Shri Chintamanrao Ramnath Satghare is a gentleman from an old and distinguished family residing in Bandra, Mumbai. He narrated this incident to me :

It was his practice for several months to light a lamp in front of Sai Baba’s picture every evening. If for some reason he was expected to return late from work, he would instruct his mother to light the lamp. His mother always did as told and there had been no break in this ritual.

One Sunday, he left his house for some work in Mumbai. As he thought he would return before evening, he did not think it necessary to tell his mother to light the lamp.

His work in Mumbai took longer than expected and then at the insistence of his friends, he went to see a famous movie. It was evening and the lights were just coming on. Sometime after the movie began, the film snapped and while it was restored, the lights in the theatre were switched on. Unexpectedly, the power failed and there was darkness. The movie was not restored. Suddenly it struck him, that he had come to see the movie, but had not told his mother to light the lamp. Perhaps she too had forgotten, and Baba gave this indication with this blackout. Baba must be in the dark too.

As soon as this thought crossed his mind, he left his friends in the dark theatre and hurried towards the station. Luckily, he straightaway got a train and soon reached Bandra. He rushed home, only to find that his mother had indeed forgotten to light the lamp and there was darkness near Baba’s picture.

Chinatamanrao told me, “Babasaheb, you may say anything, but I am a small, ignorant child. This experience has overwhelmed me and I shall never forget it in my life. Though Sai Mauli is no longer visibly present, he loves us and shows it in many different ways through these incidents. We should feel deeply obliged.”

Chintamanrao is a young man. While narrating this episode, he was truly astounded and he became emotional. Seeing him in such a condition made everyone extremely happy and all said, “How amazing is Baba’s Leela!”

(7 July, 1930) R. A. Tarkhad