WHO IS SRI SAI BABA OF SHIRDI?
By Shri
H.H.NARASIMHASWAMIJI
(Founder)
All India Sai
Samaj (Regd.), Madras - 600 004.
SAI BABA OF Shirdi is a name to conjure
with. In fact, his name is used as a
sacred and powerful mantra by thousands of persons. He is not a non-historic or remote personality, but one who was
with us in the flesh till 1918, moving familiarly with tens of thousands and
that for decades. A short account of
Sri Sai Baba will be interesting and will also prove in many cases the turning
point in the lives of numerous readers, as it has done in the past.
2. Of Sai Baba’s birth, parentage, and
antecedents, no person that we have met can give any account. But Baba himself gave some hints which have
been verified and worked upon. He seems
to have been born some time between 1820 and 1850 A.D. in the village Pathri,
in the Nizam’s State. His parents were
Brahmins who handed him over at a tender age to a fakir. After the fakir’s death, some five years
later, the child passed in the care of his Guru Deva, Gopal Rau Deshmukh, a
great bhakta of God Venkateswara of Tirupati.
After a splendid period of ten years of intense love and devotion
towards his Guru-God, the boy obtained the Guru’s grace. As directed by the Guru, he went westward
and came to Shirdi in the Bombay Presidency (Ahmednagar District), and after
some wanderings, settled and spent the rest of his life there. He passed away on the 15th October, 1918 (3
p.m. Vijaya Dasami Day, after Ekadasi began).
The tomb erected over his remains is now the Sai Mandir attracting the
devotion of persons from all parts of the country.
3. Nobody dies: least of all, a self
realized soul like Sai Baba. Atmagnanis
or Jivanmuktas are said to become Vidhehamuktas or nirakara Parabrahmam when
the fleshy sheath is cast off.
Exceptions to this rule are mentioned in the Brahmasutras. Bhrugu, Narada, and other eminent
devotee-gnanis have, instead of merging in the Absolute when they cast off the
body, continued to remain in their subtle body (Sukshma sarira, which however
could be rendered gross and visible or sthula at will) in order to co-operate
with divine leelas, rendering service to humanity. These are styled apantaratmas.
Sai Baba is now an apantaratma.
Before shuffling off his mortal coil, he said that his devotees need not
be sad or frightened at his casting off his fleshy gown (kupni), and that
wherever and whenever any devotee should think of him, he would be present and
attend to him. This has been found
indeed to be true by innumerable persons; and earnest souls can still take Baba
at his word and prove its truth from their own experience.
4. Sai Baba, the soul of truth and reality
has never spoken untruth. ‘Anrutam
noktapurvam me nacha vakshya kadachana’ (Untruth, I have never uttered nor will
I utter it at any time), was the remark of Ayodhya Rama as also of this Shirdi
Rama.
5. The early decades spent by Baba at
Shirdi are almost wholly forgotten. He
was first living under a margosa tree leading the life of a perfect
ascetic. Next, he removed to a
dilapidated mosque in the village, and resided there to the end of his
life. He had nothing that he could call
‘mine’. For thirty years and more, he
was leading the life of holy poverty, and then his devotees whom he
affectionately termed his children, pressed the pomp and show of royalty upon
him. For the last ten years of his
life, he appeared as a prince though he behaved throughout like a poor fakir,
who either owned nothing or everything in the world. His was the life of perfect celibacy (naishtika rahmacharya with
astalitha urdhvarethus), a fact which was beaming out of his brilliant tiger
like eyes. His virtues were numerous -
Ananthakalyanaguna - and would naturally sink into the heart of those coming in
contact with him, and thus raise them gradually on the highest. ‘Apana sarika karita tatkal’, is a saying of
Tukaram, which means that great souls raise the devotees to their own level;
vide Bhagavata, where Lord Krishna says, ‘Though devotees do not wish to be one
with me, I pull them unto myself’.
