Shri Sai Satcharitra [Ch. XLV]

[Guest guest]

LAUNCH - Your Music Experience

http://launch.

"saidarshanit" saidarshanit

 

Shri Sai Satcharitra [Ch. XLV]

Sat, 11 May 2002 22:34:34 +0530

Om Sri Sai Ram

Dear Sai brothers and sisters,

Sai Ram. The mailing of 'Shri Sai Satcharitra', (which is the Bhagavat Gita, the

Bible, the Quran of all Sai devotees), the Story of the Universal Lord who has

come to save all of us from misery, sin and every type of misfortune in life

and give us love, bliss, happiness and salvation to whole humanity in this Sai

Yug, Chapter after Chapter will be coming to conclusion shortly. The

‘Sathyam, Sivam, Sundaram’ - the life of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the

combined Avatar of the Divine Lord and Mother, will follow. This will include

hundreds of photos of Swami right from His childhood to the present day. If you

want them to be sent to your other Sai friends and relations, you may kindly

introduce them to our '' group. Reading, listening and

telling the story of the Divine Lord and Mother Sai are the greatest Satsang

and Bliss in life.

We want to make a request to our beloved members. We have many photos of Shirdi

Sai Baba and ALL the places, dieties, temples, etc., in Shirdi. If any of our

members come forward and make them as a slide presentation for sending to our

members on the conclusion of the last chapter (50th) of 'Shri Sai Satcharitra'

to give a feeling to our members like having gone on a piligrimage to Shirdi, we

will be thankful and grateful to them. This will also be a monumental work

treasured and preserved by all Sai devotees. We will send all the photos to

such a volunteer. We do not have expertise in this aspect. Hence this request.

Hope some Sai brothers and sisters will participate in this spiritual sadhana

and service.

One more good news! In order to spread Sai messages to everybody in the world,

we have now arranged that now even non-members can view the 'MESSAGES' in our

Home page:

/

*****

PRAYER

SHREE GANESH VANDANA SHASHI VARNAM CHATURBHUJAM

PRASANNA VADANAM DHYAYETH SARVA VIGHNOPA SHANTAYE

AGAJANANA PADMASANAM GAJANANA MAHIRSHAM

ANEKA DANTAM EKA DANTAM UPASMAYEM BHAKTANAM

Mushikavaahana Modaka Hastha,

Chaamara Karna Vilambitha Sutra,

Vaamana Rupa Maheshwara Putra,

Vighna Vinaayaka Paada Namasthe

Sainatha Sainatha Sainatha Sadgurum

Yogiraja Yugapurusha Bhaktakoti Vanditham

Kripanidhim Tapodhanim Sainatha Pahimaam

Divyateja Bhavyamoorthi Punyacharita Poojitam

Shri Sai Satcharitra

Chapter XLV

Kakasaheb's Doubt and Anandrao's Vision - Wooden Plank Baba's bedstead and not Bhagat's.

Preliminary

We have described in the last three chapters Baba's passing away. His physical

or finite form has no doubt disappeared from our view; but the infinite or

spiritual form (Spirit of Baba) ever lives. The Leelas, which occurred during

His lifetime, have been dwelt upon at great length up till now. Ever since His

passing away, fresh Leelas have taken place and are even now happening. This

clearly shows that Baba is ever-living and helping His devotees as before. The

people who got the contact of Baba when He was living, were indeed very

fortunate, but if any of them did not get a dispassion for the things and

enjoyments of the world and had not their minds turned to the Lord, it was

sheer their ill-luck. What was then wanted and is now wanted is the

whole-hearted devotion to Baba. All our senses, organs, and mind should

co-operate in worshipping and serving Baba. It is no use in engaging some

organs in the worship and deflecting others. If a thing like worship or

meditation is to be done, it ought to be done with all our mind and soul.

