Sai Baba got up early in the morning every day. Madhav Fasle, Tukaram and other attendants would fill buckets of water for Baba to use. Sai Baba never brushed his teeth; he would rinse his mouth softly and wash his face, hands and feet. Those suffering from leprosy would take the water Sai Baba had used to rinse his mouth and would apply it to the leprosy affected parts of their bodies which would get cured.
Rambaji of Nashik, who was a devotee of Sai Baba, suffered from various ailments. He took bath in the water which flowed off after Sai Baba took his bath and was cured of his ailments. Thus, he made a humble offering of a square stone stool to Sai Baba on which Sai Baba sat and bathed.
Post Baba Samadhi, the ritual of bathing Baba or abhishek to Baba has diligently continued. Though the onus of this abhishek resides with Shri Sai Baba Sansthan, Shri Vishwanath Ramakrishna Iyer or Baba Iyer, is currently offering this service of supplying hot water for abhishek of Sai Baba’s idol. His parents based on the advice of Nityanand Swamy came to Shirdi and started a hotel business adjacent to Samadhi Mandir in Shirdi. Shirdi Sansthan used to use hot water for abhishek of Sai Baba and every devotee who was present during that time was allowed to use the hot water for abhishek of Samadhi. Hot water of the boiler in Sansthan was not sufficient during that period. So Iyer family used to supply the hot water to Sansthan. But subsequently they stopped the supply of hot water. Sai Baba came in the dream of Baba Iyer’s mother and said, ‘you use hot water for bath but you deny the same to me?’ Thereafter the supply of hot water continued until this day. (this happened somewhere in the 1950s before the statue was installed)
The routine has not been stopped for even a single day till today.
For additional details of Baba Iyer supplying hot water for Baba’s abhishek, watch the video available at www.AuraofShirdiSai.org and enjoy
Leave a Reply