SHRI SAI THE SUPERMAN - Knowledge of previous births

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SHRI SAI THE SUPERMAN

By

Swami Sai Sharan Anand

 

 

KNOWLEDGE OF PREVIOUS BIRTHS

 

"I and you have passed through many rounds of births; I remember them

all, but you do not know them."

Bhagawad geeta IV-5.

 

 

The difference between an ordinary man and a Superman usually

consists in the latter's having a knowledge to the past births of all

creatures. Once while Baba was returning from Lendi, His eyes fell on

a flock of goats. From out of them, He purchased two Shi-goats for

Rs. 32/- in all, inspite of the protests of the near-bye devotees,

who informed Baba, that the price he paid for the she-goat was

extravagant as ordinarily a she-goat can be had for Rs.2/- only, and

at the most Rs. 4/- may be paid for each. Hearing this Baba said, "Go

to that shopkeeper, purchase two seers (about 1.87Kg,) of Chani pulse

and feed each with one seer and return the shegoats to the vendor."

The transaction angered; those worldly minded devotees, when Baba

told them the following history of the past births of these goats.

"These goats were human beings and used to be with me always. They

were two brothers. At; the start they had great affection for each

other and were joint; but thereafter the greed of money made them

hostile; the younger worked hard and earned a lot but the elder could

not earn being idle; becoming jealous of the younger, he hatched a

plot to murder the other; the plot however leaked out and this

resulted in a scuffle in which each killed the other. A few days

after their death they were born as she-goats. Recognising them, I

thought of purchasing them and providing them with a life of ease,

but as their ill-luck would have it, you protested and so I had to

return these goats to their owners."

 

 

Another time Baba revealed His Knowledge of the past births stating

"After breakfast I stirred out and when walking fatigued me I came

upon a river bank. The river was small but was full; I had a bath in

it, and the scenery round about cheered me up. I was thinking of

having my chillam puff when I heard the painful croaking of a frog.

Taking such sound to be the usual feature of watery places, I made my

chillam ready when a traveler came to me and bowed to me. I shared my

chillam up with him and he invited me to his house with a request

that I should have my noon-meal with him, and them return after

resting. In the mean while the frogs croaking grew louder and louder;

so the traveler said, "I will just go and see what this is". The

traveler said on return, "a big black serpent; has caught a frog and

will soon swallow it", Baba said, "Do you think I have come all this

distance for nothing? I shall see that the frog is saved." We then

went to the spot where the serpent was, when Baba nearing the serpent

said, "Oh Virgbhadrappa, this Chanbasappa your enemy has been born a

frog and you a serpent to wreak your vengeance on him' Shame! Shame

upon you, now at least give up; hostility and rest in peace." So soon

as these words were uttered by Baba the serpent gave up the frog and

each went its own way. Seeing this the traveler requested me to tell

him who these Virabhadrappa and Chanbasappa were.

 

 

Baba thereupon said, "Four or five miles away from my residence was a

Shankar's temple; it required repairs; so a fund was started and the

rs appointed one of them a Banker as their Manager to get

this work done. The Banker was honest but was miserly; he did not

misappropriate the fund but he did not spend a single farthing of his

own; so though the repair work was started it remained incomplete; a

second time the fund was therefore collected; but the Banker would

not get the repairs resumed. His wife in the meanwhile had two dreams

in which Shankar asked her to contribute her mite for the repairs,

saying, "As she sincerely loved him (Shankar) even one pice

contribution of hers would be taken by him worth a lac of Rupees."

Determining therefore to sell off her ornaments, she requested her

husband to sell away her ornaments and carry out the temple repairs

from the sale proceeds thereof. The Banker instead of selling his

wife's ornaments purchased these ornaments himself for a sum of Rs.

1,000/- and in lieu of that consideration he conveyed to his wife a

piece of land mortgaged to him by a helpless widow (for only Rs. 200)

and advised his we to donate that land to the temple priest as a

gift. The wife accordingly made a gift or that land to the temple

priest. The Banker, his wife as also the helpless widow mortgagor all

died in due course.

 

 

"Thereafter the banker's wife was born as a daughter to the temple

priest of Shankar's temple and was benamed Gauri and the helpless

widow mortgagor was born as a son also to the same Shankar's temple

priest and was named Chanbasappa. The banker was born as the son of a

poor Brahmin and was named Virbhadrappa. To make a living,

Virbhadrappa left his home and moved about from one village to

another eking out his living by begging, working as a cooly etc.

During these peregrenations he came to this Shankar's temple and put

up there. As God would have it, the priest and the immates of his

house liked him and with My consent Gouri was married to him. The

priest was so fond of Gouri that he put Gouri in the sole possession

of that (mortgaged) land with rights to enjoy the income thereof in

perpetuity. Through God's grace that fallow land had purchaser and he

bought it for a lac of rupees paying half the amount of Rs. 50,000/-

on the spot and agreeing to pay the balance by installments of Rs.

