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Shri Sai Satcharita [Ch. XLIII & XLIV]

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Shri Sai Satcharita [Ch. XLIII & XLIV]

Wed, 1 May 2002 19:41:27 +0530

Organization: Sai Darshan Infotech

Om Sri Sai Ram

Shri Sai Satcharita

Chapters XLIII & XLIV

Sainatha Sainatha Sainatha Sadgurum

Yogiraja Yugapurusha Bhaktakoti Vanditham

Kripanidhim Tapodhanim Sainatha Pahimaam

Divyateja Bhavyamoorthi Punyacharita Poojitam

Baba's Passing Away (Continued)

Preparation - Samadhi-Mandir - Breaking of the Brick - 72 Hours' Samadhi - Jog's Sannyas - Baba's

Nectar-like Words.

Chapters 43 and 44 continue the story of Baba's passing away, and therefore they

are taken together.

Previous Preparation

It is the general practice amongst the Hindus that when a man is about to die,

some good religious scripture is read out to him with the object that his mind

should be withdrawn from worldly things and fixed in matters spiritual, so that

his future progress should be natural and easy. Everybody knows that when king

Parikshiti was cursed by the son of a Brahmin Rishi and was about to die after

a week, the great sage Shuka expounded to him the famous Bahagwat Puran in that

week. This practice is followed even now and Gita, Bhagawat and other sacred

books are read out to dying persons. Baba being an incarnation of God needed no

such help, but just to set an example to the people, He followed this practice.

When He knew that He was to pass away soon, He ordered one Mr. Vaze to read

Rama Vijaya to Him. Mr. Vaze read the book once in the week. Then Baba asked

him to read the same again day and night and he finished the second reading in

three days. Thus eleven days passed. Then again he read for three days and was

exhausted. So Baba let him go and kept Himself quiet. He abided on His Self and

was waiting for the last moment.

Two or three days previous, Baba had stopped His morning peregrinations and

begging rounds and sat in the Masjid. He was conscious to the last and was

advising the devotees not to lose heart. He let nobody know the exact time of

His departure. Kakasaheb Dixit and Shriman Booty were dining daily with Him in

the Masjid. That day (15th October) after Aarti, He asked them to go to their

residence for dining. Still a few, viz., Laxmibai Shinde, Bhagoji Shinde,

Bayaji, Laxman Bala Shimpi and Nanasaheb Nimonkar remained there. Shama was

sitting down on the steps. After giving Rs. 9/- to Laxmibai Shinde, Baba said

that He did not feel well there (in the Masjid) and that He should be taken to

the Dagadi (stone) Wada of Booty, where He would be all right. Saying these

last words, He leaned on Bayaji's body and breathed His last. Bhagoji noticed

that His breathing had stopped and he immediately told this to Nanasaheb

Nimonkar who was sitting below. Nanasaheb brought some water and poured it in

Baba's mouth. It came out. Then he cried out loudly 'Oh Deva.' Baba seemed just

to open His eyes and say 'Ah' in a low tone. But it soon become evident that

Baba had left His body for good.

The news of Baba's passing away spread like a wild fire in the village of Shirdi

and all people, men, women and children ran to the Masjid and began to mourn

this loss in various ways. Some cried out loudly, some wallowed on in the

streets and some fell down senseless. Tears ran down from the eyes of all and

every one was smitten with sorrow.

Then the question arose - How to dispose off Baba's body? Some (Mohammedans)

said that the body should be interred in an open space and a tomb built over

it. Even Khushalchand and Amir Shakkar shared this opinion. But Ramachandra

Patil, the village officer said to the villagers with a firm and determined

voice, “Your thought is not acceptable to us. Baba's body should be

nowhere placed except in the Wada." Thus people were divided on this point and

discussion regarding this point went on for 36 hours.

On Wednesday morning Baba appeared to Laxman Mama Joshi in his dream and drawing

him by His and said, “Get up soon; Bapusaheb thinks that I am dead and so

he won't come; you do the worship and the Kakad (morning) Aarti." Laxman Mama

was the village astrologer and was the maternal uncle of Shama. He was an

orthodox Brahmin and daily first worshipped Baba in the morning and then all

the village deities. He had full faith in Baba. After the vision he came with

all the pooja materials and not minding the protests of the moulvis, did the

Pooja and the Kakad Aarti with all due formalities and went away. Then at noon

Bapusaheb Jog came with all others and went through the noon-Aarti ceremony as

usual.

