The Naming of the Author of Shri Sai SatCharita and the story about how Saibaba himself gets his life stories written through his devotee, who is merely an instrument in his hands.

In this chapter, I will be narrating the story about the author’s naming of ‘Shri Sai SatCharita‘ as ‘Hemadpant, ‘ whose original name was Shri Govind Raghunath Dhabolkar and how Saibaba fulfils his devotee’s wishes of getting his life stories and teachings documented for the worlds’ welfare.

An ardent devotee of Saibaba, Shri Govind Raghunath Dhabolkar, after witnessing the miraculous way of Saibaba warding off the Cholera Epidemic from the village and experiencing many more such miracles, inspired a keen desire to write the scared life and teachings of Saibaba. However, Dhabolkar was afraid to ask Saibaba’s consent & blessings. He requested Mr Madhavrao Deshpande alias Shama, Saibaba’s closest devotee, to speak on his behalf.

When Madhavrao put forth the request, Saibaba was moved and blessed Dhabolkar with his Udi (sacred ash), placed baba’s boon-bestowing hand and instructed him to make a collection of his stories and experiences. Saibaba said, “I myself should write my life and satisfy the wishes of my devotees. Dhabolkar is only an outward instrument. He should get rid of his ego and surrender it at my feet. He who becomes humble, him I help the most.” The great Saints or Gurus serve their devotees in their house in all possible ways. When the ego is annihilated, the divine masters enter into the devotee’s being to write their life stories and teachings, which they want the world to know. Hearing the stories and teachings of the great saints or gurus will establish faith in the devotees’ hearts. It will help them evolve on Dharma (Righteousness) and Spirituality to attain God-Realization. Besides, the author should keep in mind that he cannot insist on establishing one’s view, no attempts to refute other’s opinions nor discussions of pros and cons of any subject to be made.

Similarly is a beautiful story about Jayadev, a 12th century Hindu poet, the author of the profound scripture – Gita Govinda. It describes the relationship between Lord Shree Krishna and Shreemati Radhika and the Gopis (the female cow herders) of Vrindavan. Jayadev was writing an epic poem about Lord Krishna’s love for Srimati Radha Rani. Expression of this love is quite difficult in the modern context since Lord Krishna is Radha himself. However, Radha in Indian mythology is always shown as leaning on Lord Krishna, representing Krishna to be greater than Radha. When Jayadev was writing this poem, there comes a time when Lord Krishna was supposed to ask for pardon from Shrimati Radhika for some misdemeanour he had committed. Jayadev believed that Lord Krishna should never ask for clemency because he is the Supreme Lord.

Jayadev was in a dilemma of how he could show Lord Krishna doing something unimaginable like this. So, he left his work halfway in deliberation and went to take a bath in the river. Meanwhile, Jayadev returned, informed his wife, went into his room, and completed his poem, which he had left halfway and then went out again. A few minutes later, Jayadev comes back home and goes into his room to find that someone has completed the poem he had left halfway and asks his wife whether she wrote the poem. His wife tells him that it is Jayadev who came back and finished the writing of the poetry. It was a big shock for Jayadev to learn that Lord Shree Krishna himself came in the form of Jayadev to complete the work where he was finding it extremely difficult to write. This is how Gita Govinda could continue from where the poetry was left. Lord Krishna solved the problem of Jayadev by saying, “I touched the feet of Radharani.” Until one doesn’t surrender the ‘Ego’, no goodness or God can be realised.

The philosophical significance of the author’s Prophetic Title as ‘Hemadpant.’ – One day, Dhabolkar and Balasaheb Bhate discussed the necessity of a Guru. Both of them displayed their ego of knowledge for hours until they were exhausted, which resulted in Dhabolkar losing his peace of mind. Meanwhile, Saibaba, who is all-knowing, asked what was the discussion all about? What did ‘Hemadpant’ say? Dhabolkar was surprised and wondered why Saibaba called him Hemadpant because Hemadpant is a corrupt form of Hemadripant, a well-known minister of the kings Mahadev and Ramadev from Devgiri of Yadav dynasty. He was a learned good-natured and the author of Chaturvarga Chintamani (dealing in spiritual subjects) and Rajprashasti. He invented and started new methods of accounts and was the originator of the Modi (Marathi short-hand) script. But Dhabolkar was quite the opposite of Hemadripant. The title was conferred to destroy Dhabolkar’s ego for him to remain meek and humble. However, it was also a compliment paid to Dhabolkar for his cleverness in the discussion. Saibaba, knowing the future history, called Dhabokar as Hemadpant was significant and prophetic. Hemadpant looked after the management of ‘Sai Sansthan’ very intelligently, maintained all the accounts and was also the author of the great work – “Sai SatCharita”, which is the priceless repository of Knowledge (Jnana), Karma (Duty), Devotion (Bhakti), Faith (Shradha), Self-Surrender (Samarpan) for attaining God or Self-Realization.

With the Grace of my KrsnaGuruji, I have been able to pen this most wonderful story from Sai SatCharita in a string of words. Thank you for reading, and do watch out for my next blog about “Why should we read or listen to Shri Sai SatCharita?“