6. Amongst his qualities, the most notable
was, of course, love - uniform, all embracing, intense love, showered on all
and at all times, without any idea of the extent of sacrifice involved or any
idea of recompense - truly maternal love at its highest. God is love and the means to reach God is
also love. Baba was nothing but the
embodiment of love. This love was perpetually
manifesting itself in every act, word, and thought of his, though at times
hidden by his ascetic modes of life. In
the beginning he would move and talk with none except under strict
necessity. However, when there was any
suffering in the village, he would run to relieve it and would accept no
recompense.
7. ‘Saisangatve nissangatvam’ was the
other exception to his rule of asceticism.
Where there were saints or holy people, he would be found in their
company. Some of these saints like
Janaki Das and Devi Das were the first to discover his merits; and in the early
eighties of the 19th century, some of
them revealed the fact that Baba was like a diamond lying on a dung hill, and
that the world would one day discover what a great Rama Bhakta he was. The world has since discovered that fact,
and more, has identified him with Rama, Krishna, Maruthi, Datta, etc.
8. At the time of his arrival at Shirdi,
Baba appears to have been a thorough adept in the prema marga, the path of love
and evidently possessed of all power, which naturally issues from such
love. He seldom cared to use his power,
but once, a manifestation was wrung out of him. The shopkeepers who supplied him gratis with oil, one day refused
the supply, and gathered in a scoffing mood to see what the ‘mad fakir’, as
they styled him, would do without oil for his lamps. Baba simply filled up his empty earthen lamps with water, and the
wicks inserted in the water were burning all night! This gave a rude shock to the villagers’ notion that Baba was
negligible and mad fakir.
9. Baba however was never negligible. From the very beginning, he was always
helping humanity at first by dispensing medicines and later by dispensing
‘udhi’ i.e., vibuthi or ashes from the fire that he always kept burning by
him. Udhi has played a very important
part in the grace shown by Baba to people all these years, and it is still being
sought and used by people all over the country. But, as Baba explained, it is not the Udhi itself that works the
wonder. {“What can the udhi do?
Nevertheless, take the udhi as it is wanted”, said Baba to G.G.Narke}
The devotees’ bhakti (faith and devotion), for instance, has always to take its
part in the good results produced by the udhi.
The udhi was generally the material with which His blessings were
issued. The udhi is the cup enshrining
the really valuable blessings of Baba.
But these blessings often came and do come without the udhi.
10. When people came to him, he would give
them the udhi and say ‘Allah bale karege’ (i.e. God will bless) and everything
he uttered proved effective. Once he
said ‘I go on speaking things here, and things happen there.’ Baba’s words were words of authority. When he said that there should be water on a
waterless rock, water was found there.{Charter 350}. When he addressed the elements they obeyed him. Fire, water, and air were seen by several
devotees to obey his orders. He ordered
high flames to sink down and they did.
He ordered the rain and storm to cease and they ceased. He willed a cool breeze to blow near the
fire on a blazing summer day and cool breeze blew there.{Charters 341.4} The dead were revived. The heart of every one present or absent, he
knew without effort and he could control it.
He was realized to be a sarvantharyami. He himself declared,
‘Aham
Atma hi Chandorkar
Sarva
bhutasaya sthitah’
i.e.
‘O, Chandorkar, I am in the hearts of all creatures’.
11. Of the many ‘miracles’ performed by Baba
and witnessed by many eminently respectable persons (many of them still
living), it is sufficient to give but a few instances to show how and why they
were resorted to. Baba identifying
himself with God and gods declared that there was never any miracle performed
by him. Really, there are no ‘miracles’
in the universe if ‘miracles’ mean the violation of the laws of Nature or of
God. People begin to generalize about
the laws of Nature from the few facts known to them and when a strange
phenomenon suddenly appears in apparent contradiction of their artificial ‘law
of Nature’, it is declared to be ‘miracle’ - a violation of the so called
law. A truly scientific mind would
rather add the new fact to the old facts and try to remould the old law so as
to include the new fact observed.
Mankind is not omniscient. One
day, the science of the future will give scientific explanations for the
so-called ‘miracles’ of all times.
12. But beyond the miracles of Baba, there is
one bright, marvelous fact, worthy of people’s adoration and that is, his
golden heart of love with its message of universal love. Baba loved all - Hindus, Moslems,
Christians, and Buddhists, the learned and the illiterate, the poor and the
rich, the priest and the criminal - alike.
