LIFE OF SAI BABA
BY
PUJYASRI H.H.NARASIMHASWAMIJI

PUBLISHED
BY
ALL INDIA SAI SAMAJ
MYLAPORE, CHENNAI – 600 004
(contents)
Dedication
Foreword to Part I by Sri Swami Sivananda
PART - I
III Baba's Earlier Years at Shirdi
VII Worship, Its Further Expansion
VIII Unification and Purification of Hinduism
XII Number and Change of Gurus
XIII Guru Sishya Mutual Relations and Conduct
Rules
XIV Obstacles and Objections to Sai Worship
XV Stages of Baba's Personality
XVII Nature and Functions of Baba
XVIII Baba's Love of Devotees and
Appreciation of Prema
XXIII God Realisation - Brahma Nishta
B .G. or BgI
Bhagavad Gita
S.B. Srimad
Bhagavata
S.B. XI Srimad
Bhagavata, Skanda XI
M.B.
Mahabharata
BCS Baba's
Charters & Sayings
(known also as
Gospel of Sai Baba)
Ken. Up. -
Kenopanishad
Kat. Up.
Katopanishad
Mun. Up.
Mundaka Upanishad
P.G. Pandava
Gita
Tail. Up.
Taittiriya Upanishad
G.G. or G Gita - Guru Gita
S.N.M. Sainatha
Mananam
Svet Up. Svetasvatara Upanishad
Baba. Sai Baba
of Shirdi
Dev Ex. Devotees"
Experiences
W.S Wondrous
Saini
In commemoration of the 46th Aradhana of our
Founder President and the foremost Apostle of Sri S;ii Baba, Pujyasri
Narashimha Swamiji. we take great pleasure in bringing out the greatest of his
works - "Life of Sri Sai Baba" all four parts in one composite
volume. It is our desire to see that this book reaches the hands of as many Sai
Devotees as possible and showers on them the "Sai Bliss". It is a
book of all times by going through which you can feel and enjoy God's Presence
- the moving guiding hand of Sri Sai Nath showering His Full Grace.
The entire credit goes to a staunch and silent
devotee of Sri Sai Baba and H.H. Sri Narashimhaswamiji (whose name he did not
want to be revealed) for bringing out this publication by going through the
proof correction and the get up of this book. We also have to place on record
the benevolence of the donors who met the cost of this book. We pray to
Samartha Sadguru Sai Baba and H.H. Sri Narashimhaswamiji to shower their grace
and blessings on him and all others for their cooperation in bringing the new
edition of this sacred book.
We also wish to place on record our appreciation
of the excellent efforts taken by the printers Goteti Graphics who have come
forward lo do ihe printing with a spirit of dedication.
C.S. VEERARAGHAVAN President, AISS
Chennai - 4. 20-10-2002
Of all the books so far published by the All
India Sai Sarnaj on the life and teachings of the Wondrous Saint Sri Sai Baba,
this book 'The Life of Sai Baba", is the best. Of the vast literature
created by H.H. Narasimhaswamiji, this should .take the first place.
According to Sri Swami Sivananda Maharaj, by
presenting the Great Master Sri Sai Baba to the world through his intensely
dedicated service, Sri Narasimha Swamiji has made himself into a living golden
link between the present generation and Sri Sai Baba. Yes, Sri Swamiji is still
active from His tomb. He guides millions of devotees to the feet of his Master.
The object of Sri Swamiji was the
creation of this book, the detailed and exhaustive study on the Life of Sri Sai
Baba. Sri Swamiji was confined to a hospital bed for sixty days due to serious
breakage of the thigh bone in October 1953, followed by very serious attack of
dysentery which appeared to him to be a total wreck of the physical and mental
constitution. In such a state of affairs which continued nearly upto the middle
of 1954, to his own wonder, 'he discovered the object also of sufficient remnant of energy, mental and
physical, being left to him'. When Swamiji was eighty-years young, his Master
got this great work accomplished by him.
When one reads the book, he can have the
satisfaction of having tasted the essence of Srimad Bhagavata, Eleventh Skanda
in particular. The Jnaneswari, The Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads, The Guru
Gita, Narada Bhakti Sutras, the Skanda Purana and a large mass of other
religious literature. The reader is thus enabled to understand the true nature
of Sri Sai Baba, the Samartha Sadguru, the unique and great Avatara purusha who
appeared on the Earth recently.
Sri Swamiji intended to bring out this book in
three parts. Actually, it was brought out in four separate volumes. For a long
time, it was felt that it would be useful if all the four volumes, that is the
book in its entirety is presented in one composite volume. By the Grace of Sri
Sainath and with the blessings of Sri Narasimhaswamiji, the All India Sai Samaj
has come out with this wonderful publication.
This is one book which should be possessed by every
Sai devotee. It is as effective and as potent as Srimad Bhagavata in
cultivating bhakthi. By reading this book over and over again repeatedly, one
can have the feeling of having lived with Sri Sai. Material benefits apart, the
reader will be guided by the Master in spiritual progress. He will have a
feeling that he is still living with Sri Sai, a unique experience.
Jai Sri Sairam.
Foreword to Part I
By
His Holiness Sri Swami
Sivananda
(Divine Life Society,
Rishikesh)
Sri Sadguru Sainath Maharajki Jai!
Glory be to the blessed
Saint of Shirdi, in whom the Light of Divinity was fully manifest in all
resplendence. 'I deem it a great joy and a unique sowbhagya to write something
about this great Mahapurusha, who illumined this holy land with His radiant presence
and lived a life of Divine absorption, love of mankind and compassion to all
creatures (Bhoota-daya), solely for the welfare and benefit of humanity. To
think about such great souls, to speak about such great souls, to write about
their glories and to remember their lofty lives, this in itself is an act that
is purifying and elevating and a devout exercise that draws down upon all their
Divine blessings. It is equal to Sravan, Manan and Nidhidhyasan. It will
elevate the man of faith and the sincere seeker to sublime heights of joy and
spiritual felicity. Blessed indeed is one who narrates such Sant-Lilas and
equally blessed are they that listen to such holy narration. Listening to such
Lilas and daily reading thereof with true bhav constitute Sravana and
Swadhyaya of a very high order. It comprises the supremely efficacious sadhana
for self-purification, spiritual awakening and God-realisation.
Samartha Sadguru Sai
Baba illumined this earth in the latter part of the last century and the first
two decades of the present century[1].
The tiny village of Shirdi was the blessed spot in which He lived His saintly
life of tyaga and seva. Sai Baba has sanctified and rendered Shirdi one of the
holiest places upon earth and a shrine of devout pilgrimage to countless people
by enacting His sublime and mysterious lilas there. By His advent, this great
Man of God set in motion a wave of spirituality which is now gradually surging
out and spreading into every part of blessed Bharatavarsha. He has created a
powerful Centre of Spiritual Awakening and Divine Life in the holy precincts of
Dwaraka Mayee and the Samadhi Mandir in Shirdi.
All His life's
activities constituted a continuous, lofty 'lokasangraha'. By first conferring
temporal benefits, He drew unto Himself countless souls caught up in Samsara
and then later opened their eyes to the true meaning of life, infused viveka
and vairagya into them and brought about their spiritual awakening. He was a
Sadguru who, through His highest Para-vairagya and Maha-Tyaga, made people
realise the transitory nature of human life and the worthlessness of earthly
objects. He slowly drew them from their deluded pursuit after the merely Preya
vastu and induced and inspired them to strive for their Parama-Sreya, i.e.,
Atma-Sakshatkar. He continued this glorious work until the last moment of the
Divine Life that He lived in the sacred hamlet of Shirdi. Though outwardly a
mere and sometimes crazy-looking Fakir clad in rags and living upon doles of
food collected during his regular daily round of Bhiksha, yet, in fact, He was
really a Jivanmuktha Maha Purusha and a Sage in Sahaja Avastha. As such He is
in a state of Oneness with God and thus, even after casting aside the outer
physical form, Sri Sai Baba continues His sublime work of Lokahita in an
invisible form through His Abode at Shirdi.
In Sri Sai Baba you have
one of the most glorious exemplars of our country's Sanatana Dharma and the
highest ideal of Sadachara. His was a spotless and blameless moral life, which
placed before all a wonderful model of ethical perfection. Further, by His
personal example, Baba showed Himself to be a great unifying factor and a
universalising force. He taught people to overcome meaningless barriers of
separation between man and man and made them realise the brotherhood of all
humanity. His tolerance, equal vision and universality are a unique and
unparalleled phenomenon. He showed people how to recognize the immanence of God
in all beings. Very few recognized His true worth. He was rightly described by
a contemporary Saint as "a Diamond upon a dung heap". Sai Baba is the
one of the finest flowers of Indian Spiritual Idealism and Culture.
The true glory of a
God-Man is extremely difficult to recognize and understand. His actions and
utterances often appear strange and queer. Only a person of deep devotion,
intense faith and inward purity can fathom the nature of such a Mahapurusha.
Such a person is most blessed upon earth. Such a person is very close to God.
He is like unto a man who discovers a rare and invaluable precious treasure.
His Holiness Sri B. V. Narasimhaswamiji Maharaj is verily such a blessed and
saintly soul, who has had the immense sowbhagya of being mysteriously drawn to
Samartha Sainath Maharaj, who has lovingly revealed unto him His true Divine Swaroopa.
The joy of this discovery and revelation has fired Sri B. V. Narasimhaswamiji
Maharaj with the intense desire of sharing his blessedness with one and all in
this sacred land. Fired with this zealous, pious desire, he has dedicated his
entire life and energies to the task of bringing into full light the beautiful
Divine Life of this illumined Spiritual Personality. The learned and the holy
author has been practically working out his holy Satsankalpa by carrying on a
ceaseless and vigorous propagation of the life and teachings of Sri Sai Baba.
By his unceasing indefatigable pious efforts, Sri Narasimhaswamiji has
successfully made the name of Sai Baba a household word to countless numbers of
fortunate people throughout the length and breadth of India. Specially in the
South, he has spread the glories of His Divine Sadguru into every nook and
corner of the land. This present Volume "LIFE OF SAI BABA" is the
latest flower to be offered at the Lotus Feet of Samartha Sadguru Sainath in
this inspiring and dynamic Guru puja, which Sri B. V. N. Swamiji has been doing
with such intense fervour and faith for the past more than a decade and a half.
Such indeed is the worthy and true disciple at the Feet of the Divine Master.
Sri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji Maharaj is truly rendering an
unforgettable service to the aspirant-world in particular and to all people of
this land in general, in thus bringing to them the life-transforming knowledge
of a Sat-Purusha's Divine Lilas and teachings. Innumerable souls have been brought
into contact with and helped and elevated by Sri Sai Baba, mainly as a result
of this labour of love offered at the altar of Gurubhakti and Guru Seva.
Through his intensely dedicated life, His Holiness, the pious author, has made
himself into a living golden link between the present generation and
Sri Sai Baba. The people of India are
under a deep debt of gratitude to the author for this unique spiritual service
of his.
The present book is an invaluable work which brings
to light very many remarkable hidden facts of Sai Baba's life and explains the
deep inner spiritual significance underlying a number of Baba's traits and
mysterious actions. It throws a flood of light upon certain of the important
fundamentals of spiritual life, yoga, sadhana and inner evolution. As the
author himself has made it quite clear, the object of this book is eminently
practical. It is to draw souls into contact with Sai Baba and to enlighten them
about this mysterious universe and the puzzling problem of spiritual
development. Regarding the value of knowing facts connected with the lives of
saints, the author has very rightly observed that it is "not only good for
the individual who knows them but is beneficial to society, as in the long run
it promotes social unity and ethical, spiritual and religious study and
endeavour............. By the study of such lives, basic ignorance and illusion
are dispelled. Rajasic and Tamasic qualities such as egoism, hatred and cruelty
are checked or suppressed and noble virtues like humility, earnestness, love to
all, service of saints, Guru bhakti and Gyana are developed. These, in due
course, lead to the goal of God-realisation". Rightly has it been observed
that the lives of saints do not merely give information for the brain, but they
are food to the heart and the soul and give inner strength to man and
facilitate his all-round advancement, temporal as well as spiritual.
Every reader, whatever
line of life he is pursuing, is bound to benefit immensely by a perusal of this
work. But to spiritual aspirants specially, it is of inestimable worth, for
very valuable light is thrown upon a number of vitally important subjects like
the spiritual conception of the Guru, the deep inner significance of his
deification and worship, the inner Spiritual Laws that operate in the contact
of the disciple with his Spiritual Preceptor and the correct conception of the
Dharma of a Fakir or true Sanyasi. The chapters like "GURU WORSHIP",
"GURU'S QUALIFICATIONS", "SISHYA'S QUALIFICATIONS",
"NUMBER & CHANGE OF GURUS" and "GURU SISHYA RELATIONS,
RULES" provide a flood of illuminating Upadesh, containing, as they do,
peerless words of wisdom upon these matters. The people of Bharatavarsha are
indeed eternally grateful to Sri Narasimhaswamiji Maharaj for his noble work of bringing home to all
the life and lilas and teachings of one of the greatest Spiritual Luminaries of
India in recent times.
I wish this book wide circulation. It will lead to Loka
kalyana. It will surely fulfil its glorious task of helping, guiding and transforming
countless lives on their onward progress towards Divine Perfection. All glory
to Sri B.V. Narasimhaswamiji Maharaj! Glory, supreme glory to Samartha Sadguru
Sai Baba! My silent adorations, prostrations and worship at His Lotus feet. May
the loving grace and blessings of Sai Baba shower in abundance upon you all!
Peace and blessedness be unto you! SRI SAINATH MAHARAJKI JAI!
This treatise
on Sai Baba is intended to contain as much information as possible of great
interest to the devotees and the public. The volume has been growing and is
still growing, so that at a very early stage it was discovered that the book
would be took big for a single volume. It has been decided to split the book
into three parts, the first pan being the preliminary part containing matter
which is useful for understanding the latter parts. An account is given of his
early life, how he was understood and misunderstood, how he looked
insignificant at first and became all important later, and what various and
even conflicting views were and are taken of Sai's life. Amongst these, in the
first pan, a good portion has been allotted to view Sai Baba as Guru or Samartha
Sadguru, especially in dealing with his Ankita children. To some,
this devotion of a large number of pages to the subject of Gurus might
appear to be unnecessary and may even be displeasing. On the other hand, it is
noted thatt those who approach Sai Baba in dead earnest to achieve the highest
that life holds for them were and are anxious to view in that light and deal
with him in that capacity in which he would be of the greatest use to them for
achieving the goal of life. And it is as Guru to all, that persons of
all faiths and places can meet at his feet. His worship was first begun by
Mahlsapathy and others as he was a supreme saint, a Paramaguru, an
advantage to resort to and who is a necessity for one's attainment of moksha
and other high aims of life. Mahlsapathy, his friends and the hermits
meeting Baba in his earliest days at Shirdi realised what a highly advanced
soul he was, how full he was of divine nature and therefore possessed of power
to impart that nature or realisation to those seeking it in the proper way and
to impart to various people various other benefits which circumstances might
warrant. In the Mundaka Upanishad1 we find the root of what has been
expanded later in the Bhagavata. That Upanishad says that a self realiser or
person of God-realisation can achieve anything and be in any world that he
thinks of.
Yam Yam lokam
manasa samvibhati,
Viscuddha
satwah Kamayate Yamscha Kaman,
Tamtam lokam jayate,
Taamscha kaman,
Tasmat
atmajnanam hyarchayet Bhutikamah.
The Upanishad adds, therefore those who
are anxious about their own welfare must resort to such an Atmajnana.
That was evidently the feeling of Mahlsapathy though perhaps he might never
have heard of the Mundaka Upanishad. Baba's saying Main Allah hum or I
am Laxmi Narain2 is Atmajnana. The same doctrine is expanded
in Srimad Bhagavata3 and other works. The Jnani is compared
to Agni.
Bhungte
Sarvatra Bhoktrunam
Dahan Prak
Uttara Asubham.
that is, 'The Jnani goes on eating
what is offered by devotees just as the fire consumes every oblation offered by
devotees and completely burns out all the evil karma that may have been
committed by them formerly or may be committed thereafter'. This is seldom
actively and fully held before the mind of persons going to feed saints. For
instance, Bayyaji Bai, when starting the feeding of Sai Baba from his very
first entry into Shirdi, and pursuing him into the jungle for feeding him,
dimly sensed the glory and appropriateness of feeding such a saint though it is
clear that her having been Baba's sister, janma after janma, was
the Rinanubandha that, accounted for her anxiety and zeal to feed him. Sai
Baba's nature was slowly understood, and Volume I shows how very slow the
process was. But at one stage, we might say that Baba had left obscurity behind
and came out in full blaze like the noon-day sun upon the public. From about
1910 the blaze had begun, and in 1918
the blaze had advanced, and by 1918 the blaze was so powerful as to strike even
comparatively blind people. However, there are such blind people even now whose
eyes have to be opened to see the glory of the light of that sun, Baba. Baba's
work has begun and is anything but finished. What the future holds seems to be
far more important than anything already achieved by him. The object of this
book is to help people to realise more and more the great work that is being
done by Baba and his essential greatness. Therefore, there was a special
necessity to hurry up the publication of this 'book. It was ready in some form
even last year. But financial and other difficulties prevented any publication
and even now those difficulties permit only the publication of part after part,
and that is one special reason why volume I alone is being issued now. In
trying to cut up one closely
inter-related mass of
information about Sai
Baba instituting his life, lilas,
and teachings, one feels
a great difficulty. However much thought is given to the subject of
separation of parts, we find it difficult to say which chapter should get into
what part. So in a rough way, Part I has to be closed with roughly one-third of
the size" of the matter ready for printing, including in it the early
history and accounts of Baba and the materials necessary for getting an idea of
Baba as a Samartha Sadguru, who will help one to attain the highest in
life, while at the same time enabling one to get the other incidential benefits
of contact with such a saint. Chapters about Ankita children are the
natural corollary of the chapter about 'Baba's Love or Prema' and
'Baba's Samsara in this world, and Baba's Brahma Nishta. Baba
said to Nona G. Chandorkar 'You want to escape from samsara. I cannot
escape from it myself. As long as there is the body, samsara is there.
One cannot be released from samsara by running away to a jungle or by
other similar process'. There is in this statement an important question of
attitude to life. Several great saints who made great strides in Atma Jnana and
God-realisation simply contended themselves
with remaining absorbed in Para Brahman or in their Iswara, Personal
God, and did not wish to continue any of their lives' activities. Some condemn
this attitude. Others applaud it. But we should do neither. In the world, there
are various sorts of fruits and views and in Divine Providence any soul may
select its own fruit that is the particular attitude to life that suits it
best, especially in view of its poorva karma and training. In Sai's
life, the above quoted views as to samsara stress the fact that he was
never for deserting society in order to be completely drowned in Impersonal or
Personal God. On the other hand, he insisted upon being in the thick of life
attending to his duties, drawing to him the very large number of persons, who
contacted him in previous lives or in the present, all the while with his
concentration God, unimpaired by such contact and in stressing the importance
of performance of rinanubandha obligations with similar detachment upon
his devotees also; he set an example of what he taught. This matter will be
dealt with at greater length in the Third Part which contain his teachings. The
second volume or part mainly consist of Baba's dealings with various prominent
persons showing how they were drawn to him and influenced by him, what progress
they made and how they were helped to make it by reason of their contact .with
him. This naturally includes teachings, for teachings form an important part of
the way in which Baba developed people who came to him, and yet it is not by
what we call 'teachings' that Baba moulded several prominent devotees.
Therefore whatever is left over after dealing with Baba's prominent devotees in
Part II must come into Part III, which as the residuary and final part must
include general matter not covered by the previous parts.
The object of
this work has been repeatedly declared to be practical. In cutting off a third
of the book and sending it immediately before the public, the author is
eminently practical. He wants that as many as possible who are hungering and
thirsting to contact Sai Baba should have their satisfaction at once, that as
many as are anxious to become Baba's ankita children should be
immediately enabled to become such, and that those who wish to understand this
mysterious universe and the puzzling problems of spiritual development with the
aid of what Baba said and did, should be given an immediate chance of picking
up as much as possible and proceed with it. Above all, the author feels sure
that there is a considerable section of serious minded persons who wish to
adopt Sai baba for their Gurudeva and want to be trained by him and
taught by him every way in which Baba would consider it fit to teach and .in
them. Baba's methods have not been exhaustively studied, but they
include what is
known as the
Dakshinamurthi method.
Chitram
Vatatarormule
Vriddhah
Scishyah Guruh Yuva
Guruostu Mounam Vyakhyanam
Scishyastu chinna samscayah.
this means, What a wonder! At the foot of
the banyan tree, aged, grey bearded disciples are seated at the feet of a Guru,
who is young. The Guru keeps silent and talks not a word. The doubts
however, of the disciples are all dispelled. One naturally asks, 'How is that
possible?' In our present day civilisation, we have only understood conveyance of thought
by speech. But with persons of the coming race or the
fully developed human being that is represented by Baba, one of the most
elementary power is to convey the thought impulse to action without utterance
of a single word. 'Radiating thought' is an expression used about several great
souls. A person seated before such a Mahatma feels that his whole being
is permeated, controlled, communed with and moulded by the Mahatama without
the use of a single word and without direction that any book should be studied
or any practice should be followed. Fuller details of this will be found in the
chapter on Upasani Baba in Part II. Apart from radiating mere ordinary thought,
radiating wisdom or bliss and filling the disciple's soul with illumination
never before experienced appear
to be very grand,
perhaps the grandest feat. Narayan
Ashram formerly called Mr. Toser4 sat by Baba. Narayan Ashram says
"He graciously conveyed to me without any words the feeling that
differences between various souls were unreal, that the One real thing is that
which underlies all."5 That means that he completely forgot
himself, that, Toser's soul lost the idea that he was a single Toser with joys
and sorrows, and limitations, of one body but instead, he perceived absolute
bliss within him. As there was nothing else, within that bliss was Toser and he
was identified with Sai Baba. And all
sense of separateness was gone. This is the momentary conversion of an ordinary
Jiva into Satchitananda or something on the verge of it. Baba's
powers were similarly extended to G.S. Khaparde and Mrs. Tarabai Sadasiv
Tarkhad. This activity of Baba would be very highly esteemed by many a reader
who might consider it the privilege of his life, the total achievement of one's
life to get into Satchitananda at least for a moment at the feet of
Baba. Baba's training, teachings and achievements were of widely different sorts
and were suited to the conditions of each who approached him and are suited to
the conditions of those who approach him now. Baba is still a Guru, a
Divine Personality, not a mere abstraction and can be seized by those who are
in dead earnest. Unfortunately for mankind, very few are so earnest. Most stop
with raising preliminary questions as to the impossibility of such an
experience or its undesirability and the various objections from the standpoint
of the learning that they have already acquired. The ifs, the buts, the hows,
the whys and the other numerous ways in which they face the problem prevent
most readers from having the chance of approaching Baba in the right receptive
spirit with full earnestness and getting the highest out of him. If the highest
is not possible at the present moment, Baba suitably develops them either in
this life or in the life beyond, for Baba has repeatedly undertaken to guide
his devotees, life after life, promising to be born with them for that purpose.
If this is not a sufficient attraction, it is difficult to find anything more
attractive. There are people to whom these are not attractions, but the chance
of getting Rs.500 a month, or a fine estate, or success in a particular
contest, would be esteemed of far greater interest and importance than any of the
things mentioned above. People's ways are peculiar and Baba does not expect
every one to come to him fully perfect. Any one with all his defects may try to
approach Baba and Baba will mould him, change his view point and his capacity
to understand, appreciate and desire. The correct attitude is very important.
That in turn depends upon one's view of one's life, one's neighbours and
God. If one thinks of oneself to be a
mere body, all earthly attractions overwhelm. But Baba by the grace of his Guru
Mourshad was, as he said "taken away from the body which was but his
house." That is, the Guru showed him that he was the spirit and not
the mere body, that his interests were not to be confounded with the thousand
and one things of the organism or one's artificial or sentimental personality
closely associated with the organism. Baba has in turn developed several of
those approaching him, at least partially to shake off the Dehatmabuddhi and
obsession that the body is one's self. If a person once realises that he is not
this organism and this body, but is something very much wider, which may be the
result of Baba's training him to pitch himself into all other's hearts and
identify himself with those souls, then the present necessity and the desires
and aversions formerly prevailing with oneself, all drop off. The scales fall
from one's eyes. All values are different. The world looms as something totally
different from what it did. One sets about it and acts in a different way. The
results therefore of Sai contact will be of such wide variety and importance
that it is not possible to set them out here. The earlier a person seizes upon
a book about Baba and makes a careful and voracious study of everything about
Baba, and a sincere attempt to absorb all that he can out of it, the better. We
are sure that even after a perusal of Part I alone, several would achieve the
position of becoming Baba's Ankita children, and there are already a
good number of them. Several would definitely fix themselves up as Sai's sishyas
anxious with his help to get up step after step in the ladder of spiritual
progress. The details of these steps it is neither possible nor desirable to
state here and now. One step seen at a time is enough. Baba gives the needed
push and sees to the proper progress of everyone according to the circumstances
and it does not matter whether one's progress is achieved completely now or
later. If complete progress is not achieved in one life,
Bahunan
Janmanam Ante,
Jnanavan Maam
Prapadyate
that is, The jnani reaches God
after many births. There is sure to be appreciable advance in one's position
and one's nature as mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita6. Thus one feels
that he has after all come to the right place, namely, the feet of Sai Baba.