The love that a chaste woman bears to her husband is sometimes compared to that

which a disciple bears to his master (Guru). Yet the former falls far short of

the latter, which is incomparable. No one, whether he is father, mother,

brother or any other relation, comes to our aid in attaining the goal of life

(self-realization). We have to chalk out and traverse the path of

self-realization ourselves. We have to discriminate between the Unreal and the

Real, renounce the things and enjoyments of this world and the next, control

our senses and mind, and aspire for liberation only. Instead of depending upon

others, we should have full faith in ourselves. When we begin to practice

discrimination, we come to know, that the world is transient and unreal and our

passion for worldly things becomes less and less, and ultimately we get

dispassion or non-attachment for them. Then we know that the Brahma, which is

no other than our Guru, is the sole reality and as It transcends and besets the

seeming universe, we begin to worship It in all creatures. This is the unitive

Bhajan or worship. When we thus worship the Brahma or Guru whole-heartedly, we

become one with Him and attain self-realization. In short, always chanting the

name of the Guru, and meditating on Him enables us to see Him in all beings,

and confers eternal bliss on us. The following story will illustrate this.

Kakasaheb's Doubt and Anandrao's Vision

It is well-known, that Sai Baba had enjoined Kakasaheb Dixit to read daily two

works of Shri Ekanath: (1) Bhagawat and (2) Bhawartha Ramayan. Kakasaheb read

these daily while Baba was living and he followed the practice even after

Baba's passing away. Once in Kaka Mahajani's house in Choupati, Bombay,

Kakasaheb was reading Ekanathi Bhagawat in the morning. Madhavarao Deshpande

alias Shama and Kaka Mahajani were then present and listened attentively to the

portion read, viz., the 2nd Chapter, 11th skandha of the book. Therein the nine

Nathas or Siddhas of the Rishabha family, viz., Kavi, Hari, Antariksha,

Prabuddha, Pippalayan, Avirhotra, Drumil, Chamas and Karabhajan expounded the

principles of the Bhagawat Dharma to King Janak. The latter asked all the nine

Nathas most important questions and each of them answered them satisfactorily.

The first, i.e., Kavi explained what is Bhagawat Dharma; Hari, the

characteristics of a Bhakta (devotee); Antariksha, what is Maya; Prabuddha, how

to cross Maya; Pippalayan, what is Para-Brahma; Avirhotra, what is Karma;

Drumil, the incarnations of God and their deeds; Chamas, how a non-devotee

fares after death; Karabhajan, the different modes of worship of God in

different ages. The substance of all the exposition was that in this Kali age,

the only means of liberation was the remembrance of Hari's (Lord's) or Guru's

feet. After the reading was over, Kakasaheb said in a despondent tone to

Madhavarao and others – “How wonderful is the discourse of the nine

Nathas on Bhakti or devotion. But at the same time how difficult it is to put it

into practice! The Nathas were perfect, but is it possible for fools like us to

attain the devotion as delineated by them? We won't get it even after several

births, then how are we to get salvation? It seems that there is no hope for

us." Madhavarao did not like this pessimistic attitude of Kakasaheb. He said,

“It is a pity that one who by his good luck got such a jewel (Guru) as

Baba, should cry out so disparagingly; If he has unwavering faith in Baba, why

should he feel restless? The Bhakti of the Nathas may be strong and wonderful,

but is not ours' loving and affectionate? And has not Baba told us

authoritatively that remembering and chanting Hari's and Guru's name confers

salvation? Then where is the cause for fear and anxiety”? Kakasaheb was

not satisfied with Madhavarao's explanation. He continued to be anxious and

restless, the whole day, thinking and brooding over how to get the powerful

Bhakti of the Nathas. Next morning, the following miracle took place.

One gentleman, named Anandrao Pakhade came there in search of Madhavarao. The

reading of the Bhagawat was then going on. Mr. Pakhade sat near Madhavarao and

was whispering something to him. He was mentioning in low tone his dream

vision. As there was some interruption in the reading by this whispering,

Kakasaheb stopped the reading, and asked Madhavarao what the matter was. The

latter said – “Yesterday you expressed your doubt, now here is the

explanation of it; hear Mr.Pakhade's vision which Baba gave him, explaining the

characteristic of 'saving' devotion and showing that the devotion in the form of

bow to, or worship of, Guru's feet is sufficient." All were anxious to hear the

vision specially Kakasaheb. At their suggestion Mr.Pakhade began to relate the

vision as follows.