His message to all his devotees is ‘Love ye, one another, as I love you
all’.
13. Baba declared that if people hated one
another, his heart was smarting with pain and sorrow and if persons forgave
enemies and endured the ill-treatment, he was highly please. This is the most valuable lesson for this
day and for all time. A story is told
in Bhagavatha of the world going as a cow to Brahma, groaning under the weight
of the cruel Asuras harassing innocent people.
That is just the spectacle all over the world to day. Hatred, destruction, plunder, and absolute
disregard for truth and virtue, are the predominant features in the daily
history of the world to-day. Man’s
claws and teeth are red with the gore of brother man; and the criminal is not
apologetic but blatant. Civilisation is
in imminent danger of being submerged in pools of human blood and devastating
fire leaving the human form a fossil to be discovered within some rocks by some
later race. The only thing that can
avert this doom is love, a revival of the very ancient message to Asuras from
God ‘Dayadhwam’ i.e., ‘Be merciful’.
14. Baba’s whole life was an illustration of
how this divine message could be carried out in life, and the more Baba’s message
is heeded, circulated, and preached, the greater is the hope for humanity
avoiding the threatened catastrophe.
Incidentally, it may be noted that while the Kshtriyabalam of Akbar
failed, the Brahmatejobalam of Baba is steadily achieving the benefit of the
people. ‘Dikbalam Kshatriyabalam
Brahmatejobalam balam’ - Fie upon Kshatriya’s power, Spiritual power alone is
power’, was said by the Kind Viswamitra when he found that all the arrows
showered by him upon Vasishta were of no avail, by reason of the Brahmadanda
which Vasishta had placed by his side as a protection. ’Ekena brahmadandena astrah sarvah
vinishkrtah’.
15. One species of miraculous achievements
wrought by Baba for the benefit of his devotees is the blessing given for
issue. Whenever Baba blessed anybody
and said that there would be issue, invariably the lady brought forth the
child, either male or female, in twelve months, exactly as stated by Baba. Here are a few examples: Damodar S. Rasane
had two wives, but no issue. His
horoscope showed a papi or cruel planet in the putrasthana and
astrologers declared that he would have no issue in this birth. But Baba gave him four mango fruits and
directed him to give them to his junior wife.
Baba assured him that he was going to have eight children through that
wife, the first two being males. The
lady ate the fruits and had just eight children, with their sexes as mentioned
by Baba. This would remind one of the
issue less monarch Dasaratha, consulting his Kulaguru Vasishta. According to the directions of this Guru,
Aswamedha and Puthrakameshti yagas were celebrated on a grand scale (even
though it was not stated that there was any papi in the putrasthana of
Dasaratha) and four sons were brought forth by his queens. In Rasane’s case, there was no Vasishta nor
were any yagas. Evidently, Vasishta,
Vamadeva, Risyasringa, Bhrugu, Puthrakameshti and Aswamedha were all inside Sai
Baba who declared that the devotee would have eight children.
16. Another case is more interesting. One Scindhe had seven daughters and no
sons. He went up to the temple of
Dattatreya at Gangapur, 200 miles away from Shirdi, and prayed there for male
issue. He vowed that if he were granted
a son within twelve months, he would bring the child to Gangapur and make his
offerings. He had his prayers answered
and obtained a son in twelve months.
But, for about six years, he did not go to Gangapur at all. Then he came to Shirdi. Baba looked at him and spoke fiercely, ‘Are
you so conceited and stiff-necked?
Where was there any male progeny in your prarabdhakarma? I tore up this body (pointing to his own
body) and gave you a male child in answer to your prayer’. This was not only occasion when Baba
declared that he had overridden the workings of prarabdhakarma. A third case is interesting from another
standpoint. A pleader of Akkalkote had
reviled and mocked at Baba in his student days and had subsequently lost his
only son. Fancying that the loss was
the result of his irreverence towards Baba, he came to Shirdi. Baba blessed him and declared that he (Baba)
himself would fetch the soul of the deceased son and place him within the womb
of the Vakil’s wife. In twelve months
thereafter, she was delivered of a male child.
