You may have read stories of Baba reviving people from the dead and miraculously healing dangerous diseases. Here’s a story wherein Baba actually beat the messengers of death.

In Shirdi, there lived a small girl who used to love Baba dearly. Once, it so happened that she fell very sick and passed away. She was declared dead. Her grieving family members were preparing for her funeral and were crying near her clinically-dead, lifeless body.

Every morning, Baba used to be ready before 4 AM, but that day He had closed His eyes and did not open His eyes way beyond His normal time. Devotees never disturbed Baba and patiently waited for Him to wake up.

Suddenly, Baba opened His eye and ran toward the door of Chavadi (where He was sleeping). With a small stick in His hand, Baba appeared to be beating some invisible beings. Everyone was perplexed because Baba had never behaved in this strange manner. Yet, they had faith that there must be some divine reason.

Just as Baba finished this queer ritual, the girl opened her eyes. Her family was overjoyed to have her back. She then narrated that when she had gone to sleep, there appeared a dark being with his emissaries. He tried to drag her away from Shirdi, but as they were forcing her away, she called out to Baba and He came. Baba took a stick and beat those dark beings until they ran away from there, leaving her alone. At this she woke up!

Baba’s Chavadi was at a significant distance from the girl’s residence, yet, the two stories tallied to the “T”. Devotees near Baba had seen Him beat some beings in the air and at a large distance a little girl, who was declared dead, woke up and narrated the same sequence of events.

Ancient scriptures have described many such events wherein God interceded on behalf of devotees and avoided untimely death of His sincere followers. Markandeya is a case in point. When he was born, it was declared that he would not live beyond his sixteenth year. As the age reached, his parents were worried but Markandeya assured them that he would overcome death with God’s help.

True to the prediction, Markandeya was going to pass away on his sixteenth birthday. He saw the emissaries of death and called out to Lord Shiva, who appeared on the scene and vanquished Yama, the God of Death. For this reason, Shiva is known as “Kaala Kalalaya” (the one who is the death of death itself).