Paying due respect to Baba's words the people decided to place His body in the

Wada and started digging the central portion there. In the evening of Tuesday

the Sub-Inspector came from Rahata and others from other places turned up and

they all agreed to the proposal. Next morning Amirbhai came from Bombay and the

Mamalatdar from Kopergaon. The people seemed divided in their opinion. Some

insisted on interring His body in the open field. The Mamalatdar therefore took

a general plebiscite and found that the proposal to use the Wada secured double

the number of votes. He, however, wanted to refer the matter to the Collector

and Kakasaheb Dixit got himself ready to go to Ahmednagar. In the meanwhile, by

Baba's inspiration there was a change in the opinion of the other people and all

the people unanimously voted for the proposal. On Wednesday evening Baba's body

was taken in procession and brought to the Wada and was interred there with due

formalities in the garbha, i.e., the central portion reserved for Murlidhar. In

fact Baba became the Murlidhar and the Wada became a temple and a holy shrine,

where so many devotees went and are going now to find rest and peace. All the

obsequies of Baba were duly performed by Balasaheb Bhate and Upasani, a great

devotee of Baba.

Breaking of the Brick

Some days before Baba's departure, there occurred an ominous sign foreboding the

event. There was, in the Masjid an old brick on which Baba rested His hand and

sat. At nighttime He leaned against it and had His asan. This went on for many

years. One day, during Baba's absence, a boy who was sweeping the floor, took

it up in his hand, and unfortunately it slipped from thence fell down broken

into two pieces. When Baba came to know about this, He bemoaned its loss,

crying, “It is not the brick but My fate that has been broken into

pieces. It was My life-long companion, with it I always meditated on the Self,

it was as dear to Me as My life, it has left Me to-day." Some may raise here a

question – “Why should Baba express this sorrow for such an

inanimate thing as a brick?" To this Hemadpant replies that saints incarnate in

this world with the express mission of saving the poor helpless people, and when

they embody themselves and mix and act with the people, they act like them,

i.e., outwardly laugh, play and cry like all other people, but inwardly they

are wide awake to their duties and mission.

72 Hours' Samadhi

Thirty-two years before this, i.e., in 1886 A.D., Baba made an attempt to cross

the borderline. On a Margashirsha Poornima (Full moon) day, Baba suffered from

a severe attack of asthma. To get rid of it Baba decided to take His prana high

up and go into Samadhi. He said to Bhagat Mhalasapati – “Protect My

body for three days. If I return, it will be alright; if I do not, bury My body

in that open land (pointing to it) and fix two flags there as a mark." Saying

this, Baba fell down at about 10 P.M. His breathing stopped, as well as His

pulse. It seemed as if His prana left the body. All the people including the

villagers came there and wanted to hold an inquest and bury the body in the

place pointed by Baba. But Mhalasapati prevented this. With Baba's body on his

lap he sat full three days guarding it. After three days passed, Baba showed

signs of life at 3 A.M. His breathing commenced, the abdomen began to move. His

eyes opened and stretching His limbs, Baba returned to consciousness (life)

again.

>From this and other accounts, let the readers consider whether Sai Baba was the

three and a half cubits' body that He occupied for some years and that He left

thereafter or He was the Self inside. The body, composed of the five elements

is perishable and transient, but the Self within is the thing - Absolute

Reality which is immortal and intransient. The pure Being, Consciousness or

Brahma, the Ruler and Controller of the senses and mind is the thing Sai. This

pervades all things in the universe and there is no space without it. For

fulfilling His mission He assumed the body and after it was fulfilled, He threw

away the body (the finite aspect), and assumed His infinite aspect. Sai ever

lives, as also the previous Incarnation of God Datta, Shri Narsimha Saraswati

of Ganagapur. His Passing away is only an outward aspect, but really He

pervades all animate and inanimate things and is their Inner Controller and

Ruler. This can be, and is even now experienced by many who surrender

themselves completely to Him and worship Him with whole-hearted devotion.

Though it is not possible for us to see Baba's form now, still if we go to

Shirdi, we shall find His beautiful life-like portrait adorning the Masjid.

Shamrao Jaykar, a famous artist and well-known devotee of Baba, has drawn this.

To an imaginative and devout spectator this portrait can give even to-day the

satisfaction of taking Baba's Darshan. Though Baba has no body now, He lives

there and everywhere, and will effect the welfare of the devotees even now as

He was doing before when He was embodied. Saints like Baba never die, though

they look like men, they are in reality God Himself.

