SHRI SAI THE SUPERMAN - Shri Sai's Guru and Manifestation in Shirdi

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SHRI SAI THE SUPERMAN

By

Swami Sai Sharan Anand

 

 

SHRI SAI'S GURU, SHRI SAI'S MANIFESTATION IN SHIRDI

 

(1) I manifest myself in every age, for the protection of the good

destruction of the wicked and the foundation of religion.

(Bh. Gita, Ch. 4-8)

 

(1) Little in stature, great in valour. Subdued terrible Cobra Kali,

held aloft a week the Goverdhan Mount and saved people from the fury

of God Indra. (Bhalan)

 

 

(2) Some are born Great.

"I was only eight years old when I left my parents and came to the

Ganges (Baba always named the Godavari as the Ganges). Then I came to

Shirdi," This was what Baba said (unasked) to the writer.

 

 

He continued, "I found my master in the Chawdi here. His calm,

peaceful, Cheerful and meditative face attracted me, charmed me,

almost bewitched me so much so that my eyes, were ever rivetted on

his face and that even a moment's separation from him made me uneasy.

In his company I used to forget all my hunger and thirst. I served

him with all my heart for years together for more than 12 years. The

duties I had imposed on myself for him were very arduous. He never

left his seat for any purpose, not even to answer calls of nature.

Merged in meditation for ever, he entirely forgot that he had a body,

mind etc. He ate, passed urine and stool etc. there and there on his

seat. I fed him, changed his clothes, Swept and kept his seat always

clean. As a reward of this he awarded me his blessings saying,

"Wherever you are, here or even beyond the, seven sea's, I will be

ever with you to guard and protect you." Right at the start he had

asked me to pay his fees; and on my asking what his fees were. He

coolly said "his fees were only two pice", and these pice were not

the government currency I had been using but his two pice fees

consisted of two things Nishta faith-absolute faith and Saboori-

patience. I readily gave him these two pice and though I was very

eager to obtain from his holy mouth some holy spell or formula which

I could go on chanting and repeating, he uttered nothing into ears.

He simply said, "I shall ever be with you. Protecting you by my mere

loving glance in the manner of a tortoise protecting his young ones

by mere glance. The entire credit of all this glory of mine goes to

this Guru master. It is the outcome of his blessing." On another

occasion He said to this writer "My Guru's (master's) name is Roshan

she Mian" When Baba uttered these words, I took them as advising me

to take to the sun Worship, as I am by caste a Brahmin and Bahmins

are by their scriptures required to worships the Sun, three times a

day-at sunrise, at noon and Sunset and repeat the Sun's Gayatri

formula for at least 324 times a day. Subsequently Baba made me

repeat this Gayatri several thousands times for expiation of certain

sins committed by me in the past and also asked me to offer a few

rise oblations in the fire and set apart certain portion for gods.

guests cow, dogs etc. by performing "the Vaishwdeva ceremony before

taking dinner. All this confirmed me in my belief that Baba's

intention in telling me the name of His Guru was to impress on me the

necessity of performing the six duties enjoined on Brahmins by

scriptures. Subsequently I marked that Shri Baba was from time to

time also using the word `Roshan.' He used it particularly when he

told some parables. Then he had used that word in the sense of

`light' meaning knowledgeas opposed to (the darkness of) ignorance.

In the In Shrimad Bhagwat Gita, the Celestial Song of Lord Shri

Krishna Gnan is described as "Jyotisham apitadjyoti" The light of all

the luminous. And Upnishadic prayers also reads, "Tamaso ma

jyotirgamay,-Lead me to light from darkness" uses this word Jyoti

or Roshan in the sense of knowledge, Applying the same sense to

`Roshan in Roshan Sha.' The name Roshan Shah would mean the Lord of

Knowledge, the Universal Soul, self luminous, Self-evident,

omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient as the only Truth, the only

Reality, the only (root of) knowledge properly understood, the world

being Its evanscent reflection. Saints aspire to attain oneness with

this Absolute truth or Lord God in order to be of some help to the

suffering humanity and in their efforts to do so they even sacrifice

their body. Sai Baba thus cast off His body to save Tatya Patil to

whom He was indebted for the rendered by, him his mother and father.

