Shivamma Thayee's story: 1906-1918

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of 13 according to customs, Shivamma was given away in marriage to Sri

Subramaniam Gunder. Shivamma gave birth to a son after a year of the marriage

and was very happy and content in her new family-life. During this period

Shivamma's uncle, Sri Thangavel Gounder, had been inclined to become a Sanyasi

(renunciate) and traveled around the country in meeting of saints. One day the

uncle brought with him to their town near Coimbatore the famous Saint of

Shirdi: Sai Baba. Masses of enthusiastic people thronged to get a glimpse of

the famous saint, who was already then well known and they felt proud of his

presence in their district of Tamil. At this time, in year 1906, Baba is

believed to have been about 70-71 years of age. Shirdi Sai Baba stayed in the

town for two days and Shivamma's uncle did not let

escape the chance for his family and relatives to meet the great saint, and

hopefully to receive a Matrupadesh (a sacred mantra and initiation) from him.

Shivamma tells of this first meeting, "At that very time, I was breast feeding

my one year old son Mani Raj, seated behind at some distance from my cousin

brothers and sisters. Baba cast a moving glance on all of us, and then he asked

me alone to come near him by his gestures." "Baba told my uncle, 'She is the

only girl in the whole lot who will be a highly elevated soul.' Baba then

slowly chanted the Gayatri Mantra to me and asked me to repeat the same." The

following

morning Shivamma had forgotten her mantra and the uncle again brought her to the

saint, asking for pardon. Shirdi Sai Baba wrote the mantra on a piece of paper,

and Shivamma, who barely knew how to read, feebly tried to learn the mantra

letter by letter in halting Tamil. As time passed, Shivamma's household duties

kept her occupied so as to loosing the precious paper with the given mantra.

That same evening she had a dream of Shirdi Sai who told her, "You search for

the paper on which I wrote the Gayatri Mantra, in the big pot in which you

store rice in your house." The following morning she indeed found the paper in

the corner of the rice pot. From then on Shivamma felt that Shirdi Sai was her

genuine spiritual teacher and accepted him as her Guru. Soon after her initial

meeting with the Saint of Shirdi, Shivamma felt a desire to have darshan

(vision/meeting) of the Saint at Shirdi. Asking her husband the permission to

leave for Shirdi, he declined but on one condition: The family cow being old

and of no use, had to be sold within seven days. If this was to happen, the

husband promised enough faith in Baba and agreed to bring the wife for darshan.

As nothing can stop a devotee from seeing his or her master when the time is

ripe, within 4 days circumstances arranged for the cow to be sold for a

surprisingly good amount! Shivamma says, "My entire family—my husband, son,

myself and my maidservant had Shirdi

Sai Baba's darshan in his old Mosque Dwarka 'Mai Masjid.' To others, Baba

generally blessed them by saying 'Allah achcha karega' (May the Allah do good

to you). But to me Baba spoke these two words in Tamil: 'Nalla iru' (Be

prosperous). Baba always spoke to me in my mother tongue Tamil and even to this

day in his spirit form he comes to me and talks to me in Tamil, which is the

only language I know and understand well." Many devotees and visitors always

surrounded baba. Shivamma describes his countenance, "Baba sat in the Masjid in

a very simple yet majestic manner. He was about six feet tall. He had very long

hands and the fingers of his hands stretched below his knees. His color was

very fair and he had a sharp nose with big nostrils. He was neither thin nor

fat. His eyes were not black but blue and

deep. They shone brightly and penetratingly. People used to say that Baba's eyes

glittered in the night like the eyes of a cat or a tiger. I was very much

fascinated by the charm of my charismatic divine Guru." Shivamma witnessed

many of Shirdi Sai Baba's miracles and powers. "Baba was fond of cooking for

his devotees. Wood was burning in the chullah (clay stove) and the ragi gruel

was boiling in the pot. Baba pulled up his sleeve and immersed his right hand

into the boiling gruel and stirred it many times. Evidently, there was no

effect of the boiling ragi on his hands. Many people witnessed this sort of

cooking done by Baba. Baba himself distributed his food to all devotees, and

even to animals and birds who happened to come to his Masjid at that time."

Shivamma used to travel alone to Shirdi to see Sai Baba three to four times a

year, despite her husbands growing unwillingness. She used to stay in Shirdi

for a few days at a time, having his Darshan and witnessing his powers in play.

Soon Shivamma became so attached to her Guru, that she started chanting his

name in her household and thus grew disinterested in regular out-worldly life.

She says, "Baba treated me as a daughter and showered his grace on me. On many

occasions, I was the sole witness to his miracles." One extraordinary 'yoga'

practice Baba used to do was called Khand Yoga. She explains, "One of my visits

to Shirdi was around 1915. I witnessed a very

horrible thing; I was staying in a rented room close to the Dwarakamai. There

was no latrine in that house, and one night at 1:30 am I had to out in the open

space some distance away to urinate. It was pitch dark. As I walked near the

Dwarka Mai in the street, something like a wooden log hit my feet. I took it

up. To my horror, it was the leg of a human body with blood on it. I put it

down at once and moved ahead in fear. After about five to six feet I hit upon

another mutilated part of a human body—it was a full arm cut off from the

shoulder. I was dreadfully frightened. At once I ran to my room and closed the

door immediately." Shivamma thought that someone might have murdered Shirdi

Sai, and she could not sleep all night weeping and crying.

0in 0in 6pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">She continues, "At about 5 am I got up from my

bed and mustered some courage to peep through the window of my room towards the

Dwarka Mai Mosque. To my amazement I saw Shirdi Sai Baba sitting in the open

courtyard silently smoking his chillum (pipe). I went at once and narrated to

him the experience from the previous night." Baba then told her, "Daughter

Rajamma, I had done my Khand Yoga last night, which I do sometimes. I separate

my limbs from my physical body, and then my physical life is no more there. My

Spirit have seen you moving in the street and stumbling against my mutilated

legs and head." He had further told her that he would teach her the techniques

of Khand Yoga,

which she refused to accept. Shivamma says, "To my knowledge, he did not make

such an offer to anyone among his countless devotees during his lifetime."

Another 'yoga' she witnessed Baba doing was Dhauti Yoga, where the Mahatma used

to swallow a long cloth, about 20 feet, and then pull it out of his mouth by the

local well. This was Shirdi Sai's way of 'cleaning the intestines'. It gets

more intense: "On some occasions, Baba used to take me to the well outside

Shirdi. There he used to do another thrilling yoga. He would take out his

intestines from his mouth, wash them with water, and then spread them by the

well. He

would entrust me the responsibilities of guarding his intestines from eagles,

crows and other birds, because I was his Sishya (disciple). After the

intestines being dry, Baba swallowed them again." For his devotees Baba was a

very patient and caring Guru. He knew about their past, present, and future and

would deal with each case according to this. At times, he would also become very

angry and scold people but his anger was a facade for disciplining his follower.

He taught his followers and disciples the higher truths of spiritual life in

very simplified words through depicting real life stories, parable, and the

accounts of previous lives of many persons, and also other creatures. Shirdi

Sai Baba, the incredible saint of Shirdi, left his mortal frame (Maha Samadhi)

on October 15, year

1918. Courtesy: http://www.saionline.org/shirdi/thayee.htm

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