Shirdisai-Dasganu

Dasganu was a great soul, the living monument of Baba's might and 
kindness. Many thousands learnt of Baba from him and have subsequently visited 
Baba or Shirdi and made Baba their own life long passion. 
       
      Baba used to call Ganpatrao Dattatreya Sahasrabuddhe viz. Dasganu as 
Ganu. 
       
      Dasganu was one among the few who served Baba very intimately. He 
performed musical recitals (Bhajans and kirtan) at various places as his 
service to describe and sing Baba's glory to the people.
       
      Dasganu, by his splendid Kirtans, spread the fame of Baba in Maharashtra 
and Konkan (Bombay Presidency). 
       
      Thousands used to attend his Kirtans when he performed. It was always the 
practice of Dasganu to keep Baba's picture in front of the audience while 
singing the kirtan. 
       
      The effect of hearing Dasganu's kirtan on the minds of audience was 
electric.  Consequently Baba came to be known to many people as a God 
Incarnate.  
       
      The audience, who come to hear the Kirtans have different tastes. Some 
like the erudition of the Haridas; some his gestures, some his singing, some 
his wit and humour, some his preliminary dissertation on Vedanta, and some 
others, his main stories and so on; but among them, there are very few, who by 
hearing the Kirtan get faith and devotion or love for God or Saints. Dasganu 
made a major contribution to spirituality in Maharashtra by his Kirtans.
       
      Some of the devotees who came to know about Baba by listening Dasganu's 
kirtan were 'Damodar Rasne, Lala Lakshmichand, Ratanji Shapurji Vadiya of  
Nanded,  Cholkar, Santaram Balwant Nachne's father, Sri Narayan Asram Sanyasi, 
Ramchandra Sitaram Dev alias Balabhau or Balabhat, Balwant Hari Karnik, Vinayak 
Appaji Vaidya'.
       
      The difficulty of getting a new Haridas every year for Sri Rama Navami 
celebrations at Shirdi was finally solved by Sri Saibaba, as He entrusted this 
function to Dasganu Maharaj permanently from 1914.
       
      Initially Dasganu was an atheist and he himself said that to regard Baba 
as a God is an exaggeration. He came to Baba just to gain favour with Nanasaheb 
Chandorkar who was a high Govt. Official. 
       
      However his approach to Baba totally changed when (as witnessed and told 
by Dasganu) – Baba performed a miracle by making the streams of Ganges, and 
Yamuna appear from his toes. 
       
      Dasganu in His Sthavanamanjari expressed 'Sai's avatar did not only do 
good but also tranformed the evil into good'. 
       
      Dasganu did not accept Baba as his guru initially, as he had a brahmin 
guru by the name of 'Vaman Shahi Islampurkar', who had initiated him. 
Initially, Dasganu was a devotee of Lord Shiva, he later felt attracted to Lord 
Vithal of Pandari Pur. Sri Dasganu continued his sadhana (spiritual practice) 
in the warkari  tradition.
       
      Dasganu liked his 'Service' and playing in 'Tamasha'. But he ultimately 
gave them up on Baba's advice. 
       
      Dasganu was in active police service as a Havildar. On Baba's advice he 
resigned his service in 1903. 
       
      Even before 1903, his literary skill made him produce fine verses on 
Sivaji, the national hero, for use at the Ganapati utsava in Maharashtra. As 
verses on Sivaji rouse up patriotism and the National spirit, which the foreign 
rulers then in power dreaded, he was called on by his Inspector to explain how 
he, a Government servant, took this prominent part in helping a national 
movement. 
       
      His answer was that he was an 'Asukavi, that verses in Lavani metre 
flowed out of him at the barest request of anybody and that at the request of 
some one he sang impromptu the song or verses on Sivaji. As a proof he offered 
to compose ex tempore verses on the officer himself at once. The officer wished 
to test the truth of the statement and asked him to do so. 
       
      Ganu's poetic genius was equal to the occasion. At once, he sang up the 
high qualities (real or fancied) of the officer, in lavani metre and in a few 
minutes there were numerous verses on the excellences of the officer who was 
greatly pleased and dropped the charge against Ganu.
       
      Dasganu was an eye witness for Baba's Wonderful wooden plank leela which 
happened about 1898. 
       
      Regarding this Dasganu stated, 'I myself saw Baba sleeping on a plank 
suspended from the ceiling by a few slender shreds of torn cloth. The wonder 
was how He got up that plank suspended so high i.e. 7 or 8 feet above the floor 
and 1 or 11/2 cubits below the roof. Four lamps were on it. People watched to 
see how He got up or climbed down but could never discover either that or how 
the plank supported him.'

Jai Sai ram.....