Jesus Crishts and Lord Krishna sacrificed themselves to save the

erring humanity from since. Thus Shri Sai Baba by His sacrificed

taught humanity that the beauty of life consists in sub-duing or

sacrificing the Lowerself for the Higherself. Latterly these words

reminded me of what the Lord Shri Krishna said to His pet disciple

Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kuru Kshetra (Panipat) embodied by Shri

Vyas in Bhagvad Gita or the Celestial song of Shri Lord Krishna. The

first line of the Fourth Chapter of that book says that the Lord

taught this method of realisation to Vaivaswat, meaning the Sun. As

the giver of light to the world Baba must have called him Roshan

Shah. Lord Krishna recites in this line the geneology of the disciple

and states the order in which He taught this way of realisation. The

first to receive this instruction from Him was the Sun, He said, and

as the Sun or the Roshan Shahmia was Sai Baba's instruction (as in

the case of the well-known Shri Yagnya Valkya) Sai Baba received all

knowledge from lord Krisha through His first disciple the Sun.

 

 

We do not however mean to suggest by above interpretations that a

person of the name Roshan Shahmia did not materially exist, on the

contrary we, by these interpretations desire to draw the attention to

the peculiar characteristic of the life events of such a superman as

Shri Sai Baba. This peculiarity is that all the events of Supermen's

life can always be interpreted metaphorically as well as literally.

As examples of this we may draw the attention of the readers to the

various biographies of Shri Ram and Shri Krishna, some of which have

always shown the philosophical (metaphorical) significance (aspect)

of almost all the incidents of the lives of these supermen.

 

 

Accordingly one should not to be astonished if we say that Roshan

Shah spoken of by Baba did exit in flesh and blood and Baba

strenuously served him for over twelve years. It seems Roshan Shah

thereafter cast off his mortal coil-his-body-and Baba entombed him

under or near the nimb tree at present found in Shirdi Navalkar's

Vada. When the previous owner of this Wada B.S. Sathe wanted to put

up a storey and terrace, at the time of putting a stair case he

unearthed a tomb with and under-ground cellar or a cave under the

tree, Baba was asked as to what should be done about the tomb and the

cave? Baba said that, `that place belonged to His elders and it

should neither be disturbed nor opened but it should be covered up

with a stone as before." Persons and some boys playing a hide and

seek game removed the stone and found under it several steps leading

further down. They said that the cave was dark but rather long; Baba

once told the writer pointing to a pillar near His Dhuni (the sacred

fire) in the Dwarkamai, "that there was a cave there; He always

confined Himself to that cave; that once his beard had grown so long

that it reached the ground and swept; that He never came out of the

cave unless to meet some holy and religious man" It seems this cellar

or cave referred to by Baba started from under the nimb tree and

extended upto and even beyond the Chawdi. This cave was in fact

Baba's place of penance. After years of such penance in the cave,

people caught sight of him one day when He had come out for water. It

seems He had finished His term of penance then, for thereafter He did

not return to the cave; but made the nimb tree His abode. And what an

abode it was! Situate on the outskirts of the village in the debris

of the old village wall, where people used to help their rubbish,

where a stream of village filthy stinking water ran and the thorny

cactus abounded uncheked, Baba stayed uncared for and unnoticed by

the people of the village for about a year or two. With only a Kafni

on the body and rag covering the head He lived on. Digging a pit He

slept in it. How he fed himself on one knows bur from the admonition

He had once administered to Sagunrao M. Naik—it appears He had lived

only on Margosa leaves for than 12 years. He had said to Sagun,

"What! You can't put up with a day or two days' starvation? I myself

had lived on Margosa leaves for as many as twelve years."

 

 

Mahalsapati was probably the first to introduce himself to Shri Baba;

he was so much impressed with conversation he had with Baba that he

thereafter saw Him daily and introduced Baba to his other friends

Kashinath tailor and Appa Jogle, saying that a Fakir Sai Baba has

made a sudden appearance o the outskirts of the village near the

debris of village wall, that He is far above the common average man,

a pure and holy man worth paying respects; from that time onward He

came to be known as Sai Baba. This trio-of Mhalasapati, Kashinath and

Jogle-daily visited him and paid their respects to Him and supplied

whatever little requirements He had. The news that one Sai Baba had

manifested Him-self near the nimb tree o the outskitrts of the

village, reached the ears of the late Appa Patil Kote and one day he

with his wife went to Baba to pay respects. It is said that when Baba

saw them coming He left His seat, got up and cordially welcomed Appa

and told his wife that she had been veritably His sister. The lady

his wife that she had been veritably His sister. The lady Bayjabai,

on seeing Baba was so much impressed that she there and then resolved

never to take her food without first feeding Baba.