Before closing
this preface, acknowledgements have to be made for all the help which have
taken shape in the form of this book. The need for a complete biography in
English has been felt by the public and by this author for over a dozen years,
but something or other prevented the work from being undertaken and carried
through. While in that condition, October 1953 brought on a serious breakage of
the thigh bone and sixty days' confinement in the hospital, and subsequently a
very serious attack of dysentery served to complete what appeared to be a total
wreck of the physical and mental constitution. No energy was left to the author
to move about, to think out, to look into the authorities or to write out a
biography. There was no health or freshness and energy. In such a state of
affairs, which continued yearly up to the middle of 1954, it was a wonder to
the author himseif that he discovered the object of his life being spared d the
object also of sufficient of energy, mental and physical, being left to
him. It was clear that the remaining energy and remaining life were intended to
be devoted to Baba just as the previous decades of this author's life were. So
the matter of this big book within his memory was fairly and easily recallable.
With some little effort, he began work and strange to say, though he had no
power to sit and write, Baba provided his Ankita child with a
stenographer who, out of modesty, wishes to conceal his light under a
nom-de-plume R.R. Without the help of a stenographer, it would be impossible to
turn out any work either for the book or for the Sai Sudha or for the
numerous pamphlets that were being constantly requisitioned by others from this
author. But by Baba's provision, this stenographer worked at all the .above
matter and spent a large number of days in the year, that is, all the spare
time that he could command, by the side of the author doing this work merely
out of love for Baba. His work, if it had been charged for according to the
prevailing scales, would have involved the author in the expenditure of over a
thousand rupees which, of course, were not available. But Baba, like Sri
Krishna, always provides Mat parayanas those who are devoted to him
entirely, by looking after the affairs of those who assist. Says Bhagavata7
Samuddharanti
Ye Vipram
Seedantam mat
Parayanam
Tan
uddharishyeham Achirat
Apatbhyo Nawn
Rivarnavat.
that is, Sri Krishna says, 'Those who
rescue my entirely devoted bhakta from his troubles, them I shall rescue
and help from all troubles and calamities, just as a boat rescues one in the
ocean. Baba somehow gives the feeling to the author's helpers that they are
being looked after by him.
The author's
health being, since October 1953, extremely unreliable, the work would have
been impossible but for the due provision of medical help. Here again Baba's
help to his Ankita child is remarkable. Baba designated a doctor in a
very good position and with excellent knowledge and made him repeatedly attend,
without receiving any recompense at all, upon the author and that doctor is
still attending upon him. Here also the above mentioned stanza applies. When
the work was helped on in this way, the size of the volume grew and grew, and
the task of reviewing even the original typed pages was too much for the
physically weak author. Sri Dewan Bahadur R.V. Krishna Ayyar, for whom the
author has always entertained high regard and love, went through over 500
sheets of typed matter making the necessary corrections. This was in the midst
of his official work. So sincere thanks are due to him as also to Miss Indira,
professor of English, Government College, Coimbatore, who was kind enough to go
through 200 pages of the manuscript. Thanks are also due to the retired Law
College Professor of Indore, Sri V.N. Visvanatham, and several others for
having taken down notes necessary for dictation of the book. As already stated
it looks impossible to publish a big book of 900 or more pages with a depleted
cash balance in the All India Sai Samaj. It is Baba's grace alone that made the
work see the light of day and also aided in getting the means for publication.
The royal present of Rs.5,000 by His Highness The Maharaja of Mysore enabled
the Samaj to purchase a Press and types. In the last twelve months, 360 odd
pages constituting the first volume have been printed and got ready for
publication. Stage after stage, idea after idea, and reference after reference,
the remarkable help that fj/as suddenly forthcoming was the clearest
evidence to the Author that Baba is giving unstinted support for this
publication, fact it is not mere modesty but love of truth that makes the
author say that
the real producer
of this book
is Baba himself.
There may be
numerous others who have helped this author in the course of getting up this
book, but it is impossible to name them all here, and the author's apology may
be accepted for the omission.
B.V. narasimha swami 1955
Who
is Sai Baba?
The phenomenal spread, like wild fire of faith in Sri Sai Baba throughout this great country, within the last decade or two and its wonderful hold on the mass mind naturally roused the curiosity of many to put the above question and have necessitated the writing of a full and clear account. Those who know nothing of the personality in whom the faith of many centers, ought to know something of him. Those with prejudices or with wrong or defective views about him must be enabled to cast aside such prejudices and views and to acquire better and more accurate ideas about him. Those who have just a faint or superficial notion of Sai Baba must likewise be enabled to get a deeper, wider and more authentic idea about him, so that they may thereby extend or increase their contact with him.
Correct
knowledge of any kind is good. But correct knowledge of facts connected with
the lives of saints is not only good for the individual who knows them, but is
beneficial to society as in the long run it promotes social unity and ethical,
spiritual and religious study and endeavor. Lives of saints give not merely
information for the brain of the reader, but food and strength for
his heart, and they facilitate the general advancement of the temporal and
spiritual interests of mankind. By the study of such lives, basic ignorance and
illusions are dispelled. Rajasic and Tamasic qualities such as
egotism, pride, hatred, and cruelty are checked or suppressed and noble virtues
like humility, earnestness, love to all, service of saints, Guru Bhakti and
Jnana are developed. These in due course lead to the goal of
God-realisation. Apart from these, even the temporal benefits derived by
individuals from appreciation and knowledge of Sri Sai Baba and the acquisition
of a real living touch with him are great enough to justify an attempt to place
a book like this before the public.
Further, there
is even now an important section of readers, however small their number may be,
that require something more than mere bread and butter or health, wealth and
worldly comforts, whose spiritual longings should be met in some measure by a
work which presents something of the facts about a unique and perhaps one of
the strangest of known spiritual personalities adorning the earth during recent
times.
The task
undertaken is however extremely difficult. There exists a mass of information
about what Sai Baba said and did during his life time and about the experience
of him which people who met him in life had. There is an even greater mass of
evidence about the experiences of devotees who have after 1918, that is, after
his Mahasamadhi, treated him as their true God or Ishtadevata. The
difficulty however is to remove the grain from the chaff, to sift and arrange
all the mass of evidence that exists and to present what, after enquiry and
investigation, has to be accepted as true beyond reasonable doubt. If the
evidence which exists regarding Sai Baba is properly sifted and carefully
examined and selected, a trustworthy biography can be written and
may form a useful inducement for progress in spiritual matters.
The difficulty
of sifting the evidence before us is by no means slight. First, Sai Baba
himself left his body more than thirty-six years ago. It is not therefore given
to a biographer to go and ask him about the true facts and discover the truth.
Very few who met him, or benefitted from him till 1918, made use of their
contact with him to collect and record facts about him. Many of them did not
understand him at all. For the mere sight of Sai did not enable a man to
understand him. The right approach or mentality that is necessary for
understanding a saint was wanting in many who met him, and Sai Baba himself
once said: "They were coming for water to the supplier of water, but
insisted on holding their pots with their mouths down, so unreceptive they
were".
To many who saw
him, Baba's deeds and sayings were rather confusing or perplexing. For
instance, when he said, I am not at Shirdi, but everywhere.8
He who thinks Baba is in Shirdi alone has
totally failed to see Baba.9
You have been with me 18 years. Does Sai
mean to you only this 31/2’ cubits height of body?10
I am God,
Allah"
such statements
appeared to them like eccentric pronouncements of a mad man. In fact his queer
unconventional ways, his habit of accommodating himself to all sorts of people
including Hindus, Mohammadans and others, and his fearless and unorthodox
originality failed to impress many of his visitors. Sectarian prejudices and
narrow views led many to think and pronounce all sorts of opinions about him.
Even G.G. Narke12 and Syama13 took him at first to be a
mad man. Others such as Londa14 and Megha15 took him to
be a communalist. A few people took him to be a hypnotist16, a black
magician17 while others even denounced him as an immoral and
dangerous man who was ruining Hindus and Hinduism18. When new comers
like Dr. D.M. Mulky tried to go to Shirdi, railway personnel en route stopped
several by their abuse and vilification of Baba.
This kind of
attitude to Sai Baba is to some extent prevalent even now. Many are the persons
who hate Sai, presuming from the name and residence at the mosque that he must
have been an iconoclastic Mussalman, while others are indifferent to
him, as they have not been fortunate enough to get proper information about
him.
There can
therefore be no doubt that there is a great need for a book of facts regarding
Sai Baba like the present one. The difficulty of the task should not act as a
deterrent. One very closely associated devotee of his, now living, still
believes that Baba was only a Mohammadan. What can 'only a Mohammadan'
mean? It means that even after 25 years of personal experience of him and 36 of
his post mortem glories, the devotee treats him as a communalist just as he did
when Baba was in the flesh. On the other hand, to Sri. M.B. Rege, a retired
High Court Judge, Sai is only God, the Paramatma, and this view he held
even in 1914.
Baba wished to
convince the devotee, if he was a Hindu, that he was Mahavishnu,
Lakshminarayan, etectra and he bade water flow from his feet, as Ganga
issued from Mahavishnu's feet. The devotee saw it and praised him as Rama
Vara, but as for the water coming from his feet, that devotee simply
sprinkled a few drops on his head and would not drink it, coming as it did from
a Mohammadan's feet. So great was the prejudice of ages that even one, who
thought of him as Vishnu, thought he was a Muslim Vishnu. Prejudices die hard
and the devotee wondered how people can believe that Baba was a Brahmin and
that his parents were Brahmins when he had lived all his life in a mosque and
when he was believed to be a Muslim. It was only a few persons like S.B. Dhumal
who saw clearly that Baba was neither Hindu nor Muslim, but above all castes,
sects and religions.19
It is still
fewer people that could rise to the level of accepting Baba's supreme claim20
that he was Paramatma in all beings. Such persons naturally worship him
as Ishtadevata.
Thus there are
vast differences, sometimes poles apart between the various ideas which people
have about Sai Baba. These render difficult the task of presenting the real Sai
as distinguished from the popular distortions of him. His devotees and
strangers alike said that Sai could not be understood and that nobody could
know the secrets of Sai Baba. Syama called him Deva, that is God, but
did not always behave as he would towards God.21
To a Haji who
was proud of his Haj, Baba said "You do not know what is here", that
is, in the Sai body or personality. A well known song is22
"More Babaku Mdrma na Janare koyi More" "None knows my Baba's secret".
Till now, there
has not been a good biography containing a fair, full and faithful description
of his life. In Marathi, the work that can be thought of when facts about Sai
Baba are wanted is Hemad Pant's alias Anna Saheb Dabolkar's Sai Satcharitra.
This is a brillantly written poetical work extending to 53 chapters and over
1000 pages narrating incidents connected with Sai Baba's life, and written in
highly florid and resonant Marathi, serving excellently the purpose of Puranic
study and daily parayana. Great as the merits of the book are from
the standpoint of a Bkakta, it cannot be called a regular biography. It
is rather a chronicle of reminiscences or anecdotes relating to him having no
arrangement, not even chronological. There is a good adaptation of this Marathi
work in an English garb by Sri Gunaji. Other small sketches or introduction to
Baba's life have been published in English and other languages, but these also
are too tiny to deserve the name of a biography, sketches of a few early
incidents in Baba's life were issued as poetic pieces by Das Ganu Maharaj of
Nanded during the life time of Baba in about 1906. He wrote 6 or 7 chapters on
the whole about Sai Baba, and he published them as part of big books namely,
Bhakta Leelamrutha, Santha Kathamrutha and Bakthi Saramrutha. These 7 chapters
are printed in Marathi. H.S. Dixit wrote a short biographical preface to Mrs.
& Mr. Tendulkar's Sai Bhajan Mala in 1917.
A very short
sketch of Sai Baba's life was issued in Gujarati by Amidoss Mehta. This was
also before Baba's Mahasamadhi in 1918. A slightly more ambitious work was
the Life of Baba in Tamil written by the present author. Actually only Part I
of it appeared, but even that was not a full account. Subsequent to his mahasamadhi,
there have appeared a few statements or sketches about Sai Baba, but they
are scattered and do not deserve the name of a regular biography. Sai Samasthan
itself published Rao Bahadur M.W. Pradhan's book 'A glimpse of Indian
spirituality' but it ran upto only about 25 to 30 pages and set out just a
handful of facts about Baba23.
This list
practically exhausts all attempts made hitherto to publish a biography of Sai
Baba. A faithful and full account of Sai Baba's life based on a careful and
critical study of the available material regarding his life and the incidents
and anecdotes narrated about him by those who contacted him before and after
1918 is therefore urgently called for and will it is hoped be appreciated by
his innumerable devotees.
The author has
undertaken this work in a spirit of humility and as a true service of Sai Baba
and in the sincere belief that Sai himself has directed him to undertake it.
'Obstacles and difficulties should not frighten us', says Bhartruhari. The most
admirable of Sai Baba's charters is 'Why do you fear, when I am here?' This in
itself is an answer to those who doubt and fear about the possibility of a
successful biography of Sai Baba.
The arrangement
of the work requires a few words of explanation. After giving as full and
accurate an account of Baba's life, doings and teachings as can be gathered
from the available evidence, the author has given a description of the various
aspects of Baba and of the various functions which he performed. Further a
sketch has been given of the more important disciples who contacted Sai Baba
and benefited by such contact and of the circumstances which attracted them to
him. It will be seen that these disciples were mostly Hindus, though some of
them were Muslims. In writing separate chapters about Sai Baba's doings and
teachings and his disciples, it was inevitable that some teachings and
incidents connected with the disciples might happen to be repeated more than
once, but the author thought that it was better to allow the repetition so that
each chapter may be complete and self-sufficient in itself rather than to leave
the reader to go through the previous pages for the purpose of finding out
references. As it is, the reader can take up any chapter and read it with
interest and will not find himself handicapped for want of knowledge of the
previous chapter. Further repetition is essential to ensure a deep impression.
God-realisation
is a personal experience and cannot be obtained or explained through the
written word. Those who are familiar with Hindu thought and in fact with
religious thought generally, can realise the importance of a Guru and
absolute faith in a Guru for the quickening of spiritual growth.
"All things are possible to him that believeth". But faith is founded
on experience and confidence is increased by tangible proofs. To create such
faith and evoke such confidence. God or a God-man Guru has to confer
wished for benefits on the disciple or devotee and the conferring of such
benefits is the instrument with which God works. The less care a devotee has
about his bodily or material comforts, the more perfectly he can carry out His
will and programme. This book proves beyond doubt how Sai Baba took upon his
shoulders the responsibility of looking after the maintenance, health and
prosperity of his disciples and devotees.
The advent of
Sai Baba was for the uplift of man-kind and a study of this work describing it
will, shower upon the readers incalculable benefits both spiritual and temporal
in this world and beyond.
Babas
Earliest Period
The birth and
parentage of Sai Baba are wrapped in mystery. We have not come across a single
person who has any direct" knowledge of them. Sai attained his fame at
Shirdi in the Bombay state by the end of the 19th Century when he was already
grey. It is known that he was not a native of Shirdi. He was very young when he
first came there. In the beginning he left Shirdi off and on, and returned to
it. The date of his first arrival at Shirdi cannot be fixed. A very old lady,
the mother of Nana Chopdar, said in 1900 that when she was young she. first saw
Sai Baba at Shirdi, when he was a prepossessing and attractive lad without a
moustache, probably in his early teens, and of, whom nothing was known. That so
little is known aoout his early life proves that even then he was leading a
secluded life, a real fakir not hankering after the good things of the world
but concentrating his attention on higher aims. He was often in solitude, not
infrequently under the well known margosa tree called the Code neeni, meaning
that the leaves of one of its two big branches are not so bitter as margosa
leaves usually are and as the leaves of the other big branch are. He had no
fixed residence - real fakirs have none. He would roam about in the
fields and squat at any tree-foot, and had no interest in any worldly matter.
One of his later visits to Shirdi, probably the final visit, was on the
momentous occasion of Chand Bhai Patel's advent to Shirdi. Chand Bhai Patel was
a rich and influential village Patel or Headman, of Dhupkeda village in the
Nizam's State not far from Shirdi. His wife's newphew was to be married to a
bride at Shirdi, and so in 1872, he came in the evening or night with a huge
procession and Sai Baba accompanied him on that occasion from Dhupkeda to
Shirdi. After that time except for two months when he was under Jawar Ali
Msulana, Sai Baba never left Shirdi but only made a few occasional visits off
and on to the neighbouring villages of Rahata or Nimgam, from which he
immediately returned to Shirdi. So his final residence was Shirdi from about
1872 till the end of his life in 1918. He discouraged questions on parentage,
and gave mostly mystifying answers. On one occasion, he said, his father was Purusha
and his mother was Maya or Prakriti, and that in consequence,
he came in as the Dehi into this world of phenomena24. At
another time he said that his uncle had brought him to Shirdi from Aurangabad25.
On one momentous occasion, very late in his life, he revealed to Mahlsapathy26
the interesting fact that his parents were Brahmins of Patri in the Nizam's
State. Patri is part of Parvani taluk, near Manwath. Sai Baba added, in
explanation of the fact that he was living in a Mosque, that while still a
tender child his Brahmin parents handed him over to the care of a fakir who
brought him up. This is fairly indisputable testimony, as Mahlsapathy was a person
of sterling character noted for his integrity, truthfulness and vairagya. All
persons including Sai Baba, H.S. Dixit, and others held him in very high
esteem, and none would doubt his veracity. Sai Baba occasionally showed his
interest in Patri and Parvani when people from those parts came to him, by
questioning them about the residents of those places. This does not take us
very far. But this is practically all that we have about the birth and
parentage of Sri Sai Baba.
But who ever
his parents were it is quite important to remember that from his earliest
infancy he had all the associations or dissociation or detachment a true vairagi
or jnani should have. Having no parents or kinsmen, and being brought up by
a fakir, he easily picked up his foster-father's vairagya and
spiritual turn of mind27. Even that fakir passed away within
four or five years after taking charge of him. The fakir directed his
wife to take the young child, Baba, and leave him in charge of a noted saintly zamindar,
Gopal Rao Deshmukh at Selu. The
appellation Deshmukh was not meaningless in the case of Gopal Rao but
denoted an actual appointment as Deshmukh or Provincial Governor for
Jintur Parganna, and the title or sanad of Deshmukh had been
conferred on him by the descendants of the Peshwas. The exact date of the title
cannot be discovered. There are ballads and some old manuscripts in the
possession of Deshmukh's descendants which show that somewhere about the first
quarter of the last century, the Peshwas recognised his military capacity which
enabled him, Gopal Rao, to bring Jintur Parganna under his control with his own
horsemen and other followers. Young Baba, left under the care of this Gopal Rao
Deshmukh spent the best and the most impressionable part of his life at Selu which
was the centre of that Parganna, and which had a fort and castle wherein the
Deshmukh resided. The young boy was very greatly attached to his master, and
the master in turn was deeply interested in the boy. Consequently the boy was
with the master at all times, whether the latter was in the field or at puja,
whether he was in the garden or in the court. Baba seems to have had no
education given to him at any time, that is, no book study, and no masters
either in the regional language which must have been Marathi or Telugu or in
any other language. But real education of the highest sort, he had in plenty.
This Deshmukh, unlike many other Deshmukhs or zamindars of his times,
was not a dissolute and sensuous person of brutal nature revelling in cruelty
and violation of all moral rules or scruples. On the other hand, he was an
extremely pious devotee greatly attached to Tirupati Venkatesa whose image he
worshipped daily in his own castle. He was rich, and liberal, and patronised
learning and piety. Hence an abundance of real education could be picked up by
the young child Baba when attending on his master. This Deshmukh's worship of
Venkatesa was not of the ordinary sort. He had direct communion with his Ishta
Devata, and the guidance of that Ishta Devata in all His affairs
made his life a-remarkable spiritual and temporal success. He maintained his
political sovereignly against all odds, and the ballads of his time show that
his regiment was greatly esteemed by the Peshwas whom he helped and feared by
the Muslim Nizam whom he opposed. This Deshmukh, however, spent much of his
time in holy pastimes. He went round visiting holy places, and at one of those
places a remarkable incident took place showing his nature. He occupied, with
his retainers, a haunted house. The original owner of the house had died and
become a Brahma-Rakshas, who would appear suddenly at midnight and kill
the occupants. But Gopal Rao, the devout worshipper of Venkatesa, was not
afraid. He carried on the puja of Venkatesa and Saligram right up to the
middle of the night. The evil spirit, dishevelled and hairy all over, appeared
and demanded in a terrific voice, 'Who are you? How dare you come to my house?'
Then Gopal Rao coolly replied that the statement that the house was his was a
mistake when there was nothing in common between him and the materials making
up the house. The- spirit, infuriated, tried to approach him, though with some
fear. Gopal Rao waited, and when the spirit came within a few yards, he hurled
the abhikshekam water on the head of that spirit. At once this effected
a marvellous change. The spirit fell down prostrate, and recited its past
history and prayed that Gopal Rao should take possession of the vast hoards of
wealth which the spirit had made when alive and which it had kept in the house
and watched over and to utilise all that; to release it from its Brahma
Rakshas state. Gopal Rao agreed, and carried away the treasures to Kasi
where he performed the requisite rites for the liberation of the Brahmarakshas.
Another noteworthy
incident in his travels28 was at Ahmedabad. There at the tomb of
Suvag Shah which he approached, a remarkable incident occured. The tomb
actually perspired with joy and spoke to him. It stated that Gopal Rao was
formerly Ramananda of Kasi and that now he had become a grihasta and a
ruler but all the same, his former devotee Kabir would be coming to him soon.
It was after this, that young Baba was brought to him by the fakir's widow,
and Gopal Rao recognised him as Kabir.
Amongst the
influences that mould the character of young boys, perhaps the strongest is
that of the father or the -mother living with them, and shaping their mind from
hour to hour. Baba had no mother or father to mould him but he had first a
foster father, the fakir and next a master who ultimately became his Diksha
Guru. So, the nature and character of Gopal Rao Deshmukh must first be
understood to know how Baba's nature and character developed. This Gopal Rao,
though a zamindar or rural chieftain of ancient days maintained a
character and reputation unattained by any other zamindar of his time.
One incident in his life illustrates this point. One evening as he sat on the ramparts
of his fort, it was quite dusk, and in that half darkness, a fair damsel of
some twenty years came very close to the ramparts on the ground level, and
thinking that there was nobody, sat down and exposed her body. Seeing a nude
usually provokes lust. Others in his position would have immediately ordered
some one to go and carry away the damsel and bring her for their gratification.
With Gopal Rao the sinful impulse lasted only for a moment. His conscience
rebelled, and he at once thought of Venkatesa and appealed to him for
forgiveness. He viewed every woman other than his wife as really in the
position of a mother to him. Matruvat Paradarmscha says the niti
sloka. That is, no lustful thoughts should be directed to any person other
than one's wife. So, treating this lustful thought as an enormous sin, he
rapidly went down to his worship room, and there, before his Ishta Devata's image
Sri Venkatesa, he repented with bitter tears this momentary lust, and then
resolved to punish his eyes for having cast lustful glances at a mother, which
is nothing short of incest. He at once seized two sharp needles and poked his
eyes with them. Blood issued, and he moaned. His relations soon came up and
noting the fact, blamed him for the folly of losing his eyes for such a trivial
matter. As his eye sight was absolutely essential for guarding them and the
Jintur Parganna from the Muslims, and as they were necessary also for purposes
of worship, his Guru asked him to pray to Lord Venkatesa for recovery of
sight. Accordingly he prayed and recovered sight. The fame of his purity,
nobility of character and ability to draw Venkatesa's power for curing
ailments, spread abroad. Blind people and others came to him, and his very
touch was curative. To a woman born blind, he applied chillies to her eyes with
Venkatesa's name on his lips. This cured her and restored her sight. This
incident, therefore, shows the nature and characteristics of Baba's Guru, Gopal
Rao Deshmukh. In his highest moments of absorption, Gopal Rao uttered words
which were the words of Venkatesa. He became one with Venkatesa at that time.
So Baba always referred to his Guru as Venkusa, a contraction of
Venkatesa. Perfect chastity, thorough self-control, invariable rectitude,
perfect truthfulness, generosity, and serviceability to all which were the
leading characteristics of his Guru became -transplanted and took deep
root in the disciple, Sri Sai Baba.
We shall next
proceed to narrate how the full personality including curative power, descended
from the Guru to Baba.
Baba's being
favoured by the Master evoked considerable jealousy amongst the Guru's retainers
and some of them resolved to kill young Baba by hurling brickbats at him.
During a chaturmasya, between August to November, Gopal Rao was in the
garden and young Baba was attending upon him. The villains hurled bricks at
Baba. One of the bricks came very near Baba's head, but the Guru saw it,
and by his order it stood still in mid air unable to proceed further or hit
Baba. Another man threw a second brick to hurt Baba. But Gopal Rao got up and
got the brick on his head. This led to profuse bleeding. Baba was moved to tears,
and he begged his Master to send him away as the Master was getting harmed from
his unfortunate company. But the Master declined to send him away. As for the
injury, the Master bandaged it with a shred torn from his own cloth, and then
suddenly said, "I see that the time has come for me to part with you.
To-morrow at 4 p.m. I shall leave this body, not as a result of this injury,
but by my own yoga power of Swechcha Marana29. Therefore,
I shall now vest my full spiritual personality in you. For that purpose, fetch
milk from yonder black cow". Young Baba went to Hulla the lambadi in
charge of the cow, who pointed out that the cow was barren, had not calved, and
could not, therefore, yield milk. All the same he came with the cow to the
chieftain Gopal Rao who just touched it from horns to tail and told the lambadi,
'Now pull at the teats.' The lambadis pull drew out plenty of milk
and this milk was given to Baba with Gopal Rao's blessings that the full power
and grace of the Guru should pass on to young Baba. This was the Diksha,
the investiture of the Guru's personality, which young, Baba
underwent. So far as mystic powers were concerned, immediately an opportunity
arose for proving the transfer of power Saktinipata. The villain whose
brickbat had hit Gopal Rao, the Chieftain, fell down dead, the moment Gopal Rao
was hit. His companions were horrified, and they came with repentance to Gopal
Rao's feet and prayed for pardon not only for themselves but also for their
dead companion whom they requested Gopal Rao to revive. The Chieftain pointed
out that the power of revival30 now rested in the young man, and
that they should appeal to him. They accordingly appealed, and Baba took some
of the dust of his Guru's feet and placed it on the corpse. The dead man
arose at once.