17. Incidentally, it may be mentioned that it
was the blessings for issue more than anything else that made the educated,
especially from towns, to go to Baba.
One Gopal Rao Gundu, A Revenue Inspector, who had two wives but no
issue, sought and obtained Baba’s blessings and the fruit of those blessings, a
son. He broadcast the kindness of Baba
and his wonderful powers abroad, and a large number of educated people
including Deputy Collectors, Collectors, and political leaders like Lokamanya
Tilak, flocked to Shirdi.
18. In 1886, Baba died his first death. One day when sitting along with his devotee
Mahisapathy in the Dwaraka Mayi (as his mosque was named by him), Baba said
that he was going to Allah and that consequently for three days his body was to
be looked after for, after that period, he might return to the body, and that
in case he did not do so, the body should be interred near the mosque. Presently Baba’s body became a corpse. An inquest was held over the same and the
officer holding the inquest insisted on Mahlsapathy burying the body. But Mahlsapathy vehemently opposed the
proposal and succeeded in preventing the internment. On the fourth day, Baba’s body revived and for thirty-two years
thereafter, Baba worked through that living fleshy case and finally left it on
the 15th October, 1981, with the same prescience and clear control over all the
circumstances which he showed in 1886.
This leaving of the body at will and returning to it at pleasure is an
art, a siddhi, described in the Yoga Sastras; and Baba’s exercise of such
powers convinced and would convince many of the truth of the Sastras. ‘Dharmasamsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge
yuge’ (i.e. ‘I am born in each age for establishing Dharma’) said Krishna of
Dwapara Yuga to Arjuna. And this
divinity of the twentieth century A.D. in Kaliyuga, like other men of God
(Devatmas) of the same period, has frequently by his conduct proved the truth
of, and confirmed, the belief in Dharma and Sastras.
19. One noticeable feature of Baba’s life
after his return to the body was that he began to encourage the arrival of
bhaktas to his feet. Evidently the
object of his return to his body was to carry out his mission more fully and
for a longer period on earth, especially with reference to the devotees and
others bound to him by former ties, rinanubandha. This is well illustrated by his call to Narayana Govind
Chandorkar, B.A., Personal Assistant to the Collector of Ahmednagar, to come to
his feet.
20. When N.G.Chandorkar or ‘Nana’ as Baba
affectionately called him, was halting at Kopergaon, Baba sent word to him
repeatedly to come to Shirdi for a visit.
Nana after much hesitation came up to Shirdi and asked Baba why he was
sent for. Baba replied that for four
previous births, Nana had been intimate with Baba and that therefore in this
life also, he should get into similar close contact. Again Nana hesitated. But
Baba, by the exercise of his wonderful powers and his kindness especially,
filled Nana’s heart with faith and gratitude for numerous miraculous favours
showered upon him. On one occasion when
Chandorkar was stranded on a hot day on a waterless hill (Harischndra Hill)
unable to climb up or get down, he suddenly exclaimed; ‘If Baba were here, he
would give me water’. Baba who was then
at Shirdi, forty miles away, mentioned to the people there that Nana was
thirsty and should be provided with a palmful of water. At that time, a Bhil appeared on that hill
and pointed out a palmful of water to Chandorkar, under the very rock over
which the latter was seated. Later when
Nana visited Shirdi, Baba informed him that it was ;he who provided water on
the waterless rock. Similarly, on
another occasion, when the thirsty Chandorkar prayed to Baba in the midst of a
forest for tea being given him after he should emerge from the forest, tea was
suddenly provided in the middle of the night in a forlorn place. Again when Nana’s daughter was undergoing
the tortures of prolonged parturition, Baba sent a gosavi from Shirdi with udhi
to be used for easing the parturition.
The gosavi wanted to know how he could go to Jamnere, which was N.G.C’s
camp, across thirty miles of country road from the railway without funds, Baba
simply answered that everything would be provided. At the station, the gosavi found a tonga and a liveried peon
waiting for him, professing to have been sent by Sri Chandorkar. When the gosavi went up in that tonga and
delivered the udhi, its use was quickly followed by safe and comfortable
delivery. Then he mentioned the tonga,
the horse and the liveried peon to Chandorkar, who wondered, as he had not sent
any of these and nobody else could have sent these. Both the gosavi and NGC wondered at Baba’s power to provide
everything he wanted at any place and at any time and at the depth of Baba’s
love for his devotees.
