Shirdi Sai Baba Stories,Leelas and Teachings.: Shri Gopalrao Keshavraj Babasaheb-Shirdi Sai Baba's Guru

Dear readers,

I was very happy travelling to Shirdi and excited to see my deva very soon .I had carried few Sai leela Magazine to read during journey .Along with these books I carried Shirdi Sai Baba Sermons by Das Ganu Maharaj.When I started reading book I was completely drowned in the nector provided in the book .Since I did not carry my laptop I could not write it .As I read I had great desire to write it and provide to all Sai devotee and waited for right time.

Baba blessed and when I started the blog the initial write up that I wrote were inspired by Baba to write from this book which I am posting one by one .In last few post we read about Bhaktaleelamrut and Santakathamrut ,now I shall give the details as mentioned in book about Sai baba's guru Shri GopalRao Keshavraj Babasaheb.Sai ram .

Dasganu Maharaj, an ardent, close and staunch devotee of Sai Baba had tried to prove in his book Bhaktaleelamrut that Shri Gopalrao Keshavraj Babasaheb Maharaj was guru of Sai Baba. Due to absence of any proof, the world did not accept his words. The only link which joins Sai Baba and His guru was Dasganu. A chapter (57) on Sai Baba has been incorporated in Dasganu’s work Santkathamrut which was published in the year 1908 in Parbhani village in the reign of Mughlai.

There was deep love between Sai Baba and Dasganu. Sai Baba always used to press Dasganu to leave the job of police. Thus Dasganu gave resignation from his job. After that Sai Baba encouraged Dasganu to write on the lives of saints. The work of Bhaktaleelamrut and Santkathamrut are result of Sai Baba’s encouragement. which I am posting one by one under the titel Baba's unique updesh .

About Sai Baba’s Guru

Shri Gopalrao Keshavraj Babasaheb was born in a village named Jaamb. Regarding his birth it is known that his father Keshavraj did not had any issue for a long time. So he did Anushthan and pleased Lord Venkatesh. He asked for a boon of a son.

Lord Venkatesh accepted his wish and said that Ramanand Swami of Kashi would reborn in his house and would be famous by the name of Gopalrao Babasaheb. After marriage, Gopalrao left his house for penance. While roaming here and there he reached to place named Selu (District Parabhani) in the year 1830. At that time there were only three to four huts made up of grass.

Gopalrao did not have enough space to live there. Inspite of this he made up his mind that the place was fit for him to live. Without waiting for a minute he started his work. There was an old fort and he started repairing it. The people there also advised him to live there. Due to his good virtues and hard work he transformed Seluwadi to Selu. He then became a Zamindar.

He never left his sweetness and treated everyone politely and humbly. His nature was to live lovingly with others. One day a strange thing happened. An unknown lady came and sat at the back of the palace repaired by Gopalrao for easing herself. The lady was young, besides she was very beautiful. It was evening time and the sun was about to set. At the same time Gopalrao happened to be on the terrace of the fort and noticed the beautiful lady.

As soon as Gopalrao saw the young lady he lost his senses, he started enjoying the divine beauty with surprise and anxiety. He was so engrossed in the beauty of the lady that his eyes could see only the lady and all his lust came out at once. Meanwhile he restored his senses. The cold breeze touched his body which was sweating and thus he was awakened. Now he repented and thought, “Oh, what a sinner am I? How can I be senseless by seeing a woman who is stranger to me? In no time he decided a cruel punishment for himself. He soon went to the Pooja room and there was a big needle kept. He said, “I dont want such sinful eyes” and ruined his vision with the big needle and then only his mind got settled again. The news of Gopalrao’s eyes being damaged spread in the speed of wind. There a big crowd to see Gopalrao. People started thinking that Gopalrao has done mad as no one could do such things unless his mind is abnormal. But due to this incident many people started looking at Gopalrao with respect.

Many of them started symbolizing him a Maharaj. People from far off places started coming for his darshan. One day a blind lady came for darshan of Gopalrao Maharaj, felt at his feet and requested him to give vision to her eyes. She said, “Please give me vision. You are an ocean of mercy. Please help me to get back my vision. I would not leave your feet unless you give me vision!” Seeing her faith and confidence, mercy started flowing in his heart. There was another lady who was grinding whole chillies.

Gopalrao Maharaj took a handful of the chilli powder and rubbed it on both the eyes of the lady. As a result the lady received her vision back. Due to this incident the fame of Gopalrao Maharaj spread at many places.

The message of Sai Baba’s Birth

After some days, Maharaj Gopalrao planned to visit Kashi. Many others also joined him. From Kashi Maharaj went to Prayag, Kuruskshetra, Vrundavan, Gokul, Mathura, Dwarka, Somnath, Prabhaspatan, Junagadh and Ahmedabad. In Ahmedabad, Maharaj went for darshan of Suhagshah in a mosque. A strange incident happened there. As soon as Gopalrao Maharaj stepped in the mosque a voice came out of a coffin, “Salaam Alaikam. Oh great Ramanand of previous birth. Though you were in Selu, I have found you. Your disciple named Kabir will be born in Pathari village which is 10 miles away from Selu”. Saying thus the voice then stopped.

