BIRTH AND REBIRTHS--Bhagavadgita--Saisatcharita

[Guest guest]

3-SAI ON BIRTH AND REBIRTHS

 

 

ABOUT SAIBANISA:

 

Om Sri Ganeshayanamaha, Om Sri Saraswathyainamaha, Om Sri Samardha Sadhguru

Sainadhayanamaha.In those days, with the divine blessings of Sri Shirdi

Sai,Hemadripanth and Dasagunu maharaj took upon the task of spreading Shirdi

Sai's philosophy, much earlier to Baba's attaining Mahasamadhi.Later many

devotes continued the tradition by adopting three methods i.e. by writing about

Baba's Leelas,by singing songs praising Baba and by delivering discourses on His

saintliness, including the human touch practiced and preached by Baba to utmost

perfection.

 

Presently, one of His devotees, Sri Ravada Gopala Rao, well known by many people

and fondly addressed as SAI BANISA is devotedly engaged in spreading Shirdi

Sai's philosophy by delivering discourses about Sai Baba.

 

He was born in the year 1946 to Smt Ravada Venkata Ramanamma and Ravada Venkata

Rao.He took voluntary retirement from Government Service at the age of 54 yrs

and since then he is working for the noble cause of spreading Shirdi Sai's

philosophy. He started delivering discourses in India and abroad in his mother

tongue Telugu as well as in English, Which were well received.

 

He delivered lectures on " Sai Tatva " in English at Chicago in the year 2000 and

at Orlando in the year 2003 in United States of America .He was invited there

for delivering lectures on Shirdi Sai under the auspices of " SAI UTSAV "

organised by Vishwa Sai Bhakta Sammelan.

 

He is bestowed with the unique quality of taking references from the great Epics

and Mythology and the art of co-relating them with the incidents drawn from Sri

Sai Satcharita, authored by Hemadripanth, with convincing examples. He is a

widely read man with sufficient insight into the inner depths 0f the life style

of the great Saint of our times –Shirdi Sai Baba.

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Om Sri Ganeshayanamaha, Om Sri Saraswathyainamaha, Om Sri Samardha Sadhguru

Sainadhayanamaha

 

Baba in chapters- 10 and 15 of Sri Sai Satcharita said that He is servant of His

devotees and that HE can be found in everybody's hearts. Before proceeding to

the actual topic, I request you to accept my humble pranams as Saibanisa.

 

 

The topic chosen for today's discourse is centred on Atma, Paramatma, Birth

and Rebirth as told by Lord Sri Krishna in Srimadh Bhagavad-Gita and by Lord

Sainath in Sri Sai Satcharita. I will also be covering some of my experiences

that I have undergone with Sainath during meditation. I shall consider myself a

blessed soul if my efforts to make you understand the facts about janma and

punarjanma.

 

Sri Sai used to advise His devotees to read Jnaneswari. In the chapter 41 of Sri

Sai Satcharita. Baba had made one of His ardent devotees B.V.Deo to read

Jnaneswari. Marathi speaking people call Bhagavad-Gita as Jnaneswari. Initially

Deo was not able to understand anything from Bhagavad-Gita. Baba appeared in

the dream of B.V.Deo on 2nd April, 1914 and briefed him the method to be

followed for reading Bhagavadgita. Thereby Baba helped B.V.Deo in his spiritual

growth.

 

Therefore I would like to make a beginning with Birth, rebirth, Atma, and

Paramatma as mentioned in the Sankyayoga, the second chapter of Srimadh

Bhagavad-Gita. Later I will touch upon the same subject matter as covered in Sai

Satcharita. Please listen with attention.

 

In Slokas 12 and 13 of chapter-2, i.e. Sankhya yoga of Srimadh Bhagavad-Gita.

 

……………………………………………………………………….

 

Sri Krishna said- " Oh Arjuna! There is no moment when either of us is

non-existent. We will continue our existence even in the coming future. Atma,

the soul is permanent and always present. Death comes only to the physical body.