The Guru's declaration
that he would pass away the next day from this life into the beyond, was
fulfilled. After making the fullest preparations for settling all his temporal
affairs, Gopal Rao with his full consciousness sat up in the midst of a
religious group carrying on puja, bhajan and nama smaran, in the
presence of his Ishta Devata Sri Venkatesa and at the solemn hour he had
himself fixed for departure, his soul left in perfect peace and happiness like
Parikshit in Srimad Bhagavata. Before leaving the body, the Master waved his
hand westward to the young boy, and bade him leave Selu and proceed westward to
his new abode. Shirdi lies on the banks of the Godavari due west of Selu, and
Baba by slow degrees moved on from place to place and arrived at Shirdi and
after sometime made it his permanent residence.
Babas
Earlier Years at Shirdi
Baba's earliest
years at Shirdi were passed in complete obscurity31. He was a poor fakir,
whose name itself was not known, Sai Baba being merely a term of respect
applied to wandering hermits of the Muslim faith. Very few incidents,
therefore, of this period of his life are known. But such as are known are all
significant as proving that Baba was a real fakir of sterling merit.
Baba himself has observed32 that fakirs also are now seldom
dispassionate, that is possessed of vairagya, and it is hard to find a good
fakir. Baba had no home. Fakirs have none. Hermits are, therefore,
to reside either at a tree-foot or chavadi or temple or other public
places. When he came into Shirdi, Baba visited Khandoba temple at the outskirts
of the village, and noting how solitary and calm a place it was, exclaimed,
'What a nice place this, for ascetics like me to live in.' Mahlsapathy, the man
then in charge objected to this observation and said that no Muhammadan would
be allowed to put his foot into the Khandoba temple. He was evidently thinking
that Baba was a Muslim and that he would break the images and defile the
temple. But Baba was just the opposite.
He had the same
regard for temples and mosques, always wanted people to carry on their
religious faith in their accustomed ways, and would never hurt the religious
susceptibilities of any person. Baba, noting Mahlsapathy's attitude, left the
place, and went to the gode neem tree which he used as his halting place
off and on. He went about the village and the surrounding lands and had no
particular arrangements for food. Luckily the village head, Ganapat Rao Patil
Kothe and his wife Bayaji Bai, were greatly attracted by Baba's personality,
and from the very beginning of his stay there, they undertook to feed him -
even when he was running about. Gradually he gave up roaming and then went
about the streets, halted at four or five places and from there collected
whatever food was brought to him. For his stay and sleep, the dilapidated
mosque of the village was the only place, and it soon became his residence. He
was never for wholly deserting society and living in mountain caves and
deserts.
In his earliest days, even up to 1890, Baba
had a youthful love of art and music, and at night he often went to the Takia,
the resting place for visiting Muslims. There he would, with his very sweet and
appealing voice, sing songs mostly of Kabir or songs in Persian or Arabic,
which the local people could not understand. He tied tinklets to his ankles33
and danced about in joy while he was singing his songs with rapt devotion.
Baba's attachment was to Allah, or Hari, that is to a Personal
God. But the impersonal Nirakara whom the mystics including Kabir sang
of in their songs, had also seized his heart. As he mentioned several times34
long years later, Sakara must necessarily have a strong appeal to youth
as it has to the mass of mankind and he never lost sight of the Sakara or
Personal God in his worship and songs. General speaking his worship was mostly
mental35 and he went through no external forms. He seldom performed
the five Namazes, never bending on the knees and rising, as most Muslims
do. He was an adept in concentration and he had reached the perfection of Manolaya
on the Atman, the merger of the self in the Self. That is why he
could say as he did. Maim Allah Hum. I am God. His worship never took
him away from his social contacts with his neighbours, in relation to whom the
key-note of all his thought and activity was service, absolutely selfless
service.
At times when
he was not absorbed in contemplation, he went about meeting people and noting
their ailments. He picked up herbs or got cheap drugs from shops and with their
use cured the villagers of their bodily illness. His knowledge of medicine and
surgery appears to have been extraordinary for he cured not merely snake bite
but also leprosy with snake venom and rotting eyes with Bibba, that is,
washerman's marking nut36 as an antiseptic alkali. He pulled out the
rotting eye balls of some patient, washed them, applied Bibba as a
caustic and replaced the eye balls and the disease was cured. He never accepted
any payment for his medical or other services. He also rendered other kinds of
services. He ploughed up the village common land, the very land on which his Samadhi
Mandir now stands, and raised a flower garden thereon. He watered the
plants, carrying pots full of water on his own shoulders. He distributed the
flowers and leaves freely to various Hindu temples and to Muslim holy places
and never made any invidious distinction between Hindu and Muslim places of
worship. From his supreme realised state, differences of caste, creed, position
and learning, were nonexistent or meaningless. All persons were children of a
common father or mother, and he felt a motherly or fatherly interest in all of
them and helped them. So, he expected and accepted no recompense.
This is all the
history of the early years of Baba. There might have been an incident or two
remembered by some of the villagers about his early years, but they do not
deserve mention in a serious biography. We shall proceed to mention how this
obscure fakir grew into Sainath Maharaj, a well recognised Samartha
Sadguru, possessed of the most extraordinary superhuman powers with a very
large following of people of all classes from the highest to the lowest and
from all places, from Bombay to Hyderabad, from Konkan to Ahmedabad, and
finally from all over India, and how the worship itself was developing its
forms and accessories as also its application to the highest purposes of
individuals and the Indian Nation and how it promises to help humanity.
When he was an
unknown fakir he was practically ignored and treated by most of the
villagers as of no account. Suddenly one day an incident occured which brought
a thorough change in the situation. He always had his Mosque, wherein he lived,
lit up with three or four -earthen lamps, according to the view common to both
Hindus and Muslims that places of worship should be lit up at night. So, he
went round begging for oil from the Vanis or, oil mongers. There were
only two such shops and they supplied him with oil, gratis. The oil pressman
also supplied him with oil. One day it struck these people that either they
should make Baba realise their importance or should have some fun at his
expense and they told him mockingly that they had no oil. Baba had to return to
his mosque with his oil tin pot empty. It was already dusk. The vanis and
ganamdar came behind him to see what he was going to do in the darkness
and thereby to have .some fun. Baba took some water from the water jar37
and shaking up the little bit of oil sticking to the tin, drank it up. Then he
too pure, aqua from the water pot and filled his four earthern lamps with it.
He placed in each of them a cotton wick and struck up a match and lighted it.
The spectators thought at first that cotton soaked in water could not possibly
be lit up. But to their great surprise, the lamps were lit up and went on
burning the whole night38 After a little time, consternation seized
the guilty vanis and ganamdar, and being terribly afraid that
Baba, having shown himself to be a man of mystic power, might curse them just
as Viswamitra cursed Rambha and Konkanava killed a crane with a glance, fell at
his feet and prayed that he should not curse them. Baba was the exact opposite
of what they thought. He was not a magician resenting contempt and anxious to
seize an advantage. On the39 other hand, Baba was more like the Bhikshu
Monk in Bhikshugita40 and had a true motherly heart, and noted
that these men now repenting were in the proper mood to receive instruction to
alter their conduct, and he gave them wholesome advice which was what they
needed most. First he asked them, ‘You really had oil with you when you said
you had none, eh?' They admitted that they had uttered falsehood. Then Baba
told them never to utter falsehood. Falsehood displeases the God of truth.
There was, therefore, no necessity for Baba to curse them. Next he pointed out
to them how unsocial and wicked their conduct was. The lights were needed for
the use of all who visited the mosque and the public would be inconvenienced if
there were no lights. He asked them if they had not come to the Mosque to enjoy
the pain which they expected him to endure while remaining in darkness. They
admitted the fact. He then pointed out that persons who took delight in others'
miseries instead of sympathising with them would be punished by God. God is
mother to all and loves all equally. If you hurt a child and tell the mother
that you have hurt the child, will the mother be pleased? Thus they had
displeased God by coming to rejoice in his miserable plight or supposed
miserable plight in the absence of lamp oil. He asked them never again to take
pleasure in other's distress, or in the words of W.W. Wordsworth "never to
blend our pleasure or our pride with sorrow of the meanest thing that
feels". They promised. Thus, after giving them excellent pieces of advice,
so badly needed by them and by many people now, he dismissed them from his
presence. The effect of this incident was marvellous.
The
contemptible pagal fakir, as they called him, was turned overnight into
the hero or the weird magician or the holy Sadhu of the place. Before
this, Mahlsapathy and his two friends Tukaram Darji and Appa Bhil had been
perhaps the only persons to worship him. Now other people also began to flock
to his feet and worship him as a Divine Saint or God, much against his will,
with waving of lamps, throwing of flowers and coloured rice over him and offers
of fruit and sandal. However strenuously Baba tried to prevent his being
worshipped as God or a Godman in the Mosque, he could not stem the tide of
popular frenzy. They presently declared he was their God or Godman sent to
bless them. It was thus, the pagal fakir became the God or Godman of
Shirdi.
Such a change
could not continue for long without obstruction. Worship of anything except the
Impersonal God in a Mosque is forbidden by the Koran, and the Muslims, though
few and poor at Shirdi, raised their protest against such worship. He himself
might have felt at first the incongruity of his being worshipped at all and
next the worship being carried on in a Mosque by the mass of Hindus to the accompaniment
of all that Hindu worship implies, that is, the din, the bustle, the noise, the
music, and the sacred rituals all of which would be totally unwarranted in a
Mosque. Even his being debaubed with sandal paste would strike any Muslim as
extremely unorthodox and reprehensible,
Abdul Rangari of Thana when
visiting Baba noted that sandal
paste was being applied by the Hindus to his forehead, and he told Baba, 'What
is this? The Hindus are applying sandal paste to your forehead. This is not the
custom among the Muslims." Baba had to appease him by pointing out that he
had to bend to circumstances. Baba's words were Jaisa Desh Aiysa Vesh. This
means, 'While in Rome do as the Romans do'. Baba also told Rangari that he
himself was a devotee of Allah. But if the Hindus wished to please themselves
by worshipping him, why not allow them to do so? To other similar objectors
Baba pointed out that if Hindus worshipped a Muslim in a Mosque41
then there was no loss to Islam but only loss to Hinduism. That seemed a very
plausible argument and contented many. But some were still dissatisfied with
the puja that was being done to him, and some of the more vigorous
opponents of his puja went to consult the Sangamnare Kazi for
finding a remedy. That Kazi found that the only chance of obstructing this
heterodox haram puja was by threat of force. The Hindus were no doubt
the majority in the village, but the actual worshippers were only a handful,
and a few muscular Muslims, standing at the entrance to the Mosque, and threatening
force could stop this haram. Accordingly a very stout, muscular,
powerful and well-built Muslim by name Tambuli and four or five others went up
to the entrance to the Mosque and stood there with clubs one morning. The chief
worshipper Mahlsapathy was a very slim, meek, and apparently cowardly sort of
person, and they hoped to stop his puja by their threats. Tambuli went
and explained to Mahlsapathy the exact position, namely, that he ran the risk
of being clubbed by the Muslims if he entered the Mosque and applied sandal
paste to Baba. Mahlsapathy in his great shock and grief prayed to Khandoba and
hit upon an alternative. He went upto the compoundwall of the Mosque and
without entering into the Mosque, used all the puja articles that he had
brought on a plate, for worshipping a part of the compound wall itself into
which by Avahana he invoked Baba. After such invocation or Avahana, he
went on applying water, flowers and scents to the wall. Baba noted this and
asked him what he was doing, Mahlsapathy explained that the Muslims there
threatened to beat any one who would enter into the Mosque and worship Baba
with sandal paste. Then Baba
judged the situation
very correctly and said, 'Come in. Go on doing your puja. Apply
your sandal paste here, there and anywhere. Let me see who will beat you'. So
saying he dashed his satka, a short club, which he had in his hand on
the ground with such a thunderous sound that the few Muslims at the entrance
trembled. They found that they would have to reckon with Baba himself if they
wished to pursue their plan, and Baba, individually and physically, would be more than a match
for them. Besides, Baba was a weird personality who could turn water in oil,
and they had therefore still greater fear in trying to oppose Baba. So they
considered discretion the better part of valour and retreated quietly. Mahlsapathy entered and carried
on the worship. Mahlsapathy feared that they might
attack him on his way back home, and he told Baba of his fears. Baba then gave
him the assurance that not merely these, but any others who would come to
attack him not merely at that time but at any other time in any other place,
and not merely in this janma, but in future janmas also, could do
him no harm and Baba would see to it. Thus assured Mahlsapathy who finished his
puja and was not molested. Thus all joined in Baba's worship.
Thus the first
impediment was removed. The second impediment is more interesting. Baba had
both Hindu and Muslim features in his body and in his actions and practice,
and, his mission in life was to unify Hindus and Muslims into one compact mass
with common religious, spiritual and worldly interests. As he had a Hindu Guru,
namely, Gopal Rao Deshmukh alias Venkatesa or Venkusa, he was considered
fitted to guide his Hindu followers. In order to guide his Muslim followers,
initiation into Islamic scripture by a Maulana was essential according to
public opinion. So, his destiny had to be fulfilled by his getting a second Guru,
a Muslim. Jawar Ali Maulana was a distinguished Maulana of the last
century, residing for some time at Rahata. He had extraordinary ability and
learning, but had disagreed with his Rahata followers. He came to Shirdi and
noted that Baba had a large Hindu following who worshipped him at the Mosque.
He called upon Baba to come out of the Mosque and asked him whether he knew the
Koran and the Shariat. Baba had learnt neither. So Jawar Ali Maulana ordered
him to accompany him to Rahata and there Baba was living with this Guru for
about two months. The Guru initiated him into the mysteries of Islamic
spiritual literature. Baba did humble seva to this Guru, carrying
water pots, fetching faggots, lighting up fire, doing hard physical work which
others would complain of. But in the case of Baba, he accepted his position as
the sishya of Jawar Ali with perfect sincerity and underwent with sweet
complacency42 all the ordeal and the course of training given to
him. The villagers of Shirdi headed by Mahlsapathy who were very anxious to have
Baba back again permanently settled at Shirdi requested the Maulana to allow
them to take Sai Baba with them. This was agreed to by the Maulana on the
condition that with Baba he also should be taken to Shirdi, and that both he
and Baba should be fed and supported by the villagers of Shirdi. So both came
and lived at the Shirdi Mosque. Some time later, Jawar Ali was drawn purposely
into a dispute with Devadas, a noted Hindu saint living in a chavadi at
Shirdi, and Devadas's questions cornered Jawar Ali. The latter had to
make so many admissions that the surrounding spectators were moved to laughter.
Jawar Ali resenting this humiliation left Shirdi and did not return there for
long years to come. Baba's worship at the Shirdi Mosque went on and gathered strength.
What appeared as the second impediment tended only to increase the devotees'
attachment through Viraha and admiration and helped Baba's mission. It
must be noted here that the worship mentioned here is individual worship, each
one going to Baba and placing flowers on his feet and treating him as God, Avatar
or Guru. Baba followed the rule for Jnanis "Avoid
honours as poison. Ever welcome indignity, as nectar". Manu smriti43
Worship
Worship is
discussed and its need or validity is questioned by several, and hence a few
words about worship in general and Sai worship in particular are called for at
this stage.
Worship is not
usually the result of logical discussion and analysis, but is at the initial
stage usually the result of an intuitive impulse arising out of a fear, a need,
or other impulse. Some terrible power confronts us. Then we bow down in fear.
Some terrible calamity overwhelms us. Then we yearn and look out for some help
from some powerful personage that can overcome the calamity. Some terrible and
oppressive need arises, such as ravenous hunger or serious illness or
discomfort. Then again we look to a higher power for relief. It is an intuitive
impulse in all these cases that leads man to worship, which is an emotional
act. Later, comes the reflective stage and religious conduct is based on
reason. Then, the question arises 'Why does man worship a higher power?’
The obvious answer is, it is the feeling that a higher Power can give and will
be induced to give man what he needs and save him from trouble. This is true
whether the Power is an invisible God or a visible man or image. There must be
in the first place power and willingness to use the power in the object
worshipped, and as a counterpart, there must be a need, a fear, or other stimulus
operating upon the worshipper to make him believe in the power and willingness
of that power to render help. The stimuli are of various sorts, for example, Arti or trouble,
need for some objects and a desire to
understand this mysterious and puzzling universe and one's relations to it. Of
these, the Arti is the commonest stimulus. It is the sufferer, Arta, who
turns to God or to a saint or to a spirit—not the contented and happy man
spending his time quite easily and with joy. If, in the last case, a man is
given to philosophising or
investigating on a basis
of curiosity to understand
himself and things about him such a person is named Jijnasu - he
may turn to God and pray for
divine aid to understand. But such
people are few. The question is further raised whether any object at all should
be worshipped and mostly this question is raised by persons who have neither
any trouble nor need nor other stimulus mentioned above nor any spirit of
solemn enquiry nor any higher impulse or sensitivity. It is only in cases of
persons with hard and unattached hearts that a question as to the
justification for worship and next the justification for choosing the particular
object of worship is raised. This class of questioners may
for the present be omitted, and our discussion here may be confined to those
who have some spirit of worship in them and who raise the question about what
objects ought to be worshipped. Amongst the Hindus there is a wide range of
worship. The all prevading nature of God enables the ardent Hindu mystic to
perceive him in any and every object
and to worship him in that object. Local heroes and saints with superhuman
powers and Daivi sampath or Vibhuti-that. is, divine qualities in
abundance naturally get worshipped in many places. According to the doctrine of
Bhakti, it is the spirit and faith with which an object is worshipped
that matter, not the object itself and hence the objects without Vibhuti also
can be and are worshipped. According to higher systems of thought, every object
in the Universe is a manifestation of God, and therefore might be or ought to
be worshipped.
The Upanishads
refer to both sets of cases, and the Gita, which is the gift of the Upanishads,
justifies both sets. In Chapter VII of the Gita, Lord Krishna says that one
does not know and realise God unless one knows and realises Him in everything,
in the Universe, that is,
The Para
prakriti which is manifest as the Universe and which includes the five
elements Pancha bhutas, namely Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether and Manas,
Buddhi and Ahamkar as well as.
The Aparaprakriti
or Mulaprakriti, the substratum of all. The Para and Apara
put together constitute God. One ought to worship God in all aspects44,
following which all objects in the Universe are viewed as God. There is in the
Upanishads no shying at worship of any objects. Following nature, the
Upanishads recommend the worship of the mother, the father, the teacher and the
guest. Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava. Then come Acharya Devo
Bhava and Atithi Devo Bhava. About Acharya Devo Bhava we shall have
to consider in great detail many a question, and, therefore, a special chapter
must be devoted to it. At present we shall only note that the father, the
mother and the teacher naturally evoke great respect, and a child has to depend
upon them and is at their mercy. Therefore, it naturally looks with feelings of
adoration to all these just as Baba looked at his foster father, the Fakir as
God and Guru. The Upanishads recognise the fact that human nature turns
to see and feel God. God is the name for the Father of All; who looks after all
his children through the mother and father, its procreators; and to the Acharya
Deva who developes its mental body in understanding and wisdom. Even
ordinary Gurus and parents without special powers are worshipped. But if
any particular Guru happens to be possessed of noble virtues or of siddhis,
superhuman or extraordinary powers, then he is worshipped more naturally
and readily not only by the mass but by the intelligentia and the critics.
In the case of
Sai Baba, his perfect purity, asceticism, general benevolence, harmlessness,
non attachment, and other virtues evoked the respect of the saints, Devadas,
Janakidas, Gangagir, Anandanath and Bidkar, that met him, and also of serious
and noble minded men like Mahlsapathy and his friends Appa Bhil and Tukaram
Darji. His nature is well described as unattached and happily roaming about
fearlessly and as a help to those in suffering and misery45. So
Mahlsapathy and his friends regarded Baba as a saint, an Acharya or Guru
Deva, long before he exhibited any siddhi power. However, so far as
the general mass was concerned, it was the fact that he turned water into oil
that provoked worship. And the worship took the usual form of offering flowers,
fruits and scents. Baba protested and tried to dissuade these worshippers. He
asked them to go to their customary objects of worship such as the images they
had in their temples and homes. But they would not listen. They felt that he was a saint, a samartha saint.
The learned could quote Tukaram's Sant toch dev. Dev loch sant that is,
Saints are God. God is saints. The Villages told him
"You are a Bolte Chalte Dev", that is, a talking and walking
God. The persistence of the mass idea that his siddhis were evidence of
divine power, and therefore marked him out as a Guru Deva for worship,
could not be combated or resisted. Sri Upasani Baba put it in these words,
Aneka Asruta
Atarkya Leelavitasaih
Samavishkrita
Isana BhasvatPrabhavam
Ahambhava
Hinam,Prasanna Atmabhavam
Namami Iswaram
Sadgurum Sainatharri*.
this
means, I bow to Sainath, the Sadguru, who reveals his divine nature through numerous unheard of and
inscrutable lilas, who is free from egotism and has attained
Self-Realisation". So, alike in the case of the highly learned pandit, Sri
Upasani Baba, as in the case of the uneducated rustics, the ladies of Shirdi,
the chamatkars or lilas are the first prompters to worship Sai as
a manifestation of divinity. That
is how worship begins47 and grows. Gradually as
we shall fully explain later it leads the worshipper higher and higher so that
he understands his own self and the Supreme self more and more until the Jiva
is absorbed in the Paramatma. There is a considerable distance of
time, stages, and a vast amount of effort between the beginning of worship and the highest achievement, and Baba worship had and has all stages in it, and all sorts
of worshippers. Baba who first objected
to his worshsip, did by
his own Antarjnana or prophetic vision foreseeing what was to
follow, namely, not only individual benefits to millions but also national
benefit and ultimately benefit to the cause of religion itself for the sake of
humanity. That is why he gradually promoted and then developed his
worship, inspite of numerous
obstacles. The obstacles arose
from all sides-the Hindus and the Muslims. Naturally Muslims objected to the
worship by Hindus of a human
figure like Sai
Baba within the
Mosque with the application of sandal paste to his
forehead and to the accompaniment of much din and bustle through music and
in other ways. From
mere protest the obstacles mounted
higher as we already noted
to a threat of force for
stopping worship. But Baba's
wonderful power and foresight
overcame all these obstacles.
Individual worship of Baba
attracted larger and larger numbers from the immediate
neighbourhood and from distant places and this developed into congregational worship, and that again
from simple congregational worship to the highly complicated forms which are seen in famous places of worship like Pandharpur.
All the shodasca upacharas and the Raja upacharas were
brought in by the increasing volume of bhaktas and tended to the wider
and deeper expansion of Sai worship. Gradually everything that
goes on in sacred places of worship like
Pandarpur and Tirupati were
developed for Baba worship at Shirdi including ritual, hymnology, music,
processions, cars, palanquin horse and pujaris.
We shall now proceed to set out in full this later development of Baba worship
which began about or after 1908.
But we shall first notice the important part that
obstacles play in the march of this as of other great movements.
Obstacles to worship arose from various
viewpoints and served several purposes-one of which was to gain time to
build up sufficient strength to capture all for the mission of Baba. The first obstacle
might be from the modesty of Baba himself as a fakir who welcomed
poverty and obscurity in a nook or corner
of Kopergaon which
means a corner
taluk of the Ahmednagar
District. Baba's whole heart
was engrossed in contemplation of his Guru whom he always
called Fakir49", and in the bliss attending that
contemplation, thoughts of food and rest did seldom trouble him.
Prana
Vrittyaiva Santushyet'
Munir
Naivendriya Priyaih
Jnanam Yatha Na
Nascyeta
Navakiryeta
Vangmanah II49
that is, The sage should be contended to
get just what would keep body and soul together and see that his powers of
knowing, speech and wisdom may not perish.
Kvachitchannah
Kvachit Spashtah
UpasyahScreya
Ichchatam
Bhungle Sarvatra Datnmam
Dahan
Praguttara Ascubham //so
that is, The Muni, sometimes
concealing his nature and attainments and sometimes revealing them is
approached and worshipped by those desirous of achieving their highest well
being and eats everywhere the food given by donors and thereby burns up their
past evil Karma and subsequent evil Karma also.
Grasam
Sumrushtam Virasam
Mahanlam
Stokam,
Eva Va
Yadruchchayaiva
Apatitam Graset
Ajagaro Akriyah II
this means, Whether food be tasty or
tasteless, plenty, or scanty, the sage, following the python's example should
just take what comes of itself without any exertion on his pan.
Samruddha Kama
Hino Va
Narayana Paro
Munih
Na Utsarpeta Na
Scushyeta
Saridbhih Iva
Sagarah IP-
this means,
Whether he has plenty of comforts or none, as his heart is set on Narayana alone,
he neither overflows nor shrinks, just
as the ocean does not overflow
when the rivers throw their floods into it, nor
shrink when the rivers do not.
These verses
aptly describe Sai Baba's condition and mentality. People could therefore see
in him a Parama Bhagavata. Thus the serious minded and noble set was
easily drawn to worship him despite obstacles.
At first his
nomadic habits of running hither and thither as fancy drew him showed that
comfort of the body and care for the good opinion of the society in which he
moved did not bulk largely in his view. The Bhagavata says,
Atmaramo Anaya Vritya Vicharet Jadavat
Mutnih53
that
is, Immersed in God or himself, the sage rambles like an idiot.
