Dogma and Sai Grace By Dr. G. R. Vijayakumari

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Dogma and Sai Grace

By Dr. G. R. Vijayakumari

What is Life?

A young married couple once had a sickly and feeble son who died one

hour after birth. They put this inscription on his grave; " He was

born........ Cried........ And died " .

This is what we do in the brief span of life allotted to us. We are

born; cry and die, and none of this can be avoided, for we depend on

God.

 

No Matter how great the trials that come into our lives, no matter what

the problems are, we should remember that Shirdi Sai Baba is guarding

us. We should not be surprised to encounter such things in the spiritual

path. We should face them boldly, confident in the knowledge that Sai

Grace is with us.

 

If we become absolutely pure, we can transform an enemy into a friend,

by which we elevate ourselves as well as the other party. In such cases,

we must love them with all our heart and treat them with kindness and

live with them in all patience, understanding that they are so behaving

with us out of ignorance. Instead of condemning them, we should feel

compassionate for them. Very recently, Lord Sainath focused this fact

into light in his own inimitable manner. One fine morning in September

'83 T.A. Ram Nathen of Sarangabad {West Bengal) received a packet of

'udhi' prasad unsolicited from a devotee visiting the shrine of Hazrat

Tajuddin Baba at Nagpur. Sai devotees are aware that Hazrat Tajuddin

Baba (1861-1925) considered Shirdi Sai Baba as his 'Elder Brother' and

infact, admonished Shri Booty (a gem in Sai durbar) by saying " Why have

you come here? Your Guru is anxiously waiting for you at Shirdi " .

 

Ram Nathenji thanked our Heavenly Father, Sai Baba, for this flow of Sai

grace from Hazrat Tajuddin Baba. He shared this grace with his brothers

and sisters in the 'Sai-fold' of the postal 'Sai Satsang' catalyzed by

him. He wrote to each one of them enclosing a bit of Hazrat Tajuddin

Baba's udhi to use for Sai-advantage.

 

R. Radhakrishnanji of Hubli (Karnataka) too received this Tajuddin

prasad from Ramnathen and reverentially placed it in his home-shrine of

Lord Sainath. Very soon, Lord Sainath brought forth on him a miracle.

 

Muppayanavar is working as a broker in the Marketing Society at Dharwar

(Karnataka). He has been worshipping Lord Sainath for the last twelve

years. He is also a regular r of 'Sri Sai Leela' magazine. He

lives in a locality predominantly inhabited by Muslim-brothers.

 

Since they belong to the iconoclastic religion, Sai'-Bro. Muppayanavar's

neighbour Muslim-Bros., did not tolerate idol worship. In September

1983, a few masked Muslim-Bros., gate-crashed into Muppayanavar's House,

assaulted him, and tried to snatch the Sai-Photo from him. But it was

not to be so they turned round and threatened to kill him if he

continued with idol-worship. Naturally he was shaken and developed a

fear-complex. He did not wish to file F.I.R. but only prayed to Shirdi

Sai for protection. " Faith accomplishes everything; doubt destroys

everything " , said Paramahansa Yogananda truly. Shirdi Sai responded to

Muppayanavar's prayer. He, a " Sai leela " r, came across an

article on noble R. Radhakrishnanji, noted down his address from it

rushed post-haste to his house 15kms, away.

 

It was 2nd October 1983, Sri Radhakrishnanji had just performed the

ceremony of his forefathers, as it was a 'Mahalaya Amavasya' day and was

chitchatting with his children in the front verandah. Sri Muppayanavar

rushed to him with tears gushing out of his eyes and narrated him his

tale of woes. He was obsessed with the fear that the Muslim-brothers in

his neighborhood might liquidate him any moment.

 

Sai-Bro. Radhakrishnanji gave him a patient hearing. He is a gem among

Sai-devotees. He immediately rushed into his home-shrine of Sai Baba and

prayed to Him for relief. He took a pinch of Hazrat Tajuddin Baba's udhi

and gave it to Muppayanavarji with the advice: " Love your

Muslim-brothers with all your heart and treat them with kindness and

live with them in all patience, understanding that they are so behaving

with you out of ignorance. Individually, we have to bear up with

everything however unpleasant, that comes to us from anyone opposed to

us and take it that Lord Sainath sends these troubles to raise us beyond

the pairs of opposites, so that we can remain calm and unaffected in all

situations. This attitude changes in a mysterious way the heart of the

person who is opposed to us " .

 

With this advice, Radhakrishnanji asked Muppayanavarji to keep udhi

always with him and mentally pray to Baba for relief. He also told him

an anecdote from Hazrat Tajuddin Baba's life :- " Once at the time of

communal riots, a Muslim devotee complained to Hazrat Tajuddin Baba -

'Hindus are killing Muslims. Please save them'. The saint said - 'shut

up, none can kill a true Muslim'. The aulia meant that those who have

real faith in God would be saved and that all others are only Muslims

and Hindus in name. They serve petty politics and not God " .

 

It was Lord Sainath consoling Sri Muppayanavar through Sri R.

Radhakrishnan. He returned to Dharwar and three days later, i.e. on the

5th October 1983, the same Muslim brothers who had beaten him two weeks

ago re-entered his house. On this occasion, Sri Muppayanavar was bold

enough as he had Hazrat Tajuddin Baba's udhi with him. The Muslim

brothers apologized profusely for their misconduct and requested him to

punish them in any manner he chose. Pious by nature, Sri Muppayanavar

pardoned them and hugged each one of them with love and compassion.

 

My creed - To love justice, to long for the right, to love mercy, to

pity the suffering to assist the weak, to forget wrongs and remember

benefits, to love the truth, to be sincere, to utter honest words, to

love liberty, to wage relentless war against slavery in all its funs, to

love wife and child and friend, to make a happy home, to love the

beautiful in art, in nature, to cultivate the mind, to be familiar with

the mighty thoughts that genius has expressed, the noble deeds of all

the world; to cultivate courage and cheerfulness, to make others happy,

to fill the life with the splendor of generous acts, the warmth of

loving words; to discard error, to destroy prejudice, to receive new

truths with gladness, to cultivate hope, to see the calm beyond the

storm, the dawn beyond the night, to do the best that can be done and

then be resigned.

 

This is the religion of reason, the creed of science. This satisfies the

brain and heart.

- Rovert G. Ingersoll