I was standing in a deep sea in waist-deep water. There I saw Sai Baba all of a

sudden. He was sitting on a beautiful throne studded with diamonds, with His

Feet in water. I was most pleased and satisfied with the Form of Baba. The

vision was so realistic that I never thought that it was a dream. Curiously

enough Madhavarao was also standing there. He said to me feelingly - 'Anandrao,

fall at Baba's Feet.' I rejoined – “I also wish to do so, but His

Feet are in water, how can I place my head on them? I am helpless." Hearing

this he said to Baba – “Oh Deva, take out Your Feet which are under

water." Then Baba immediately took out His feet. I caught them without delay and

bowed to them. On seeing this Baba blessed me saying – “Go now, you

will attain your welfare, there is no cause for fear and anxiety”. He

also added – “Give a silk-bordered dhotar to my Shama, you will

profit, thereby."

In compliance with Baba's order, Mr. Pakhade brought the dhotar and requested

Kakasaheb to hand it over to Madhavarao; but the latter refused to accept it,

saying that unless Baba gave a hint or suggestion for acceptance, he would not

accept it. Then after some discussion Kakasaheb decided to cast lots. It was

the invariable practice of Kakasaheb to cast lots in all dubious matters and to

abide by the decision as shown by the picked up chit or lot. In this particular

case two chits, on one of which was written 'To accept' and on another 'To

reject', were placed at the feet of Baba's picture and an infant was asked to

pick one of them. The 'To accept' chit was picked up and the dhotar was handed

over to, and accepted by, Madhavarao. In this way both Anandrao and Madhavarao

were satisfied and Kakasaheb's difficulty was solved.

This story exhorts us to give respect to the words of other saints, but at the

same time asks us to have full faith in our Mother, i.e., the Guru, and abide

by His instructions: for he knows our welfare better than any other person.

Carve out on your heart, the following words of Baba – “There are

innumerable saints in this world, but 'Our father' (Guru) is the Father (Real

Guru). Others might say many good things, but we should never forget our Guru's

words. In short, love your Guru whole-heartedly, surrender to Him completely and

prostrate yourselves before Him reverentially and then you will see that there

is no sea of the mundane existence before you to cross, there is no darkness

before the sun."

Wooden plank Baba's Bedstead, and not Bhagat's

In His earlier days, Baba slept on a wooden plank, 4 arms in length and only a

span in breadth with panatis (earthen lamps) burning at the four corners. Later

on He broke the plank into pieces and threw it away (Vide Chapter X). Once Baba

was describing the greatness or importance of this plank to Kakasaheb. Hearing

this the latter said to Baba – “If You still love the wooden plank,

I will again suspend or hang up one in the Masjid again for You to sleep at

ease." Baba replied – “I won't like to sleep up, leaving

Mahalasapati down on the ground." Then Kakasaheb said – “I will

provide another plank for Mahalasapati." Baba – “How can he sleep

on the plank? It is not easy to sleep up on the plank. He who has many good

qualities in him can do so. He who can sleep 'with his eyes wide open' can

effect that. When I go to sleep I ask often Mahalasapati to sit by My side,

place his hand on My heart and watch the 'chanting of the Lord's name' there,

and if he finds Me sleepy, wake Me up. He can't do even this. He himself gets

drowsy and begins to nod his head. When I feel his hand heavy as a stone on My

heart and cry out - 'Oh Bhagat', he moves and opens his eyes. How can he, who

can't sit and sleep well on the ground and whose asana (posture) is not steady

and who is a slave to sleep, sleep high up on a plank? On many other occasions

Baba said, out of love for His devotees – “What (whether good or

bad) is ours, is with us, and what is another's is with him."

Bow to Shri Sai - Peace be to all

 

 

Attachment: (image/jpeg) Baba listening evening Arathi.jpg [not stored]

Attachment: (image/jpeg) Dwakamayi Moorthy.jpg [not stored]