part 7

69. Shri Baba cured Shri Balaram Dhurandhar of his Asthma trouble by giving him His pipe to smoke, (Chapter 50)
The incidents, mentioned above, are usually termed as "miracles" by ordinary people, because they could not have taken place unless the person concerned had supernatural powers; but Shri V.T. Nandwani, one staunch Sai devotee from Bombay, sometime before suggested some classification for these events. An event like bringing out live burning charcoal by thrusting the prong in the ground is in his opinion no doubt a miracle, because no ordinary person would be able to do it; but curing Shama of snakebite or blessing Shri Ruttonji Shapurji Wadia with a son, should not be called a miracle, because here only one person was concerned and by the grace of Shri Sai Baba, that person got certain favours. Hence, such incidents in his opinion should be called divine favours and not miracles.
The classification proposed above by Shri Nandwani seems to be worthy of consideration. All the saints are believed to be awatar's (incarnations ) of God. Of course, some devotees have gone a step ahead and they believe that Shri Sai Baba is God himself. If therefore God is pleased to do away with the agonies or difficulties of any devotee, if the God feels like running to the help of His devotee and shows any particular favour to a devotee then that favour can naturally be called a divine favour. The devotees may consider this point and consider Shri Sai Baba's favour as a divine favour.
We may now consider the incidents referred to as miracles. Some people seriously believe that the age of miracles is no more in existence. The miracles might have taken place in the past centuries. The twentieth century is not so auspicious that it can witness any miracles; but there are no doubt certain people, who still believe that miracles do take place and some so called saints exploit the situation to add glamour to their personality and greatness. If we look around us with open eyes, we will be able to see such so called saints, who perform such miracles in a gathering of their devotees, so that they should go round and advertise about his greatness as a saint. The simple minded devotees, who simply get stunned at the sight of the miracle, go round advertising the greatness of their guru. This has a salutory effect on many other devotees, who are far off and who do not have constant personal contact with the guru. This advertisement of their guru, done by a few devotees, is believed by them and thus these saints are purposely showing these miracles among their devotees in order to advertise themselves and increase their following; but when we look at Sai Satcharita, we do not find a single incident where Shri Sai Baba performed a miracle to advertise himself.
From the incident of lighting the lamp with water to the incident of the coconut sent by Shri Tembye Swami, we see that Shri Baba acted in the situation not with any particular motive; but it was his mere leela. He acted at that moment freely without any object in view. It will thus he seen that in view of the modern concept of miracles, the incidents that took place in the life of Shri Sai Baba can now be classified as His leelas and divine favours and not as miracles, performed to astonish and attract the devotees.