Previous Birth of Kakasaheb Dixit And His Cow
It was morning of February 1st, 1912 when Lord Sai Baba returned from His Meditation from Lendi Baug, devotees had gathered in His Darbar for some Spiritual Treat. That day Deputy Collector of Ahmednagar Shri. Hari Vinayak Sathe, Sakharam Bapusaheb Jog, Advocate Shri. Ganesh Krishna Khaparde (Mumbai), Laxmibai Kaulaji, Kakasaheb Dixit (called Langda Kaka by Baba) and many such devotees were present. All were eager for Lord Baba to utter sweet words of Nectar. Soon Lord Baba broke His silence and spoke thus.
“The cow of this Langda Kaka (Kakasaheb Dixit) was originally cow of Mhlasapati. Thereafter she was born in Aurangabad and then in Jalana. Now in its fourth birth, the cow has again come to Langda Kaka. Who is the true owner of this cow is only known to Lord. There is no shortage of anything for the one who has deep faith in the Lord”.
Thus Lord Sai Baba narrated interesting facts about past four births of cow of Kakasaheb Dixit. All were amazed at this and enjoyed the nectar to their heart’s content.
Continuing further, Lord Sai Baba said, “This Bapusaheb Jog, that Kelkardada and this Langda Kaka (Kakasaheb Dixit) lived in a dark lane in their previous birth. They were guided by a Murshid (a spiritual guide), they all were blessed by him and because of that they all met again in this birth. This is a perfect example of Rinanubandh that because of relations of past, people meet in their present birth”.
KakaSaheb Dixit’s Present Birth & His Devotion
KakaSaheb Dixit was born in Khandwa District in Madhya Pradesh in 1864. His primary education was done at Khandwa and Hingan Ghat. Thereafter he passed LLB exam at the age of 19 from Elphinstone College. He started working as a solicitor in a law firm and then soon started his own solicitor’s firm. He earned a lot of wealth in business due to his intelligence and sweet tongue. Thus he had accumulated a large amount of wealth and earned name as well. On one hand he was a scholar in English and on the other hand he was interested in spiritual scriptures like Ramayan, Mahabharat, Yog Vashisht and Gyaneshwari and had studied them deeply. Thus he had good command over Sanskrit language as well. He was a scholar and kind person who donated with all his heart.
Injury to Leg
He went to London for human service and had to board a fast train there. While boarding he missed a step and fell down on the platform. His leg was injured and he almost became lame and walked crippling. He had undergone many treatments in London for this lameness. He was even operated, but there was no end to his misery. Perhaps his destiny had written this calamity in his life and it was a prominent reason to remove fickleness of his mind which led him to step in Shirdi.
Humans always run away from pain and suffering, but sometimes such sufferings only lead one to the path of betterment. After returning from London, he went to Lonvala and there he met his old school friend Nanasaheb Chandorkar in the year 1909.
After leaving school Nanasaheb got busy in his job and Kakasaheb also got engaged in his business. They had no opportunity to meet each other after that, but coincidentally they met at Lonavala. When a person is in highest downfall of his life, Lord Himself comes to rescue him. The same happened in case of Kakasaheb, he narrated his suffering of lame leg to Nanasaheb who listened to him the most attentively. Nanasaheb said that when all treatments failed to make this right, you should resort to divine intervention. Kakasaheb agreed to the advice but was skeptical about meeting a real Saint in this Kaliyug. Upon this Nanasaheb said, “I find only one way out. I believe in a Saint, He is my Guru, Sai Baba of Shirdi. If you feel fit you can go to Him. He stays in a very small village name Shirdi in Kopargaon Taluka. The lameness of your mind will also come to an end so as that of the leg. These are my views but believe me if you are His man you will be drawn to Him as a sparrow with a string tied to its feet. Anyone, whose faith has turned in good direction only gets entry to Shirdi”.
Kakasaheb was a scholar and he had studied many religious scriptures with interest. Nanasaheb was also a scholar and whatever he did had logic in it. So joining all dots and believing in Nanasaheb’s words, a little amount of love for Sai Baba emerged in Kakasaheb’s heart. Devotion got sprouted in him. He decided to go to Shirdi to meet Sai Baba then and there.