21. Nana had innumerable proofs of Baba’s
vast, nay, unlimited powers, his perpetual watch over his beloved devotees, his
invariable kindness towards all that approached him, and summed them all up in
the phrase that Baba was omnipotent, omniscient and universally kind. No word aptly expresses the sum total of
these attributes except ‘God’.
Chandorkar was convinced that Baba was God and worshipped him as God;
and by reason of Chandorkar’s vast influence, Baba’s greatness and glory became
known to all in various parts of Maharashtra.
22. One Ganpat Rao Sahasrabuddhe, a constable
attending on NGC was similarly turned in to a devout Bhakta and made to quit
Government service (in 1905) substituting therefore the service of God or
Baba. Sri Sahasrabuddhe has thence
forward been known as Dass Ganu Maharaj and as a Kirtankar-devotee of Baba all
through these forty years. By his
powerful Harikathas and his talents, he has carried Baba to the homes of tens
of thousands in Maharashtra. His works
on Baba are the earliest authorities on the life of Baba. The above mentioned two gentlemen with
others like H.S.Dixit and Anna Dabolkar, may be regarded as Baba’s apostles who
carried the faith in Baba to the length and breadth of Maharashtra.
23. Baba’s own miraculous personality
surviving his release from his physical body has however been the principal
reason for the success of all this propaganda.
His power is still working and by reason of that along, myriads in
Madras and other Presidencies have become firm adherents to, and worshippers
of, Baba. The faith is well grounded in
the experience showered upon them now as liberally and miraculously, as they
were showered before Baba’s passing away.
Baba’s figure is occasionally seen by, and his wondrous powers are
manifested to, those that have the necessary faith, at any place, as Baba has
no partiality and his grace cannot be the monopoly of any person or place. Wonders are being worked by him today at
various places and therefore Sai Mandirs have sprung up in many of them.
24. Baba, however, is not a mere worker of
miracles. He is a Samartha
Sadguru. He applies miracles or
miraculous means to fill with faith and gratitude the hearts of devotees. Gratitude soon turns into love and then
Baba’s real work is seen. Baba purifies
the hearts of all of the dross of low attachments and their consequences, and
gradually raises the devotees’ souls to loftier and still loftier states of
being, till they finally merge into himself.
People begin with the notion that Baba is a kind provider of all that they
need and in fact resort to him to have their temporal needs satisfied. But they discover (at least many do) that
Baba is after all their Ishtamurthi, their own Rama or Siva, the God of their
fathers who has now taken a new shape to carry out the ancient divine plan of
the Universe, and that ‘God fulfils himself in many ways lest one good custom
should corrupt the world’.
25. The question is often asked whether Baba
was a Hindu or Moslem. The first remark
to make about this question is that the cause for this question should be
looked into before it is answered.
There is a strong feeling on the part of the Hindus that they should not
go near a Moslem whose views run counter to their cherished ideas, and who would
destroy their religious emblems and idols.
Similar is the repugnance on the part of the Moslems to accept purely
Hindu traditions which they consider too idolatrous and unholy. When we come to take an impartial view, we
find, whether we are Hindus or Moslems, that the above question is irrelevant
or of very little importance. First
about the irrelevancy. The Sufi and the
Orthodox Hindu, both agree that when a person has reached perfection, i.e., the
level of Brahman, the question of caste does not arise at all. Caste (or ‘Jathi’ as it is called in
vernacular) refers to that which has born and that which has ‘janma’. The self-realiser who is identical with God
is not born though his body was born.
But the body is not ‘he’ and there is no need to go into the question as
to whether the body arose from parents who were Hindus or Moslems, or was
trained and brought up among 3ither of them.