The Jivatma inside the body undergoes all experiences in different phases of

one's life span like Balya, yauvvana, koumarya, and vardhakya. Jivatama after

destruction of the body enters into another body. Therefore a courageous man

will not be affected by the happenings in the surroundings.

 

In Slokas 18 and 19 from chapter-2 of Srimadh Bhagavad-Gita.

 

……………………………………………………………………….

 

 

All that appears in a physical form has to come to an end whereas Jivatama has

no end. Be aware of this simple fact and participate in the War. Those who

believe that Atma is responsible for the killings and Atma in turn can be killed

by others are both in the state of ignorance. In reality Atma can neither engage

in killing others nor can be killed by others.

 

In Slokas 20 and 21 from chapter-2 of Srimadh Bhagavad-Gita.

 

………………………………………………………………………

 

Atma never takes birth at any given time. As said earlier, Atma neither has a

beginning nor an end. Atma is permanent, as old as time immemorial. Atma inside

the body has no death. Oh! Partha! How can a man fully knowing this truth, be

the cause of death for anybody's Atma which keeps moving from one body to

another. Atma therefore cannot be destroyed, is permanent, and itself does not

undergo any life and death process.

 

In Slokas 22 and 23 from chapter-2 of Srimadh Bhagavad-Gita.

 

……………………………………………………………………………

 

Just as a man wears new clothes after discarding the torn and old ones, Jivatama

leaves the present physical body after the death, and enters into another new

body.

 

Atma cannot be destroyed by weapons, fire, water and even wind.

 

In Slokas 24 and 25 from chapter-2 of Srimadh Bhagavad-Gita.

 

……………………………………………………………………………

 

Atma can neither be split into parts nor is penetrable. Atma is permanent,

stable and static in nature. Atma cannot be perceived by Indriyas, and beyond

the reach of mind. Oh Arjuna! Therefore there is no point in lamenting after

knowing fully the truth about Atma.

 

In Slokas 26 and 27 from chapter-2 of Srimadh Bhagavad-Gita.

 

……………………………………………………………………………

 

Oh Arjuna! Even if you think that Atma has life and death, do not grieve.

Everybody having born has to die some day or other. Every one dying has to be

reborn again. Do not grieve over unnecessary matters.

 

In Slokas 5 and 6 from chapter-4 i.e.jnana, Karma and Sanyasa yoga of Srimadh

Bhagavad-Gita.

 

……………………………………………………………………………

 

Oh Arjuna! You may not be aware that our association is carried over from many

janmas over a number of years. I know all about our past. Only I am free from

all these common happenings. Like Atma, I also have neither a beginning nor an

end. I take different forms with my Yoga Shakti, and keep everything under my

control.

 

The same message is conveyed by Baba in chapter-36 of Sri Sai Satcharita to

Shyama " Shyama-You are with me for the past seventy two janmas. Can you recall a

single event when I hurt you " ?

 

Again in the chapter -3 of Sri Sai Satcharita, Baba said to his devotees:

 

" I am the ruler to control the Indriyas, mind and body of people. I live in

everybody's hearts. My presence is spread all over the living life. Every action

in this universe moves and happens with my command. I am the cause and effect of

all the happenings. I am the Jaganmatha and I am the symbol for Trigunas. I am

the Srusti-Sthithi, layakaraka " .

 

Baba therefore in Kaliyug has conveyed the same message as was conveyed by Lord

Sri Krishna to Arjuna in Srimadh Bhagavad-Gita.

 

So far I was talking about Atma which neither has a beginning nor an end as told

in Bhagavad-Gita. I would now like to place before you my view points on the

topic, as understood by me.

 

Initially, when process of creation had begun, Atmas have emerged from one

single source that is Paramatma. God has created fixed number of Atmas. The

numbers of Atmas merging in God are one in billions and billions and nature had

its own mechanism to auto correct the minimal unbalance so created.

 

 

In Ramayan to avenge the killing of its kith and kin by Kaikeyi maharaj, the

lady deer was born as Mandhara. As per chapter-27of Sri Sai Satcharita, a cow

was born as Lakshmi khaparde after doing good deeds continuously in the next

five janmas.