Bayyaji Bai had to trace him amongst the
jungles or treefoots that he frequented, to give him his meal. As for fame, he
knew full well that many people thought him to be mad or foolish and insulted
him calling him Pagal or treated him as a totally negligible factor. But
he had no vanity or amor
propre to be wounded by such lack of regard. He was like the Bhikshu in
the Bhikshu Gita54, who was subjected to indignities or insults and
bore up with all silently as part of his Karma.
Evam Sa
Bhowtikam Duhkam
Daivikam
Daihikam Cha Yat
Bhoktavyam
Atmano Dishtam
Praptam Praptam
Abudtiyala II
that is, Whether due to his body or
animals or gods, the Tapatraya, all that befell him, he deemed to be his
Karma and bore them unruffled.
On the other
hand when people began to show him great regard and wanted to worship him, he wished to avoid it in the
interests of his own peaceful and quiet life. His happiness was complete in
itself and did not require offerings of naivedyas, of praise, of camphor
lights, and the assembling of crowds
round him. Thus the
first obstacle was from Baba himself. But Baba was divinely
gifted and had important objects to achieve in his life which formed his mission. When in 1886, exercising his
wonderful power or Siddhi of Swechcha Marana dying at will he left
the body and returned to it after three days, he evidently confirmed the idea
that there was a mission for him to fulfil to
benefit thousands, if not tens
of thousands of people, connected with
him, directly or remotely,
through rinanubandha and the
very society or population of India amongst whom he was born and was living. He felt probably that he could do
something for the uplift of humanity also. These put together may constitute
his mission and evidently it is for the
fulfillment of that mission, which he might be slowly realising and working out
as we shall explain later on, that he returned to his body in 1886, But even
before 1886 he would surely have perceived
that his mission
in some form existed for him. So, he might
have gradually endured, encouraged and
fully developed the worship offered to him in the above view, that is, to carry
out his mission. But we must not anticipate. A separate Chapter must be
devoted to the subject of Baba's Mission.
Success
Begets Success
The benefits
attending such worship were quickly seen and hence numbers from outside the
village, that is, from the immediate neighbourhood were drawn to the worship.
This spread gradually from place to place and people from even remote parts
were attracted to the worship. As for the details of worship, it is not
necessary to mention how Baba objected to sandal paste being applied to his
forehead though no objection was raised to its application to his feet by any
one except Mahlsapathy and how ultimately he acquiesced in every one applying sandal
paste to his forehead also55. Individual worship itself was first
not systematic nor organised. But K.G. Bhishma, a good Kirtankar and
a great adherent of Vittal worship at Pandharpur, drew up the ritual for Sai
Baba worship on practically the same lines as the Pandharpur worship, and he
brought a set of artis that is ritualistic; verses for use by
individuals at Shirdi, and these were sent up by Baba to Nana Saheb Chandorkar
at Jamnere and were approved of by him. They were largely in use and tended to
develop the worship of Baba on the customary lines of worship in well known
temples, The next step was from individual worship to congregational worship.
It was in 1908 that the change was started. Congregational worship implied that
there would be some one to officiate as the pujari and that he would be
available at various periods of worship namely Matins, vespers, night artis and
noon artis. For this purpose, Hari Vinayak Sathe, a Settlement Officer,
who in 1905 was blessed by Baba with the promise of a son in case he manned,
and who got married in consequence, sent up one Meghashyam called Megha to
Shirdi so that he might officiate as the pujari and carry on
congregational worship. But that man was an extremely dull and rustic Brahmin
having hardly any learning either in Hindu sacred literature or in any other
literature. He heard that Sai Baba was a Muslim, and he requested Mr. Sathe not
to send him up to worship a Mohammadan. He was a Siva worshipper, a staunch
Hindu, and might worship Datta but not a Muslim. Sathe told him that Baba was
God, and, therefore, he might worship him. So under pressure from Sathe, the
man arrived at Shirdi and was taken by Shama to Baba. Baba, reading his
mentality completely, shouted against him at his first approach and said, Why
does that fool of a Saheb send this idiot to me? So saying he drove Megha away,
because he would consider it demeaning to worship Baba. Megha being a Siva
worshipper was attracted to Triambak a sacred place for Siva, 18 miles
away from Nasik, and tried to spend his time there. But there he fell ill, and
remembered his refusal to worship Baba. He thought that might be the reason why
he had his illness. Having learnt about Baba's greatness, he returned to Baba,
this time more humble. By Baba's grace he regained his health and started early
in 1909 the congregational worship. He was fully convinced that Baba was Siva,
the same as the Siva at Triambak. He was determined to worship him with
Ganga, that is, Godavari water and bilva leaves. So, he usually went out
five miles to fetch Godavari water for the daily worship, and three or four
miles to fetch bel leaves which are said to be specially appropriate for
Siva worship, Eka Bilvam Sivarpanam that is one bel leaf even is
sufficient offering to Siva. When even the very orthodox Megha thus became an
ardent devotee of Baba, others followed suit and sooner or later gave up their
prejudices against Baba and joined in the congregational worship. All this
required time; and obstacles like Megha's sentiments, had to be overcome and
made stepping stones for further progress.
To make the
congregational worship more advanced and attractive, there was an enthusiastic
set gathering at Shirdi. One Ramakrishna
Ayi, a young
widow of the family
name of Sahasrabuddhe, came and
established herself as a devotee of Baba, and being highly accomplished, was
intent upon using all her gifts and cleverness for developing Sai Baba's
worship. She drew a large number of people to herself and made them
more enthusiastic in the cause of Sai worship. She made them carry out
her plan of fitting out Baba and his chavadi in exactly the same way as
these would be fitted out if Baba was a real Maharaja and a real God's
image. The 16 shodascaupacharas common to all Hindu worship and the Raja
Upachars add pomp to worship in temples and mutts Raja Upacharas means
treating the object of worship as a Maharaja. They add to the
impressiveness of the ceremony and the religious effect on the mind of those
who attend that worship. They also increase the extent of worshippers. Thus,
Ramakrishna Ayi introduced silver whisks, silver maces, silver umbrellas,
silver candelabras, moons, and artificial gardens to deck the chavadi where
Baba was worshipped on alternate nights. A car, a palanquin with silver
appurtenances, a horse, and other regal paraphernalia were furnished on her
insistence and the insistence of other devotees to make Baba worship run
exactly like Vittal worship or the worship of great Acharyas in
their mutts. This, by itself, would be impressive. But Baba fell into
the humour of the devotees. They wanted to make him and called him always a Maharaja,
and he was determined that he should be a Maharaja to satisfy the
devotees. What are specially wanted in a Maharaja's durbar were valuable
presents in cash and kind and to various people visiting the durbar, the
hope of obtaining those presents. Pandits, acrobats, nautch girls,
wrestlers, kirtankars and musicians, who flock to regal durbars visited
Shirdi Sai Maharaja's durbar also. Sai Baba, therefore, arranged for
funds to pay them all. Moreover, there were those depending upon his favour to
get wealth which, on the principle of rinanubandha, he wished to shower
upon them, such as Tatya Patel, Lakshmi Bai, Bade Baba and Ramachandra Patel.
So Baba's durbar had need to get an income and Baba began from 1908 to
ask for dakshinas. Formerly, he would refuse offer of rupees to him
saying that he had no need for them56. But from the time that this
new tide began, he began to ask his visitors for payments of large sums. Some
he would ask for Rs.5, some for Rs.25, and some others for Rs.250. Almost every
one that he asked would pay. Baba knew the minds and state of the Purse of all
the persons and could get exactly what he wanted, and he would not ask for any
funds except where he was going to recompense or where the visitor had already
been blessed by Dana or Vittal and was bound to pay57
whom or those God pointed out. Many sent "vowed Sums" of their own
accord. For example one paid Rs.6,000. Therefore, Baba easily succeeded in
getting as dakshinas in the course of each day varying sums that
totalled up in the evening sometimes to Rs.300 and sometimes to thousands. The
total income came up to a Provincial Governor's income on which the authorities
tried to levy Income-tax. But Baba himself retained,nothing at all, as every evening
he would dispose of the day's
accumulations. But the Income-tax authorities were able to levy tax upon
the regular recipients of Baba's daily doles such as Bade Baba and Tatya Patil.
Thus Baba had a steady and large income from which he was making very
liberal presents to Ramadasis, other dasis, acrobats, pandits,
and various people who came to him from distant places, for example Madras
and Punjab like Addullah Jan who. hoped
Baba would provide funds for Haj. In addition to the large crowd
of persons who offered naivedyas of eatables to Baba, it was possible
for 200 beggars to be fed
everyday by Baba's bounty and doles. Thus the appearance of a very prosperous durbar
was presented at Shirdi from 1909 up to 1918. All this pomp Baba despised.
Profusion of wealth also could never captivate him but he could use it without,
being tainted58. It served a purpose, namely, the widening of Baba
worship, which had a great purpose behind it. That is why Baba allowed all this
to develop his worship.
As Baba's
having wealth and a royal darbar was misunderstood by some, we are
obliged to stress again the following facts that prove that Baba was a
Janaka Maharaja and continued to be a Divine Samartha Sadguru carrying
on the noble work referred to already.
Baba had no
attachment and so could handle wealth and make it run into and out of his hands
without danger of being tainted. He was a perfectly realised soul in the perfect
laya stage as disclosed by his words Main Allahum that is Aham
Brahmasmi. For such a person, Srimad Bhagavata says, danger of attachment
does not arise. Baba told the sadhu Devadas59 that fakirs and
hermits must avoid the upadhis, namely, Moha and pomp. But in
Baba's case, at the latter end of his life, pomp was thrust upon him
and had a useful purpose to serve. Till then Baba avoided pomp. He would
not even sit on a chair or lie on a cot, but sat and slept upon a sack cloth or
gunny mattress placed on the floor. He would not put on his head the crown or
regal dress when the devotees wanting him to look like a Maharaja, brought
these for him. Nor would he accept or allow other royal insignia upon his
person. When a silver-plated palanquin was brought to him with its small silver
horses as appurtenances, he refused to receive it, and said that he did not
want to sit in it. The devotees then said that he need not sit in it, but that
his picture would be placed in it, and that it will be used for the procession.
Even then he would not allow the palanquin into the Dwarakamayee, and so
they had to leave . the palanquin in the open yard in front of his Mosque. At
night some of the silver horses were stolen. The devotees noting it were very
sad, and came to complain of it to Baba. But Baba asked them, "I say, why
was not the whole palanquin stolen?" That is, to Baba it was a matter of
utter indifference whether palanquins or silver articles or any other things
were provided or not provided, were stolen or remained safe. He lived as a true
sanyasi up to the end of his life on Bhiksha food. Of course, it
is well known that when people go out for begging bread, all sorts of things,
insipid, or even partly rotten, are given as Bhiksha especially to
beggars. In the case of Baba, who enjoyed more respect than beggars, rotten
things would not be showered on him, but many people, who were content to eat
rather ill cooked and tasteless or insipid food, would bestow part of their
stuff upon Baba also.
Yad annah
purush bhavati,
tadannah
tasya devatah
that is, what
we eat, we give to God. That is why the hermit is directed in Uddhava
Gita6"
Stokam Stokam
Graset Grasam
Grihan ahimsan
Atishtet
Vrittim Madhukarim Munih
this means, the sage should observe the Madhukari
system in begging for food. He must take little doles from several houses,
without taxing them too much. He must take only what is absolutely needed to
keep body and soul together.
Baba did not
hate or fear poverty. But on the other hand he was content with it and esteemed
it. He said 'Fakir Aval padsha' that is, 'The Fakir is the real
Emperor', because he can lead a life free from care and anxiety. So Baba had no
possessions, and all these regal paraphernalia mentioned above were kept with Ayi,
and on her death, were held by an association, and finally vested in the Sai
Sansthan, formed by the order of the Ahmednagar District Court in the year
1922.
When Baba left
the body, he had only Rs.16 in his hand and no other property. Hence the Raja
upacharas, which would have puffed up or affected other persons, did not
affect him. In refusing to own properties or have a palace, he set an excellent
example. If all sadhus had followed his example, there would not be so
much of scandal against sadhus and so much of wreck in sadhus' lives
that we notice. Baba followed the direction of the sastras for hermits
and fakirs that a hermit should not put by anything for the morrow.
Srimad Bhagavata61 says,
Sayantanam
Scwastanam Va
Pani Patro
Udharamatro
Makshika Iva
Na Sangrahi II
This means, The sage should not store
what he obtains by begging for the evening or keep it for the next day. His
vessels for receiving alms must be either the hand or the stomach. He should
not hoard things like the bee. The 12th verse adds, If he does, like the bee he
will be killed. Spiritual persons who store, develop attachment or Moha, which
means death of the soul. Baba had also no necessity for delicacies. He had
thoroughly conquered his palate. Srimad Bhagavata62 says,
Jitam Sarvam Jite Rase
that is, When the palate is conquered,
everything is controlled. Baba was a perfect Jitendriya. His dhriti or
self control included conquest of the urges of hunger and sex as directed in
Srimad Bhagavata63,
Jihvopastha jayo Dhrutih
that is, Dhruti
means perfect control over the palate and the sex urge.
Further
Results of Worship
So far we have
been dealing mainly with the externals of worship and it is to be feared that
some highly refined and sensitive souls might have been displeased thereby.
These worthy persons wish to have the kernel, the very essence of the fruit of
worship without having to deal with any shell or bark, skin or other outer
coverings. It is true that mere formal performance of worship unaccompanied by
the pure and fervent spirit counts for nothing and that the spirit is the
essence. But so far we have had to deal with externals, as externals are
indispensable to clothe, embody and convey the spirit from person to person,
from place to place, from stage to stage and even from age to age just as husk
and shell serve a similar purpose in Nature. It is the nectar we want, but the
liquid nectar comes only in a cup, as its necessary vehicle, just as the grain
we need comes and must come with chaff and cannot be grown without the husk.
Sweetness is what we want. But except by getting sugar or other sweet article,
sweetness is not got. This is so patent. Sugar stands for sweetness. So worship
stands or should stand for the best form of worship, that worship which in
every item is saturated by fervent admiration, reverence or love. It is on
supposition that this is well understood, that worship has been and is referred
to till now as a highly desirable object, as conferring on individuals, the
country and humanity what is badly and urgently needed by them. But still to
satisfy the demands of these specially sensitive readers referred to above, a
few words on the nature and essence of the worship may be added here, to stress
their importance.
Indian readers
would appreciate worship better if we take them to the corresponding Sanskrit
words and note what they connote. Those words are puja and upasana. These
are well understood terms in constant use. We say a person is doing puja when
he offers flowers, water, food, scents and praise to a person or an image of a
divine being. Yet all the while, that worshipper is not acting like a robot
machine, but is simultaneously using speech and thought. He utters words,
mostly mantras and slokas and his mind turns to their meanings
for most of the time. Occasionally he may be merging himself in the object of
worship mentally - attaining Poorna laya, or feeling perfect bliss and
forgetting all ideas of his self being the actor. Most readers would have
admired the simple hunter Kannappa's worship of a stone linga in Peria
Purana. He just saw the linga on a hill covered by leaves and
flowers, and water used by some adorer who had made formal worship of the
stone. At once by some purva Vasana, some trace of memory from past births
probably, Bhakti entered into his soul and he had a powerful urge to go
to the lingam and worship it. He had no object to gain that is objects
as expressed in the sankalpa or initial portion of every puja but
simply felt the irresistible impulse to go to the image and to feel its
beneficienr presence. What was the worship he offered? The devotee, judges the
worshiped, God only by standards and ideas applying to oneself. So besides
leaves and flowers and abhisheka water brought in his mouth as he had no
vessel, he offered roasted flesh to God as that was the food he liked and lived
on.
Yadannah
purusho bhavati,
Tadannah tasya
devatah.
this means, Whatever is a man's food is
also the food of his God. But however repulsive this flesh was to the orthodox Saiva
acharya who was worshipping the image there, it was not repulsive to the
deity that Kannappa worshipped in the linga. For the deity appreciated
Kannappa's unmotived but powerful love, and to prove the superiority of worship
with such love to cold formal worship albeit with Vedamantras that deity
Siva began to bleed in his eyes. Kannappa, who saw it, at once plucked out one
of his eyes and placed it on the image in lieu of the injured and or bleeding
eye. Then Siva.made his second eye in the image bleed. Undaunted, Kannappa
started to pluck out his second eye for replacing the second eye of the image,
but in order to be sure of the place where the second eye of the image was,
which, after plucking out his own second eye he would not be able to see, Kannappa
placed his foot with its chappal near the second eye. Then Siva appeared
and stopped this sacrifice of the second eye. And the formal worshipper noticed
how greatly God Siva esteemed the love freely flowing from Kannappa's heart and
how much superior it was to his formal external worship with all Vedic rites,
mantras and ceremonies. Sri Sankaracharya in his Sivanandalahari refers
to this superiority in the oft quoted verse,
Marga avartita
paduka Pascupateh angasya kurchayate,
Gandushamfpi
mshechanam purdy'voh divya abhishechayate,
Kinchit
bhakshita mamsa scesha kabalam navyo paharayate,
Bhaktih kirn
nakaroti aho vancharo bhakta avatamsayate.
which means God Siva felt the touch of
the worn out chappal delightfully thrilling,
The water given
for bath abhisheka carried by the hunter in his mouth mixed with his
saliva was enjoyed as a divine ablution,
The flesh which
was previously tested by tasting had been found good and offered by the hunter,
was felt to be as good as newly cooked food,
Well, what
cannot devotion achieve? A forest hunter was esteemed as the highest
worshipper.
Thus it is the
spirit that matters. It is needless to quote other stanzas from Mukundamala
Amnayabhyasanam, to illustrate the same truth.
But when all is
said and done, one must recollect that Kannappars are not found everywhere, and
every one cannot imitate Kannappa. The ordinary man has to remember that his
gentle plant of devotion has to be grown and tended and hedged with
considerable care and for that purpose the regular forms of worship and the
usual directions for the growth of devotion by attending pujas. Bhajanas and
other ceremonies must be followed for a long time before attaining full
fruition of Bhakti. Especially the nine modes of worship mentioned in
the Bhagavata and stressed by Sri Sai Baba often have to be attended to and
followed. In setting out those nine forms, one can see how the external and
internal are inextricably interwoven and combined and how one gradually
progresses with lower and external forms till his inner kernel of devotion
attains maturity and perfection.
The nine modes are,
Sravana Listenging to
accounts of the deeds of God, his Avataras and Saints.
Kirtana of Vishnu,
reciting these or repeating God's names and praise,
Smarana constantly
recalling these, especially uttering God's names64.
Padasevanam falling at the
feet of God and Saints.
Archana formal worship,
for example with flowers, water, food, scents and all the 16 upacharas
Vadana prostration before God and the saints.
Dasya, for example service, doing every work for
God or Saint.
Sakhya remaining in the company of God or Saint.
Nivedana that is,
surrender of the self that is forgetting oneself entirely in the contemplation
of God after formally offering the self as a gift to God.
The devout reader would like to have a
further sketch of the nature and the works of devotion at this stage before we
deal with the expansion of the mere system of worship of Sai Baba throughout
the country and its diversification. So, once again we may refer to Sri Adi
Sankaracharaya who, though a perfect adept in the metaphysics of advaitism and
an authority in respect of the Impersonal Absolute or Brahman, in his numerous
works has also shown his grip of the subject of the bhakti marga. This
is how he describes what Bhakti is :
Ankolam
Nijabhija Santatih, ayaskantophalam,
Suchika,Sadhvi
Naijavibhum,
Lata
Kshitiruham Sindhuh Sarid Vallabham,
Prapnoti lha
Yathatatha Pasupateh Padaravinda Dvayam
Cheto Vanchati
Sada Sa Bhaktir Iti Uchyate.
This means, as the seeds of the Ankolam
tree or plant are regrasped by the parent tree,
as the parent
magnetic block attracts needles one behind another,
as the chaste
wife clasps her husband,
as the tendril
creeper clings to the adjoining tree and mounts upward and upward,
as the waters
of the rivers are for ever drawn downward and downward till they reach the
ocean and get inextricably and indistinguishably lost in it, similarly the
heart of the devotee longs after the Divine feet of Pasupati, God Siva to be
ever there.
This is called Bhakti.
The ideas of Sri Sankara are very well thought out, and we see in example
after example here, how bhakti is to be understood as a natural force
which is found working in all creation namely, vegetable, animal, mineral, and
human. Each illustration takes bhakti one stage further up. First comes
the tendency of the Ankolam plant and its seed. After the seed is first
shed from the parent tree, it gets reattached to the tree. Thus the tendency
even in vegetables is to get back to the original source and get reabsorbed in
it. That is the real nature of devotion in the human being also, for we are
parts, amsas, or sparks from God, and are drawn by a natural force to
look to and reach the original source of all creation and of ourselves, namely,
God. this force being devotion. The second example is from Ayaskanuj, that
is the magnetic stone. The magnet, when approached by a needle. magnetises It.
and then draws it to itself and converts it into a magnet that is it gives
parts of itself, its force to the new corner, and that in turn acts in a
similar way towards other needles, and thus a string of even seven needles
might be found attached one behind another to a big magnet. This shows the
nature of devotion. The jiva's contact with the parent body is ever to
strengthen devotion to God, and every growing bhakta tends to attract
others and impart his devotion to them and through them to others ad infinitum.
These are inert pieces of creation, and even these exhibit the nature of
devotion. The third is human. The chaste wife longs for her husband, and even
his slightest absence for even a short period makes her full of unrest, viraha
and pant for his presence, and when that presence is regained she is full
of bliss and joy and sticks to him. This again is quite descriptive of bhakti.
The Bhagavata treats all devotees as females, Gopis, and the only male in the Universe is
Krishna. So in the Rasakrida, Krishna by his flute or magic sound draws
all the Gopis to himself, and they form a ring round him. Between every two
Gopis is Krishna and between every two Krishnas is a Gopi. That is, each Gopi
sees only Krishna on either side of her and not the other Gopis. Perfect white
heat of love converts everything into Krishna. This feminine devotion to the
Purusha is the loftiest love and bliss known to humanity and that, therefore,
is the best way of indicating what devotion is. Next comes the creeper. The
creeper is a very feeble tendril and it must be sending up tendrils which
intuitively clasp a strong, powerful tree next to it. The wind will shake out
and break the creeper to pieces. But when it twirls round and round a big tree,
the wind can do no harm. The natural tendency of the creeper is to go further
and further upward and upward till the top of the tree is reached. This helps
it to get more light from the Sun, more of.air, and more of freedom and
safety from animals which will bite and eat up the creeper. Similar is
the tendency of a weak human being who resorts to God as the source of his
strength, just as the creeper resorts to the neighbouring tree as the source of
its strength, and clings to God and ever tends to mount up higher and higher in
his spiritual levels to achieve nobler and nobler objects and to transform
himself into more and more of the like-ness of God till he reaches full Sarupyam,
Sameepyam and Sayujyam. So long as bhakti is in the lower stages,
there is the danger of his bhakti being disturbed or his safety being
affected by other creatures or beings. But when he mounts up higher and higher
and reaches the top stages of Sarupyam, Sameepyam and Sayujyam there is
no more danger to his existence or perfection. Lastly comes the example of the
rivers. All the above mentioned examples are all objects which retain their
identity as separate from the objects to which they are drawn. In the last,
namely, the rivers, the perfection of the current of devotion is attained by
losing one's own entity or existence in that of the Divine or the end of the
course. The river is inevitably drawn down. Does water go back or upward? It is
drawn downward and downward, and finally it meets the ocean. The waters of the
rivers were originally part of the ocean, and after being held up in the form
of water vapour, cloud and rain, they take the shape of a river. So, it is the
oceanic waters that flow through the rivers and get back to their original
source. The devotion of the river which was issued out of that immense,
endless, infinite expanse called the ocean, makes it get back to that ocean and
be lost in it. Once the rivers Ganges, Indus, get into the ocean, they Cannot
be pieced out again as Ganges or Indus water. Purnalaya is the end of
the devotion and that is obtained by the jivas surrendering themselves,
that is, making Atma nivedana, which is the ninth mode mentioned in the Navavidha
bhakti. That is both devotion and also absorption. After that there is
nothing further to reach. Thus the various stages, attitudes, and relations of
a bhakta can be very well dwelt upon and learnt by studying the above
illustrations and applying them to oneself.
Another stanza, which may be quoted next,
sets out the names of a number of loving bhaktas so that they may ever
remain in one's heart and show how bhakti achieves its ends. The end of bhakti
is not achieved by the offer of money to God or by mere learning or by age
or beauty of a person, God does not want any of these. God wants only your
heart, that is, your self, and he will not be satisfied with anything else. The
stanza runs as follows,
Vyadhasya
Acharanam Dhruvasyacha Vayah Vidya
Gajendrasya
ka Ka-jatir
Vidhurasya Yadavapateh Ugrasya
Kim
Pourusham
Kubjayah Kamaniya Rupam Adihikam
Kimtat
Sudhamno Dhanam
Bhaktya
Tushyati Kevalam
Natu
Gunaih, Bhaktipriyah Sripatih.
This
means, as for the hunter
Kannappa what. Achara or religious course of conduct had he?
For Dhruva, what was his age?
For the elephant Gajendra, what
education or degrees and titles had he?
Had Vidura favourite of Krishna
any qualification in respect of caste? He was the son of a slave or dancing girl.
For the king of Yadavas called Ugrasena,
who was favoured by Krishna what manliness had he? He was a great coward: ,
For Kubja also was favoured by
Krishna, had she any great beauty? She was deformed in person.
For Sudhama, known as Kuchela who
also was favoured by Krishna, had he any wealth?