 

 

At the start Sai Baba prescibed and gave medicine but never charged

nor accepted any money for the same. Not only that, but if he found

that there was none to look after or nurse His patient, He would

himself be his nurse and serve him. Once it so happened that His

patient failed to observe the rules of diet etc. He had prescribed

and as a result thereof he died. Since that day Baba gave up

administering medicine and gave only His Udi-holy ashes for their. In

this connection Baba once said, I used to give medicine before but

thereafter giving up everything I went on chanting (taking) the name

of Hari; and by a ceaseless muttering of that holy name I actually

became Hari."

 

 

After giving up the physicianship, Baba was seldom found at his abode

under the nimb tree; He moved about in the village fields in the

jungle amidst thrones etc. apparently idling away His time but

virtually utilising each minute of His time in remembering and

meditating on God. He was in rags and village people looked upon Him

as and called Him a mad Fakir. He begged His food once, twice or at

times even a dozen times in a day. Without caring for the adverse

opinion of the village folks Bayjabai however never failed to give

alms whenever Baba went to her for the purpose and never failed to

observe herself imposed rule of feeding Baba before she fed herself.

and for the observance of this rule she had at time with a basket on

her head to wander in fields and jungle for hours to find Him out and

if she found Baba was merged in mediation, she would slowly wake up,

serve the dish, persuade him to take a morsel of two (if not more)

return home and then take her meals. Baba in turn amply rewarded her

services by doing everything in His power for her welfare and the

welfare of her whole family. In particular. Baba treated her son

Tatya Patil with tender care and affection, regularly paid him to

took after His requirements, and even after the educated, the

cultured, the rich and the wealthy, multi-millionare came to Him, He

would not give over his charge to any one else, nor would He ever

leave for Chawdi unless and until this Tatya came and accompanied

Him; but as if all this was not enough return for the services

rendered by Bayjabai. He cast off even His body to save this Tatya.

 

 

As Shirdi was on the way to many places of pilgrimage of southern

India such as Rameshwar, Pandharpur etc. several saints visited

Shirdi and amongst them there were two, who ultimately though it fit

to settle down in Shirdi. One of them was Devdas who came to Shirdi

when he was only 10-11 years old. He was well built and had lustrous

eyes. He had put up in Maruti Temple. He was man of knowledge. Shirdi

people looked upon him with respect. Appa, Mhalasapati, Kashinath and

others were his daily visitors and they supplied all His wants.

Kashinath and Tatya Patil had accepted him as their Guru (Religious

master). He usually taught Vyankatesh Stotra (a composition of hymns

on God Vyankatesh) Ten-Eleven years after he came Baba appeared in

Shirdi. Baba saw him from time to time. Another Saint Jankidas,

highly advanced, had also come and settled down before Baba's

appearance. When Baba came He spent long long hours in the company of

this Jankidas.

 

 

Baba did not accept any money gift from any body these days; so when

Kashinath offered Him some money-gift. He flatly refused to receive

it. This refusal brought tears in the eyes of Kashinath. Moved by

this He started taking money gifts (Dakshina) from him; at first He

increased that sum. However, from the day Baba started accepting His

Dakshina, Kashinath's financial position grew weak and weak till he

became abjectly poor and people refused to give him even a loan. This

set Kashinath thinking. He asked himself. "How could charity made to

the most holy and the pure reduce him to such a miserable state?"

Then after a little introspection he found that it was not his

Charity that reduced him to this miserable state but it was his pride

that blinded him to the fact that the giver was not he but God

Himself; Unless God gives who can dole out Charity? In fact as he

knew Baba to be God; he now understood that the truth lying under

this unhappy event of his life was that both the giver of Charity and

receivers of Charity were one viz; God Himself. From the day he

realised this true state of affairs, his condition started improving;

and very soon he regained his lost wealth and reputation.

