Life of Sai Baba — Volume 2, Chapter 2: Narayan Govind Chandorkar

The chapter

Narayan Govind Chandorkar, known as Nana Saheb, came from a respected Hindu family at Kalyan. He graduated by the age of twenty, entered Government service and rose rapidly to become a Deputy Collector. He studied philosophy and the Bhagavad Gita with Sankara’s commentary, observed the practices of an orthodox household and seemed destined for a distinguished public career.

Sai Baba nevertheless sent for him repeatedly. Nana initially doubted that a fakir would invite a senior officer, but after the third invitation he went to Shirdi. Baba told him that they had been connected through four previous births and that he had called Nana back to renew the relationship. When plague inoculation frightened Nana, Baba assured him that the treatment was safe, and he also overcame the opposition of Nana’s father to the relationship.

Baba began Nana’s training with nishta, steady faith, and saburi, patient courage. Nana’s intellect and learning remained valuable, but they were gradually placed under the authority of a Guru whom Baba revealed as both compassionate protector and knower of the devotee’s inner life.

Water on Harischandra Hill

On a hot climb up Harischandra Hill, Nana became exhausted and desperately thirsty. There was no water on the barren rock. He remembered Baba and said that, if Baba were present, he would provide water. At that moment Baba spoke in Shirdi about Nana’s thirst. A Bhil appeared on the hill, pointed to a rock and said that water lay beneath it. When the rock was lifted, a small supply of cool water was found—just enough to relieve Nana and allow him to complete the pilgrimage. When Nana later returned to Shirdi, Baba asked whether he had drunk the water he had given him.

The experience turned an abstract belief in Baba’s powers into personal conviction. Nana came to understand prayer not as a bargain for worldly objects, but as a movement of the soul toward God. Baba’s help might appear through a person, a delay, a timely warning or an unexpected opening, while the devotee was meant to recognise the protecting presence rather than cling only to the material result.

Guidance in ordinary affairs

Baba’s supervision reached into Nana’s official and personal life. On journeys when Nana and his companions were hungry or uncertain of shelter, help appeared at the critical moment. When Nana was due to meet a Collector, Baba held him back for a day; Nana later discovered that the official appointment had been postponed. On another journey Baba warned him in time to avoid serious danger. Obeying Baba’s word protected Nana from acting on incomplete information and gradually taught him to place trust above impatience.

Lessons in charity, attachment and pride

Baba trained Nana through dakshina. Nana often brought large sums to Shirdi and believed that he was helping to maintain Baba. Baba eventually exhausted Nana’s available money through repeated requests, showing him that the Guru did not depend on the disciple’s purse. He also corrected Nana when he avoided the Datta temple because of a promised donation, and when Nana used official authority to drive away a beggar woman. Charity, Baba taught, must be offered honestly and without anger, humiliation or the feeling that the recipient is a nuisance.

Family grief became another lesson in attachment. When Nana mourned the death of a child and son-in-law in his family, Baba explained that birth and death follow karma and cannot be rearranged merely because devotees suffer. Baba distinguished foreknowledge from arbitrary miracle: when he predicted a birth or employment, he was seeing further along the course of events, not violating the order of life. Nana was asked to love his family without treating possession and control as the condition of happiness.

Nana’s pride in caste and learning also required correction. Baba’s rebukes, silences and apparently strange answers exposed the limits of book knowledge when it became an obstacle to surrender. Nana’s study of the Gita was deep, but Baba led him from interpretation toward conduct—humility, self-control, charity, patience and equal regard for people of different backgrounds.

From scholar to surrendered disciple

Nana remained a capable officer and learned man, but he no longer treated his own judgment as final. Baba’s control of anger, compassion toward difficult people, and ability to use even an outburst as a means of protection gave Nana a living example of spiritual mastery. His path differed from Mahlsapathy’s poverty and vigil: it was shaped by education, public responsibility, family life and the discipline of translating scripture into action.

What this account invites us to reflect on

Nana Chandorkar’s story shows that learning, social position and orthodox practice can become powerful instruments of service when joined to humility. Baba did not ask Nana to abandon his responsibilities; he taught him to place them under a wider vision of God, charity, equality and surrender.

Editorial note: This page is a concise paraphrase for web presentation and does not reproduce the complete chapter. Please consult the original PDF for the full account and wording.