Sri Sankara’s well-known phrase about the realized soul is ‘Jati Niti
Kula Gotra duuragam’ - that it is far above questions of caste, family clan,
etc., and Sankara’s Manisha Panchaka repeatedly closes with the line,
‘Chandaalostu Dwijostu sadgururityeshau manaishaa mama’ - ‘Let him be a
chandala or Brahmin, he (the realized soul) is my Guru’. What does it matter whether the Kohinoor is
lying on a dung hill or in a palace!
The Sufis too have exactly the same view as regards these
distinctions. However, the reason for
raising the question is a strong feeling regarding the necessity of protecting
one’s own religious sentiments adequately from being harassed violently by a
person of an opposite sect. On this
matter, it may be pointed out that whether Baba was a Hindu or a Moslem, he
allowed every sect to keep to its own method of approaching God. To Hindus, he said: ‘Continue your Rama
worship, and worship the stones which your forefathers worshipped’. He even presented some lingams, silver
padukas, pictures and coins for worship by Hindus. To Moslems, he never gave any of these but allowed them to follow
their nirakara (formless) form of worship as far as it is possible. So the real cause for raising the question
about one being a Hindu or Moslem does not arise in this case on account of the
extreme catholicity of Baba’s views and practice. But prejudices die hard and in spite of all that is said, persons
still hanker to know whether Baba was a Hindu or a Moslem. It may be pointed out that though his
original antecedents were unknown, his continued residence for about 50 years
in a mosque was considered a sufficient reason for most people to consider him to
be a Moslem. There is a Tamil proverb
that if one drinks anything, even milk, under a Palmyra tree, he will be taken
to have drunk toddy.
26. Let us examine the real facts. Baba’s antecedents as mentioned already were
revealed by himself. Even after they
are fully considered, still the question must be deemed doubtful whether he was
a Hindu or a Moslem. But (Janma or
Jathi) by actual birth, he was of Brahmin parents, and hence by a very large
number of persons, he is considered to be a Brahmin. But according to Baba’s own statement, he was handed over in his
very infancy to a fakir who brought him up for about five years according to
Islamic faith. After the death of the
fakir, Baba was handed over to a Brahmin Guru by name Sri Gopal Rao Deshmukh of
‘Venkusa’. The stay of ten years under
this Guru and the marvelous initiation into divinity by the Guru’s purna kripa,
ought to clear all doubts, and establish that Baba was Brahmin or at least a
Brahmin. But as fate would have it, the
Guru after conferring upon Baba his purnakripa and raising him to divinity,
directed him to go westwards and Baba had to spend the rest of his life in a
mosque moving with all alike as an ativarnasrami, i.e., one beyond all caste
rules. We do not know what an expert
lawyer would conclude as to Baba’s caste in these circumstances. But whatever that may be, to those who
considered him a Moslem, he responded as a Moslem and to those who cared to
treat him as a Hindu, he responded as a Hindu; and he expounded the Koran to the
former and the Sastras to the latter.
By the Hindus, he has been worshipped as Ramavatara or Sriman Narayana
for so many decades while others treated him as merely human. This reminds us of an incident about
Krishna. When Sri Krishna went with
Balarama and others to a yagasala and wanted food, the Brahmins were wondering
whether they could offer the food prepared for gods to Krishna, who appeared to
have been born in a Kshatriya family but brought up among (Vysias) cowherds. He was regarded as God by many, but the
Brahmins were doubtful about his caste.
By reason of their ignorance (ajanna) they offered no food at all to
Krishna. Then Sri Krishna sent word to
the ladies, who ran up all at once with great devotion and gave up all that
they had prepared for the Gods to him whom they considered as the God of
Gods. Exactly the same thing happens
now. Persons whose pious leanings
render they easily attracted to such great souls as Baba run up to Baba and
never bother their heads over questions of his Jathi or caste, and like the
Brahmin ladies, deserved and obtain the highest blessings while many doubting
Thomasses (samscyatmas) even of the highest castes, go on debating endlessly
about the question of the caste to which a holy man belongs and lose their chance
of benefiting themselves here and hereafter.
