Sai Devotee Shama alias Shri Madhavrao Deshpande

SHRI MADHAVRAO DESHPANDE ( SHAMA)

3-4 years prior to his death, Madhavrao suffered from gout. At that time, his age was more than 75 years. At the request of Kakasaheb Dixit, he was staying at that time on the upper floor of Dixit Wada. From there, he was unable to come down everyday. He had lost considerable strength. In spite of this, he used to speak and incessantly narrate experiences of Baba.

Madhavrao used to be overwhelmed with emotions while remembering and narrating stories of Baba. “I said a lot to my God” saying so, he used to repent his utterances. Remembering the forgiving nature of Baba, his eyes weeled with tears and he called, “Oh my Lord !”

Baba went to Madhavrao’s house especially on two occasions – firstly, when Madhavrao was bitten by a scorpion and secondly, when he was running a very high fever. On not seeing Madhavrao in the Masjid, Baba enquired with the devotees, “Why Shamya has not come for the Aarati ?” The folks said, “Baba, he has fever.” Baba took hold of his worn Kafni, went to his house and brought him for the Aarati.

Madhavrao stayed in Kakasaheb’s Wada and also looked after the maintenance of the Wada. Kakasaheb was affectionate towards Madhavrao and made him stay in his Wada. On the other hand, he let out Madhavrao’s own house on rent and thus, helped in improving his means of living and finances. After the death of Kakasaheb, Madhavrao used to issue his rent receipts in the name of the Sansthan.

Even Bapusaheb Butti entrusted the work of maintenance and supervision of his Wada to Madhavrao. For this work, Bapusaheb gave Rs. 7 every month to Madhavrao. After the death of Bapusaheb, his son Keshavrao continued the practice.

A few months prior to his death, for some specific reason, Madhavrao was required to leave Dixit Wada and stay at his own house. It was a miracle that 6-7 months before he passed away, Madhavrao’s health improved suddenly and he started moving about. He repeatedly said - “My God has once again started looking at me.”

Balasaheb Deo writes about Madhavrao’s death :-

“Kakasaheb Dixit, Bhausaheb Dhumal, Annasaheb Dabholkar were virtuous devotees who did not experience sufferings before their demise. Madhavrao was similarly fortunate. He spent only a night and time up to noon in an unconscious state. He passed away in his own house on Thursday, 26th April, 1940 (Chaitra, Krishna Chaturthi, Shake 1862). At that time, he was 80 years old. Very rarely, a person is fortunate enough to have such a peaceful death. This is not possible without the good deeds of the past.
The next day, Madhavrao’s funeral procession was taken out with great fan-fare. A lot of people were present. They gave him Tilanjali on the public well of the town.”

After Baba took Samadhi, Madhavrao spent the next 23 years in practicing medicines, looking after the devotees and narrating Baba’s Leelas to curious devotees. It would be proper to say that – besides Mhalsapati and Tatya Patil – Madhavrao was the only other person who had the great fortune to spend so much time in the company of Baba.

There were persons who were ardent devotees of Baba. However, amongst them, the love and affection between Baba and Madhavrao was somewhat unique. Balasaheb Deo – an ardent devotee of Baba – was curious about this relationship between Baba and Madhavrao. He carried out an in-depth research on Shri Sai Sat Charita to ascertain the reasons, why Madhavrao was so close to Baba, why he was so fortunate to have such Bhakti-vaibhav (wealth of devotion) and why Baba used to agree to many things which Madhavrao asked.

For the purpose, Balasaheb also studied the life of Madhavrao. On 2nd April, 1934 Madhavrao placed two chits before Baba’s Samadhi and took Baba’s permission before narrating his life story to Balasaheb Deo.

From the very early times, Baba used to call Madhavrao as ‘Shama’ and Masjid as ‘Dwarkamai’. Balasaheb felt that there was a reason behind this. After careful study, Balasaheb came to conclusion that there were similarities between the relation of Lord Shri Krishna with Arjun on one hand and Baba and Madhavrao on the other hand.