Whatever Baba Says Will Happen - Appa's Death Predicted
Let the devotees now play attention to what happened a few days later. Baba one day told Appa, "Some thieves have entered our village. They are not ordinary thieves. Their methods are entirely different. They enter each house and examine it minutely. They only steal the most valuable things from each house. They are such experts in their vocation that one does not even realize that a theft has happened in one's house. They will first come to your house. You go to your house and see to its security." Appa could not understand Baba's words or their inner meaning.
He hired some people to guard his house and he too joined them standing guard though that night. An hour or so after night fall, Appa started vomiting and had diarrhoea. He was afflicted with that dreadful disease- Cholera. His body lost its temperature and he started twisting in agony. His eyes lost focus and protruded. His pulse was not palpable. The villagers saw the condition of Appa and were saddened, losing all hope of his survival.
Appa's wife, fearing the imminent death of Appa, ran at once to the Masjid to that mountain of kindness and the sole refuge of all in this world. She fell on the Baba's feet and pleaded with tears streaming from her eyes, "Baba, my husband is in the last stages of his life, please give my husband some Udi along with your blessings. It will save my husband and bring him back from the doors of imminent death. Please save me from wretched widowhood"
Baba said, "Oh mother, do not cry. All those who are born have to die, someday or the other. To be born, to live and to die are all decided by the almighty. He is in everything and everywhere. It is not in our hands to change his plans. Who is it that is born? Who is it that dies? Get hold of yourself and examine this with dispassion and true knowledge. You will also realize the truth. If the cloth we wear is torn, we throw it aside. We lose whatever liking we had for it too. The all-merciful God has covered the ever living soul with this cloth of a body. That soul is the ever living, infinite, indivisible, attribute less, formless God. Do not show love for the worn out cloth of the body of Appa and try to protect it by applying Udi to it. Do not come in Appa's way and cause him harm. Let him reach his destination as per his destiny. As I have been talking to you here, he has already left behind the worn out cloth of his body. Do not interfere any more. Appa will achieve salvation. You will not be able to see it with your worldly eye. Let whatever happens happen. "
Baba consoled her thus and she went home reconciled to Appa's death. By the time she reached home, Appa was dead.
The next day two or three more people died in the village of Cholera. The villagers were all terrified by this scourge and went to Baba who was their sole refuge. They prayed to him,
"Baba, cholera is dancing her dance of death in the village. Do something and get her out of the village. What is the use of having you here if we are all to die by cholera?"
Baba replied, "Seven people have to die in the village. After that cholera will go away from here." This turned out to be literally true. Seven people died at Shirdi due to cholera. No further deaths occurred. How wonderful is Baba's knowledge. What he says will happen.
(SRI SAI GURUCHARITRA - by devotee Ganpatrao Dattatreya Sahasra-buddhe better known as Das Ganu Maharaj)
