Sai Baba the Master

[Guest guest]

A certain devotee of the Swami of Akkalkot was overtaken by so many

calamities that he resolved to commit suicide and one night threw himself

in a well. Then the saint promptly arrived on the scene and, after rescuing

his devotee, told him, “You must enjoy the result, good or bad, of your

past actions; if you evade it in the middle you will have to take another

birth and suffer the rest of it again; so why not exhaust the whole lot of

evil karma at one stretch and be rid of it forever?” the devotee assented

and thanked the Swami for his prompt and timely instruction.

 

The incident was a timely eye-opener to Ambedkar. Later Sai Baba told him

that, as his father was a devotee of the Swami of Akkalkot, he should walk

in his father’s foot-steps and be devoted to the same Swami. Later,

Ambedkar studied astrology and gained proficiency enough to secure his

livelihood through it.

 

This episode has a close parallel in those incidents in which Baba asked

his devotee to go and listen to the reading of a purana and through that

the devotee’s doubts were clarified. So too Das Ganu’s difficulties in his

reading of the Isopanishad were, as though by Baba’s order, clarified by a

song that was accidentally sung by Kakasaheb’s maidservant!

 

There is another instance of Baba teaching in an indirect manner. One

Sathe, who was dejected owing to heavy loss in trade, visited Baba and made

a devout saptaha parayana (devotional reading of a holy book in a week) of

Sri “Gurucharitra” and , at the end of it, Baba graced him with a

significant dream: He saw Baba, with the book in his hand, was explaining

something to him. When he recounted it to Baba, Hemadpanth happened to hear

it and he grew restless; for, while a single reading of the work in a week

bore such a fine fruit to Sathe, his own reading of the same holy book for

forty years produced no such.

 

At once Baba asked him to go Shama, take Rs.15/- as dakshina from him, sit

and chat with him for a while at his house and then return to Dwarakamai.

When Hemadpanth called at Shama’s, the latter was just about to sit for his

daily worship. He asked Hemadpanth to be seated for a while till he finished

his daily puja and went into his house. When Hemadpanth sat in the front

verandah, he saw the celebrated work Nath Bhagwat (Saint Eknath’s commentary

on The Bhagavatam) in the book-shelf. He was in the habit of reading a

portion of it every day. This reminded him of the fact that on that

particular day he had skipped the daily reading and decided to finish it. He

realized that Baba had sent him to Shama’s house to remind him of his

sacred duty. As though in confirmation of this idea, when Hemadpanth opened

the book at random, it just opened on the portion which was due to be read

on that day! And when he had just finished his reading, Shama too finished

his puja and promptly came out. Then Shama felt impelled to recount some of

Baba’s deeds. He told Hemadpanth of a lady who decided not to touch any food

or drink until and unless Baba had accepted her as his chela (or disciple)

and initiated her with a mantra. He told Hemadpanth how Baba explained to

the lady that giving initiation to anyone was not his way; that he (Baba)

himself became perfect only through unswerving love and devotion to his

guru and not as a result of any initiation.

 

 

Source: http://www.saibharadwaja.org