Therefore, God is pleased with and wants
only bhakti or. devotion. God is captured by prem or love. The
above stanza refers to well known bhaktas who received great help or
favour from Krishna or God on account of their bhakti. One's profession
or conduct, that is, whether one is a hunter or a Vaideek Brahmin, whether
one is young or old, whether one is highly learned or a creature without
education, whether one is a high caste person or the son of a slave whether one
is a brave man or a coward, whether one has beauty or wealth, none of these are
the reasons for God's help and favour. God is pleased by bhakti alone
and bhakti can capture Him. This contains the essence of the doctrine of
bhakti or devotion, and, therefore, earnest readers who are anxious to
study the history of Sai Baba, who realised in himself the perfection of
Godhead by attaining Purnalaya, concentrating his mind always on God
with intense love from his earliest period of life, and thereby attained Aikya,
so that he could say Mainm Allahum, that is Aham Brahmasm and
could exhibit all the powers of God; would find the use of the above stanzas.
Sai identified himself with Krishna and with every other form of God. As the
object of everyone should be to please God in Sai form or in any other form,
one may note how in point of historical fact, from this biography, numbers of
people were drawn to Sai Baba and achieved the love of Sai Baba, and thereby
achieved every object of human existence. The succeeding chapters of this book
would deal with the details of a large number of devotees being drawn to and
benefiting from Baba, and would fully illustrate the truth of the above verses.
At present we have sufficiently satisfied highly sensitive readers who wish to
have the essence of Sai Baba's Marga placed before them, before we deal
with the expansion of the Sai movement and the details of persons who
approached him, and the problems that arise for consideration in the life of
Baba.
We have stated
so far how the worship of Sri Sai Baba expanded and assumed vast proportions
during his lifetime. This however did not stop with 1918 but continued to
expand further and further, not merely as to the forms and modes of worship but
also in respect of the populations and areas covered and further extended in
its inwardness and heightened its results. In describing the post-Mahasamadhi
developments, and the introduction of Southern modes of worship the spread
of Sai faith to all parts of India and beyond will be dealt with more fully.
One feature of present day worship will be noticed by any one touring the
Indian States, and that is the fact that there are over a hundred institutions
named after Sai, carrying on Sai Puja, Sai Bhajan, Sai Prachar,
often called Sai Samajs or Sammelans, Bhajan groups. Most of
them have Sai Mandirs. A good number of decent buildings with suitable
compounds sometimes with gopuras or towers are seen dotting the face of
the country. In Madras City alone we have the Mylapore All India Sai Samaj Sai
Mandir, the Guindy Sai Mandir and the Egmore Sai Mandir, At Kurnool, Coimbatore
Ventrapragada, Tenali, and other places there are notable Mandirs attracting
thousands to worship there. These are but the nucleus of what is to be, a tiny
patch of cloud prognosticating the vast rainy clouds that will soon screen the
sky and flood the whole country. Sri Sai Baba has ordained all this expansion.
Baba's gradual
permission of his worship has been noted, and it has been specially stressed
that Baba allowed his own worship with the prescience that it would be the
means for providing temporal and spiritual benefits to millions of individuals
and also the means of solving India's national problems of communal and
religious unity as Sarva loka malapaha.65. In India we have
not merely Hindu and Mohammadan divisions but various subdivisions of
religion, among the major communities also. In their ideas and modes of worship
they differ widely from one another. Till recently, religion meant
differences between group and group and, therefore, mutual conflicts,
preventing the unification of India or even of Hinduism, urgently calling for
its purification and unification66. Sri Vishnu and Siva conflicts
have been going on for centuries. Also Hindu-Muslim conflicts. To Akbar must be
given the credit for trying to solve the problem of religious disunity in India
by using his powerful position and influence to unify and consolidate the two chief religions, namely, Hinduism and Islam,
by making the representatives of both gather at one place to worship the common
father of all, Din llahi, Akbar's attempt though slightly successful
during his days, perished with him. His successors did not take up the idea and
some of them took up the opposite idea of oppressing the non-Muslims with a
view to inducing them to embrace Islam -Aurangazeb being the most notable of
such successors. What Akbar tried in the region of statesmanship and politics
was attempted in the field of literature and religion by Kabir, Guru Nanak, and
others, and they tried to establish the bedrock of ideas on which Indian
unification in religion could be accomplished. Each had some degree of
success, but even their efforts fell short of that completion and perfection which
we shall find in Baba's performance Sai Baba declared on one occasion that in a
former janma he was Kabir, and it may be noted that Baba, as Kabir, was
suiting the narrow views of former centuries, while Baba of the 19th and 20th
centuries had broader views and more efficient means of reaching unity. Kabir
brought under his own leadership Hindus and Muslims who gave up former labels
and were called Kabir panthis. But a little later, a short time after
his demise, the spirit of division carne in, and there were Hindu Kabir panthis
and Muslim Kabir panthis separating each from the other. Guru Nanak
also accomplished the same remarkable feat in bringing Islam and Hinduism
closer to each other. But the Sikhs, who now represent the fruits of his
labours, cannot provide any basis for the religious unification of India. Sai
Baba fully grasped the difficulties of the problem. The only thing that could
bring Hindus and Muslims together was a weird, saintly personality acting as a Guru
or god-Man, absolutely neutral, allowing all sects, religions and creeds to
have their own ways, and yet bringing them all to a common platform, namely,
devotion to that saintly personality and enabling them to see that the
differences are petty and ridiculous, unworthy of serious men of jnana or
realisation. Sai Baba was such a person. In him, divine qualities, obviously
super-human powers combined with even-minded beneficence were so patently
manifested that all alike, Hindus, Muslims and Christians, who came to know
about him felt that they were before a higher influence and that they could all
approach and reach God through him, that he was the high watermark of
saintliness, or Godliness or God head and they willingly made him their Gurudeva
and protector. Some of them treated him as their god. The result was that
Sai, by allowing his worship to be done at the Mosque by different
people with varying sets of ideas, was drawing all to Mysticism, the common
essence of all Religion and thus building up, by a slow but inevitable process,
a united community engaged in common worship which ultimately could include at
least the whole of India. Sai devotion means tolerance towards all, faith in
God and in Sai as Guru, and the acceptance of the basic principles found
in all religions. These factors were stressed by Sai Baba from time to time and
many a time. Sai allowed the Hindus to adopt their puranic method of worship
and treat him either as an Avatar or Ishtadeva or a Gurudeva, as they liked, while he allowed the Muslims
approaching him to read their Koran and the shariat at the Mosque and to
join his flock as his devotees, treating him merely as an Avalia or a
saint with remarkable powers. All alike noticed that Sai was the soul of love
and purity, and a storehouse of superhuman power and superhuman enlightenment.
It is such a person that has succeeded in drawing the otherwise jarring and
warring sects into a peaceful flock of Sai devotees. When his puja is
gone through during the day time with all the din, bustle, and formalities of mantras
and rituals of Hindu worship in the Mosque or Dwarkamayee, the
Muslims do not interfere. When the Muslims on Idga Day have their
rituals or prayers at Baba's Mosque, the Hindus do not interfere. During the
day, Hindu puranas, Tukaram gathas, Ramayan, Vedas, were being read or
recited and at night the Koran or shariat was read or repeated either by
Abdul or by a person known as the Rohilla or by some other person,
offerings brought to Baba were distributed by him to all after fatia was
pronounced in true Muslim fashion. Though Baba did not himself perform the five
Namazes every day, he encouraged the orthodox Muslims to do so at
his place. Baba was djspleased and showed his anger when any religious
intolerance was exhibited. On one occasion a devotee came up and deplored the
fact that the newly appointed Foujdar, that is, Police Sub-Inspector at
Ratha was neither a Hindu nor a Muslim but a Christian, Baba's immediate reply
was, 'What of that? He is my brother'. Again, H.S. Dixit, though generally
observing all propriety, once fell into the unfortunate mood of. decrying
Christianity and Christ when talking at his quarters with some others. After
that, he went up to Baba to pay his respects. But Baba severely said
"Don't come near me". At once Dixit felt that, by decrying Christ and
Christianity he had offended Baba, and immediately he repented. It was only
thereafter that Baba allowed him to approach him. Baba expressly declared67
that when devotees were quarrelling amongst themselves, he was feeling
great pain, whereas if they all put up with each other and pulled on amicably,
he felt happy. In effect, his message
was "Love ye one another even as I love you all". Baba's love and
wonderful power of reading and controlling hearts was mainly responsible for the
almost perfect concord between Hindus and Muslims that always reigned at
Shirdi. In other places when a Muslim festival came on the same day as the
Hindu festival, battles were fought, and heads were broken. But at Shirdi there
was not a single occasion of a Hindu-Muslim class fight. When Baba's picture
was carried in procession through all the streets including the neighbourhood
of the Muslims, no one felt the least repulsion or objection. On the other
hand, in front of, and behind the palanquin carrying his picture, Hindus and
Muslims vied with each other for the honour of carrying various insignia of devotion, namely,
whisks, umbrella and Maces etcetera. Baba distributed prasad
brought by members of any community to all, and they were accepted by members
of all communities. The chief point to note about Baba's unification is that
there was no fixed book or doctrine to which he wanted
all people to subscribe; and no fixed
observance was forced on any one69. The main mass of the devotees
were Hindus, and they carried on their worship of Baba at the Masjid with
rituals based on the
Pandharpur Arti. Their bhajans were
full of allusions to
Hindu mythology, but
the Muslims who were present on such occasions were free to
ignore all the above and simply
regard Baba as
their kindly disposed
Avalia-lheir Guardian. Christians and Parsis also had the same
freedom and they adopted whatever course they thought was proper. There was no
compulsion of any sort in the matter of religion before Baba. The common point
was attachment through powerful love to the personality of a weird Guru who
exercised all his vast and wonderful powers of seeing or knowing, everything
everywhere and of even doing the impossible for the benefit of his devotees.
Love, keenest and burning love was the means and the end. Love is really what
every one wants, with relief from distress and attainment of desired objects. At Baba's feet they were
obtained by any person-Hindu or
Muslim, Parsi or Christian, and
the question of a difference of religion did not arise at all as love to the Guru
was the common plank of all, the other planks being different. To many a
Hindu, Baba was identified with various gods or Avatars. Each man saw in
Baba sometimes the very form of the deity that he wanted to worship. A South
African doctor would respect none but Rama and did not care to approach a
Muslim as Sai Baba was supposed to be. But when that South African Brahmin
doctor came to the Masjid on the express stipulation that he would not bow to a
Muslim Baba, he stayed
for a few minutes outside
and, afterwards, darted into the Mosque and fell at Baba's
feet. When asked for an explanation, he gave the answer. 'I saw that
Baba's form was really the wonderful form
of Nila Megha Syama Rama. As I found my Rama in Baba, I
worshipped him' and Baba later filled him with Parama Ananda and love.
This is a typical instance. A Sub-Inspector of Police M.S. Nimonkar had regard
for nothing except Hanuman, and when he was looking on, Baba appeared to his
eyes exactly like Hanuman with all the hair and prognathous face. N.G.
Chandorkar's relative Binnewalla did not care for anything except Datta, and
was anxious to go away from Shirdi, where Baba was worshipped, to some place where
Datta could be seen. Suddenly to his eyes, Baba appeared with three heads, that
is, as Datta. Baba excercised these marvellous powers to induce faith in
persons that approached him. Thus, he was Siva to Megha, Rama to the South
African doctor and Madrasi Ramadasini, Krishna or Vittal to Krishna bhaktas,
Maruti to Maruti bhaktas,
Ye Yatha Maam
Prapadyante
Taams Tathaiva
Bhajaami Aham70
Shirdi Sai Noon Arati Song says,
Jayaa Manim
Jaisaa Bhaava
Tayaa Taisaa
Anubhava
Davisi
Dayaghana, aisii tujhi hi maava
Which means,
According to the feeling or attitude of mind of each person, you give him
experience of you. Such is your sport, merciful One. Thus, he really was God,
that is, he had not merely God essence, Supreme Power and Love but also every
form of God that the devotee wanted to see. As he was completely self-realised
he could with perfect truth say Main Allahum, that is, I am Allah or God. When
a Deputy Collector was gazing at Lakshminarayana's figure at Bombay and
concentrated his mind on that image it disappeared and Baba's form took its
place; the Deputy Collector was afraid that his concentration was a failure.
But when. he came to Shirdj, Baba knew what happened and asked him, "What is the
difference between this form and Lakshminarayan's form? I am Lakshminarayan'. He showed in himself
the form of Ganapati to others such as B.V. Dev's sister. He was all gods,
because according to the Sastras, all gods are parts of God Angani
anya devatah70. Baba had the complete realisation of the
fullness of God-not merely of God forms, but God essence. He was Sal Chit
Ananda. He had absolute freedom from attachment to all earthly objects and
freedom from all those emotions which take persons away from God. Therefore
Baba was best fitted to bring into a common fold all persons who had desires or
objects that religion could grant through service at his feet and acceptance of
him as the Gurudeva or guide. This work which occupied so many decades
of Baba's life on earth has greatly developed since he cast off his earthly
body. As Justice Mr. MB. Rege remarks in his foreword to Baba's Charters and
Sayings. 'Now that the fleshy body is gone, he is to me only God.1
The fleshy body repelled many people who came to him because of their sectarian
or other prejudices. Now when a person reads about Baba and notes the effect of
prayer to him with full faith, the physical body of Baba, the Muslim
appearance, is not there to repel him. Thus, his casting off the fleshy body in
1918 leaving thousands or tens of thousands bound to him by love and a system
of worship by love, with the fame of his lilas helped to continue his
work and was a very useful step in carrying out and in perfecting his mission
to unify all faiths by acceptance of him as the common Guru-deva, especially because
the worship of,
or prayer to, tombs of saints is practised by both Hindus and Muslims71.
Kabir objected to images and image worship. Baba on the other hand allowed
people and even directed people to go to particular temples to worship the images
there and he presented lingas, padukas, coins, and pictures to
devotees as fit-objects of worship especially his own pictures. These images
too are needed to make the minds steady and concentrated in meditation72.
These steps among others help to bring more into Baba's fold.
It is common
knowledge that any one who pins his faith to Baba, regardless of castes or
creeds and appeals to him, gets remarkable relief, and therefore, feels
convinced that this Sai whatever he might have been by birth, parentage, or
training, in his corporeal life, is now nothing but God, that is, the dispenser
of desired things to those who want them and make the proper approach. So Baba
is the God or the God-man to all Sai devotees. While unifying India on that
basis, he is the granter to millions of individual devotees, of all their
cherished or most ardently longed for objects.
Unification
and Purification
of
Hinduism
In India the
divergences of worship between class and class or group and group are so great
that some foreigners thought there was nothing like Hinduism that there is
nothing in common at all between the Todas and the Brahmins in
worship and that they reflected different levels of thought and had contents of
truth or degrees of philosophy in them. Toda worship might simply amount to
bowing to natural forces or a few objects whereas the worship by the highest
cultured classes in temples and else where reveal a great diversity of
philosophical systems, and of religious thought, Apart from this, the distinction
between the worship going on in Siva temples, Vishnu temples, Jain temples and
other temples, was noticeable enough. The differences were sometimes sought to
be bridged by enclosing Siva and Vishnu temples in the same compound or inside
the same building. In some cases there was amicable worship of the different
deities inside the same place but in others the differences of view were
intensified by the closer contact. In some cases, the bhaktas of Siva
claim that Siva should have priority in procession and that Vishnu's procession
must follow. The othher group contests this claim. These and other similar
matters appear however to be a quarrel over trifles. But there was bitterness
enough to take the differences to courts and even to the highest court like the
Privy Council. It was not easy for anyone to say that there was a single
religion called Hinduism, the characteristics of which one could set out. In
any case, there was a war of literature going on during the last two or three
centuries developing bitter antagonism between Siva and Vishnu faiths and
between Jain and both of these and other similar religious institutions. The
quarrels were always on non-essentials. But anyhow they prevented unity and
sowed dissension. The consequence on society was to weaken society and
demoralise religion. In order, therefore, to unify the people and to purify the
religion and raise it to the highest grade, the one great thing needed was to
discover what was the essential substratum of all these faiths called Hinduism and
to bring in actual practice the adherents of all sects and views into one mass
that could work harmoniously. Sri Sai has done marvellously good work in this
connection. Having been brought up in his earliest years by a fakir, the
idea of unity of God struck deep root in him. He changed at a very early age
his residence and his caretaker, and coming under the Selu zamindar's care
which naturally involved contact with various forms of gods. Baba thus
naturally developed the feeling that the one God or Allah that he knew
in his earliest years under the fakir was the same as Venkatesa whom his
Guru at Selu worshipped, and that other gods or god-forms that were
incidentally brought to Selu or were visited by his master were all
forms of the same God, that is, the Ekam Sat, Vipra bahuda vadanti, which
means, "The Real is one. The wise call it variously." Angani Anya
Devatah, that is, all gods are part of God. So Baba had, as the backbone of
his religion, the unity of God-head in all names and forms. This, is the feat
that muljt be achieved by all in India, and Hindus especially should attain
unity and purity of religion. Therefore those who contacted Baba by worshipping
him at Shirdi or elsewhere were deeply impressed with and felt this truth that
all god forms such as Vittal Maruti etectra are God. "All that is Allah"
was what Baba told the Rohilla. Baba constantly used one name
for another, namely,
Vittal for Khandoba or
Maruti for Vittal, and
it may be noted that advanced bhaktas following Hari
Hara Guha Bhajana Paddhati do the same. He told Upasani Maharaj that he
Upasani would get God's grace after four years of severe training at Shirdi.
and the word he used for God's grace was "Khandoba's grace." When he
referred to Upasani's residence at Shirdi, he would say "Vittoba's
temple," but Upasani Maharaj corrected him and said it was Khandoba's, for
Vittal's temple was inside the village and
Khandoba's temple outside.
Baba would again
correct Upasani Maharaj and say,
'What is the difference between Khandoba and
Vittoba?* By persons who are ingrained in Hindu notions of difference between
Siva and Vishnu, Khandoba would at once be declared Siva's avatar and
Vittal as Mahavishnu's avatar, and so the two cannot be the same in
their functions, their dresses, or their pleasures. The two, Mahavishnu and
Siva, are severely contrasted daily by murthy minded Hindus, thus
Alankara Priyo
Vishnuh
Abhisheka Priyas Sivah73
that is to say, Vishnu is always dressed
up in fine pitambar, that is, golden dress, and given a fixed number of
ornaments, weapons, insignia, whereas Siva is either undraped as in the Linga
or clad with tiger skin, and he wears his hair on the head in the form of a
rough tuft. But Vishnu's hair is nicely combed and presentable. In the
description of accompaniments also, living or other, the two are described
differently and presented differently in temples. Mahavishnu is surrounded by
Lakshmi, bhaktas and bhagavatas, all wearing Namams, whereas
Siva is ash besmeared and surrounded by ghouls, demons, and fierce looking
creatures, for he is supposed to dwell in the horrid cremation ground, which is
considered a polluted place to visit. Hindu groups exultingly developed the
peculiar merits, each of its own Murthi ideas, as contrasted with those
of others; and the Vishnu Mala kandanam by Saivas and the Saiva
Mata Kandanam by the Vaishnavas gave plenty of scope for hairsplitting,
philosophising, and bitterness for centuries, and in practice, often the
followers of each kept themselves apart from the others. Even in the Valmiki
Ramayana., Bala Kanda, there is a chapter showing that Siva came to conflict
with Vishnu, and even after they stopped their fight, their followers continued
their fight. This unedifying spectacle of degrading religion by enthusiasm over
unessential and exulting over differences has worked sufficient harm already to
the great neglect of the essence of religion that should alone be stressed by
all sensible and truly religious persons. Baba, therefore, drew the attention
of all his bhaktas to the fact that whether you called your God, Siva or
Vishnu, he is the Supreme Power that is responsible for the creation,
maintenance, and the withdrawal of the world, and he gives you all that you
need and finally the highest bliss at his own feet. This, being the central
essence of all Theism, is or should be the central plank for unifying all
branches and sects of Hindus and also unifying Hinduism with Islam and other
theistic religions. In fact, world unity of religions can be achieved mainly on
this basis. Sporadic teachings on the same lines existed. For example,
Sivasya
Hridayam Vishnuh
Vishnoscha Hridayam Sivah
Ishadapi
Antaram Kritva
Rouravam Yati
Manavah74
This means, Siva is the essence or heart
of Vishnu and Vishnu is the heart or essence of Siva. Any one who makes the
slightest difference between the two goes to Hell. There are many similar
authorities. But why go to authorities? Does any one think that God,
omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, who is responsible for the creation,
maintenance and dissolution of the universe can be many? If there are many, the
universe will be a chaos, not a cosmos. The above are functions or aspects of
one and the same God. Baba was always impressing this silently on all. We have the
opposite ideal deeply ingrained in us. We are bodies, we think. So we think
Siva, Vishnu and Brahma are embodied beings, murthis with eyes, legs,
nose and crown. It is absolutely essential
for the seeker
after salvation to
shed these and consequent differences. So Baba
stressed unity just as even Srimad
Bhagavata stresses unity.
The Vedas on
which all schools rely seem to
support the idea of multiplicity of Gods and in fact multiplicity of objects in
the universe. In Srimad Bhagavata75 Sri Krishna says.
Mam Vidhatte
Ahhidhane Mam
Vikalpya
Apohyate Tvaham
Eiavan Sarva
Vedarthah Sahda Asthaya Mam Bhidam
Mayamatram
Anudya Ante Pratishidya Prasidati
that is Vedas enjoin Me, Me they
express. What is stated tentatively to be refuted is I. This is the import of
the entire Vedas with Me as their substratum, that is, the Vedas affirm
the existence of duality and that duality is but a illusion. Refuting that
duality at the end, the Vedas are satisfied. Baba did not stop with
stating the principles on which all could be brought to a common basis. He went
further and worked out the actual unity of the groups by bringing men from
different groups and making them all form one solid block of Sai devotees under
his own care. Those who came to him saw in him their only God, recognised him
as their Guru Deva and that was the highest religious sentiment that
they had and there was no possibility of their tearing themselves off into
divisions, though their original loyalties were in other respects maintained.
Baba hated intolerance and made people tolerate each other's views and
peculiarities. He did not allow the Hindus under him to fight against the
Muslim devotees. He removed disparities and made them work in unison as fellow
devotees, as brothers in Sai faith. Thus, he worked out not merely the
unification of Hinduism but also the unification of Hinduism with the other
great religion in India, namely, Islam. Especially under Sufi influence, one
sees that it is impossible to distinguish the essence of Hinduism from that of
Islam. When the essentials of Sufism are put forward, it is difficult to say
whether those essentials do not constitute real worship according to the
Bhagavata doctrine as well as esoteric Christian doctrine. Sai Baba is both a
perfect Sufi and a Parama Bhagavata following the Bhagavata or Parma
Guru of the Guru Gita embodied in Skanda Parana. The one thing that
religions must agree upon is that God, the Supreme Power, is Sat Chit
Ananda; the highest bliss that man can know is represented to be God, and
God is, therefore, the ultimate goal of all religious striving, and every
effort should be made by every sincere and honest seeker of truth to realise
this real Sal Chit Ananda as the basis of the Universe and the basis of
his own personality. All personalities will, therefore, finally merge in the
one grand personality, Paramatma, that is God, which is Love. This is
the essence of Baba's teaching and practice and is well fitted to be the basis
of unification of all faiths in India and in the world.
BUT HOW CAN POLYTHEISM AND MONOTHEISM BE
RECONCILED?
This is a question on which theoretical
differences of opinion exist in abundance, and theoretically one can go on
maintaining that monotheism and polytheism reflect different levels of thought
and action and that the two are poles apart. In one sense that is true. Yet it
is also the truth recognised in the lives of great souls and in the history of
nations that the two co-exist and are reconcilable in Mysticism. This is well
illustrated in Hinduism. Is God really one or many? Are the various forms of
worship of various gods and goddesses reconcilable with the worship of one God?
In the case of the one God, is worship necessarily external and formal or might
it be equally advantageous, if not more advantageous, without external
formalities? Is the realisation of pure Satchitananda a form of worship?
If it can be termed worship, then probably the term worship must have an
extended significance which ordinarily it does not have. When a person is
simply enjoying Satchitananda he is generally referred to as in a
blissful state, and he might even express his own condition by the words Mainm
Allah Hum, I am God, Aham Brahmasmi, Soham, That is, if the
individual soul has so completely surrendered itself to and got identified with
the Paramatman, then there may be no such thing as relation of one soul
to another. Worship is usually understood as the attitude of one soul, a Jiva,
towards God, viewed not as identical with it, but as in some way different from
it, though the Godhead might include the Jiva. One might worship a God
which includes oneself because it includes others also, and is thus different
from oneself. If worship must necessarily connote differences between the
worshipper and the worshipped, it is not correct then to say that the merger of
the individual soul in the Paramatman is an act of worship. It may be
the ultimate end of worship. There in Atma Nivedana worship ends. But
ordinarily no one would think loss of identity is worship. In fine flights of
poetry, as in the pages of Wordsworth, we come across passages where the soul
is lost in admiration of the beauty, the infinite character and the glories of
Nature treating them as expression of love and joy arising on God's Visitation.
That is described sometimes as an act of worship as loss of self is only
temporary. Even the person who worships a God-form is lost in it for a time and
then comes back to himself and treats that form as different from himself. A
mystic has various stages, one stage of which is losing himself in Nature or in
a God-form other than Nature. Thus Nature and he are two different objects, and
that is how the term worship may be applied to such cases. But apart from
verbal differences, taking only the essence into consideration, if God is bliss
and man is only a spark from God, the spark, after much sadhana, gets
reabsorbed in the original flame from which it came. Then, the process of
approaching, absorption and getting back may be called worship. But the end,
that is being permanently part of the original flame or bliss or love, is
called worship, as means and end are bundled together as in Bhagawad Gita76.