Bapusaheb Jog's Sannyas

Hemadpant closes this chapter with the account of Jog's sannyas. Sakharam Hari

alias Bapusaheb Jog was the uncle of the famous Varkari Vishnubuva Jog of

Poona. After his retirement from Govt. Service (He was a Supervisor in the P.W.

Department) in 1909 A.D., he came and lived in Shirdi with his wife. He had no

issue. Both husband and wife loved Baba and spent all their time in worshipping

and serving Baba. After Megha's death, Bapusaheb daily did the Aarti ceremony in

the Masjid and Chavadi till Baba's

maha-samadhi. He was also entrusted with the work of reading and explaining

Jnaneshwari and Ekanathi Bhagawat in Sathe's Wada to the audience. After

serving for many years, Jog asked Baba - &quotI have served you so long, my

mind is not yet calm and composed, how is it that my contact with Saints has

not improved me? When will You bless me?" - Hearing the Bhaktas’ prayer

Baba replied – “In due time your bad actions (their fruit or

result) will be destroyed, your merits and demerits will be reduced to ashes,

and I shall consider you blessed, when you will renounce all attachments,

conquer lust and palate, and getting rid of all impediments, serve God

whole-heartedly and resort to the begging bowl (accept sannyas)." After some

time, Baba's words came true. His wife predeceased him and as he had no other

attachment, he became free and accepted sannyas before his death and realized

the goal of his life.

Baba's Nectar-like words

The kind and merciful Sai Baba said many a time the following sweet words in the

Masjid – “He who loves Me most, always sees Me. The whole world is

desolate to him without Me, he tells no stories but Mine. He ceaselessly

meditates upon Me and always chants My name. I feel indebted to him who

surrenders himself completely to Me and ever remembers Me. I shall repay his

debt by giving him salvation (self-realization). I am dependent on him who

thinks and hungers after Me and who does not eat anything without first

offering it to Me. He who thus comes to Me, becomes one with Me, just as a

river gets to the sea and becomes merged (one) with it. So leaving out pride

and egoism and with no trace of them, you should surrender yourself to Me Who

am seated in your heart."

Who is this ME?

Sai Baba expounded many a time Who this ME (or I) is. He said “You need

not go far or anywhere in search of Me. Barring your name and form, there

exists in you, as well as in all beings, a sense of Being or Consciousness of

Existence. That is Myself. Knowing this, you see Me inside yourself, as well as

in all beings. If you practise this, you will realize all-pervasiveness, and

thus attain oneness with Me." Hemadpant, therefore, makes a bow to the readers

and requests them humbly and lovingly that they should love and respect all

Gods, saints and devotees. Has not Baba often said “He who carps and

cavils at others, pierces Me in the heart and injures Me, but he that suffers

and endures, pleases Me most." Baba thus pervades all beings and creatures and

besets them on all sides. He likes nothing but love to all beings. Such nectar,

pure auspicious ambrosia always flowed from Baba's lips. He therefore, concludes

– Those who lovingly sing Baba's fame and those who hear the same with

devotion, both become one with Sai.

Bow to Shri Sai - Peace be to all

PRAYER

Oh Sai Baba, we wave lights before You, the Bestower of happiness to the Jivas.

Give us – Your servants and devotees rest under the dust of Your feet.

Burning (destroying) desire, You remain absorbed in Your Self and show the Lord

(God) to the aspirants. As one feels intently, You give him experiences or

realizations accordingly. Oh kind-hearted, Your power is such! Meditation on

Your name removes our fear of the samsar. Your method of work is really

unfathomable as You always help the poor and helpless. In this Kali age, You -

the all-pervasive Datta, have really incarnated as Saguna Brahma. Ward off the

fear of samsar of the devotees who come to You every Thursday so as to enable

them to see the Feet of the Lord. Oh! God of Gods, I pray that let my treasure

be the service of Your feet. Feed me Madhav with happiness as the cloud feeds

the Chatak bird with pure water and thus keep up Your Word. Amen!

Bow to Shri Sai - Peace to be all

 

Attachment: (image/jpeg) Shirdi Sai Moorthy & Samadhi.jpg [not stored]

Attachment: (image/jpeg) Sai Samadhi in Shirdi temple.jpg [not stored]

Attachment: (image/jpeg) Shirdi Sai Moorthy-4.jpg [not stored]

Attachment: (image/jpeg) Our journey destination.jpg [not stored]

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