I feel myself greatly blessed and fortunate to have had close association with Dr. Annasaheb Gawankar for nearly three decades. To his numerous devotees and disciples, he was a father figure and embodiment of compassion, ever ready to listen to their problems and guide appropriately which brought peace and solace to each one of them. All his disciples saw Sai Baba of Shirdi in him.
To narrate few of my own personal experiences and the relief I derived from his blessings, I recollect about the event in 1967, when we paid a substantial amount as advance for buying a plot of land at Kalina to develop a Co-operative Housing Society with office colleagues. Due to unexpected legal hitch the project came to a halt. Unable to give satisfactory reply to all members and perplexed by turn of events I along with my friends S. N. Saxena and P. N. Roy approached Dr. Gawankar and pleaded for his grace to come out of the knotty problem. After his prayer and plea to Baba on our behalf, he asked us to light a lamp near the neem tree which was exactly on the border line of the plot, without even visiting the site he visualized there was a 200-year-old neem tree and we performed the pooja and lit the lamp on the day specified by him. After the pooja was performed he said that due to non-attendance and nonperformance of pooja to a Devi deity installed under the neem tree, she is upset and hence the obstacles for the project, Once the deity is pleased, he said that within a month all hurdles will be cleared and the building will come up. True to his words within a month’s time we were all set to perform Bhoomi-Puja. On our request, the Puja was performed by him on Gudi Padva Day in 1969. We heaved a sigh of relief when Baba’s grace was showered on us through him. Even to-day we follow his advice and a lamp is lit under the tree in the evening time daily.
In 1970, he predicted that I will be posted at New York when he will visit us. Then the question of posting to New York was an impossible proposition. In 1972, I was posted on duty in New York for three years and as told earlier by him, he came to USA and stayed with us for a month. It was a great privilege for me to take him to residences of Sai devotees houses and also to different temples in and around New York. He gave discourses on Baba and his Leelas. Many devotees thronged to hear him and to get his guidance in the spiritual path. During his stay fragrance of jasmine, Mogra and Kevda floweres used to spread the good smell all over our house. When we asked for the reason of the fragrance he said smilingly that “Baba is happy to be here and He expresses his Joy through this inimitable method.”
On several occasions, I had taken many of my friends in their difficult times to take guidance from him. On such occasions, he with a benign look encouraged one and all and appealed to them to have faith in Baba. By the efficacy of his prayers all found relief and expressed their sense of gratitude without fail. He was a father figure to all his followers and I was quite fortunate to “accompany him to Shirdi on ‘Kojagiri Utsav’ and watch him perform pravachan and pooja to deity there. It was a thrilling experience when we watched the function to commemorate the Kojagiri Poornima Golden Jubilee at Shirdi when prominent personalities honoured him. Sant Sri Godavari Mataji of Sakori specially graced the occasion.
By:
V. PICHUMANI SEM.
Kalina,
Bombay 98
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