Madhav Rao Deshpande's ("Shama") House
Shama
This house is mentioned in the Sri
Sai Satcharitra, as Baba sent Hemadpant here to collect dakshina from Shama and
to have a chat with him. Hemadpant had been feeling disconsolate because a
newcomer to Shirdi had just had a wonderful vision after doing a seven-day
parayana of Gurucharitra, whereas Hemadpant had been studying it for forty
years and felt he had not had any result. "No sooner did this thought
cross his mind, than Baba knew it then and there." Hemadpant's subsequent
conversation with Shama on the verandah of this house resulted in one of the
most beautiful passages in the entire Sri Sai Satcharitra (Ch. 18), in which
Baba speaks (to Radhabai Deshmukh) of the great bond between himself and his
guru.
Shama was among the most intimate
devotees of Baba, and acted like a personal secretary to him. Baba once told
Shama that they had been together for seventy-two generations. Shama's parents
had moved to Shirdi from Nimon (five kilometres away) when Shama was only two.
He became a school teacher in a room next door to the mosque and his interest
in Baba was kindled there.
Shama's house
Shama's house is a few metres from
Dwarkamai - take the lane opposite and bear immediately right following the
narrow winding lane. There is a sign on the building and it is still occupied
by Shama's daughter-in-law. His son, Uddhavrao, passed away in 1998.
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