Adam Dalai
Baba’s help with family responsibilities, a criminal accusation and a test in disguise.
Sai BabaDevotee experienceVolume 3
The chapter
Adam Dalali, an estate broker at Bandra, went to Sai Baba for practical help. Whenever one of his sons was to be married, Dalali lacked the money required by custom. Baba blessed him and told him to go; each time Dalali returned, a brokerage came that supplied the marriage expenses.
When Dalali was accused of brokering the sale of a mortgaged building whose title deed was said to be forged, the police included him among the accused. At the suggestion of Tendulkar, Dalali and the Tendulkars prayed to Baba, and Dalali was discharged.
Dalali said that his experiences were earthly rather than spiritual and that he did not read the Koran or ask Baba for spiritual advice. Yet Baba once came to him in the form of a hungry Marwari. Dalali gave him four annas and sent him to a Marwari hotel. Later Baba told the people at Shirdi that he had visited Dalali and had been sent to that hotel.
Although an orthodox Muslim might hesitate to keep a portrait for worship, Dalali kept Baba’s picture at home and burned scented sticks before it. His account records how Baba’s relationship with him began through ordinary family and legal needs, while still opening into recognition of Baba’s presence in unexpected forms.
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.