In 1965 Baba came to Sasnoor for the first time. In the beginning he stayed with Chairman S.S. Halyal. He stayed with them for 4 to 5 days and then one evening around 8 p.m. he called his host and gave him Vibhuti and told him âFrom here onwards you will not suffer from any want of food and clothesâ. True to his blessing, Halyal is living happily thereafter. Next he went to Shivaputra Desai, granted Vibhuti and blessed him also. From there he came to Bijapur to Sasnoor to bless his devotees.
In May 1975, on the advice of Baba, Shivputra Desai arranged for purana session on Shri Renukacharya by Hiremath Swamijee. Swamijee used to make listeners to forget themselves through his beautiful narration. One day here also a miraculous incident happened. One day Hiremath Swamijee could not come to narrate purana. On that day, just not to disappoint thousands of devotees gathered there an unknown Swami came there, narrated the purana and went back without meeting anybody. But people, by now, knew it was done by Baba and none else.
People of Sasnoor through devotion and sacrifice contributed money and labour for celebration of final day of Purana. Large number of devotees had come for the celebration from Mumbai, Bijapur and Indi just to have Babaâs darshan and blessings. After the closing ceremony there was an entertainment Programme in which Virabhadra showed wonderful feats. He would pierce an iron chain from one cheek and pull it out from another. Similarly he would insert a thick rope from one cheek and pull it out from another. After this Babaâs procession on horse started. Hundreds of women were leading the procession with lamps in hand. Thousands o f people were following the procession. Procession returned to the purana site at 12 noon. Baba removed all the garlands from his neck, and when people waiting for him to alight from horse, he pulled the reins and the horse ran away with good speed rose to the sky and disappeared. People were not only surprised but were full of anxiety for Babaâs safe return. They could do nothing but wait. But in the evening 6 âO â clock Baba came back to the site and people were relieved of anxiety.
Baba whenever pleased with devoteesâ service used to grant him Rudrax (a dried berry) and Vibhuti (ash prepared from dried cow dung). There are ancient stories describing the importance of these two, god Shiva or Shankarâs pet paste and ornament. The background for sacredness of Rudrax and Vibhuti are as follows:
During the Puranic age in India, there was always war between Gods and Rakshasas. Rakshasas used to raid the places were Gods performed sacrifice (Yagyna) and spoiled the ritual. Gods tired of this, approached Shiva to relieve them of this menace. Shiva angered at the Rakshasaâs menace went to war with them and demolished them. Gods were happy and so was Shiva. From his 28 eyes a huge tears of happiness starting falling on earth and these became Rudrax (beads) or Shivaâs tears.
About Vibhuti (Bhasma or Sacred ash) the story told is about dissatisfaction of Parvati, wife of Shiva. She was unhappy that she has to live on mountain without rich clothes and ornaments because her husband lived like that. Parvati became jealous of Laxmi, Vishnuâs wife who lived in a palace with rich dresses and ornaments. She complained to her husband Shiva, who called Kuber (God of Wealth) gave him a pinch of Vibhuti and told him to give ornaments of its weight to Parvati. Kuber brought a weighing machine and put Vibhuti on one scale and ornaments in another. He went on putting ornaments but Vibhutiâs weight could not be balanced. So Kuber told Partvati âGoddess, Vibuhutiâs greatness is highest of all things in these three worlds. You cannot match gold and richesâ. Parvati realized her mistake and stopped asking her husband for wealth and begged him to pardon her.
Once in the house of Sangangouda, in the evening, Baba was sitting in the company of his other devotees, narrating his experiences, incidents and stories. So those assembled did not realize that night was almost past 1 am. At 3 am Baba called all his devotees and showed them the âAtma-lingaâ. All prostrated before it. Later he showed a miniature âLingaâ in his thigh. The devotees happily departed and only 4 people remained. Baba showed the âLingaâ in his heart and asked them to remove it. All tried, but it never budged. Devotees tired and said, âWe canât remove it. It is as firm as the Linga that Ravana placed in Gokama (Pilgrimage centre in Karwar district of Karnataka). Baba smiled and made that âLingaâ to disappear.
(In India Shiva is rarely worshipped in his personal form, but in the form of his sacred secret body part âLingaâ). Once a devotee Shivapoojeppa Padashetti took Baba for a stroll. On the way Baba showed him his form of God Venkataramana. Shivapoojeppa, astonished did not know what to do, but just prostrated before him. When he got up Baba was in his original form. Baba said, âYou are a true devotee. As Venkataramana, I would have given you anything you wanted, but you did not ask for anything, so I bless you, so that in the next life you will be a rich man without any want and with all happinessâ.
In his stay at Sasnoor, Baba turned an ordinary teacher into a âMantrikaâ (curer of snake bites, illness etc through utterance of Mantra). One day at 10 pm. one woman named Mantavva came running to Baba saying that her son was bitten by a scorpion and he is in extreme pain. She requested Baba to remove the poison. Baba told one Hiremat, a teacher, to utter mantra for cure. Teacher was not knowing Mantra. But just not to displease Baba by disobeying he closed his eyes and did Babaâs namasmaran. The boy was cured and he went home with his mother.