It depends a great deal upon once’s poorva sambanda or rinanubhanda
whether one is attracted by Sri Krishna or Sri Sai; it may be noted that
persons wish to discuss this question of caste only when their feelings have
not been roused. But when one is in
intense pain or great trouble, his heart leaps out with the request, ‘Baba,
help me’, never minding a brass pin as to where Baba was born or how he was
brought up; and once he receives innumerable and miraculous benefits, he gets
perfectly convinced that Baba is God to him, whatever he may be to others and
he cares not for discussions as to the legal position regarding Baba’s
caste. Baba himself used to say at times
to such Hindus as considered him a Moslem: “I am a Moslem, don’t come to me”
and to persons who regarded him as Sad Guru or Guru-God: ‘I am a Brahmin. Give me dakshina. This place wherein I am sitting is not a mosque; it is a
Brahmin’s mosque; it is Dwaraka Mayee’.
He was everything to everyone.{Ye yatha maam prapadyante,
thaamsthathaiva bhajaamyaham’ - Gita}.
27. Apart from Baba’s caste, some persons
raise the question whether he was a Brahmagnani and if so how he happened to
perform miracles. Persons who raise
such curious doubts would do well to analyse their own question and find out
its implications. Can it be very
seriously contended that he who performs miracles must be an agnani? Will Sri Krishna and Sankara be labeled
agnanis by these people? If these
people analyse their own minds, they will discover the reason fro their
doubts. Spiritual aspirants (sadhakas)
are often decidedly to lose by attending to the thaumaturgic powers or siddhis
derived from their sadhana and many Gurus have warned their devotees from
hankering after siddhis. It is also
pointed out by such gurus that there is a waste of accumulated powers in the
exhibition of siddhis and the performance of siddhis is generally attended with
the danger of increasing one’s passions especially the rajas and tamas, which
are embedded in one’s nature. But can
these objections ever arise in the case of one like Sai Baba? The differences between miracle-mongers and
souls like Sri Krishna and Sai Baba are these.
Firstly, in the case of the latter, power arises not by the repetition
of mantras or by the adoption of tantras, but simply as part and parcel of
their divine nature. Secondly, these
high souls have no hankering for the results of the siddhis. They do not ask for recompense, nor do they
try to attain ulterior aims of their by having recourse to siddhis. Thirdly, the siddhi power, being part of
their nature, does not exhaust itself by any number of miracles. Fourthly, they are prompted by pure love,
karuna and their employment of powers is a means for achieving the highest
temporal or spiritual ends for themselves and others. None of these statements will apply to miracle mongers.
28. In this short introduction we cannot
possibly give even a very rough outline of the various activities of Baba. It is enough to say that he was a Pramagnani
and Samartha sadguru. A guru is one
that teaches; a sadguru is one that teaches and draws one to God; a samartha
Sadguru is one who draws people to God employing all his siddhis and other high
powers for the purpose. It is not all
gnanis who have realized God that perform these miracles or chamatkars. It is not the dehaprarabdha of several
gnanis to exhibit any such power or to assume the role of samartha sadguru,
while it is the dehaprarabdha of others to serve humanity as such samartha
sadgurus and exhibit such powers. No
comparison ought to be made about these two sets of gnanis. Baba ought not to be compared with any other
guru. Comparisons are always odious and
hardly necessary for the benefit of any aspirant. If any person feels drawn to Baba by learning about Baba’s
qualities and activities either from one’s own experience or of others well
-known to him, he may at once proceed to have further contact with Baba and get
the fullest benefit of such contact.
There is no need for him to worry as to how Baba is to be classed - as
an Avatar or Avalia, Devatatma or Alwar, etc.
One may simply feel the taste of sugar and use it without raising the
questions to whether it is derived from beetroot, sugarcane or Palmyra
juice. No wise men ever worry about
such matters. They do not attempt to
classify various gnanis. We must all be
always humble in our approach to God and divine persons. Any other attitude will simply thwart our
endeavors to reach divinity or to attain the highest benefit by spiritual
exercise.