All the people who accompanied Gopalrao Maharaj were surprised, but Gopalrao Maharaj knew all this. Now Gopalrao Maharaj came back to Selu. One day a boy with his mother came from Pathari to Maharaj. Gopalrao Maharaj gave them shelter readily. Maharaj Gopalrao had a good knowledge of Sanskrit language and so the boy had a good advantage of that and he also learned Sanskrit. Gopalrao Maharaj now started to give all his knowledge to the boy.

He taught him many Yogasanas and how to do meditation. The boy had a sharp mind and thus whatever was taught by Gopalrao Maharaj, he could grasp it at once. So Gopalrao Maharaj spent much of his time with the boy. Gopalrao Maharaj had got Brahma Gyan from his birth only. So many disciples and followers were behind him. In the beginning Gopalrao Maharaj could spend much time with them, but due to the disciple boy, now it was not possible to give much time others.

The people could not get the company of Gopalrao Maharaj now. This was due to that boy only. Naturally a feeling of hatred arouse in the hearts of all these men. When this matter came to the notice of Gopalrao Maharaj, he at once took the boy to the fort which was repaired and was now owned by him. No one knew the caste of the boy. But it was doubted that he was a Muslim and Gopalrao Maharaj was a Brahmin.

Naturally the followers and disciples of Gopalrao Maharaj would not like the deep relations of the boy and Gopalrao Maharaj. So Gopalrao Maharaj left Selu alongwith the boy. This had a great impact on the followers and disciples of Gopalrao Maharaj. They decided to kill the boy. Some people joined their hands and thus searched the guru and disciple. After searching many places, the team found them at night one day.

At that time Gopalrao Maharaj was sleeping beside the boy. The boy was also asleep. Thinking to be a good opportunity, they hit the boy’s head with a big stone (it is said that it was a brick and the same brick was then placed in Baba’s Samadhi).

But by mistake Gopalrao Maharaj got hurt by the stone. Due to deep wound, the blood started flowing. To prevent the blood from flowing further, the boy then tied a cloth to Gopalrao Maharaj’s head. After some time the blood stopped flowing. In no time the boy understood who had thrown the stone on his guru’s head and why.

But the boy did not like the fact that his guru suffered because of him, "The people don’t want that I should live with Gopalrao Maharaj". He thought, “In future also, people will trouble my guru and so I should live my guru at once”.
On the other side, Gopalrao Maharaj also came to know the reason behind the attack which was the feeling of hatred towards the boy. He knew that in future also, people may try to kill his disciple.

Moreover due to severe injuries on his head, Gopalrao Maharaj realised that he was nearing his end. Now a question that, “What would happen to my disciple after my death?” aroused in his mind. He called his disciple and said, “Today I am giving you everything. Now we have to should show those people what we are. Go and fetch milk of an unfertile cow.” Getting his Guru’s order the boy went running to a cow herd named Hulla and decided to fetch milk from an unfertile cow named Kapila.

Just then the cow herd said, “This cow is unfertile and till today I have taken care of it as an ox.” Hulla now went to Gopalrao Maharaj, folded his both hands, fell at Gopalrao Maharaj’s feet and said, “Maharaj how can this cow give milk. It has not given milk since 10 years. To confirm this, I have brought it here specially.” Hearing cow herd’s words, Gopalrao Maharaj said, “You are a fool. You could not recognize this cow’s worth. Just go and get a vessel. I will fetch the milk and show you.”

Firstly Gopalrao Maharaj took the vessel in his hand. Then he placed his hand on the cow’s back and lo! The milk started oozing. Everyone present there was surprised to see the act of Gopalrao Maharaj. The cow who had never given a single drop of milk, gave three litres of milk that day. Gopalrao Maharaj now went to the boy. He said, “Son you drink this milk now. After drinking the milk, you will get all the knowledge. These three litres of milk means Karma, Gyan and Bhakti”. The boy drank the milk. Gopalrao Maharaj then hugged the boy and said, “You are Kabir of previous birth, don’t forget that. In your previous birth, I have given your wife to a Vaniya to care of your children. Now you have to follow Brahmacharya. You did many bhajans in your past birth, so in this birth you will have to follow silence (a way of fasting which is observed by not speaking a single word). You have to live at only one place and do the good of the people nearby”.

After giving Upadesh in this way, Gopalrao Maharaj untied the cloth which was tied on the wound on his head and tied it the boy’s head in the same fashion as a Fakir ties. They all now left for Selu. Due to wound on the head, Gopalrao Maharaj breathed his last. The exact date is not known. But as per Dasganu’s book it was the eleventh day of Magasar month as per Hindu calendar.

It is said that Sai Baba was of 20 years at that time.
The Samadhi of Gopalrao Maharaj was built in Selu. An idol of Lord Venkatesh is placed on it. A Peepal tree was grown besides the Samadhi. Many devotees come for darshan of the Samadhi regularly and specially on Friday.

Seventh generation of Gopalrao Maharaj is now living in Selu and every year a big fair is organized there. The boy was shocked because of death of his guru Gopalrao Maharaj. This boy then became a great saint named Sai Baba. The guilt that He was responsible for the death of His own guru got settled in His mind. So He avoided saying anything about his guru to anyone. Now one can understand why Sai Baba never mention anything to anyone about His guru.

Read Sai Baba Sermons by Das Ganu Maharaj by clicking the below given links:

Read Part 1
Read Part 2
Read Part 3
Read part 4
Read part 5
Read part 6
Read part 7
Read part 8
Read part 9
Read Part 10

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