Worship is usually described as a sadhana or means, and the end of it is
reaching God. Persons of all grades of development were flocking to Baba's
feet, and a very large number of them were incapable of any laya or
merger in God. But a few like Wordsworth's 'youth at sunrise' quoted in a
'later chapter occasionally touched that laya. Once Balwant Khaparde and
Bhishma went out in the morning when dew was falling and the Sun was just
rising. The Sun's rays hit them and threw their shadows behind them. Their
shadows began with their feet and continued right on to the distant horizon,
and at the horizon there was a rainbow caused by the piercing of the dew
by the Sun's rays. Thus the long shadow of each of them was crowned with a halo
of the irridescent seven coloured rainbow. This struck each of them as
marvellous. From each one, who is finite, goes out an infinite shadow which at
the other end is crowned with divine glory! This was by the rays of the Sun who
sends his rays upon all. The Sun is typical of God. The halo of glory cast
round the head of the shadows was also typical of Godhead, and so each one had
a feeling that he himself was identical with that elongated shadow which had a
crown on its head. Therefore each one dimly sensed his divinity. The finite
body and its infinite and glorious shadow were really one. The Sun showed the
oneness. That was the mystic meaning to be attached to their morning experience
of the Sun, the dew, and their shadows. They communicated their experience to
G.S. Khaparde who said that Baba had kindly given them a mystic experience of Atmananda.
With this uppermost in their minds, they went to see Baba. Baba gave them a
smile of approval and said nothing. One would take it that Baba set his seal of
approval on their interpretation of this natural phenomenon of having long
shadows of themselves crowned with divine glory, and considering the same as
typical or significant of their being in essence divinity, something infinite,
blissful, and beautiful, and that their Jivas must be recognised by each
one of them as being the Paramatma, that is, Divine, as was demonstrated
by their blissful laya absorption for a moment. Baba similarly expressed
his approval of the use of music also for purposes of enabling the Jiva to
get laya in bliss. Baba himself in his early days used to dance with
tinklets tied to his feet singing rapturously songs of Kabir, some of which
undoubtedly referred to the beauty and blissfulness of infinite Godhead. Baba
must have enjoyed what Tyagaraja says is enjoyed by the bhakta in
moments of musical laya,
'Gitartfiamu'
Mokshamu Galada asks Tyagaraja, that is, Is it possible for a man whose mind
does not melt with music into laya, to obtain laya in any other
way into God?. Baba told Rangari that on the night previous to his coming,
there was bhajan and music, and all night he was in rapture. 'They
abused me’, Baba said.
Tyagaraya who
like most Hindus revelled in meditating on the details of God forms attained laya
or mystic absorption especially with the aid of music. Sufi and Christian
adorers of God without form also succeed often times in merging their selves in
rapt communion with God. Both these groups of mystics show that concentration
in the end gives the longed for bliss of God and is the way to reconcile all
religious differences. Baba as the pastmaster of mystic bliss and lord of siddhis
or psychic powers flowing from mystic concentration helped on the
reconciliation of these apparently conflicting faiths of Polytheism and
Monotheism.
Guru
Worship
Sri Sai Baba's
beneficent work especially on the vast scale that is seen more and more now was
and is exercised through various means, Sai worship being one of the most
important of these means. That worship was mostly Guru worship, his marga
being Guru marga. Hence Guru worship must form an important
feature of the Sai movement. A full study of the marga here is out of the
question. But to understand Sai Baba's life, guru-sishya relations and
nature have to be studied, and Sai Baba's life and lilas throw a flood
of light on the full significance and value of Guru marga. That term
picked up from Guru Gita is clothed with power and glory from Baba's life.
The story of
the life of such a great saint like Sai Baba must include references to Gurus
and Guru worship, for it is by their grace that saints achieve
perfection which they naturally endeavour to impart to others. By reason of Sri
Sai Baba's ability to conceal his real nature and the working of his mind and
body obviously in pursuance of the directions of sastras and Gurus that
eminence must be concealed, for example, the saint must be unfathomable and
undiscerned like the ocean and the python77, moving about like a
dullard, idiot, or devil, his acting as a Sadguru and a Samartha
Sadguru was unknown to the thousands that met him in life or heard of him
thereafter. It is only by revelation of devotees' experiences that people now
mostly realise that he was a Samartha Sadguru and had various grades of
devotees and sishyas.
His biography
is the practical illustration of what Guru and Sishya mean and of
the principles that govern their conduct and mutual relation, Hence a preliminary
discourse on these subjects is needed, though it cannot exhaust either the
general subject or its application to Sai Baba, his Gurus and sishyas.
The marga that Baba followed has puzzled many. Many asked and ask
whether he was a Yogi or a Jnani or a Bhakta or followed
any marga pecualiarly his own. Several thought and think that Baba
cannot be classed under any of the divisions applying to saints and sadhus. As
a result of study, aided by His own grace, one sees at last that he was an
adept of all the margas, though his chief marga, was Bhakti
marga, the special form of it that it described as Guru Marga in the
Guru Gita, and that Jnana and siddhis including yoga siddhis came
in the wake of his Guru bhakti. These will be made clearer as we advance
in the study of Sri Sai's Life and of his relation to devotees. At present in
this chapter we shall state just a few preliminary matters relating to Guru and
Guru worship.
Definition : Guru
may be defined as one who imparts information or gives training to another.
Any school teacher or moral teacher or the one who teaches the way to salvation
or mukti or even teaches mantras for various religious or secular
purposes, high or low, can be called a Guru.
Derivation :
The word Guru is a Sanskrit word and a number of derivations are found
especially in Guru Gita, which is a part of the Skanda Purana. 'Gu'
generally means 'Guna' and therefore means 'darkness'. 'Ru' denotes the
action of destruction just as fire destroys or removal. So Guru means
the dispeller of darkness or ignorance.
Gu karascha
Andhakarastu
Ru karah
tannirodhakrit
Andhakara
Vinasitwat
Guru riti
Abhidhiyate.78
Another
derivation says that Guru is one who takes you from the Gunas to
That beyond the Gunas that is, Brahman79.
Arabic and
Persian : It is always better especially when dealing with Sai Baba whose
teachings are unique and cosmopolitan to give the word Guru its
equivalents in Arabic and Persian, as used by Sufis, Murshad is the Sufi
equivalent which Baba himself used. For example Baba said "My Murshad has
taken me away from this body which is but my house'. This means his Guru had
destroyed his identification of self with the body Dehatma buddhi and
made him realise that He the Atma is not the body just as the fire which
burns the fuel is different from the fuel, and the seer is not the seen81.
The Sufi equivalent for Sishya is Talib and shakir.
Everywhere in
the world we find, the usual practise is to have Gurus.
Purpose for a Guru
: A Guru being a teacher, the question as to what he teaches or what
help he gives or is expected to give, is the essential question.
Classes of Gurus
: There are various classes according to what is taught or given, for
example Siksha or Diksha, secular or religious subject, sex of guru,
methods adopted, whether guru is visible or invisible.
Guru Gita82 classifies Gurus
under seven heads calling them:
Suchaka is the ordinary
school master who gives secular teachings - the three 'R's and arts.
Vachaka is one who
imparts ethical teachings, dharma sastra,
Bhodaka is one who
teaches mantras for various purposes - secular or other, and stops with
that.
Nishiddha is one who
teaches mantras and other methods for achieving lower purposes just as marana,
vasikarana, sthambana and akarshana. These are almost invariably
used to achieve low earthly objects and are hindrances to one's achievement of
the spiritual goal. It is a danger for one to get under a Nishiddha Guru.
Vihita is one who
teaches Virakti or detachment, that is frees one from attachement to
earthly things and prepares one for achieving one's spiritual welfare. Vairagya
or dispassion is the sine qua non for progress just as its opposite,
namely, extreme attachment to kamini and kanchana, is a powerful
barrier to all progress.
Karana instructs the sishya
as to the import of the Mahavakyas the axioms or axles of the
Upanishads. After securing thorough vairagya one is ready to get at
least an intellectual grasp and then a realisation of the grand basis of all mukti.
Mukti is the realisation of the real nature of oneself and of Atma, that
is Paramatma; and the mahavakyas embody that truth. Thus the
teacher of this basis of salvation is the cause, Karana for salvation
and therefore the Karana Guru.
Parama Guru, The last and
the greatest of all, who enables the sishya to thoroughly absorb the
truth of the Mahavakyas and to realize for himself the Mahavakyas and
thus escape samsara or rebirth, is the Parama Guru. He is also
called the Moksha Guru. Others are mere Gurus.
The Kula
Moolavatara Kalpa Sutra Teeka Gata Kulagama mentions six classes of Gurus in
regular gradation. They are;
Preraka one who just
starts the pupil
Suchaka one who
indicates and carries further
Vachaka one who
regularly teaches and coaches
Darscaka one who points
out the way and goal to the pupil.
Sikshaka one who
regularly teaches and guides the pupil fully. These five are preparations to go
to the 6th.
Bodhaka one who is also
called the Karana Guru, who thoroughly illumines the pupil and prepares
him for Brahma Jnana and Moksha.
There are Gurus who are seen and
others unseen; and there are Gurus who merely impart teachings and do
not care for results, that is, they are those who do not undertake any
responsibility for the sishyas. There are others who give definite
undertakings and carry out the same at all costs and if necessary life after
life proceeding to seek the sishya in subsequent lives for the purpose.
The best instance of such a Guru is Sri Sai Baba who undertook liability
for H.S. Dixit, N.G. Chandorkar, Bandra Master T and M.B. Rege and others.
Another
classification is based on the powers and methods of the Guru. The Guru
who teaches something secular or religious is merely called Guru. He
who teaches about God or Sat is called Sadguru. He who uses all his siddhis
and superior powers to carry the sishya right up to the goal is
called Samartha Sadguru. Ramdas, Guru of Shivaji, and Sai Baba belong to
the class of Samartha Sadgurus. Paramaguru is a Samartha Sadguru who
looks after the entire welfare secular and spiritual of his disciple.
Diksha Guru
who formally initiates
the pupil and invests him with mantra, power,
Siksha Guru, that is the
usual Guru who teaches or trains a pupil.
Male Gurus usually
prescribed in all Sastras for pupils to attain Moksha.
Female Gurus specially
referred to in Tantra works to give mantra and training to pupils
who aim at siddhis, The Sastras generally dissuade persons
anxious to attain Moksha from resort to female Gurus. In the case
of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the Bhairavi Lady guru trained him in tantras.
After that came the Nanga Avadhuta Guru who initiated him into
concentration on Nirguna Brahman. Similarly in the case of Sri P.R.
Avaste, a lady guru initiated him into Mantra that is Siva
Panchakshari permutations and combinations japa, which would result in
seeing various god forms and produce various powers. Later he came to Baba. Kula
Gurus - hereditary. Other Gurus.
Prefer the Kula
Guru to begin with. But if no benefit, then go to a competent Guru82.
Baba was not the Kula guru of Nana Chandorkar, but his rinanubanda
Guru and in a sense the Guru of his Destiny.
Was Baba a siksha
Guru to any? For example, to N.G. Chandorkar and Balakram Manker? Yes It
seems so.
Gurus for all round
training and teaching for example, Venkusa.
Gurus for some push
or help, for example, Sai Baba to Narayan Asram.
Gurus for some mantra, tantra, special vidya,
yogabhyasa, and asana.
Gurus for Vydeeki
profession and Vedic study.
Gurus for secular purposes only. for
tantra
for spiritual
purposes only. and mantra
for both. and
for Moksha.
Gurus for Inward
working Dakshinamurthi method and Baba's.
Gurus for Oral
teaching mainly. Gurus for Both.
Diksha is a special
process for removing evil taints and investments of pupil with powers and siddhis83.
Kinds of Dikshas are :
Chakshushi by mere glance,
Sparsa by touching the head, Vacha by words blessing, Manasi mentally
blessing. Sastri by teaching sastras,
Yoga that is Gurus
entering into the pupil inwardly.
Howtri
Kriyavati performing homas with fire,
Howtri Jnanavati
doing
the homa mentally, to bless the pupil.
Derivation, Diiyate Vimalam Jnanam
Kshiyate Karma vasana tena diks heti prokta. Di-giving jnana, Ksha eradicating
taints.
Need for a Guru.
The question whether Guru is needed is often times debated by people
with great warmth, some holding that there is need and others holding that
there is no need. These debates are usually infructuous and they excite and
result in loss of peace. A good example is Hemadpant alias Anna Saheb
Dabolkar's case on his first visit to Shirdi84. He hotly contested
for one hour or so and, contended that a Guru was an unnecessary fetter
and quoted the Gita, in his support. Bala Saheb Bhate took the opposite view
and maintained that destiny was supreme and that a Guru was had by all.
The discussion made Anna Dabolkar less fit to approach the great Guru Sai
Baba by reason of restlessness. But Baba by graciously revealing his Antarjnana
of all that passed during the discussion made Anna Dabolkar feel humble and
contrite, and he felt that Baba was a wondrous Supreme Power before whom he and
his weak powers should bend and give up his "reason" and supposed
independence. And thus he became the sishya of Baba by the latter's
grace and found that destiny had fixed him up, though his reasoning might
indicate independence was his proper course. The Sastras, for example,
Srimad Bhagavata, Bhagavata Gita, Guru Gita, Katha, Mundaka, Taittiriya, Maha Narayanopanishad
say clearly that without a Guru Brahmanjnana and Moksha cannot
be attained.
The need is
questioned as a rule by persons not yet fit to be sishyas, that is those
without humility, reverence, patience, receptivity and other virtues, or the
proper attitude towards great saints. They must be advised to have Satsang. That
is they must move with bhaktas and fit themselves for further progress.
When they are fairly fit, they will get their Gurus. It is not the truth
that sishyas always go out to find the Guru. The reverse is often
true. There are many noble souls waiting to be approached by persons who want
to become sishyas and have the proper attitude and training.
Scanta Mahanto
Nivasanti Santah
Vasantavat Loka
Hitam Charantah
Teernah Swayam
Bhima Bhavarnavam janan
Ahetuna Anyan
Api Tarayantah85
This means,
There are great souls who have attained perfect peace and who are working to
benefit and bless the world like the spring season. Though they have themselves
crossed the terrible ocean of samsara, they are ferrying others across
without any reward or recompense or motive. Amayantu Brahma Charinah86,
this means, Let students come. Sai Baba himself sent for N.G. Chandorkar
expressly and drew hundreds or thousands to himself inwardly and unnoticed by
them. Baba says87, 'No one comes to me except by my drawing. I draw
people unto me under various pretexts such as the worldly objects they want,
When a boy ties a bird's foot with one end of a string and pulls the other end,
can the bird refuse to come?'. This drawing is mostly due to rinanubandha. that
is prenatal ties and obligations. This is termed by Bala Saheb Bhate, the
irresistible pull of destiny. The need for a Guru is patent especially
in worldly affairs. People do not expect the children to learn the three,'R's,
drawing, etcetera without a teacher. If this is so in the patent material
world, how much more essential is the need in the subtle spiritual field?
Generally one's spiritual progress and the stages one has to go through, and
the way of mastering problems that arise there are often dealt with in books on
religion. These books will not suffice to enable one to tackle this subject
effectively. Religious literature is a vast forest, through which one cannot
pick one's way. Guru Gita says, Scastrajalam. It is "Bahu
Kanataka Avrutam",
Ding moha
bhranta chetasah
Tasmai Sri
gurave namah88.
This means,
Salutation to the Sri Guru who shows the path to one who has got deep into the
forest of Samsara and lost all knowledge of even the cardinal directions
and got confused". It also adds that the Guru alone can help one to
go through this forest of the spiritual field. On one occasion this point was
raised by Baba apparently accidentally89. Baba was referring to the
fact that he himself was a Guru who could guide those who came to Shirdi
or to his feet to make spiritual progress. On the general question about the
necessity for a Guru, Baba mentions90 the discussion between
himself and three other fellow students who were reading pothi, parayana
puran, and discussing how to get realisation.
Baba himself
described how he met his Guru. Once myself and three others were
studying our pothi, puran and other works and discussed how we were to
get realisation.
One said we
should depend on ourselves and not on a Guru. For Gita says, uddharet-Atmana,
Raise your self by the self.
The first
sadhaka here is like the Devil quoting scripture. In quoting Gita91,
he wrests a verse out of its context and misapplies it. The Gita92,
emphasises the need for a Guru to get realisation, and these are ignored
and the wrested verse is treated as cancelling the other express reference to
the need for a Guru. The Sadhaka ignores the all important fact
that the Gita upadesa is given to Arjuna only after he got disgusted
with his life situation and he made Prapatti and Saranagati93.
The second and
third sadhakas quote the need of qualifications or requisites for Brahmajnana
as per Vivekachudamani correctly. But this is mere reproduction by
bookworms. How to get self-control and release from doubts? How to actually
feel that the thing our animal, uncorrected nature draws us to is transient and
how to overcome our desire for it and feel a revulsion to it! There lies the
rub. Books do not solve. Surrender to a loving Guru and love towards
that Guru alone can solve these problems. Baba the fourth sadhaka was
practical and noted that Surrender and Love to Guru were the only
solutions.
A second said
The main thing is to make the mind self-controlled, free from thoughts and
doubts. It is we who are in every thing every where.
A third, The
form that is in phenomena is ever changing. The formless is unchanging. So we
must always be making Vichara, that is distinguishing between Nitya, unchanging
and Anitya, changing.
The fourth
disliked bookish knowledge. He said Let us do our prescribed duty, and
surrender our body, speech and life to a Guru, who is all pervading.
Faith in him is the thing needed.
As we rambled
through the forest, we met a Vanajari one that works in the forest who
asked us "where are you going in this heat into the forest?" We gave
no direct reply. He kindly warned us from getting into the trackless woods and
that to needlessly. He bade us share his food. We disdained his advice and
marched on.
But in that
vast and dense wood we lost our way. That man met us again and said that by
relying on our own cleverness, we had got into a wrong way and that a guiding
finger was needed to show the way. "Do not despise offers of food. Such
offers are auspicious signs of success in one's endeavour" he said, and he
again invited us to take food with him. Again we declined it and went away. I
soon felt hungry and I went and accepted a bit of bread and ate it and drank
some water.
The Guru then
said, "What was your dispute?" and I told him all our talk. The
others left him and did not care for him. But I reverently bowed to him. Then
he took me to a well, tied up my legs with a rope, and suspended me, head
downwards, from a tree by the side of the well. My head was about three feet
off the water, which I could not reach. And the guru left me there and
went away, God knows, where. He returned after 4 or 5 hours and asked me how I
fared. "In great bliss was my time passed" I answered. The Guru, mighty
pleased with me, drew me near him, passed his palm over my head and body and
spoke to me tender words dripping with love, and he put me into his school
where I entirely forgot my father and mother and all attachments and desires. I
loved to gaze at him. If he were not there to see, I would not like to have
eyes at all. I did not wish to go back. I forgot all other things but the Guru.
My life was concentrated in my sight in him. That was the object of my
meditation. In silence, I bowed. Meaning, Realisation flashed upon me, of
itself without effort or study purely by his grace.
Guru s grace is our only sadhana. Jnana comes
as experience or in its wake.
The above is a
correct description of Baba's Marga which has been called Guru Marga in
Guru Gita94 Guru Marga may be defined as that form of Bhakti
Marga in which faith in and devotion to the Guru is the only Sadhana
for achieving every end including salvation, Mukti or Brahmaikya,
Satchidananda conquest of samsara, and also all yoga, siddhis and
temporal welfare.
Here Baba
showed the applicability of the Guru Gita95 to religious progress.
The one who is acquainted with the 'ins' and 'outs' of the spiritual field, a
forest, is a Vanajari. The fourth person, Baba, who realised that a
guide was needed, and mere talk with bookish knowledge was no use at all to
help one to realise God and himself. Above all, the question was not an
intellectual one. It was a problem as to how a particular soul was to be raised
to realisation, and that was essentially a matter of moulding the entire soul
of the student or sishya. What is wanted, therefore, is humility, receptivity,
and a powerful desire to reach the goal with the aid of a Guru, and
therefore, a readiness to adopt a Guru and surrender everything to the Guru,
as Baba has said. Everything Tan, Man, Dhan that is, body, mind and
possession. Baba sacrificed and surrendered at the feet of his Guru as a
result of the intense love he bore to his Guru. The solution of the
problem as to whether there is need for a Guru is already reached when
the sishya gets into the proper humility, receptivity, and longing
attachment to the Guru, culminating in mutual love. Then realisation is
reached. Realisation flashes upon the sishya purely by Guru's grace as
is repeatedly stressed also in Guru Gita96, in Jnaneswari and other
works. Baba wound up most appropriately by saying90. The Guru's grace
is our only sadhana. Jnana comes as experience or in the wake of Guru's
grace. He alone succeeds who feels the Guru is the one thing needed.
If Sastraic authority is needed on the question of the need for a Guru
we have it from the Upanishads, Puranas, and Itihasas. Acharya
Devo Bhava, is mentioned in Taittiriya Upanishad. The last verse in the
Svetasvatara Upanished says,
Yasya Deve Para
bhaktih
Yatha Deve
Tatha Gurow
Tasya ete
kathitah hi arthah
Prakascante
Mahatmanah
This means, He
who has intense faith in God and equally intense faith in the Guru, who
is treated as God, to him these teaching of the Upanishads about God,
flash out.
This is to be
taken along with Acharyavan Purushoveda, which means, It is the man who
has a Guru that can get knowledge or realisation.
Mundaka Upanishad97 says,
Tad
vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigachchet,
samitpanih
scrotriam brahma nishtam.
This means, To
get Brahman, Knowledge and realisation, one should go with fuel in hand
to one versed in the Vedas, who has realised God.
The same idea
is conveyed by Srimad Bhagavata98
Madabhijnam
gurum scantam upasita Madatmakam
that is, the Sadhaka must resort
to a Guru devoted to God, who has realised God and is calm.
Maha
Narayanopanishad also says the same. Authority is also quoted from the lives of
Avatars and saints and their sayings. Such as, Kabir's maxim Guruvina
Kona Batave Vat which means, If there is no Guru, who will show us
the way ? will suffice. It is quite enough to refer to the fact that all great
teachers and even avatars have had their Gurus including Rama and
Krishna. Especially on the question as to whether realisation is possible
without the help of a Guru the sastras are quite emphatic. The
Katha Upanishad says Ananyaprokte Gatih Atra nasti, which means, In this
matter of realisation unless some one else speaks it out, there is no way. Guru
Gita 191 says :
Yadi api aditah
Nigamah
Shadanga agamah
Priye,
Adhytamaadini sastrani,
Jnanam Nasti
gurum Vina
that is,
Studies do not suffice. Without a guru, there is no Realisation.
Naayam Atma
pravachano Labyah.
Na Medhaya Na
Bahuna scrutena.
Yam eva esha
vrunute tena labhyah.
Tasya Esha Atma
vivrunute tanum swam.
This means,
This Atman, that is, its realisation is not got by study or repetition
of Vedas nor by keenness of intellect nor by much learning. It is he
whom Realisation desires that gets it. To him it reveals its form. Of course
this realisation which is personified comes as a matter of fact because there
are methods through the grace or bodies of the Gurus. Even Vyasa, who
taught his son Suka all the Vedas, sent him to Guru Janaka for
confirmation. This King Janaka acted as his Guru and enabled him to
perceive that what his Guru had taught and what the Vedas explained was
the same as the actual realisation which Suka had in himself. Until and unless
such a seal is set on one's realisation, that realisation is not complete. A
story narrated frequently in this connection relates to Namdev".
Namdev was an
ardent worshipper of Vittal and had frequent sakshatkara of Vittal and
Vittal even spoke to him. So Namdev was under the impression that he had
achieved complete God-realization and self-realisation, and that there was
nothing further for him to achieve in the spiritual field. When he had such
wrong notions in his head, he once visited an assembly of saints, and there
Gora Kumbhar, another saint, wanted to test which of the saints present were
ripe or pucca and which were unripe or kaccha. The pucca pot
that is the fully baked pot, when struck with a mallet, produces highly musical
sound different from the thud which alone is got by striking the mallet on an
unbaked or ill-backed pot. Gora Kumbhar went round with his small mallet in
hand and struck the head of one saint after another and said, pucca, pucca, that
is, 'ripe, ripe'. When he came near Namdev, the latter got afraid and did not
wish to face the mallet stroke, So he got up and went away. Then Gora Kumbhar
said 'unripe, unripe', and 'kaccha kaccha'. The whole assembly held Namdev to
be an unripe one, because he had no Guru. Then Namdev went up to Vittal
and complained. Vittal said that he was really unripe, kaccha. Namdev
thought that Vittal's sakshatkara to him was sufficient. But Vittal
answered, 'No', and that he must go to a Guru before realising God in
full, whereas at the time he was only realising God in Vittal and not in other
forms. He was not able to see every form as God. Then God Vittal told him to go
to the Guru Visoba Kesar. Namdev challenged Vittal to appear in any form
and said he would recognise him in any form. Vittal then appeared first in the
form of a Harijan who was baking in a pot a buffalo, recently cut, and next his
own child to the great horror of Namdev. Namdev not realising Vittal in that
Harijan form came to Vittal and said that he had not kept his promise of coming
to test him. Vittal said that he was the Harijan and Namdev was horrified and
wanted another test. Next Namdev was told to sit under a tree near a well and
go on with his worship, and then Vittal would appear. Instead of Vittal
appearing, Namdev found that a Mohammadan riding on a horse came and
trampled upon all his images and went with his horse to the pond for the horse
to drink water. He was fiercely glaring at Namdev and left him. Namdev went on
the second day to Vittal and complained to him that he had not come. Then
Vittal said that the Mohammadan who broke his images was Vittal. 'Can
you break images?' was the wondering query of Namdev. Vittal answered 'Yes' and
in order to be able to realise God in all forms, he asked Namdev to go to
Visoba Kesar. And when Namdev went to Kesar, he saw Kesar, an old man, placing
his feet with shoes over a stone lingam that was worshipped. Namdev was
aghast and entreated that old man to place his foot elsewhere than on the head
of a lingam which people worshipped. When the old man requested Namdev
himself to lift his emaciated legs and lift them up and leave them where there
was no lingam, Namdev at once lifted up the old man's shod feet and
placed them two or three feet off. There, right where he placed his feet a lingam
shot up. Again when Namdev shifted those feet, to another place a lingam
shot up. Namdev was greatly surprised, and then that teacher told him, 'You
think my shoe is unworthy and that the lingam alone is God. It is to
enable you to get over this prejudice and wrong notion, you are sent here'.
