DID BABA SACRIFICED HIS LIFE TO SAVE TATYA'S?

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DID BABA SACRIFICE HIS LIFE TO SAVE TATYA’S?

Sri Ramachandra Kote Patil fell seriously ill in 1916. All types of medication

were tried but were found to be futile. Everyone thought that his early death

was inevitable. He too was resigned to his death and waited with dread for the

day. One night Baba presented him with his divine vision and said, "Do not

fear. I have stopped your death. You will get well soon. I am only worried

about Tatya. He will die in 1918 on Vijayadasami day, but do not reveal this to

anyone, especially Tatya. If you tell him this, it will only serve to terrorise

him before his death." Amazingly Ramachandra Patil started to recover his

health from the very next day and attained his former good health in a few

days. He was an intimate friend of Tatya and knew that Baba’s words were

unalterable and had to come true. He realised that Tatya had only two more

years left in this world and was engulfed in sorrow. He could not keep this

burning anguish within himself for long and shared the secret

divulged by Baba with his friend Bala Shimpi alone.

As Ramachandra Patil and Bala Shimpi feared, Tatya fell seriously ill as the

Vijayadasami of 1918 approached. Baba too fell ill around the same time.

Tatya’s condition worsened day-by-day and turned critical one or two days

before Vijayadasami. He could not even come to the mosque for the darshan of

Sri Sai Baba. One day Baba sent word to him to come to the mosque and have his

meal there, but as Tatya could not summon enough strength to even rise from his

bed, some devotees helped him to go to the mosque where Baba fed him with

semolina pudding with his own hands despite his ill health. Tatya could only

swallow a couple of mouthfuls with great difficulty. Baba told him, "Tatya, I

have arranged for two swings (carriages) for us initially. But I have changed

my mind. I alone will go on now presently. Now you may go home." Tatya

understood the import of Baba’s words and started sobbing. He said, "Baba, why

do you not send me first?" Baba replied, "I am

a fakir, there is no one to cry for me when I go away. But all your people will

grieve if you go." Tatya heard the tone of finality in Baba’s words and his

sorrow intensified and he started weeping piteously. He said, "Baba, if I go,

it is only my relatives who will grieve. But if you go, you will make many

people of this world orphans. If you live on many people will attain salvation

by your mere darshan. What of me? My life is a burden to me and to my relatives

too." Baba would not brook any further talk in this vein from Tatya. He scolded

him lovingly, "Alright, no more talk from you. Go home." He put udi on Tatya’s

forehead and sent him home, watching him with a heavy heart until he was out of

sight.

The day of Vijayadasami dawned and Baba entered mahasamadhi. Tatya’s health

astonishingly started improving a few hours after Baba’s mahasamadhi and fully

recovered in a couple of days.

The people believed that Baba had sacrificed his own life to save Tatya’s.

Hemadpant brings this out in the 42nd chapter of Sri Sai Satcharitra. "It

seemed that they both (Baba and Tatya) exchanged a life for a life and a death

for a death. The people believed that Baba had sacrificed his life for the sake

of Tatya. Baba alone knows whether this is true or not. In this manner Baba had

stated Tatya’s name but indicated his own mahasamadhi."

It was not surprising that the people believed thus seeing that Baba had loved

Tatya more than his own life itself. But this is just a blind belief on their

part and in fact has no foundation. This is because Baba has clearly stated

that he had first arranged for two swings (carriages), one for himself and the

other for Tatya. But he had changed his mind and sent one swing back and that

only he will be going away. He did not say that he had got only one swing ready

for Tatya and that he would be going in that instead of Tatya. Tatya also only

requested Baba to send him first but not to send him instead of Baba.

Further; Sri Sai Baba is an incarnation of god whose birth, growth and death is

tied with the karma and salvation of many devotees. Baba had saved many

devotees from death and indeed had even brought back alive many who were dead

too. To save Tatya from death was an easy task for him, it was not necessary

for him to sacrifice his own life to save Tatya’s. As Hemadpant stated, he may

have, in his natural cryptic style, indicated his death in advance and said

Tatya’s name instead of his own. The feeling of the people that he had

sacrificed his life to save Tatya mirrors their belief that he had indeed loved

Tatya more than his own life.

"Experiences of Tatya" in the Marathi magazine Sri Sai Leela Masik

 

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