On September 29, 1990

In the former Nizam's [Maharaj] dominion, there was a remote village called Pathri. In that village there were a couple named Gangabhavadya and Devagiriamma. They were grieving over the lack of children. In answer to their prayers, a son was born on September 28, 1835. Today is the anniversary of that day. This child was Sai Baba. As Gangabhavadya had developed a feeling of total detachment and renunciation, he decided to retire to a forest regardless of the child. Devagiriamma, who looked upon her husband as God, decided to follow the husband leaving the child.

There was in the same village a Sufi fakir. As he was also childless, he took charge of this child and brought him up in his home. The boy stayed in the fakir's home for four years (1835 to 1839). The fakir passed away in the tide of time. The fakir's wife, who had lavished great affection on the child, was grief-stricken. To add to her worries, the boy was behaving in a troublesome manner. In those days, Hindu-Muslim differences in that area was growing alarmingly. There was considerable bitterness between members of the two communities.

What the boy use to do was to visit a Hindu temple and sing songs in praise of Allah; 'I am God' (Mein Allah ho), 'Allah is the Supreme Lord' (Allah Malik hai). He used to declaim in this manner in the temple. The Hindus used to chastise the boy in various ways for his misbehavior. Nor was that all. He would enter a mosque and declare, 'Rama is God', 'Shiva is Allah'. His behaviour in singing about Allah in a Hindu temple and about Rama and Shiva in a mosque was a puzzle to the public. Members belonging to both the communities went to the fakir's wife and complained about the boy's behaviour. Unable to deal with this situation the fakir's wife handed over the boy to a high-souled, pious scholar named Venkusa, who was living near her house. The boy stayed in Venkusa's ashram for 12 years from 1839 to 1851. Venkusa was extremely fond of the boy. In every matter, he used to give priority to the young Baba's views. Seeing this, in course of time, members of the ashram developed envy towards the boy.

One night in 1851, the boy left the ashram. He reached Shirdi, a very small village at the time. He stayed there for barely two months and then went about wandering from place to place. After strolling for many years, he reached a place called Dhoopkheda. When he was residing there, the marriage of Chandu Patel's brother's son was celebrated there. Baba joined the marriage party and reached Shirdi again. That was in the year 1858. From that day, till 1918, he did not move out of Shirdi. He remained there for 60 years.

At that time there was in the Maharashtra area, a Deputy Collector and Settlement Officer by name H.V. Sathe (Hari Vinaayaka Sathe). He was grief-stricken over the passing of his wife. Professor G.G. Narke, a friend of Sathe, came to his house and advised Sathe that there was no purpose in grieving over his loss and that it was advisable for him to have a change of place to get over his sorrow. He suggested that it was good to have the dracaena of some saint and persuaded him to come to Shirdi.