2,000/- each. All liked the idea except Gouri's brother Chanbasapa,

who demanded half the sum agreed upon as the legal heir of the

priest, on the ground that his father the priest was the real owner

of that land. Virbhadrappa opposed this demand of Chandbasappa. On

their referring this dispute to Me I said that sole owner of that

land is Shanker. All this money therefore should be spent for

Shankar. Gouri alone is the sole and rightful owner; Virbhadrappa and

he abused me. The same night Shankar appeared before Gouri in a dream

and as to the appropriation of this amount I have full trust in

Chanbasappa and so pay him such sum as he demands for the temple

management and the balance should be appropriated as per Baba's (my)

instruction." When therefore she came to Me for advice, I told her to

have the whole amount for herself and to pay half and to pay half of

the interest on that sum to Chanbasappa. The account of the dream,

his wife had told had no effect on Virbhadrappa. He abused every body

and then went mad. In a fit of insanity he very often threatened

Chanbasappa that whenever he found Chanbasappa alone he would cut him

to pieces. This threatening haunted Chanbasappa day and night and

allowed him no peace of mind, though I very often told him, "he has

nothing to fear about." Both died thereafter Virbhadrappa was born a

serpent to wreak his vengeance and Chanbasappa was born a frog, for

though he was my devotee, he had no faith in Me and stood in constant

dread of Virbhadrappa, inspite of My assurance to him."

 

 

Over and above the knowledge that Baba had of the past births of

human beings, He had also full knowledge of the births and activities

of beasts, animals, insects etc.: and took care to see that they did

not unjustly suffer at the hands of the wicked.

 

 

Once while a devotee was seated near Baba, a lizard went chirping so

loudly that the devotee asked Baba, "what made the lizard chirp so

loud and whether it foreboded some evil." Baba told him not to

entertain any fear of it, and that her chirping was simply an

expression of her joy, for she knows her sister was coming from

Aurangabad to meet her. The devotee thought Baba had simply humoured

him by that reply and so he attached no importance to what Baba had

said. Soon however he was disillusioned. A gentleman on horsebacks

came to Shirdi from Aurangabad to meet Baba but Baba was taking His

bath and he had therefore to wait outside for about half an hour. As

he had to proceed farther from Shirdi, he thought of utilising his

time by feeding his hungry horse with grams. He therefore took his

small gunny bag, whipped it twice or thrice and then turned its

inside out to clean it properly, when a small lizard fell down from

the bag. Frightened as she was by her being thrown down like that,

she heard her sister's chirping so she was put at ease; she therefore

strutted in eclat and pomp to meet her sister. The sisters had met

after a long long time, so both were overwhelmed with joy, they

kissed and caressed each other and had a very happy time. The

questioning devotee who was watching all this was amazed at the

supernatural oneness of Baba with such little creatures as the lizard

even.

 

 

Another day at breakfast time Baba said to Mrs. Jog, "Mother prepare

to-day plenty of pulse puddings, apply plenty of clarified butter to

them, and after the noon arti (waving of lights) feed with them the

buffalo whom you will find at your back door." She was overjoyed at

this and fed the buffalo with those puddings. The buffalo heartily

enjoyed this meal and doing justice to them, rested there with ease.

Strangely enough however the buffalo soon died. This frightened the

lady devotee, who looked up all the vessels used in the preparation

of the puddings to assure herself that no poisonous substance had,

without he knowledge, found its way into the cooking utensils. She

stood aghast at the idea that she had been instrumental in bringing

about the buffalo's death and that not only she had committed a sin

this way but she had made herself liable to a prosecution by the

buffalo owner. Terrified at this idea she rushed to Baba and narrated

to Him how unhappy she was at what had happened. Baba emphatically

told her, "Mother, you have done no wrong; the only desire that the

buffalo had in that body was, this eating of the sweet pudding; in

satisfying this desire of hers you have earned religious merit, since

she has now obtained a released from the animal body. She has now

gone into a superior body; so do not worry and as to your fear of

prosecution, rest assured, no one is going to come to claim, this

buffalo at all. This was enough to set at rest the troubled mind of

that lady devotee Mrs. Jog.

 

 

Next time Baba saved a bull from a butcher's hand. Once it so

happened in Shirdi that a bull dedicated to God Shivaji roamed about

in the Village gardens and fields and destroyed the plants, standing

crops etc. so people met together and decided to send away the bull

to Panjra Pole (an asylum for old beasts) at Yeola and collected some

fund for the purpose. They entrusted this work to Bhikhoo Marwadi of

Shirdi, in all good faith; but the said Bhikhoo proved treacherous he

did go to Yeola as directed, but instead of taking the bull to that

asylum he sold it to a butcher for a sum of Rs. 14/-. Returning to

Shirdi however he calmly reported that he had taken the bull to

Panjra Pole and kept him there. Baba knew how the bull was dealt

with, so He appeared in one Bayoji's dream and said, "You have been

enjoying sound sleep of rest. Haven't you placed me in a butcher's

hand?" Bayoji reported this to the village people, who growing

suspicious of the bonafides of the Marwadi deputed Bayoji to Yeola

for investigation. Bayoji went to Yeola Panjra Pole book full and

complete search of it. Not finding the bull there, he went to the

butcher's lane and looked about here and there. Fortuitously a this

very time the bull had raised up its head above a butcher's compound

wall; Bayoji saw this, he at once recognized the bull; so he

approached the butcher and requested him to return the bull, but he

would not part with it, as he had purchased it for Rs. 14/- cash.

Bayoji thereupon got the bull released by paying to the butcher Rs.

14/- and then took him to the old beasts asylum and kept him there.

On his return to Shirdi he acquainted the people with what Bhikhoo

had done so to set a lesson to such sinful, faithless people as

Bhikhoo, Baba inspired them to prosecute him and Bhikhoo had to rot

in Jail for two months for his heinous act.

 

These instances show that Baba had His benign protective eyes not

only on the people of Shirdi but also on all creatures, large, and

small bull, buffalo, lizard etc. of Shirdi.