Fakir and One paisa coin.

After learning about my fathers first meeting with the Fakir ,when I read the book by Virendra Tarkhad ,the very first story narrated in the book caught my attention towards the similarity of the two incident .

It has not happened in the same manner but the way Fakir accosted was quite the same asking with a authority and appearing suddenly from no where. As the saying goes" Doctor treats his each patient differently " Baba also had His various ways of getting His children closer to HIM and treating them differently .Here is the incident which the writer Virendra tells about his father Jyotindra.

Jyotindra had his lunch in an Irani Restaurant near Metro Cinema and was crossing the road to go back to St Xavier's School where he was studying. This was his daily routine That day while crossing the road one Fakir dressed in a white Robe accosted him and begged for alms, he took out a coin of one paisa (this used to be a copper coin with a hole in the center) from his pocket offered it to the fakir and proceeded to the school. But the Fakir stopped him and he told Jyotindra that it is one Paisa (denomination) coin of 1894. In those days people use to offer one pai as charity thus one paisa was rather a much higher amount to be given as charity from a student.

He told fakir that he daily gets four annas for lunch purpose and therefore he can give away one paisa as alms. Besides, this one paisa is a running denomination so that the Fakir should not worry about it. The Fakir then laughed and said, "Allah Bhala Karega," he then proceeded to school and forgot about this incident.

Jyotindra's brother was doctors, his uncle was a doctor, and his grandfather was not only well-known medical practitioner but also the family doctor of Viceroy of Bombay, in short it was a doctors family .

In spite of so many doctors in the family Jyotindra's mother means writer's grandmother was suffering from migraine and use to get severe headache. All sorts of medicines were tried but her migraine appeared to be incurable.They had a house maid who worked with them and suggested her to go to one Pir called Maulana Baba near Bandra Masjid, who she further told gave some Ayurvedic medicines which were seem to cure even acute diseases.

In those days for a Hindu lady to go to a masjid to meet a Pir was extremely difficult Grandmother suggested to her son Jyotindra to arrange for a Burkha and he took his mother by car to Pir Maulana Baba. After meeting Maulana Baba their difficulties increased instead of easing out. Maulana Baba told grandma that for this ailment that she was suffering from he did not have any medicine to offer but he told her that, "I have a brother named Sai Baba who stays at Shirdi and you can go to him. He will cure you and relieve you from all your sufferings"

Now both of them were in great difficulty. Firstly grandfather was a strong headed Prarthana Samajist and they knew that he would not give them the permission to "meet such Babas. Secondly they did know where is Shirdi situated and how to go there?However Jyotindra did not give up (this reflects their destiny to meet Shri Sai Baba) He collected all the information from the owner of the Irani Hotel near Metro theatre.

They came to know that Shirdi village is in Ahmednagar District and one has to be away from home for at least 3 days,somehow he organized for his father's permission and made all the arrangements for the journey. On one Friday evening both the mother and son left for Shirdi. On Saturday morning they were in Shirdi. They had made all the enquiry and after they had freshened themselves they reached Dwarkamai to meet Shri Sai Baba. They saw Sai Baba was sitting in front of the sacred Dhuni ,grandma bowed in front of Baba and touched his feet.

They looked at each other and what transpired between the two is as follows:

Baba said to grandma, "Dear mother you have come. My brother from Bandra has guided you to me. Please sit down. Oh mother you' have a very severe headache is it not?" Then Sai Baba dipped his five fingers in the pan of Udi, and hit the forehead of my grandma with that Udi laden hand. He held the forehead firmly in all the five fingers and said "Oh Mother from now onwards till your death you will never get any pain in your head. This headache of yours has disappeared forever."

Grandma was stunned with this act of Sai. She had not uttered a single word of complaint and how could SaiBaba knew the purpose of their visit and her sufferings. The writer thinks two acts of SaiBaba made a complete transformation of grandma. One-the exchange of looks between them i.e. Eye contact and the hitting of the forehead with Udi laden hand. In fact it was an order to that ailment to go away from that head. Grandma had never ever had such a powerful dose of medicine. What transformation she was experiencing she only knew it better. The sad look on her face from the headache had disappeared. She was feeling fighting fresh. She told Jyotindra to bow to Baba he was astonished to see all this. His mother had never ordered him like that earlier.

So Jyotindra bowed to Baba & touched his feet.

Instantly Baba said to him" Dear Bhau (Brother),have you not recognized me?"he replied in the negative. Then Baba told him "Please look at me and stress your memory and try to recollect." he could not . Then Baba put his hand in the pocket of his Kafani and took out the copper coin of one paisa. He showed the same to Jyotindra and said

"Hey Bhau! Do you remember this copper coin dating back to the year 1894, which you had given as charity to one Fakir while on your way to school?

Now he was beginning to recollect the incident , His eyes were in tears and he instantly held Baba's legs in his hand. . Baba lifted him and said "Hey Bhau, that afternoon the Fakir you had met was none other than me and your this one paisa coin I am returning to you. Please take it back and preserve it very carefully. It will breed in multi fold of paisas for you."

After this 1st divine Sai meeting the family decided to reckon SaiBaba as their Guru and they completely gave up themselves for his devotion. The headache of grandma had vanished forever and her devotion towards God increased multi fold. The one paisa coin was put to worship in the house.It is important to mention there is another similar incident like this which was experienced by Grandfather of Virendra which I shall be posting next .

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