 

I will place one more example before you. In Mahabharatha, princess by name Amba

was born as Sikhandi to take revenge on Bhishma.

 

In chapter- 47 of Sai Sai Satcharita, a lady by name Dubaki was born as Chenna

basappa to take revenge on Veera bahdrappa.

 

A sage by name Jadabharata was having special attachment towards a deer cub in

his ashram. After death he was reborn as a deer to continue his attachment

towards the deer cub.

 

In the chapter- 46 of Sri Sai Satcharita, Chenna basappa and Veera bhadrappa

were born as snake and frog and continued their enmity.

 

One thing that gets clear is that there is no guarantee that a human being will

be born as a human being after death. But one thing is sure that human beings

can be born as animals and vice versa can also happen depending upon their

karmic deeds. So the sum total of the Atmas remains the same as that was at the

time of creation.

 

Baba in the chapter- 42 of Sri Sai Satcharita had said that same Atma is inside

the bodies of human beings as well as animals. There is no change in the

characteristics. Let us recollect what Baba had said to Lakshmi. Baba

said- " Lakshmi, why are you disturbed unnecessarily? Satisfying the hunger of dog

is as good as feeding me. Even a dog has Atma. Form of Life is different, but

everybody feels the hunger in the same way " . Thus Baba concluded that Atma in

human beings and animals is one and the same.

 

For a moment, Let us draw our attention to what scientists said on this aspect.

We know that certain types of living life are slowly vanishing. In other words,

their Atmas are getting migrated into human bodies and perhaps, leading to an

increase in human population. Atmas in animals with their good conduct and

behaviour are born as human beings. Therefore, we should always aim to be born

as human beings in our next birth also.

 

 

 

 

Also our elders have said that Atmas in human beings demonstrate outstanding

qualities on a continuous basis, through out their life shall merge with

Paramatma. As an example, let us take the history of Druva from Bhagavtham. He

ruled his kingdom extremely well for Twenty six thousand years .With the

blessings from Sri Maha Vishnu became a star in the sky, named after him as

Druvatara. In chapter- 31 of Sri Sai Satcharita, we can come across one such

personality, Tatya sahib Noolkar. Baba grievingly said at the time of his death,

" Tatya had left before us. He has no rebirth " . In this way, Baba has granted

Sadgathi to some of his devotees.

 

Let us listen to

 

In Slokas 3 and 30 from chapter-7 i.e. Jnana, Vijnana yoga--------------------of

Srimadh Bhagavad-Gita " .

 

Lord Sri Krishna said-

 

" Only one or two out of thousands of my devotees put efforts to know me. Very

rarely one from such a lot realise the `Real Me'. Only such people knowing me

and My Swaroopa with efforts shall merge in me to set themselves free from the

endless cycle of birth and rebirth once for all.

 

Let us now see to what Baba said about rebirths in the chapter -31 of Sri Sai

Satcharita. A sick tiger was brought to Baba's darbar by its keepers. Baba

said- " This tiger in the previous life was a human being indebted to you. It was

born as a tiger and cleared all your previous debts and attained Sadgathi in

Dwarakamayi " .

 

Prof.G.G.Narke, one of the ardent devotees of Baba was Principal of Deccan

Engineering College, Pune. Baba appeared in one of his dreams and showed him a

man cutting woods. Baba said- " Narke, this man was your friend from the previous

janma. You indulged in good activities in the past life, now studied well to

become the Principal of an Engineering college. Whereas the other man by virtue

of his bad deeds carried over from the previous janma is presently leading the

life of a wood cutter to earn his livelihood " . Narke considered this as a mere

dream. After few days he visited Dwarakamayi to have Baba's darshan, strangely

by coincidence a wood cutter entered Dwarakamayi, who supplied firewood for the

dhuni in Dwarakamayi. Baba called upon Narke and told him " he is your friend

from the previous janma. You buy firewood for Rs2/- from him " . Narke was

dumbstruck by the words of Baba.