 

 

This Kashinath dealt in cloth and wherever weekly bazaars were held,

he would go and put up a temporary shop. Once when he was returning

from some such Bazaar of Naur he was accosted by a band of armed

dacoits. Kashinath handed over to them all the cash that he had, but

he would not part with a small bag. Dacoits thought the little bag

contained some more precious article and so they demanded the

delivery of the said bag. He refused and so the dacoits tried to

snatch it away from him but he opposed and so a tussle ensued. Taking

the sward of one of the dacoits which lay there he killed two of them

and so the third one coming from behind dealt on Kashinath's head an

axe-blow. This blow stunned Kashinath and he lay prostrate on earth

as if dead. Taking Kashinath to be dead the other dacoits escaped

leaving Kashinath there. After some time Kashinath regained his

consciousness and people pressed him that he be allowed to be taken

to a hospital. But his faith in Baba was so unshakeable that he

refused and returned to Shirdi in that condition and recovered under

Baba's care. The Government was pleased to award him a sward for the

valour he had shown in facing these dacoits and while the fray

between the dacoits and Kashinath was going on, Baba at Shirdi had

been shouting, abusing bawling aloud. People accusstomed to Baba's

way at once understood that some dear devotee of Baba had been in

some trouble and to tide over the calamity of that devotee He was

roaring, shouting, abusing etc. Kashinath lived long after this and

passed away on the 11th day of the lunar month which is considered to

be very auspicious for death. Appa Jogle also passed away on the same

day some time after this, enjoying a long lease of a happy life.

 

 

The third of the trio Mhalasapati worked as goldsmith but was not so

financially happy as the other two; he was abjectly poor and it seems

Baba did not want that he should have affluence or plenty of riches.

Once a rich person presented to Baba a dish filled with Gold and

silver coins. Baba returned it to the donor in tact. Mahalasapati was

percent there at the time for his daily worship of Baba. The donor

seeing Mahalasapati desired that he be permitted by Baba to give over

dish of coins to Mahalasapati. Baba emphatically disallowed it,

saying, "Real royalty is renunciation. That alone lasts for ever.

Riches (or Plenty) are evanscent."

 

 

Though unlucky in money-matters Shri Mhalasapati was very lucky in

having Baba's constant company on every alternate night at the

Dwarkamai. Both of them then kept as it were night vigil but mainly

it was Baba who would be awake all night, not allowing Mhalasapati

and Tatya (when the latter also attended the Dwarkamayi to go to

sleep by night. He would very often ask Mhalasapati to keep his hand

on His (Baba's) heart and see that His utternace of the holy name did

not stop, that as soon as it stopped he was asked to wake Him up; but

Baba very often complained that instead of watching the sound of the

holy name emerging from His Heart, he himself would fall asleep, his

hand would become heavy and He was required to wake him up feeling

the heaviness of his hand. This clearly shows what the object of Baba

in not allowing Mhalasapati (and Tatya) to sleep in the Dwarkamayi

was, that He wanted them to chant the holy name by keeping awake.

 

 

We have already mentioned that it was Mhalasapati who dubbed Shri

with the name of Sai Baba and Sai Baba also willingly retained it

till He left His body. But Mhalasapati had to his credit a still

greater service to posterity of which we shall now speak.

 

 

Baba had been suffering from Asthma and He had a very severe attack

of it in about the Decembers of 1885. He said to Mhalasapati, "I am

going up into a superconscious state for a period of 3 days. Take

care of this body exactly for three days, and if by the end of that

period I do not return to bodily consciousness, then pointing to a

place-a corner of the present chowk have Samadhi prepared, bury me

there and put up two flags as a token of my being there. But till

then do not disturb me; and do not leave me unguarded, unwatched

Saying this, He drew up His breath upto the tabernacle and fell

senseless, on the lap of Mhalasapati. It was 10 p.m. He had no

breath, no pulsation, the whole body was functionless; people

gathered together but finding Baba in a super-conscious state, none

said anything at the time; two days after, some Molvi (Mahomedan

Fakir), Appa Kulkarni, and Kashinath seeing that life had left Baba's

body entirely, proposed to have a Samadhi built for Him for His

burial. Thanks to Mhalasapati he do not change his posture, nor budge

an inch lest Baba should get disturbed for three days, without a

break and simply heard out the proposals of His body asking them to

wait till the time-limit fixed by Baba was over. Pending the

discussion about the disposal of Shri's body, the time limit of three

painful days had at last expired. On expiry of that period at 3 A.M.

life gradually returned to Baba; His eyes also opened bye and bye;

breathing started and the belly also moved. His face then appeared to

be joyful, winking of the eyes started, stiffness of the limbs had

gone and the whole body started working as if nothing had happened.

But for Mhalasapati's firm devotion. Faith in Baba's words and his

marvellous courage in adhering to the same in the face of people's

opposition, the posterity, nay millions of people, would have been

deprived of the innumerable benefits that they derived and are

deriving from Him.