After serving this Visoba Kesar for some time, Namdev went back, and then his pucca
God realisation was proved by Vittal's test. Namdev sat at a dinner along
with his caste men who were all full of Achara. When the leaves had been
spread and covered with dishes, a dog ran up to Namdev's plate seizing and
biting a roti, ran away. Every one cried out, polluted, polluted. Namdev
alone lifted up a cup of ghee or butter from his leaf and ran after the dog
saying 'Vittal, Vittal, if you are taking only dried bread, it will choke your
throat. Take this ghee along with it'. People were laughing at the
madness of a man who wanted to give extra feeding to a dog that polluted his
plate and prevented his dinner. But the dog suddenly assumed the form of Vittal
and told him, Now that you have served under a Guru, you are able to
realise Me in a dog and other forms'. This is an excellent way of teaching the
need for a Guru to have full realisation of God in all forms,.which,
according to the Gita, is the only knowledge of God.
Why do we need
a Guru. The object of seeking a Guru may be secular, temporal or
spiritual. So far as secular matters are concerned, people take very great care
to get appropriate Gurus to achieve the highest results. It is in
spiritual matters that the issue is more often raised. People are apt to fancy
that there is no clear reason to approach a religious Guru, especially
when other considerations such as one's own pride, one's disinclination to part
with goods as dakshina to the Guru, arise. But if one
sufficiently clarifies the position in one's own mind as to what a Guru is
needed for and what a Guru can do, a solution is easy or made easier.
Now the main question being spiritual, one might note what there is as
authority and next as precedent, and then finally come to one's own reasoning
and try to decide the question. So far as the aim or object is concerned, aim
with the highest spiritual benefit, that is, to be reaching God or realising
God. But even for making out what the goal is, a Guru's help is very
often needed. Our nature and tendencies due to poorva karma are mostly
concealed and not realised or controlled. They are so confused as to make many
people find it difficult to decide what it is that they want and what is really
good for them to aim at. In such cases, even to clarify the issue and to make a
man clearly see what is best, a Guru's aid is often useful, if not
absolutely necessary.
When some people realise that in the case
of a certain set of Gurus, called Samarthas, every
benefit is achieved including temporal, then the
solution becomes easier. So, we shall first take up the question of authority. What
is a Guru wanted for? Is it reaching God or God-realisation? Is that the
highest? For that the Upanishads in unmistakable terms refer to the necessity
of a Guru Ananyaprokte Gatih Atra nasti is what the Katho Upanishad
says. That is, Unless somebody else points it out to one, there is no other way
of finding it. The realisation of Self or God is so very subtle a matter that
no amount of trouble in various directions such as study and running up to meet
people will alone suffice. Study, Tirtha Yatra, Dana, other Punya works,
Ishta and Poorti, will
not themselves show God, but will help one to a purer state of mind from which
we can get the proper Guru and realisation of God. When he take up the
authorities in the Puranas and Itihasas, we notice that a Guru
is able to achieve not only the above but everything else. Especially in
Baba's marga, called the Guru Marga, the Guru provides
everything, including food, safety, and protection, to the sishya. That
is the present counterpart of the ancient Guru sishya system for every
study. In ancient times, all knowledge was one. All training was one. Any
knowledge was called Veda, including Mathematics, Astronomy, Prose and Grammar.
Therefore for any and every learning, teaching was the regular course. A boy
went up for Gurukulavasa100 that is to live with his Guru for
12 years as part of his household and rendered even menial services and was
treated as a member of the family. He reaped a rich reward in having not only
his food and clothing and shelter provided for him but also in the attention
paid to every other item of his welfare. Consequently the Guru and his
wife loved the pupil as their child and the pupil loved the Guru and
revered his Guru's wife as his mother. The best illustration is found in
some Tamil puranas. One Aruni was a pupil who went to live with his Guru.
The Guru had a wet land which had to be looked after. The boy was
told to go and see the Guru's land one day. The boy found that the water
needed for irrigating the Guru's field in order to feed the standing
crops was all running away on account of a breach in the clay ridge. He had no
stones with which to fill up the breach, and thinking that the loss was too
great, he put his own head and body in to the breach and, as a result, died.
That Aruni is an excellent illustration of the extent to which the love
between Guru and Sishya could go. So the Guru Gita says
Sariram, Vasu,
Vijnanam, Vasah, Karma, Gunanyasun
Gurvartham
dharayet yastu Sa sishyah Netarahsmritah
that is, the
true disciple's body, wealth, skill, action, merit and life are the Guru's. Exactly
similar to this was the love of Sai Baba towards his Guru. The Guru's
return of love in ancient days was equally strong. The Guru if a Samartha
had every power, including the power to ward off death or revive the dead,
and it was the Guru's duty to use his power to save his pupil from
death. Rishabha says in Srimad Bhagavata,
Guruh na sasyat
Svajano na sa syat
Pita na sasyat
Janani na sa syat
Daivam na
tatsyat svapatih na sa syat
Na mochayet yas
Samupeta Mrutyum
This means, He
is no Guru,, nor a Kinsman, nor father, nor a mother, nor God, nor one's
husband, who does not avert death when death is near. This was not a mere
theory but was the actual fact of practical life due to the Samartha's greatness.
In Baba's own case, his Guru Venkusa averted his death from a brickbat
hurled at him by making the brickbat stand still in mid air. Baba himself
averted death in the case of a good number of persons such as Nana Chandorkar,
Santi Kirvandikar, S.B. Nachne, G.S., Khapharde, Balwant K. Nandaram. Baba
expressly mentioned these101. Apart from death, there are numerous
other important matters in one's life for example, success. Success very often
counts so greatly that people desire success even at the cost of death. It was
the Guru's function to help the proper sishya .to success even in
such cases. Referring to puranas, the best instance is that of Sukra
Acharya, Bhrigu the great master of the Mantra science, helping his sishya
King Bali to conquer all the three worlds and make Indra shake in his
shoes and run up to his own.
Guru
Brihaspathi. Brihaspathi told Indra,
Janami Maghavan
scatroh Unnateh,
asya karanam
Scishyaya upabritam,
tejo Bhrigubhih Brahma Vadibhih
This means,
Indra, I know the reason for this success of your enemy. Bhrigu, the Guru of
Bali, being a Brahma Vadin, that is a master of mantras, has
exercised his fullest knowledge and power on behalf of his sishya Bali,
Therefore, one can see that for temporal purposes also, it would be excellent
if one can get a Guru who has vast powers, that is, is a Samartha
Sadguru. Let not people think that this power to provide material things is
a mere bookish statement and not a reality. Sai Baba, a Samartha, has
proved in a good number of cases several of which are recorded that he could
provide everything and that he undertook to provide everything. Let us take the
case of H.S Dixit. Baba told him, 'Why have you any anxiety? All care is mine'.
Accordingly Dixit alike in the matter of health, wealth, and religious
training, trusted entirely in Baba and left everything in his hands, not only
during Baba's life time but even after Baba passed away. He found that he did
not trust in a broken reed. On every
occasion and in every
matter Baba looked .after him. In the matter of health, Baba told him,
'You are going to have fever. It is however going to last only a few days. Do
not fear'. The pupil found the statement true and was happy. When he had to
meet an enormously large claim at a time when his practice and his income were
practically nil, Baba helped to find for him a sum of Rs.30,000 at the nick of
the moment to pay his creditor. There are numerous instances, of Baba looking
after the entire welfare of the sishyas and they remind us of
Bhadrachala Ramadas and how his large debt of six lakhs of sovereigns to
Tanisha Batcha, Ruler of Hyderabad was met. Now the above will suffice to show
that a Guru is a distinct advantage if not a necessity, when he can
provide everything. But as Samarthas are not as plentiful as
blackberries, and one finds only ordinary Guru's, the question may still
be considered to be dependent upon the nature of the Guru that one gets.
But even taking ordinary Gurus into consideration, a person is likely to
make a very good advance alike in temporal and spiritual matters if he has
perfect faith even in an ordinary Guru. It is not so much the
personality of the Guru that matters, as the extent of the Sishya's faith.
Ekalavya's case is an instance in point. Ekalavya finding that Drona would not
be his Guru made a clay image of the teacher, and with the aid of that
clay image, by his own intense faith in it, learnt all the innermost secrets
and essence of the art of archery. Baba told a lady that she could find great
benefit by putting faith even in a potsherd102 and that the most
important thing is the faith of the sishya and not so much the merit of
the Guru. Having said so much, we might next turn to the question of the
qualifications of the Guru and sishya.
As the main
interest in this book is religious development, we shall take up only the
highest of Gurus, that is those who attend mainly to spiritual welfare.
The description of a qualified Guru is given in Manu, in Bhagavata
Purana, in Tantra works, Guru Gita103 and Dasa Bodha104
his glories are sung in Jnaneswari. The central fact of Guruship is that
the Guru is approached by an earnest person for achieving highest
spiritual welfare. Hence the best Guru can only be one who knows what
the highest welfare of humanity is, who has himself achieved it and is both
able and willing to train and carry others to that state. Niscreyas and Screyas
that is the good, the excellent are the words commonly used to denote the
highest achievement in spiritual welfare. The other aim contrasted with it is Prgyas.
that is the pleasant. The contrast between the two has been brought out
from the earliest times for example, in the Kathopanished,
Sreyascha
preyescha Manushyam etow
Tou
samparikshya vivinakti Dhirah.
Tayoh Screya
adadhanasya sadhur bhavati
Hiyate arthat ya vu prayo - vrinite.
This means,
Both the excellent and the pleasing confront man. The wise one observes,
compares and chooses. It is well with him who chooses the excellent. He who
chooses the pleasing loses even pleasure, that is loses his aim. The same is
also the choice of Hercules between virtue and pleasure in ancient Greek
tradition. Man has, in him, both the brute level based on his animal urges
especially Hunger, Sex & Self assertion and the higher or divine level and
capacity of raising himself above the brute level. Ordinarily men pursue their
lower aims connected with the maintenance of the body and its appurtenances and
neglect the hard task of controlling the brute instincts and achieving the
divine nature which alone can carry man to Godhead a realisation of the
identity of the Jiva or individual soul with the Paramatma or
Universal soul.
The Guru must
be from the Vedantic standpoint a realiser of Atman that is Atma
Brahma Aikya, Identity of soul and God and that comes to much the same
thing as God-realiser of the Bhakti marga. Vivekachudamani and other
works say that the Guru must be in perfect Atmanishta or Brahmanishta,
and the Bhakti works like Srimad Bhagavata say98
Madabhijnam
Gurum,
scantam upasita Madatmakam
That is, Krishna says the sishya must
go to a Parama Bhagavata who is thoroughly familiar with, that is
steeped in love of a Personal God, who treats God as his own self. Bhagavata
stresses the effort to reach personal God as the Vedantic works stress the
reaching of the Impersonal God or the Absolute. Both are necessarily
intertwined105 for the Personal merges in and emerges from the
Impersonal. Both the Bhagavata and the Guru Gita say that the Guru must
be a Supreme realiser of the Impersonal Absolute and Personal God. The Guru Gita106
asks how a teacher who himself does not know the Absolute Brahman is to teach
it to others and how a stone which itself cannot float across the ocean, can be
expected to carry other stones to the other side of the ocean. Instances of
ignorant Gurus posing as teachers of Brahman are not rare, and persons
deficient even in moral qualities posing as teachers of Daivi bhakti have
played havoc with credulous sishyas. Realisation of the Absolute is one of the rarest
accomplishments and it is by no means easy for a sishya going to a
reputed teacher for the purpose of acquiring realisation of the Absolute to see
whether that teacher has that realisation. There are no standards or recognised
insignia or marks107 of soul-realisation or God-realisation and several of the external characteristics
usually attending Parama Jnanis and Parama Bhagavatas are easily
put on, professed or assumed by others. In this great perplexity, most seekers
after Gurus have to trust to the repute which the alleged Parama
Jnani or Parama Bhagavata has in society and trust to intuition, purva
vasana, rinanubanda or luck. Guru Gita says108 'Observe and
choose your Guru'. But the chances of observing and testing, which a
student has, are hardly sufficient to enable him to arrive at a correct
conclusion. Persons who achieve some siddhis by upasana of petty
gods are taken to be perfect gurus. Anyhow, the sadhaka has to
get on, and if he has made a bad choice, he is compelled to retrace his steps
and give up a bad choice, and give up a bad or false Guru and change for
a better one. The Guru Gita warns the sishya's from falling into the clutches
of false Gurus
Jnana Hino
Guruhtyajydh Mithyavadi vidambakah109.
This means, a
hypocrite who really is without God realisation and who pretends to have such
realisation should be abandoned. Verse 200 of Guru Gita says that these are
Darsanat
bhranti karakah
that is, by
external appearance, they mislead people into the belief that they are true
realisers. Verse 201 of Guru Gita says that the following are false Gurus.
Pashandi, that is, those
who reject the Vedas.
Paparatah, that is persons
revelling in sin.
Nasthikah, Atheists or
agnostics.
Bheda
buddhayah, Those who are under the tendency to oppose one God to another, to
distinguish Guru from God, and stress differences instead of stressing
the unity of existence.
Stree lampatah,
Those
who are under the influence of lust.
Duracharah, that is the
sinful or wicked.
Kritaghnah, that is the
ungrateful.
Bakavruttayah, that is, those
who like the crane put on the appearance of Dhyana samadhi or wisdom or
realisation, professing to concentrate on Brahman, all the while
concentrating on worldly aims and objects. The crane while waiting on the bank
to catch fish wears a solemn look, as though it cared for nothing.
Karma bhrashthah, that is, those
who have fallen from their duties.
Kshama nashtah,
that
is, those who are without patience or forgiveness.
Nindyatarka
vadinah, that is, those proceeding on fallacious modes of reasoning.
Kaminah, that is, men
subject to strong desires for women.
Krodinah, that is, men
with ungovernable temper.
Himsah that is,
murderous men.
Chandah, that is, cruel
men.
Scathah, that is, rogues
Jnana luptah, that is, men
without realisation or wisdom.
Mahapapah, that is, highly
sinful men.
These have to
be avoided. The reason for avoiding such is patent. Sadhakas do not
always succeed in avoiding them. One Kavle Patel who was a subordinate of Mamlatdar
B.V. Dev of Thana had such a guru, who told him he, Patel, should
install a brand new image of the Goddess of Vani in the place of the old image
of Vani that he had in his family temple, evidently with the hope of making a
great profit out of the new installation, that is Pratishta and Kumbhaabhisheka
ceremonies. The Patel had some doubts and so approached Sai Baba through
B.V. Dev and next through Shyama to get his decision in the matter110.
Baba, a Samartha Paramaguru without any desire for gain, definitely
stated that the new image should not be brought and only the old should be
installed. When asked about the harm of introducing the new, Baba mentioned
that by contravention of a similar advice given by him about the purchase and
introduction of a cow, an epidemic was the terrible consequence. The Patel who
still believed in his own Guru, brushed aside Baba's advice, and brought
in the image. And Lo! an epidemic came into the village, and the Patel's wife
was one of the first to be attacked. When the Patel appealed to his Guru for
aid, the latter demanded a gift deed by the Patel of half of his landed
property. The Patel then woke up and discovered that his Guru was an
avaricious lobhi, an ignorant man, and a crane like hypocrite and gave
up his Guru and followed Baba's advice of reinstalling the old image.
Where the Guru, however, is not a person who is sinful or wicked, Baba
was conservative and directed people not to shatter their loyalties. His advice
was that people should stick to their own gurus however little their
merit might be, and not change over to another guru who may have more
merit111. The Guru Sishya relation is more personal than the
marital.
The process of
the Brahma Nishta Guru that is, one with Supreme Realisation of Atman
enabling a proper sishya to get the realisation is compared in the
Guru Gita to getting another's lamp kindled in the flame of one's lamp. It is
the same heat and light which proceed from one to the other, and thus there is
continuity in the Guru Parampara. The final result also is said to be
light within light.
The realisation
of Atma Nishta or Brahma Nishta is very well set out in Vivekachudamani
and other works, and the requisites therefore are Viveka, Vairagya,
Scamadi shatka, and Mumukshutva112. Vairagya or
detachment is the state when attachment to worldly things disappears. Love of God
and love of Guru are based on the decreased pull on the heart from wife,
child and wealth, So the sadhaka has to march on to strengthen his vairagya
and viveka based thereon, in his Jnana Marga and strengthen
his love of the Guru also. These, Viveka Vairagya and Love of Guru
form a virtuous circle so to speak, mutually assisting each other. The
development of scamadhi shatka, scama, dama, titiksha, uparati, shraddha, and
samadhana also fall into the same course. In the Bhakti marga also,
the increased love of god helps one to overcome the attraction of sense objects
and that in turn strengthens one's Bhakti or Prema to God and Guru.
The best antidote to worldliness or sense attraction is declared in the
Hamsa Gita113 to be worship of God with Bhakti, Bhakti gradually
grows in power and intensity and finally leads to a merger. In Bhagawad Gita,
Lord Krishna says,
Bhaktya maam
abhijanati
Yavan yatcha
asmi tatvatah
Tato maam
tatwato jnatva
Viscate tad
anantaram
which means, A person contacts me and recognises Me by his Devotion, a dynamic process, and learns more and more what sort of personality and what I am in reality. Thereafter by proceeding higher and higher on to the highest reality he fully realises Me and then merges in Me.
The
qualifications of true Gurus may be partly inferred from the above
statement of who the false Gurus are. But the positive marks of a true
Guru are set out in various words like the Upanishads, Manu, Guru Gita,
Bhagavata Purana, We will take the Guru Gita114 first. He must be a
Tatvanishta
Adhyatma jnani
Viveki, Sadhu,
Nirmalamanas
Scuchi,
Kamakrodha Jit Indriya Jit,
Scanta and Mita
bhashana
From these
qualifications, namely Tatvanishta, which comes along with Adhyatma
jnani and Viveki it is patent that the Guru must have perfect
nishta, that is, must have steady and continuous realisation of
Brahma Atma Aikyam, which is the real significance of the Mahavakyas. Unless
a man has reached that realisation, he will not enable the sishya who
approaches him to reach it. Mere bookish understanding would only lead to
doubts of various sorts as the matter is extremely subtle. As the Guru has
to impart jnana or enable the sishya to realise it, it is not
sufficient that the Guru should have got into the supreme state of Brahma
Nishta. He must also understand the theoretical basis which is found in the
Mahavakyas and in the Upanishads for the same. He must have viveka, that
is, be able to distinguish between the real or the Brahman and the phenomenal
or unreal Universe. There are persons who know a fact or realise a state and
yet do not and cannot impart it to others. The omission or inability to impart
may be due in part to unpreparedness and in part to incapacity. It is not all
who can express what they feel.
The Guru Gita
draws a distinction between two sets of Parama Gurus, the Mouni and
the Vagmi. The former Mount enjoys the bliss of perfection but
does not impart it to help others to get it. But the Vagmi expresses his
thoughts and realisation as far as possible, and uses language and other means
to enable the sishya to acquire that realisation. So the Vagmi is
the one primarily to be preferred by the sishya at the initial stage,
though finally often a mouni may suit his purpose. Brahma Nishta is
not a mere question of intellect or working up the mind and other phases or
facets of the self. It is a unique experience and it comes from the grace of
the Guru, God, and can come only in that way.
Gurum vinana
jananti Mudhas tat paramaam padam.
Mere prayer to
Siva and Vishnu will not suffice for knowing God. To know God even a Personal
God properly the Guru must help the sishya115. Namdev's
case is the best illustration of this truth. That is why prominent mention in
the list of qualifications is made of these, Tatvanishta and Adhyatma
jnani. This will suffice for the present, and later references amplifying
the subject may be found in other portions of this book. The fourth
qualification, Sadhu is a very wide term. But as it is fairly
understood, it need not be discussed. Nirmalamanas refers to the purity
of the heart of the Guru. Scuchi also denotes much the same thing, for
in addition to external purity, internal purity also is implied by the term scuchi.
Kamakrodhajit and Indriyajit qualifications are also practically
involved in Nirmalamanas and Scuchi. Unless a person has
conquered his lust and other appetites and his temper, he can never be a proper
Guru. Any sishya who approaches him is apt to absorb his lack of
control. Those who have not conquered their senses, indriyas, their
lust, their anger, are generally given to sins and vices, and, therefore, will
not only lose mental peace but would also be doing much harm to the very name
of Religion and ruining their sishyas and others approaching them. The
Upanishads and also the Guru Gita point out the necessity for a person to avoid
Gurus who are tainted with these faults.
Navirato
duscharitat Naasanto
Na asamahitah
Naascanta manaso vapi.
Prajnaneniva
enam apnuyat116.
This means, a
person who has not given up bad and evil courses, the man who has not reached
calmness and quiet, and who has not gained peace of mind can never realise
Brahman that is get Brahma Nishta. Amongst the disqualifications
mentioned lack of these has been noticed. The last two, Santi and Mitabhashana,
peace, paucity of speech in a Guru are patent external marks of the
calm, peace, and quiet that reign in his heart. The Guru Gita points out that
at the very sight of a Parama Guru, one's heart is filled with Santi.
Qualifications
of Sishyas
This subject
like that of the previous Chapter is exhaustively dealt with in the works
mentioned therein including,
Dasa Bodha, a great
authority not only in Maharashtra but elsewhere. The Guru Gita117,
under disqualifications of sishyas say that a Papakarmarata, that
is, one indulging in evil and sins and abuses is loose in his morals and who
keeps company with the wicked, should not be given the position of a sishya.
Other words like Kulamavatantra state that Upadesa should not
be given to,
Arthalubdha,
Piscuna, asthira
Bhakti sraddha
vihina, Susrusha vimukha
that is,
Instruction should not be imparted to the covetous, the miserly, the fickle
minded, one lacking Saburi, the person without devotion or faith, and
lastly to one who does not care to render service to the Guru. While on this
subject we may take apt illustrations of the above from popular stories as well
as from Baba's biography. As for covetousness, it is very well known that a
covetous person would ever be thinking of money and the importance of getting
it and keeping it, in every matter. The Niti sloka says, Artha
Aturanam, Na Guruh Na bandhuh. That is, Those who are always hankering
after wealth, will have no regard' for Guru or Kinsmen. A good
description of an Arthalubdha is in Srimad Bhagavata118. An
incident commonly narrated by Bhagavatars is as follows:
In a certain
community, the caste Guru used to tour about and when he visited any
place, the local adherents of the Guru would each have to pay ten panams
Rs. 1-4-0. One such guru wanting to visit a village, where there was
only one sishya, had a very unfortunate experience. The sishya though
very well off, was an Arthalubdha, an inveterate miser. So he wanted to
evade the hereditary Guru's claim for ten panams. When he leamt
of the time at which the Guru would arrive, he went up to the Tahsildar,
a friend of his, and prayed to be put in stocks and kept there till the
time that would be communicated later on. The Tahsildar obliged him and
put him in stocks. The Guru came and learnt that the only sishya he
had was in stocks and so went away. Learning of the Guru's departure,
the sishya wanted to be freed from the stocks, but at that time the Tahsildar
was not in office but had gone home. When he asked the peon guarding him to
report to the Tahsildar, the latter declined, and said that he would not
go to the Tahsildar's house. So, this covetous sishya had to pay
Rs.5 to the peon in order to make him go to the Tahsildar and get the
order for his release. The man anxious to cheat his hereditary Guru's claim
for Rs. 1-4-0 had to pay four times that amount to a peon besides having the
experience of being in the stocks for some time. Amongst Baba's own followers,
these are some incidents to be found in Baba's Charters and Sayings, and one or
two of them will suffice here. Baba who read the hearts of every one
approaching him, dealt with such visitors appropriately. Once a very rich
man, having over Rs.250 in his pocket, had heard that Baba was a Brahma
Jnani and could impart Brahma Jnana to anybody that he chose and
would not ask for payment for the upadesa. Having a sort of momentary
desire to acquire Brahma Jnana at the hands of Baba without payment, he
straightway engaged a tonga at the Kopergaon railway station for a visit
to Shirdi and back, fixing up a single fare for both journeys and stipulating
that he would return in a few hours. He went up and told Baba that he had come
for Brahma Jnana which Baba was so capable of imparting and wanted it
immediately, evidently treating it as a parcel to be handed across the counter
in a shop. Baba fell into the humour of the man and told him that his demand
for Brahma Jnana was grand, for so many people came to him for other
objects and none, for Brahma Jnana. Then turning to a boy, he told him
to go and get for him a handloan of Rs.5 from a marwadi. The boy came
and reported that the marwadi was absent. Next Baba went on similarly
sending word to absent marwadis and thus nearly half an hour was spent.
