*Narhari Meets Baba*

This is the story of a fortunate adolescent who by providence stayed with Baba for 21 days. His destiny had been unenviable and wretched and Baba acted against his inherent nature and changed it. This adolescent was Narhari Vasudev Raikar, who witnessed a mind boggling scene of death and heard Baba talking about the future of the human civilization and what a sorry state it would become from 1978 onwards. Baba predicted to him many facets of life that we now often experience in the “Kali Yuga” (the age of the demon Kali, or the age of vice). The life story is exceedingly long so it has been described as several leelas.

On a Monday of December 1912, Narhari Vasudev Raikar, aged 16 years, decided to visit Shirdi and seek refuge at Baba’s feet as he was fed up of his wretched life. He took the long arduous journey from Mumbai, alone, and finally reached Shirdi at about 4 p.m.

The village was very rustic, and the dirt road was full of holes and pits. There was litter scattered everywhere. Narhari saw a village woman coming from the opposite direction and he asked her where he would find Baba. She silently pointed the direction to him. He walked ahead and came upon a hut where a woman was standing, who Narhari asked for a drink of water. In a very kind and caring way she asked Narhari, “Baba, where have you come from?” Narhari replied that he had come from Mumbai to meet Baba. Surprised she asked him to sit down and hurriedly brought him a plate filled with peanuts and small bits of jaggery, along with a glass filled with water. She then requested him to eat it while she sat in front of him asking Narhari about his life in Mumbai.

Narhari