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'Baba Protects Telkar' is the 46th story in this series.
'Sai Baba's Divine Leelas' is a new audio series compiled and recited by Dr Vinny Chitluri. Repeated hearing of these Leelas will deepen one's faith and love in Baba.
Transcript
This Leela is about Dashrath R. Telkar. In 1963, Dashrath had diligently concentrated on his academics, and burned the midnight oil to appear for his Matriculation examination. After the examination, he was free to enjoy his vacation.
Dashrath and his family lived in Mumbai and spent their vacation at their ancestral home in Khajni. He was glad to meet all his friends, and they spent all their time together. Early in the morning they would meet, go to the nearby forest, and eat mangoes, jackfruit and cashews that grew abundantly in the forest. At other times, they would go rock-climbing or swim in the nearby lake. Life went on without a care in the world with Dashrath helping his parents in any way that he could. He would accompany his father to the fields and plough them when the need arose. Sometimes he would go to the village shops and bring a sack of onions or whatever grocery his mother required.
On May 13th, 1963, a frightening incident took place. Dashrath recalls, “That morning, my father and I had decided to take the paddy to Murud (Janjira) to get it threshed. Both of us filled the paddy into sacks, stacked them on a bullock cart, and set out. Murud is about 8 miles from Khajni, but the road leading to it is an unpaved dirt road. We reached the Murud threshing mill at 12 noon. I immediately went and got a number for our turn.
According to the number, we would receive the threshed paddy around 6 p.m. and that is exactly what happened. Quickly, we stacked the sacks of rice on the bullock cart and took the road back to Khajni. After traversing about 2 miles, we were engulfed in pitch darkness. I lit the lantern that I had brought along, and started walking slightly ahead of the cart, hoping that the bullocks could see the dirt path ahead of them.
By then, it was around 8 p.m. and I could hardly see anything around me. My father was urging and encouraging the bullocks to move faster. We must have walked another 3 miles, when the kerosene lantern that I was using flickered and extinguished. I realised that I didn’t have a bottle of kerosene to refill it. It was around 10 p.m. at that time, and the night was filled with the chirping of crickets and other night creatures.
“Now we were in trouble as there was no village nearby, and we were approaching the forest. The option of stopping for the night didn’t arise. The tribal people who lived in the forest were known to waylay unsuspecting travellers and rob them. Moreover we had 5 sacks filled with rice, and I had the reins of the bullocks in my hand. The bullocks moved ahead very slowly and cautiously. The darkness was now denser as we were in the heart of the forest. I was scared. My mind started playing tricks on me, and doubts and scary thoughts made my hair stand on end. I started praying to Baba and asked him to come to our aid.
“The cart must have hardly travelled a mile when I heard some people approaching us. They were talking amongst themselves. I pulled hard to stop the bullocks from proceeding. My heart was in my mouth, and my father must have dozed off, as he asked me why I had halted. I was unable to speak from fear. Three hurly burly men with stout bamboo sticks came and stood before the cart. It was pointless trying to flee now as they were three of them and they knew the forest well. One of them shouted a barrage of questions, ‘Who are you? Where are you going? What is in the cart?’ In a quivering voice, my father told them that we lived in Khajni and had gone to Murud to get the paddy threshed. Then he asked us to get down from the cart and hand over all the money that we had. The only solution was to obey them, so we got down and I put my hand in my pocket to give them the money, when Baba came to our aid.
“Four men with lanterns in their hands approached, loudly calling out my father’s name. Now the thugs were outnumbered so they fled, and I started pelting stones at them. Our rescuers enquired about the attack, and two of them agreed to accompany us, while the other two went on. They accompanied us up to the village, but when my father requested them to come home, they refused. My father thanked them for saving our lives, and asked them who they were. One of them said, ‘The four of us live together in the forest. We have neither a name nor a village to identify us by.’ Saying this, they hurriedly left. My father and I were filled with awe at all this, so we bowed our heads and thanked Baba silently.
“Finally we reached home at 1 a.m., unloaded the sacks and retired for the night. The next morning, we narrated everything that happened the previous night to everyone. Unanimously, they all said, ‘You are devoted to Baba and found yourself in a precarious situation, so He came running to your aid and brought you home safely.’
“We had no doubt in our minds that only Baba could have appeared as more than one person and saved us from those thugs.”
This Leela was taken from Sri Sai Sagar, vol. 11, July–August 2003.
A special podcast series by Dr. Vinny Chitluri which is on Baba's leelas and life history.