Gifts of Sai Baba By Dr. V. N. Shiradhonkar

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Gifts of Sai Baba

By Dr. V. N. Shiradhonkar

" The ignorant runs after false pleasures and falls into the wide net of

death. The wise knows what is eternal; he does not expect anything of

lasting value from the inconstant pleasures of life. "

- Kenopanishad

SAI-brother K. N. Narayan Swamy has made an appeal-'Dedication to Sai' -

in the January 1988 issue of Sai Padananda, in which he has called upon

Sai devotees to contri-bute articles / experiences on Sainath to several

Sai magazines. Prompted by his appeal, my mind mused over the gifts that

Sai Baba has conferred upon us.

 

Shirdi Sai Baba is a phenomenon. His physical body has disintegrated

into the elements many years ago. But today belief in him and his power

to assist people in times of distress is growing. Sai Baba started no

cult and spread no religion which one could identify with him. His

teachings have been the essence of all religions. His believers are

country-wide and include Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Christians, and others

and several others abroad.

 

Saints exist to give devotees temporal and spiritual bene-fits. Sai Baba

has said: " I have come to give such good things to the devotees " . Once

when one of His devotees objected to people going to Sai Baba for

temporal benefits, Baba told him: " Do not do that. My men first come to

me on account of that only. They get their heart's desires fulfilled and

comfortably placed in life, and then they follow me and progress

further. I bring my men from long distance under many pleas. I seek them

and bring them to me. They do not come of their own accord. I draw them

to me " . These words are law even today.

 

His assurances (11 sayings) are fulfilled in the case of each Sai

devotee in his own inimitable manner. Sai Baba did not care for money or

gifts during his life time: He begged for food and ate along with dogs,

pigs, beggars etc. He had a perfect conquest of the palate and perfect

sense of equality that He displayed to all the living creatures. They

indeed see the very perfection of what the world's scriptures had

conjoined for the true seekers of God, viz., not minding what one eats

and treating all life as one.

 

What gift can we give Sai Baba who in fact is sustaining us in every

moment of our life? We breathe Sai, talk Sai and live Sai. I can only

borrow a line of G.S. Khaparde from his 'Shirdi Diary' - " From the moment

I approached Him, all the load of my worldly cares disappeared though

only a few minutes, before, it was felt to be exceedingly oppressive and

such as to cause disgust in life " . So let us contribute our two-pice

'dakshina' - Sraddha and Saburi to our Sai Maharaj.

Source Shri Sai Padananda July 1988 issue