Shri Hemadpant
Hemadpant whose name was Shri.Govindrao Raghunath Dabholkar scripted the book "Shree Sai Satcharitra", a composition of 9,308 verses in Marathi, on the life & teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba.
Let us find out about the life of Hemadpant and how he got the inspiration to write Baba's life.
In the year 1910, when Govindrao Dabholkar was posted in Anand`Gujarat, Kakasaheb Dixit wrote a letter to him describing a few Leelas of Sai Baba. Govindrao was highly impressed with Baba after reading Kakasaheb Dixit's letter. A desire arose in his heart to have Darshan of Baba as soon as possible.
He applied for leave for 30 days but was rejected by the Commissioner of Southern Division. Then Govindrao thought that if his job would be get transferred from Gujarat to Maharashtra, it would become easier for him to visit Shirdi for Baba's Darshan.
So he requested the Commissioner for a transfer to Maharashtra, but the Commissioner refused his request on the grounds that as he had aready worked before in Bandra`Mumbai, he could not be posted there once again as per the official rules of the Govt.
But in the course of time an unexpectable thing happened! Only few days had passed since the Commissioner had left Anand`Gujarat for Thane`Maharashtra, that suddenly the Deputy Collector of Bandra`Mumbai died due to a heart attack. So, now there was an urgent need of a responsible and trustworthy person for the Bandra Office.
The Commissioner who had earlier denied Govindrao Dabholkar's transfer to Mumbai, immediately sent him a telegram & got him finally transferred to Bandra in Maharashtra.
When Govindrao Dabholkar finally shifted to Bandra`Mumbai, as per the rules of the Government, his pending leave request was also sanctioned and thus he was able to plan his trip to Shirdi for Baba's darshan.
In 1910, when Shri.Dabholkar first came to Shirdi, he saw Baba grinding wheat,
only to later scatter it all around the village boundary, to stop the cholera epidemic.
His curiosity was aroused, and he wished with all his heart to write the 'Satya Charitamrit' of Baba's life.He sought permission through Madhavrao Deshpande alias Shama and it was granted.
Sai Baba told him: "You have my full consent to write My life. Take notes and keep them. If My Leelas are recorded, sins commited through ignorance will be dissolved,
when these are heard and or read with love and devotion, the cares and troubles of worldly life will be forgotten."
So, Dabholkar set about, writing, hearing and seeing the leelas of His Guru. With Love & devotion he kept a record of them. As in 1916, Baba had finally given him the permission to write his biography, so by the time Baba took Mahasamadhi,
Hemadpant had barely written two or three chapters. Most of his work was written after 1918.He actually started writing 'The Pothi' in 1922 and it was published in 1929 after he took samadhi. The Marathi Pothi is written Ovi Meter, like Eknath's Bhagwat.
It is usually sung rather than read.
On 26th November`1930, the first edition of Shri Sai Satcharitra was published in Marathi by the Shirdi Sai Sansthan and had approximately 900 pages, in vertical size of 8x5, and was priced at Rs.3/- only. Later it was translated verse to verse in many different languages.
Get your free copy of Sai Satcharitra today :
http://www.saiseva.omsrisai.net/store/
Let us find out about the life of Hemadpant and how he got the inspiration to write Baba's life.
In the year 1910, when Govindrao Dabholkar was posted in Anand`Gujarat, Kakasaheb Dixit wrote a letter to him describing a few Leelas of Sai Baba. Govindrao was highly impressed with Baba after reading Kakasaheb Dixit's letter. A desire arose in his heart to have Darshan of Baba as soon as possible.
He applied for leave for 30 days but was rejected by the Commissioner of Southern Division. Then Govindrao thought that if his job would be get transferred from Gujarat to Maharashtra, it would become easier for him to visit Shirdi for Baba's Darshan.
So he requested the Commissioner for a transfer to Maharashtra, but the Commissioner refused his request on the grounds that as he had aready worked before in Bandra`Mumbai, he could not be posted there once again as per the official rules of the Govt.
But in the course of time an unexpectable thing happened! Only few days had passed since the Commissioner had left Anand`Gujarat for Thane`Maharashtra, that suddenly the Deputy Collector of Bandra`Mumbai died due to a heart attack. So, now there was an urgent need of a responsible and trustworthy person for the Bandra Office.
The Commissioner who had earlier denied Govindrao Dabholkar's transfer to Mumbai, immediately sent him a telegram & got him finally transferred to Bandra in Maharashtra.
When Govindrao Dabholkar finally shifted to Bandra`Mumbai, as per the rules of the Government, his pending leave request was also sanctioned and thus he was able to plan his trip to Shirdi for Baba's darshan.
In 1910, when Shri.Dabholkar first came to Shirdi, he saw Baba grinding wheat,
only to later scatter it all around the village boundary, to stop the cholera epidemic.
His curiosity was aroused, and he wished with all his heart to write the 'Satya Charitamrit' of Baba's life.He sought permission through Madhavrao Deshpande alias Shama and it was granted.
Sai Baba told him: "You have my full consent to write My life. Take notes and keep them. If My Leelas are recorded, sins commited through ignorance will be dissolved,
when these are heard and or read with love and devotion, the cares and troubles of worldly life will be forgotten."
So, Dabholkar set about, writing, hearing and seeing the leelas of His Guru. With Love & devotion he kept a record of them. As in 1916, Baba had finally given him the permission to write his biography, so by the time Baba took Mahasamadhi,
Hemadpant had barely written two or three chapters. Most of his work was written after 1918.He actually started writing 'The Pothi' in 1922 and it was published in 1929 after he took samadhi. The Marathi Pothi is written Ovi Meter, like Eknath's Bhagwat.
It is usually sung rather than read.
On 26th November`1930, the first edition of Shri Sai Satcharitra was published in Marathi by the Shirdi Sai Sansthan and had approximately 900 pages, in vertical size of 8x5, and was priced at Rs.3/- only. Later it was translated verse to verse in many different languages.
Get your free copy of Sai Satcharitra today :
http://www.saiseva.omsrisai.net/store/