29. We may very well close this short
pamphlet with the practical question (1) what are the benefits that Baba can
confer? And (2) what has one to do in order to obtain these benefits? The first may be met by a counter question. What benefits does one expect when he is
approaching Baba? Are they temporal or
spiritual? Whatever they may be, there
is no benefit that is beyond the power of Baba to confer. He is worshipped every day with phrases like
‘All-powerful’ (sarva sakthi murthaye namah) etc., and the experience of
devotees proves that he is able to confer benefits of every sort - curing
disease, both physical and mental, giving relief to departing and departed
spirits and to those who are suffering from obsessions or infirmities, removing
domestic troubles, etc.
30. One more word about these labels and
comparisons. People are sometimes
unconsciously assuming to themselves ability to judge of all grades of
spiritual nature and power and say that Krishna is superior to Rama, Budda is
superior to Chaitanya, etc., and cause irritation to others and confusion in
their own minds. If we find the water
in one creek or bay saltish, should we say this creek or bay is superior or
inferior to the ocean? God is one. Divinity manifests itself in innumerable
places and ways and according to the needs of the times, and each god-man does
the work of alleviating man’s miseries and raising him upward. When the question is asked, why should one
give up his Siva or Rama worship and go to Sai, the answer is that there is no
need. If one feels Sai is different
from Rama or other Ishta Devata and that the latter serves all the purposes of
the Devotees, if one is thus satisfied and contented, Sai Baba has never asked
and does not ask such a person to change his position. Baba is highly conservative and wants each
man to stick to his religion, caste, guru.
Ishta Devata, Idol, mantras and sampradaya. It is only if one feels that he is still left with a desire for
further benefits which his customary contact with his Ishtamurthi, guru,
mantras, etc., does not acquire for him, and if he is disposed to place faith
in Baba’s powers to grant these or other benefits, that Baba allows or directs
him to come to his feet. Baba does not
interfere with his loyalties. Faith in
Baba is added on to the old loyalties.
That faith works miraculous benefits and tends to strengthen
itself. Gratitude and love follow faith
and the resultant benefits. Through
these, Baba purifies the heart and draws the devotee higher and higher up the
spiritual ladder. That man who came for
worldly goods finds his desires purified, his mentality changed and thinks more
and better of Baba till at last, finding that Baba is only one of the numerous
names and forms assumed by God, resigns himself to Baba. He then realizes the absurdity of
instituting comparisons between Sai and other names or forms and of asking why
one should go to Sai. It is only those
who are specially blessed by poorvakarma that can be drawn by each of these
personalities, and when so drawn no question arises, and all doubts are driven
off. One huge wave of faith, love and
knowledge drowns the soul and draws it to the feet of God, in Sai form and in
all forms.
31. What are we to do to obtain our desired
ends with the help of Baba? There are
some who raise questions even preliminary to this. Is it not better not to desire at all? Is it not degrading to go on praying or asking for this or
that? To persons who really care for
nothing i.e., to advanced Viraktas, this question really will not arise. They are not compelled or induced to go to
Sai Baba. See Bhagavatha -
‘Nirgrantinopi.. Iththam bhutha guno Harih’ - i.e., viraktas are attracted by
the nishkamya leelas of the Lord. Sai
Baba’s leelas were purely unmotivated by desire. His whole life in the flesh was one continuous self-sacrifice for
the sake of humanity. In serving Man,
he was serving God; and he advised his devotees to do the same.
32. Undoubtedly it is better not to desire
than to have desires and to seek their gratification through the help of Sai
Baba etc. But how many are there who
can calmly reason thus and find power to crush the roots of desire in their
hearts? If there are any such among the
readers, they are not asked to seek Baba’s help or God’s help, if that is
different, to attain any objects. Even
the desire for mukti - liberation - is a desire; and even to attain that,
people pray and seek the aid of experts, i.e., sages who know the way to
liberation and who are gracious enough to extend their help to those who seek
help.
33. The vast majority want benefits, temporal
and spiritual, temporal first and then spiritual. The body and its adjuncts, a family. Etc., have to be maintained
with sufficient provision for health and some degree of comfort before people
can think of spiritual things. Sai Baba
may be approached by all who feel the need for this urgent help. The more impassioned their appeal, the more
faith they have in Baba, the quicker will be the results, other things being
the same. To these we may suggest the
ways and means of contacting Baba.