In the year 1910, Mumbai Legislative elections were held and Kakasaheb went to Ahmednagar for some work related to the election. He stayed with Sardar Mirikar whose entire family was staunch devotee of Lord Sai Baba. Everyone in the family was drenched in devotion to Lord Baba. so Kakasaheb had an opportunity to be introduced to many Leelas of Lord Baba
A horse race was conducted in Ahmednagar and all had much interest in watching it in those times. Sardar Mirikar went to watch race with Kakasaheb Dixit. There they met Balasaheb who was Mamlatdar of Kopergaon and cousin of Sardar Mirikar. Nana Panse and Appa Garde also turned up to watch the race. All started talking about divine Leelas of Lord Sai Baba. Nana Panse informed that, “The mother in law of Madhavrao Deshpande who was Lord Sai Baba’s ardent devotee was ailing sometime before. Madhavrao is here in Ahmednagar as he was called to come and see her with his wife by his father in law”. After they retired from the horse race, they sent a servant to call Madhavrao.
We all know that Madhavrao alias Shama was close devotee of Lord Sai Baba and they were acquainted since last 72 births. Knowing this Kakasaheb was overwhelmed and hugged him as soon he saw him. Madhavrao said, “With blessings of Lord Baba now my mother-in-law is doing fine, so leaving behind darshan of my Lord in Shirdi, I don’t want to be here anymore. I am planning to return tonight by train”. Kakasaheb Dixit thought Shirdi is not away from here and election business can be taken care of later, whereas getting Darshan of Lord Sai Baba is not possible always. Also would not like to let go the opportunity of getting company of a devotee like Shama (Madhavrao). So leaving aside election works, he decided to go to Lord Sai Baba and have His darshan and showed his willingness to go to Shirdi with Shama. Thus they decided to leave for Kopergaon by 10 PM train the same night. When they reached the railway station they saw Nanasaheb Chandorkar bound to Shirdi. Their joy knew no bounds when they saw each other. Both shed tears of joy and embarrassed each other. Nanasaheb said, “Didn’t I tell you that Lord Sai Baba pulls His men just as sparrow with thread tied to it’s legs!”
On reaching Kopergaon they had a bath in Godavari river and took darshan of Lord Dattatreya and they reached Shirdi by hiring a tonga. Lord Baba welcomed Kakasaheb as, “Come, Langda Kaka”. Henceforth Lord Baba used to call him by that name and he was known by this name in Shirdi by all.
Kakasaheb was so engrossed in darshan of Lord Sai Baba that he looked like a still picture. His eyes were fixed on Him. He did not move an inch and was continuously gazing at Lord Sai Baba’s divine face without uttering a word. Even after having darshan to his heart’s content, he was not satisfied and still wanted more. Lord Baba then broke the silence and uttered sweet words, “I was waiting for you since long, at last I sent Shama to Ahmednagar to bring you. Remember this always, I will take you in aircraft in the end”.
Construction of Wada
Kakasaheb stayed in Shirdi for some days in Sathe Wada which didn’t have enough space to accommodate many devotees. So Kakasaheb decided to built a wada of his own in Shirdi. He thought, “With Lord’s grace I have earned a lot of money, let me now use it for His men now”.
He placed his wish before Lord Baba and got His permission at once. He bought a piece of land exactly in front of Sathe Wada and started constructing the building on December 10, 1910. It was ready in just four months. The Wada came in use from March 12, 1911 to all devotees who visited Shirdi.
Lord Sai Baba gave such experiences to Kakasaheb that his mind got devoid of worldly desires. He more or less stayed in Shirdi leaving behind Sansar. One day, Kakasaheb spoke to Lord Baba regarding his future in mind as, “Baba, Lord has given me enough to fill my stomach. There is no need to ask for more. I am fortunate that I got a chance to live in heaven like Shirdi, I do not wish to go back to world leaving heavenly experiences here. Winding up this soliciters’s business, i wish to stay back here forever”.
To this Lord Sai Baba replied, “Kaka! What is the necessity to wind up business?” Kakasaheb answered, “In our business we have show right things wrong and wrong things right”. Baba said, “Let the world do anything, why should we do that? There is no need to wind up business as a whole, just do what comes in limits of right and leave aside wrong deeds from it”. Kakasaheb continued business as per Lord Baba’s advice but he spent most time of the year in Shirdi. He used to serve Lord Baba with pure heart and devotion. Lord Baba had asked him to read Eknathi Bhagwat in morning and Bhavarth Ramayan at night and he made this as an uninterrupted routine of his life. He did not even miss the readings while he was travelling in train! He continued this till his end at the age of 62.
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Om Sai Ram
Om Sairam,HE always is with us,blessing always,Om Sairam
Love you Deva! Jai Sai Samarth!
Koti pranams to Mahabhakta Shri Kakasaheb Dixit Ji!