 

 

Now I will place before you an incident from the book titled " The Incredible

Sai' by Arthur Osborne. Once a boy was bitten by a snake in Shirdi and

collapsed. Mother of the boy carried the body and placed it before Sai and

prayed Him to save the boy. Baba had not agreed to her request. Kaka sahib

dikshit was unable to bear the site of grieving mother and pleaded on her behalf

with Baba to save the boy, but in vain. Sai said- " I can save him, but it is

better for the boy that he dies. He has already entered into the womb of another

woman. After rebirth, he is going to perform many good deeds, which he cannot do

living in his present body. I have to put back life into him now at the cost of

the life already begun in another woman's womb. I can do all this for your sake,

but can anyone take the responsibility " ?

 

All those gathered there were astonished and ultimately convinced the mother and

performed the last rites for the dead body.

 

Here I may have to talk about few incidents to make things more clear. Baba

saved Shyama from the snake bite. The reason being that Shyama in this life had

to complete many more good works left undone in this life. Baba in the boy's

case had not agreed to save the life because; the boy has many more good deeds

to be performed in his coming janma.

 

 

Baba in the year 1886, on a full moon day, had left his physical body in the

state of Yoga Kriya Samadhi for seventy two hours and re-entered his body later.

With all this it can be concluded that there is no death for Atma.

 

Baba in the chapter -32 of Sri Sai Satcharita said, " This body will go into the

earth. Breath will disappear into air. There can be no such opportunity again. I

may go anywhere, may sit anywhere " . It means that some day or other, one has to

leave the body to take rebirth again. Therefore from Lakhs of years, Baba's Atma

is taking many janmas and continue in future also.

 

A man dying in one form means to be reborn in some other form. It is only a

process of shifting as far as Atma is concerned.

 

I entered into Sai's fold from the year 1989 and since then I am in the habit of

regular reading of Sri Sai Satcharita. I happened to pray him on one night to

indicate as to how my next janma would be.

 

The dream contents are very interesting and I would like to share them with you.

The day Atma leaves the body means physical death. Atma entering into another

body means rebirth.

 

In the dream, I was shown with a visual. My Atma holding the hand of Sadhguru

crossed a forest, a river and then a mountain top. On the top of the mountain,

was a Fort with four minarets. As per our traditions, we engage in Godhaan on

the tenth day of death to see that Atma crosses Vytharani River without facing

any difficulty. It is general belief that Atma holds the tail of the cow and

swims across Vytharani River.

 

After crossing the river, Atma reaches the fort with four minarets. Fort is

symbolic with the life of a human being. The four minarets are the four

qualities to be achieved in human life. They are: Dharma, Artha, Kama and

Moksha. A man can earn the first three with his efforts, but the fourth one

Moksha is to be attained only with the grace of Sadhguru. Holding the hand of

Sadhguru Atma reached up to the fourth one, tallest of all minarets. Sadhguru

stopped there and told- " I will not come beyond this point with you. Reach the

Lotus feet of the Lord chanting His name. But keep in mind not to look down " .

Here I would like to remind you about what is mentioned in our Puranas. "

Chanting the name of the Lord or the name of the Sadhguru in divine form will

ferry one across the ocean full of difficulties.

 

My Atma then promised to stick to the Guru's advice and then commenced further

journey, i.e. walking into the sky. But the curiosity to look down towards the

earth has dominated. I ignored Guru's advice only to fall down to ground from

the sky and quickly re-entered into the womb of another woman. Atma had failed

to heed to the words of the Sadhguru and thus a beginning is made for one more

new janma. As far as Atma is concerned, it is rebirth.

 

So far we have understood the underlying aspects of birth and rebirth with

examples drawn from Bhagavad-Gita, Sri Sai Satcharita, by Hemadripanth, and from

the book " The Incredible Sai " by Arthur Osborne.

------------------------------

 

Now, I will put before you some of my experiences on the today's topic of Sai

on Birth and Rebirths and Baba's messages in my dreams on the subject.

 

 

 

1. My father at the age of 54 yrs has passed away in the village Eduki in

kerala, in the year 1974 due to cardiac arrest. While knowing about his rebirth,

I came across very interesting information. My father stationed his family in

Andhra Pradesh and he moved from one place to another as per the job

requirements. As a consequence, he had missed the pleasures of married life.

