a white cloth tied around his head.
Shankarao got up and wiped the photograph with the same result. He diligently wiped the photograph thrice but every time his favourite deity was transformed into this Fakir. Shankarao had never seen a photograph of Baba; hence he didn’t know who it was. That evening, Shankarao went to Dr. Thakkar’s home and saw Baba’s photograph and recognised him as the Fakir that Lord Datta’s picture had transformed into. Eagerly he asked Thakkar about the Fakir, and received a lot of information on Baba. Shankarao told his sister that he would like to gladly accompany her to Shirdi. Thus they set out to Shirdi. There, he experienced a lot of peace and serenity that he had never experienced before.
Again and again, Shankarao visited Shirdi; the effect of Baba’s divinity on him was so great that he visited Shirdi nine times in a span of 6 months. On one of his visits, he read the Guru Charitra in 7 days. On the night of the completion, Shankarao slept in the courtyard in front of the Samadhi Mandir. At midnight, he heard footsteps nearby and woke up. He looked up and saw Baba gazing at him, His eyes filled with compassion. Baba had walked from the Dwarka Mai to the Samadhi Mandir and Shankarao was overwhelmed by the love and compassion in Baba’s eyes. Shankarao then knew that he had found his Lord Datta.
This Leela is taken from the Shri Sai Sudha magazine, vol.5, no. 8, June 1945.
A special podcast series by Dr. Vinny Chitluri which is on Baba's leelas and life history.