The Raja of Chincholi was a very ardent devotee of Shirdi Baba. Baba used to spend a few months every year at Shirdi, Akalkot, and other holy places in the company of siddhas and sadhakas (holy men and seekers). After the passing away of the Raja, the Rani (queen) was pleasantly surprised to hear of the incarnation of the Lord as Sri Sathya Sai Baba at Puttaparthi and she visited the place.
She prayed to Bhagavan, who was just 15 years of age at that time, to accompany her to Chincholi and Hyderabad. What a surprise it was for her when Baba, on arriving at the palace, asked her about a margosa tree that had stood when Shirdi Sai had visited them, a well that had been filled up, and a line of shops that had been newly built. Baba told her that He had seen the places years ago while ‘in His previous body!’
Sathya Sai Baba asked her about a small stone image of Anjaneya [Hanuman] that had been given to the Raja while in the previous body; the Rani did not know that it existed; Baba Himself discovered it for her! He also said that there must also be found a picture of Sai Baba and that, too, was later discovered in the house.
Three years ago, the Rani had been rummaging the huge storeroom at Chincholi for old brass, bronze, or copper that she could sell off and save space, when she came upon a brass kamandalu, a drinking vessel used by sadhus, whose shape was quaint and artistic. The water had to be poured through a slit in the handle and the spout ended in a cow’s-head figurine!
Someone suggested that it could be polished and displayed as a decorative article in the drawing room of her Hyderabad house. The mystery of the kamandalu deepened next day when they found a cobra coiled round it! “Baba alone can solve the secret,” she said to herself, while propitiating the cobra with the traditional puja (worship).
She arrived at Puttaparthi on the first day of Dasara [the ten-day festival], and as soon as she entered the premises, Baba sent word, asking her to come up, “with My drinking vessel!”
As soon as the kamandalu was in His hands, He showed some devotees standing nearby the letters inscribed on the vessel in Devanagari [Hindi] characters, ‘S A A’ followed by a pair of short vertical lines, ‘B A A’ with the two lines again. ‘SAA’ indicating Sayi and ‘BAA’ for Baba!
Readers may wonder how the saint of Shirdi who, according to all accounts, never left Shirdi for years, could have gone to Chincholi and Hyderabad and left a kamandalu with the Raja. But devotees who have seen and experienced the Avatar of Sri Sathya Sai Baba will have no difficulty on this score. In fact, it is the honest belief of the Rani as well as some old servants of the palace that Sai Baba stayed a few days every time He came and that He used to ride in a tonga [small carriage] drawn by bullocks far out of the town, in order to have talks with the Raja who accompanied Him.
This tonga is now at Prasanthi Nilayam and is on display at the Chaitanya Jyoti Museum.
Source: Sathyam Shivam Sundaram, Vol. 1 by Prof. N Kasturi
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