His bodily desires were left unfulfilled and so he was reborn after death in a

well to do family. As he stepped into teens, he got used to a carefree life with

mind fully occupied with sexual thoughts. No doubt, I was disturbed on knowing

all this, but I concluded that the Atma with desires left unfulfilled from the

previous life will take rebirth to fulfil those desires in the next janma. Same

message is conveyed in the Akshara Brahma-yoga i.e. chapter-8 of Srimadh

Bhagavadhgita.

 

In Slokas 5 and 6 from chapter-8 of Srimadh Bhagavad-Gita Lord Krishna said:

 

Kounteya! Those who chant and remembers my name in their last moments shall

attain me. There need not be any of doubt on my statement. A Man would achieve

whatever he longs for, in the final moments. He would achieve the same in his

next life to come,

 

2. In one of our relative's family, their eldest son was suffering from muscular

decease right from the child hood and was totally bed ridden. His parents served

him till the age of twenty years and later he passed away. My mind was

constantly thinking as to why the boy was confined to bed for so many years. I

came to know interesting points in the process. The boy in his previous janma

was a very intimate female friend of the couple. She was unmarried. In the

present janma they are his parents. She died in a Road accident and was born to

the couple as their son, got their services fully and died.

 

3. One of my friends was holding very high position in a Bank. He died at the

age of 45 yrs due to paralytic stroke, leaving behind his wife and five

daughters. I was wondering and looking towards Baba to answer for the miserable

state of affairs in their family. Why did he meet such a fateful death?

 

In the previous janma, he was a Physical training instructor. He always looked

upon girls with low opinion and encouraged only boys. In this janma all the five

girls were born as his daughters to take revenge on him. So my friend died of

paralytic stroke having shown utter disregard for those female students.

 

4. One of my close friends son was residing in USA. He was highly educated and

earned lot of money. He died at a very young age of thirty years in an accident.

I was very much moved by the incident. Initially I was wondering why at all this

should happen to them. They never harmed any one, then why should they be

punished like this? I asked Baba in meditation and Baba had shown:

 

My friend's wife in the initial days of their marriage took pity on an orphan

boy. She gave him food. The boy too desired that he should have a mother like

her. On one day being absent minded, he met with a Road accident and died. He

was born as my friend's son. Having faced poverty in his previous janma, he was

born in a wealthy family. Got good education, but was looking ways and means to

earn more money and accidentally fell down climbing a hill and died. He is now

once again born in a very wealthy family in US and presently leading a well to

do life as he was thinking only about money in the last moments as son of my

friend.

 

Now you might be curious to know about the previous four janmas of this man

lecturing to you on rebirth. Let me also touch upon that aspect.

 

Sometime back, I was mentally disturbed due to family problems and bad treatment

of bosses in the office. I wanted to commit suicide. Sai appeared in my dream

and told-

 

" To commit suicide is a sin. You are leading a better life in this janma. Look

to your previous four janmas and see for your self how much better off you are

now. Baba showed me the janmas prior to the year 1946. I was born on 24th April

1946 as Gopala Rao Ravada.

 

In the previous janma, I died as a young man at the age of 25 yrs, fighting with

the British in the county's freedom struggle. I was married but could not fulfil

my commitments properly.

 

In the previous janma to the one in freedom struggle, I was born in a middle

class family. I died at the age of 20 yrs fighting the enemy while in British

Naval forces during the First World War.

 

In the previous janma to the one in fighting the British Naval forces, I was

born in a poor family and worked as labourer in a rich Zamindar's house. I was

killed by the short tempered Zamindar's son.

 

In the previous janma prior to the one in as rich Zamindar's servant, I was born

as a girl in a very poor family. At the age of sixteen, I was raped by four

persons and killed.

 

After having seen all the four previous janmas, I realised how lucky I am in the

present life and decided to serve Sai devotees to the best of my abilities. I

pray Lord Sainath to grant me with the same favour of serving him in the next

life too, and with these words I will close my discourse on Sai on births and

rebirths.

 

Jai Sairam

 

saibanisa

saibanisa