Dogma and Sai Grace

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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

(Source Sai Padananda Magazine Special)