DIVINE GRACE TO SRI NARAYAN ASHRAM

[Guest guest]

SRI NARAYAN ASHRAM, SANNYASI OF WAI

 

The life of this devotee Narayan Ashram from Satara district is

interesting from the view point of Baba's method for spiritual

improvement. In 1910, he was Mr. Toser in the Customs Department, and

he continued to be in that department till 1926, when he retired on

pension. In 1910, however, he had the advantage of listening to Das

Ganu Maharaj's kirtan. As usual, whatever was his subject, the

Kirtankar dilated upon Sai Baba's glories and qualities, and Sai

Baba's picture was always at the meeting. Having derived a very good

impression of Baba's saintliness, Mr. Toser, at the close of the

kirtan, went and asked Das Ganu whether Sai Baba was living, and was

told that he was at Shirdi. Within five days of this information, Mr.

Toser hurried up to Shirdi and fell at the feet of Sai Baba. His

attachment was so powerful that in six months he paid nine visits to

Shirdi. He went in later years also, but the first visits were the

most memorable. The impression derived from Das Ganu's kirtan was

greatly strengthened and vivified by his frequent visits. Until 1918,

Mr. Toser was entirely under Baba's influence. Afterwards, he passed

into the charge of Vasudevananda Saraswathi of Gurudeswara on the

banks of the Narmada near Nanded in Gujarat. Vasudevananda Saraswathi

had in fact attained Mahasamadhi even in 1915. But he was in

spiritual contact with Baba and Sri Narayan Ashram believed that Baba

had left him in the charge of Vasudevananda Saraswathi from 1918. In

1931, Narayan Ashram went to Vedasrama Swamy of Kasi, Tarakamath,

Durgaghat, and obtained Sannyasa Diksha from him. Internal changes

are hardly matters for publication, but Swami was kind enough just to

offer a few hints so that readers may know more about Sai Baba. He

begins by saying:

 

Sai Baba had different ways if dealing with different people. He was

the centre and to each man he darted a separate radius. Most people

who approached Baba cared for material things only and hardly any

came to him for the highest spiritual benefit of Atma Nishta.

 

Hari Sitaram Dixit, Chandorkar and Dabolkar, were probably those who

came close enough to him to receive high teaching. Yet it is a

question if any of them got into Atma Nishta or anywhere near that.

Baba had made Dixit read two of Eknath's works, as he was but a

beginner in the religious field and had to chiefly develop his

bhakti. Of course, immediate proximity was not needed for development

under Baba. When I was at Shirdi, I would mostly go and sit away by

myself in the Sathe wada and not be at Mosque. As even at the wada,

one is under Baba's direct influence.

 

Baba's methods of teaching varied. He would simply touch with his

palm the head of a devotee and that would have one kind of influence.

Sometimes He pressed his hand heavily on the head of a devotee as

though he was crushing out some of the lower impulses. On occasions,

he would pat on the devotee's back or would pass his palm over his

head. Each had its own effect affecting the sensation and feeling of

the subject. Apart from touch, he effected an invisible operation on

the devotee, whereby he could bring about a great change in him, and

of that Mr. Toser had an experience. Baba conveyed to him graciously,

without using any words or even touching him, the feeling that

differences between various souls, or for that matter, all

differences were unreal, and the one real thing was the Divinity,

which underlies all. This was in 1913 or 1918 perhaps. This truth was

not uttered in words by Baba before Narayan Ashram. It seems to have

been uttered in presence of R. B. Purandhare to somebody. Sri Narayan

did not mention these experiences of his either to Mr. Dixit or to

Dabolkar, though Mr. Dixit was writing experiences of devotees in his

Sai Lila Masik, and Dabolkar was adding to his Sai Sat Charitra out

of such material. Neither of them asked him for his experience. Baba

spoke to Narayan Ashram only a few words, and they were direct and

plain words. He did not talk to him in parables. When numerous people

flocked to Baba, he would employ parables. So far as Mr. Toser could

find out, Baba was trying to push people who came to him just a few

steps above their level. As for further steps, further guides and

further influences would come in later as matter of course. There was

nothing wrong in going from one saint to another saint, especially if

the first Guru had attained Mahasamadhi.

 

Mr. Toser himself notices that other saints were talked of by Baba or

they talked of him as brothers, and that they belonged to the same

group so to speak. Thus, one Daji Maharaj, a saintly Grihasta

Brahmin, who lived at Dangar Takidi, near Nanded in the Nizam's

State, was referred to by Baba as his brother. That Maharaj passed

away only in 1934. he was practising Gayatri Puruscharanam. in 1914,

that Maharaj once said at Dangar Takidi, "Yesterday Sai Baba Came

here in the form of Maruti and there was a great rumbling noise at

his arrival". Mr. Toser and his father being Maruti worshippers, had

got a temple built for Maruti in 1918 at Ville Parle, in Hanuman

street and named the God, `Sai Hanuman' remembering the fact that Sai

was Hanuman. The very day this temple was consecrated at Ville Parle.

Baba gave, it seems, Rs. 25 to a Brahmin called Vaze and made him

perform Satyanarayana puja at Shirdi. People connect these two events

as cause and effect. Sri Narayan Ashram says, "Sai Baba never spoke

to me or so far as I remember to anyone else about the desirability

of Sannyasa." But I myself had that feeling and became a sannyasi.

The Guru, Sri Narayan Ashram says, "is a medium, a means to realize

your ownself. He gives you the initial push and then you have to

exert yourself, and go higher and higher to your height. Sai Baba

thus was a medium responsible for a considerable and momentous

advance in my spiritual history." Before we went to Baba, one Vinayak

Bhat Shandale, whom he met in 1900, and who made him read Yoga

Vasishta with zest, as a Guru or medium for him. So, Mr. Toser had a

number of stepping stones, but the most interesting fact about him is

that Sai Baba gave him the impression that he recognised no

differences and that in fact no differences did exist and he filled

him with prolonged bliss alike when Mr. Toser was with Baba at the

Mosque and also when Mr. Toser went to his quarters, in, Sathe wada.

"Even at the wada," he says, "one is under Baba's direct influence."

 

This grant of internal bliss and that for long stretches and for

numerous days gives an indication of Baba's own internal bliss. It is

for this purpose that Narayan Ashram's experience is valuable to us,

that is, he shows us Baba is Satchitananda.

 

Sri Narayan Ashram's wife and mother are living in the same house

with himself, but he is observing the rules of Sannyas, and devoting

his attention to Paramarth and when Sai Bahajan groups gather, he

comes and with his melodious voice sings Sai Kirtans, as he did at

the All India Sai Devotees' Convention at Poona in 1952.

 

Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji

(Vasuki Mahal Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Trust, Coimbatore – 641025, India)