i.e., Ganpatrao Dattatreya Sahasra-buddhe, Brahmin, Kirtankar, aged about 78, residing generally at Nanded. (Nizam's State)
Poona, June 1936.
As for Ratanji incident, it was a small affair. He invited me to tea and then the Nanded MouM came in also. Nice dishes of almonds, pistachio etc. were supplied. The cost of all would not be very great, say anything more than 3 or 4 rupees. Then Ratanji went to Shirdi. Baba told him that Baba had already received this amount and asked him for the balance. When Ratanji came back to Nanded, he narrated these facts and wondered what Baba meant by saying that he had received the sum. I asked him to see the amount entered in his accounts on the evening of the tea given to the Moulvi. The exact amount entered in that account (viz 3-12-0) was what Baba said had been given. This is the truth. The rest is all elaborated out of this.
The Tomb referred to is that of Sai Baba's guru and was not visible when we saw it first. It was merely land and underneath it was the tomb. Sathe Saheb built a flight of steps over it leaving a niche for worshipping that guru.
When I first went with Nana G.Chandorkar to see Sai Baba, that was out of a desire to ingratiate myself with N.G.C. and with no particular desire to see Sai Baba or esteem for him, I had no spiritual or other temporal desire or object in seeing Baba. One year later, I chanced to see Vaman Sashi Islampurkar, an old Brahmin of Islampur near Osmanabad (N.S), a graduate (of the Madras University) and a married man. I had to attend upon him at Saigonda in obedience to my superior's orders. Finding him to be highly devout and spiritually advanced and believing that a Guru was necessary to obtain Moksha, I asked him to give me Upadesh and he agreed. He gave me Siva Mantra Upadesh as desired by me, for then I was an out and out Shivbhakta. He told me to go on with my Mantra. I then asked him as I was visiting Sai, whether that was harmful. He said that no harm could arise if one was firm in his faith, whatever Saints he visited. I asked him what sort of person Sai Baba was and he replied that he had himself visited Shirdi and stayed with Baba for three days, that Baba was a great Saint and a Rama bhakta, whom none had yet properly understood and that people would get to know and appreciate him later on. With this estimation in my view I had more regard for Baba and I went to him with more faith.
Baba and Orthodox Moslems
Baba some times came into some conflict with the local Mussulmans, as very often his acts and ideas did not agree with their orthodoxy.
Bade Baba and others once asked Sai Baba to go outside the town for saying the Kutba prayers. Baba said, "Yes, let us go", at first; but when they finally came to take him, he declined to go. Another time they came up and offered prayers inside the Mosque. But Baba did not join them in that group prayer.
At Moharram, some local Moslems came up to Baba and said they wanted to bring into the Mosque a Tajia. Then they constructed a Tajia and brought it and installed it on the fifth of Moharram at the Mosque. Baba allowed it to remain there for a couple of days and then dragged it out and placed it on his fire saying, "I do not want a corpse in the Mosque". The Moslems who were working up their Tajia dared not do anything against this powerful Baba.