There was a judge who used to come to Shirdi; he asked his wife and child to stay with Baba and left to go home for a couiple of days. He said to the boy when he took leave, "This is God Himself".
After some days the mother left for Manmad with the boy. There, they fell in with a kathak who was reciting musically some Purânic story. Within a few minutes, they heard him revile Sai Baba as a mad man and a cheat; the child could not stand it any longer. He tugged at the sari of his mother and forced her to return to Baba.
Next morning, they approached Baba for His blessings and He asked them why they had returned. The incident of the kathak was duly reported. The boy heard every one addressing Baba as the Lord. Remembering the harsh words of the kathak, the boy wept, But Baba pacified Him humorously, "I am only a man. What the kathak said is true; I am mad and I am cheating people of what they consider very valuable, but what I feel is useless".
Then, even as they were talking, one Mr. Patel came there and related how Baba had saved his child from a serious accident. Baba told him, "Yes, I held him when he fell, with My Four Hands". Patel shed tears of thankfulness, but the boy cried out, "Ah, I told you, You are God, You have four hands like Vishnu". Baba laughed, He took the boy inside and gave him a vision of Himself, as having Four Hands.
That boy stayed on in Shirdi for 26 years after this and left only after Baba 'left'. He then took sannyâsa and became a great sage.
(From the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)