The rich visitor was getting impatient thinking that the tongawallah would
raise his demand. He noted that Baba only wanted a loan of Rs.5, and he could
easily give it. But he was oppressed with the fear that a loan advanced to Sai
Baba might not be recoverable, and so he would not advance the money. The risk
of lending Rs.5 was too great in his estimation for obtaining Brahma Jnana. Finally
finding that Baba was still not answering his question, he asked Baba, why he
delayed giving him Brahma Jnana. Baba's answer was, 'Have you understood
nothing. I have been all the while trying to impress you with Brahma Jnana even
as you are. You see I want five things, surrendered to me, that is, Manas,
buddhi, ahamkar, chitta. Unless a man thoroughly surrenders himself, and is
free from the love of money and love of worldly things, he cannot attain Brahma
Jnana. When the dawn comes, there will be light, and not earlier. The man
then discovered that Baba read his heart thoroughly and that he was too
avaricious ever to get Brahma Jnana.
In Baba's
summary Nishta and Saburi are the qualifications and their absence
the disqualifications in a sishya. But it is better to go into the full
list given of such disqualifications after saying a word as to the importance
of that subject. Rudra Jamala says
Vicharya yatnat
vidhivat Schishya sangraham acharet
Anyatha Scishyadoshena Narakastho Bhavet
Guruh.
This means, The
Guru should examine and test the sishya as ordained by the Sastras.
Else the Guru will go to hell by the sishya's taints. Such
taints may arise in two ways. First the natural contagion of evil qualities
especially in a powerfully evil sishya may corrupt the Guru. Secondly,
even apart from that, the Niti sloka says,
Sishya papam
Gurum Vrajet
that means, The
pupil's sins fall on the head of the Guru the Guru being
responsible for the good and evil done by the sishya who has surrendered
to him. The phrase Vidhivat in the above verse refers to the rule and
practice of a pupil going and serving the Guru at his place for 12 years
after which probation, instruction would be imparted.
Samachara
Tantra gives a long list of 27 disqualifications, which are specially
mentioned. The first eleven are mentioned in Rudra Jamala. They are,
Kamukha, lustful, this
being the greatest danger in youth.
Kutila, crooked.
Loka Nindita, notoriously
bad.
Satya Varjita, given to lying
Avinita, stiff-necked.
Asamartha, too weak in
nature.
Praja hina, issueless.
Ripu priya, a man dear to
enemies, as a weak minded and weak bodied person is apt to be.
Sada papa kriya yukta, given to vice
and sin.
Vidya scunya, unlettered.
Jadatmaka, dullard.
Then come the sixteen disqualifications
of Samachara Tantra.
Body with doshas-defecls.
Without Vedakriya, that is, not
having been given the regular samskaras prescribed in the Vedas.
Without Ashrama Achara failing to
perform the duties of his Ashrama or stage of life. Impure in heart.
Lacking in faith.
Mean.
Passionate temper.
Bhrama confused.
Asat charitra, given to bad
ways.
Without good qualities.
Adulterous, lecherous.
Deformed.
Samuhaugra, that is,
anti-social. Without bhakti or devotion to God or Guru.
Dvaita cheta, ever doubting
and tending in opposite ways.
Ninda Fond of scandal and blame.
Now let us turn to the qualifications of sishyas
and begin with Baba's summary. Baba stated that his own Guru asked
him for a dakshina of 2 pice and that he gave them to him, who was
thereby satisfied. He added in explanation that the two pice demanded by the Guru
who had no attachment to coins, or earthly objects were Nishta and Saburi.
Baba wanted two things to be given to him. About the impatient Mrs.
Khaparde, who was staying with her husband, who was impatient of the prolonged
stay at Shirdi that entailed loss of business and income Baba told Kaka Dixit
to give her Rs.200, meaning only Nishta and Saburi119. Taking
up Nishta first, one can see that no progress at all will be made by any
sishya, who has no faith either in the particular Guru or in sastras,
Vedas or Mantras, Atheists, scoffers, flippant persons, women
hunters, combative persons, passionate natures, hypocrites, cruel hearted and wicked
people in general, or those revelling in sin, are, as a rule incapable of pure
and strong faith and so are unfit either to be Gurus or sishyas. And
in the sishya, pride and stiff neckedness, Susrusha Vimukha lack
of reverence, Bhakti Sraddha Hina will be fatal to all progress. No Guru
in the first place would care to accept a sishya who lacks in the
proper attitude and spirit and the above defects betray lack of faith, Nishta.
In the Guru Gita120, the warning is given that no instruction or
upadesha should be given to one lacking in faith, for,
Naranaamcha phalapraptou Bhaktir evahi Karanam.
That is, To
make the teaching effective, the sishyas faith in the Guru is a Sine
qua non. Unless a man has the necessary humility, he cannot approach a Guru.
Gurus have to test a newcomer to make sure that he has or will soon have
sufficient humility and receptivity. If one has not sufficient faith in his Guru,
he will not accept what the Guru says in the first place. Taking the
case of mantropadesa, it may be pointed out that mantras do not
bear fruit unless the Japa karta has faith in the mantra. The Niti
sloka says.
Mantre Tirthe,
dwije deve daivajne,
Beshaje gurow
yadrisi Bhavana
yasya siddhir bhavati Tadrsi
which means, In mantras, Tirthas holy
places, Brahmins or priests, gods, in astrologers and in the guru and
medicine one achieves only to the extent of one's faith, which stresses the
above point. Faith in God and Guru are equally stressed in this verse.
See also Vivekachudamani stressing need of Bhakti faith and
devotion for Moksha.
Moksha Sadhana
Samagriat, Bhakti reva gariasi
that is, Bhakti is highly
important among the elements that make for salvation. Unless a man has faith,
he will not take the proper steps and preserve in following the mantra japa or
the advice given. All sorts of persons came to Baba. For instance, one Valambi
Station Master, who had no faith in Baba and fancied that Baba was
unnecessarily honoured, was taken by Das Ganu Maharaj to see Baba at Shirdi.
Baba was then washing pots and placing them on the ground mouth downwards. When
asked why he did so, Baba explained his symbolical action. He said, Persons who
come here are like this. That is, Just as a vessel with mouth turned down
cannot receive anything, some persons come to Baba in an unreceptive mood. That
was exactly the case with the Valambi Master, and the All Knowing Baba knew it.
Persons with poor or no faith would easily give up their guru or his
advice if any persons talked anything adverse to the Guru. When Dr.
Mulky was trying for the first time to go and see Baba at Shirdi as advised by
his sister, he came up to Kopergaon station. There, the railway personnel
vilified Baba and described him as an immoral and dangerous character. Dr.
Mulky at once turned back and went away to his own place without seeing Baba.
Persons with wavering faith have first to develop stronger faith before they
could get any benefit from Baba and Baba graciously helped such people in a
number of cases. The above mentioned Mulky was persuaded by his sister again to
go to Shirdi, and on that occasion, Baba revealed his All Knowing nature and
narrated the above incident and thus helped Dr Mulky to get strong and
unshakeable faith in Baba. The Prarthana Samaj is against paying any
respect or worship to saints and sadhus. One of that Samaj got a
little faith in Baba, but suddenly, he was asked by a disbeliever in Baba, if
Baba had the qualification of a Gunatita mentioned in the Bhagavata
Gita. When with faith thus reduced he came to Baba, Baba asked Shyama to tell
him something. Shyama then told him facts to revive his faith. Tampering with
faith also is part of Baba's Lila. He then understood just as Vittal or
God might appear as an idol breaker. Similar help Baba rendered to S.B. Nachne,
who also was greatly dampened in his bhakti to Baba by the Manmad
railway station personnel and their vilifcation. When he approached Baba, the
latter revealed his wonderful knowledge and love for sishyas by asking
without any one's revealing the facts to him 'Why have you come without your Mamlatdar's
permission? Do not do so again' and thus strengthened Nachne's faith.
Baba's testing of faith is in strict accordance with the sastras as
stated above, and sometimes the test is very severe. Shri M.B. Rege a double
graduate had the great advantage of seeing Baba and Mahavishnu in a vision in
his own place and Mahavishnu's direction to him that he should make Baba his Guru.
He also had another vision of his visit to Shirdi, bowing to Baba, who
embraced him and accepted him as his sishya. When he actually visited
Shirdi and prostrated before Baba, Baba tested his faith and humility by
saying, Why do you bow to a man?. Usually English educated people will not
prostrate to a Guru. Shri Rege was stunned and stayed at a distance for
some hours, being determined to keep on to Baba, as he had shed his pride of
caste and title and learnt that treating a guru as a man is fatal to all
progress. He waited quietly and was then accepted by Baba with a fond embrace.
Gurow
manushyata buddhih
Schishyaya yadi
Jayate
Nahi tasya
bhavet Siddhih
Kalpa koti
scatair apt
That means, that if you treat a Guru as
a mere man, your sadhana will be a failure perpetually. Faith in the Guru
is specially needed for God-realisation. The Guru who has himself realised
his soul as identical with Para Brahman a truth expressed by Mainm
Allah Hum of Baba works at the soul of his disciple and after seeing that
it is duly prepared, and at the right moment, utters a word or uses a gesture
or makes other effort, and the effect is instantaneous. The sishya is
drawn into the same state of Satchidananda resulting from the experience
of Jiva Brahma Aikya. This is done in one minute or half a minute, as
The Guru Gita says,
Nimishena
Nimishardhena.
That is, In a moment, or half a moment
the Guru and his disciple are in that realised state as a result of the Guru's
action and the disciple's faith. This involves no doubt a previous
preparation under the Guru's care of the sishya's soul for a very
long time. But the final effect takes no time. It is instantaneous. As
dramatically put, in the story of Janaka and Ashtavakra, the
change may be suddenly and marvellously effected. The story goes that King
Janaka asked the sage Ashtavakra whether it was true that the Guru could
make the sishya have the realisation within the short space of time that
exists between a man's putting his one foot on the first stirrup and the second
foot on the second stirrup. Ashtavakra answered in the affirmative and
was prepared to prove it. That Rishi spent some time with Janaka in
preliminary preparation and then said, 'Bring a horse saddled up'. Then he
asked Janaka to put his first foot on one stirrup and to put his second, foot
on the other stirrup. Within that time the magic had worked. King Janaka had full
realisation of himself as Brahman and went away riding, caring for nothing in
the world. Similar instances of the magic effects of faith are found in
Tukaram's,
Apana sarika
karitat tatkal
Kalavela lagat
Nahi tayachi.
As for the
obverse, many have experience of the effects of lack of faith even in temporal
matters. If a man takes a medicine without any faith, he will often fail to
have any effect from that medicine. Mantre, Beshaje Gurow, quoted above
is absolutely correct, in the experience of all. Persons with strong faith
pronouncing certain syllables for curing cobra bite, scorpion sting, etcetra
succeed in curing these ailments. If so much faith is needed, and useful in
such trivial cases, how much more would be needed when the effort is for the
soul to realise its highest goal of Brahmanhood! The only technique by
which the Guru prepares the disciple and the actual means by which the
grand denoument is effected are extremely subtle and peculiar to each saint. In
Baba's case, these are highly concealed, and yet have been partly revealed.
Some attempt will be made to disclose these and other interesting facts about
his Guruship later on. Let us proceed to consider the authorities on
other qualifications of the sishya. Srimad Bhagavata115 gives
a list of them in these words,
Amani,
amatsaro, daksho, nirmamo, drudhasou hridah,
Asatvaro
arthajijnasuh anasuyuh amoghavak,
Jaya apatya
griha kshetra svajana dravina dishu,
Udasinah samam
pascyan sarveshu artham iva atmanah.
this means, The sishya must be not
conceited, not jealous, tactful, devoid of the sense of possession, that is,
ready and willing and eager to sacrifice everything and own nothing, that is
endowed with perfect Nishta possessed of patience Saburi very
firm and intense in his love to the Guru , not hasty, earnest in his
desire to understand and reach the goal of life, free from envy,
reticent-avoiding gossip and idle chat and free from attachment to wife, child,
home, lands, kinsmen, and wealth, thinking and feeling that every object will
serve his purpose. This is a fairly exhaustive list, but the essence of it
consists in two items. The first and foremost is freedom from worldly
attachment and the second is intense love to the Guru. One who has these
will naturally be free from envy, jealousy, hastiness, self conceit, and
unrestrained speech, and will not be too much attached to wife, children,
kinsmen, or wealth. The attractions of the world reduce or even nullify one's
disposition and power to love the Guru with one's heart and soul. If one
loves God, he does not love Mammon, and if one loves Mammon, he does not love
God. You cannot love both God and Mammon. In order to develop this unworldly
love or to test the presence of these qualifications, Gurus not
infrequently employ devices when a person first approaches them for becoming a sishya.
Partly with this view Baba from 1908 established a threshold of dakshina
for those approaching him to cross. It was a good test from several
stand-points, testing reverence to Baba, freedom from narrow ideas and too much
attachment to "mine". A man too much attached to wealth is frightened
at the demand for dakshina and does not approach Baba. A trifler with
too much of self conceit like Londa will not pay it. A person who is ready to
pay dakshina shows his readiness to part with worldly things and may
also be ready to part with his worldly avocations and attachments and thus be
prepared for intense love towards and surrender to the Guru. The love of
the Guru is the one thing needed, for Guru is the sole sadhana
The key to the readiness to part with money and get indifferent to
relatives in earnestness, and that in turn is based upon faith. If one fully
believes the Guru Gita dicta122 that the Guru is an
absolutely essential prerequisite for one's attaining Bliss or wisdom and to
make sure that at death there will be no faltering or pain and that a Guru would ensure success and
happiness in life and a happy death with his help as Sathee Akaraka123
then one would be ready to sacrifice everything in order to secure such a Guru,
and he would also be free from the vices of envy, jealousy, conceit,
hastiness, and neglect of the Guru for the sake of relatives. Such a
person would be anxious to approach the Guru and do service to him. He
would not be a Susrusha vimukha, that is, he will not be disinclined to
serve or service-shunning. Even when a Guru is not highly esteemed or
has defects, the fullest respect due to a Guru must be shown by the sishya
who should not become Susrusha Vimukha. Baba set a good example in
his dealings with, the Guru Javar Ali who was not morally his superior
though he was very well equipped and learned in Koran and Shariat and who
forced Baba to be his sishya taking advantage of his principle of
Non-resistance to Evil. Baba whom numbers of people served as worshippers
served him by carrying faggots, lighting up fire, cooking, sweeping, and doing
all menial services in the presence of all and with sweet complacency. That was
due to the fact that Baba had no attachment, no self-conceit, and realised
himself as the pure soul that is not demeaned by such services.
Name
Manapamanow Sthah
I care not for honour and dishonour124
was his view. Baba set the above example and expected people who went to him or
to other Gurus to show similar earnestness and Baba realised that no one
could serve him like that. Once Baba asked, Is there anyone who would serve me
as I served my Gurul H.S. Dixit, of all the persons mentioned in this
book, was one of the best of the sishyas who could stick to the Guru and
show his intense attachment to the Guru and non-attachment to worldly
objects including wife, wealth, honour, and fame. Yet Baba kindly critical and
watchful in order to develop his Sthairya and avoidance of Asthairya noted
at times that Dixit was Asthira wanting in firmness though, H.S.Dixit.
had more Sthairya than most devotees. Baba said on one occasion, Vo-chalta,
that is, he is wobbling. He is not yet a full Sthira. Fullest faith
and surrender cannot easily get into a mans heart after he has spent 40 years, that
is the best part of his life at the bar, in politics and in the world. Most
people went to Baba without understanding that he was a Guru but merely
out of curiosity or to get in a cheap way the benefit of serving a sadhu once
in a way, and never thought of becoming his sishyas.
Even in respect
of some of these, Baba assumed the responsibility of a Guru125. He
once told D.V. Sambhare who had his foibles and faults, 'Once or twice I will
warn. If the warning is not heeded, our end will be bitter'. Luckily Sambhare
took the hint and dropped his vices.
Most of the persons mentioned in this book failed to grasp the exact
situation of mutual relations between a Guru and a sishya and
were not thinking of such ideal relations in their contact with Baba. So despite
the very great sacrifices that Baba made, hardly one was found fit to become a
thorough sishya and his successor in point of spiritual eminence or at
any rate possess a sufficient portion of his qualifications, to continue his
mission and service from his gadi. As
we have discussed at present, the question of a disciple's position
to attain spiritual
perfection and God-realisation at the hands of a Guru, we
have to lay emphasis on each one of the above qualifications. If any readers are
anxious to have such a Guru they will discover that the unseen Sai Baba
is still such a Guru, and if one puts oneself into contact with him and
adopts the fullest possible quantum of qualifications herein described, then he
has the very best chance of being moulded by Baba into the perfection of
sainthood, perfection of Atma nishta and Brahma nishta sishya. By
his vatsalya, Baba is still
going on, from his unseen position, undertaking the entire responsibility for the temporal
and spiritual welfare of earnest
devotees or disciples who
get prepared and are eager to meet him.
This is the
stage at which the question of the technique for getting a Guru may be
taken up. The orthodox way of getting a Guru is slightly different in
different regions. In the South, Dakshinamurthi puja and upasana are
recognised as the best means and resorted to. In Maharashtra, Datta Charitra
Pothi is considered the best means by which one can get a Guru. Parayana
of Datta charitra, which is a description of the lives of the three avatars of Datta fills
one with bhakti towards the Guru and has frequently helped people
to obtain a Guru. The Guru obtained is generally a Guru living
in the flesh. But when Sri V.D. Bhave took a regular Parayana of Datta
charitra, he got the vision of a tomb, and he discovered that, it was the
tomb of Sai.Baba. But he was dissatisfied with getting only a tomb for the Guru
instead of having a Guru living in the flesh. So, he went to
Khedgaonbet of Narayan Maharaja who in a dream sent him back to Shirdi Sai
Baba.
Number
and Change of Gurus
The number of Gurus
is a question which can only be solved with reference to the
particular subject involved
and the circumstances of each
case. With reference to secular education, though under the old system of Gurukula
which involved both spiritual and secular education, there was only one Guru,
still for those who desired varied education in several subjects, a number
of Gurus was resorted to. The Guru Gita deals mainly with spiritual
education, yet following Srimad Bhagavata it says that the number may be large.
Madhu lubdho
yatha bhringah
Pushpat
pushpantaram vrajet Jnana
lubdho tatha
scishyo
Guror
Gurvantaram vrajet126
this means,
Just as a bee anxious to have more and more of honey goes from flower to
flower, so a student with a strong desire for jnana should or may go
from one Guru to another. The Tamil translation adds here, in case the
study is incomplete. Obviously this cannot have reference to the Guru who
is expected
to give salvation, that is, the Paramaguru127.
Verse 90 says, I bow to thee, Paramaguru, who is a combination of
Siva and Sakti. The Guru Gita128 set out the eminence of that Paramaguru
who gives Mukti and who is the same as the Trinity. In Jnaneswari,
the eminence of the Guru is said to be giving one everything. Such a
person cannot and should not be given up. See Vasishta's curse of Trisanku who
broke away from that Kulaguru. Srimad Bhagavata129, also
mentions the advantage of a number of Gurus.
Nahi ekasmat Guroh
jnanam
Susthiram syat
supushkalam
Brahma etat
advitiyam vy
Giyate Bahudha
rishibhih.
This means, Verily, knowledge is not
abundant enough nor strong enough, if only derived from a single teacher. God Brahman
is One without a second. Yet so many rishis sing of it in so many
ways. This is the statement of the Avadhuta addressed to King Yadu,
after mentioning that he derived his knowledge from 24 Gurus. The 24 Gurus
mentioned in Ekadasa Skanda130, are earth, air, ether,
water, fire, sun and moon, the pigeon, the python, the sea, the moth, the bee,
the elephant, the honey gatherer, the deer, fish, Pingala the courtesan,
the king fisher kurara, the child, the maiden, the arrow maker, the
snake, the spider, and adding to the list lastly the body. These are not Gurus
in the ordinary sense, but from their behaviour, lessons are derived by the
Avadhuta. Of such Gurus twenty four are not sufficient. Even two
hundred and forty may be insufficient. But really these are not Gurus having
Guru-shisya relation with the disciple. They are Gurus only by
straining the meaning of the term Guru and not actual Gurus. A Guru
is one who is conscious of teaching and undertaking the duties of a
teacher. But in dealing with the actual physical Guru at the head of a Gurukulam
or Rishi ashrama, the Guru is the only head. In the Ekadasa
Skanda131 Krishna advises resort to a Guru. He says,
Mad abhijnam
Gurum shantam upasita mad atmakam.
that is, Serve the calm teacher who is in
close contact and who has become identified with me. Under one such Guru, ordinarily
the aspirant for salvation can advance sufficiently and attain his object.
People like Narayan Asram who got a push or some slight help cannot be regarded
as Baba's sishyas. They should and usually did resort to other Gurus.
Even Das Ganu who got marvellous help from Baba did not regard Baba as his Guru
but went to Guru Islampurkar for initiation and treated him as his Guru.
In special cases, a Guru might not complete a student's course and
might direct him to go to others. Amongst sadhus, they seem to recognise
some as forming a particular class or group. Members of such class or group
send their disciples to other Gurus of the group. Following this
principle, Akkalkote Maharaj, when his body was about to be dissolved, sent
some of his devotees Ramachandra Naik and another to Baba. Madhavanath Maharaj,
Bhidekar Maharaj, Kusha Bhav's Guru, the Poona Bhimasankar temple Sadhu132
Kaka Maharaj of Dhopeswar133 acted similarly and sent their devotees
to Baba. Gajanan Maharaj134 was recognised as Gurubandhu by
Baba.
Guru Gita
points out the absolute necessity for a change when one has had the misfortune
to get under a nishiddha Guru. A nishiddha Guru is one who draws
the pupil to mantras with lower aims135 such as mohana,
marana, vasikarana, and kindred sordid purposes. The soul is bound to get
more worldly and tamasic under such a Guru. Srimad Bhagavata136,
Patanjali's Yoga Sutras137 and Baba deprecated these siddhis
and warned devotees against their meretricious attractions. When one realises
his mistake in getting under a nishiddha and has had the beginnings of vairagya,
Guru Gita138 says that the sishya being a vairagi, a
higher Guru, a true desika, will contact him and draw him to God
realisation, that- is, Brahmanishta. Verses 288 to 294 describe the
glories of this Parama Guru, whose very sight will fill one with joy
courage and peace. Such a Guru is absolutely free from all attachment to
Kamini-kanchana, that is, women and wealth, fame, yoga siddhis, and
even the glories of Brahma and Vishnu. They are of two classes, namely the Vagmi,
who talks, teaches, and trains, and the Mount, who spreads silent
influence.
So there may be
desirable and authorised changes of Gurus as mentioned above. Without
such or similar pressing causes, a change of Guru should not be thought
of. The loyalty of a sishya to a Guru must be more powerful than
the loyalty of a chaste wife to her husband. A flagrant breaking of one's ties
with the Guru may have a serious consequence on one's spiritual progress
and in some cases may involve a curse as in Trisanku's case. Vyabhichara
in both the above cases leads to ignominy in the eyes of all reasonable
people and thorough wreck in every respect. The pangs of Guru droha may
also render a sensitive sishya miserable. Sai Baba therefore dissuaded
people from leaving their own Gurus and seeking contact with him. But
mostly as Sai Baba was and is an all comprehensive Samartha Sadguru, and
as most people had no intense attachment to a Guru, there was usually no
difficulty. People felt that Baba, the Sarva Antaryami was their own Guru
and their Ishta Devata. The first real feeling of having a Guru came
to most only from Baba. A very interesting case of change or supposed change of
Gurus will be found in the chapter of P.R. Avaste. He had been initiated
into Siva panchakshari of some sort by a lady Guru at Poona, and
he was, with difficulty, persuaded to go along with Sri M.B. Rege and see Sai
Baba and Ramakrishna Ayi who also had developed some psychic powers and was
acting as Guru to some at Shirdi. At the first visit, the oppressive
feeling that he was committing Gurudroha in going to Shirdi upset his
mental balance and made him crazy. He was behaving erratically under strange
delusions and fears. Sai Baba directed Sri Rege to take him away from Shirdi.
Leaving Shirdi Sri Avaste regained his normal self. By Baba's grace, in his
later visits, he was free from such obsessions and he was able to adopt Sai
Baba as his Guru. As Sri Sai Baba was a Samartha Sadguru with
vast powers139 God has agents everywhere, they have vast powers, I
have very great powers', and as he could clearly see the exact state of ideas,
feelings, and emotions of everyone coming to him. he could ease difficulties
like the above. To a sishya of Dolap Maharaj Guru Mule Sastri, he appeared as Dolap Maharaj wearing kashaya,
and removed his fears of Gurudroha. Similarly beyond just loyalty to
particular Gods being affected by appro-proaching Sai, to those who had
particular fondness for particular Gods, he could show himself in those forms.
To a South African doctor as to the Madras Ramadasini who was devoted solely to
Rama, he showed himself as Rama. To a Datta bhakta, he could show
himself as the three-faced Datta. Most
Hindus cannot escape fragmentising and localising God, not merely at the start
but for their entire life. They feel compelled to adhere to a particular place
and a particular form or Murthi in their effort to contact God. This
localisation and particularisation however necessary or useful to begin the God
contact ought to be out-grown and true ideas as in the case of Namdev should
replace the earlier ones. Sai Baba, the realiser of Ekam Sat with his
perfection of power of Samartha, could include within himself and show
within himself all Murthis as they are all parts of God, Bhagavad Gita140
says,
Angani Annya
Devatah
that is, From a part rise to view the
whole. Being Nirakara, he could be Sahara at any time whether he
was in the flesh or beyond the flesh that is, after Mahasamadhi. Thus he
serves as the ideal Guru, though he is not in the flesh, as he can and
does appear in his old form to deal with his old and new devotees. Several
people felt and feel that a Guru who is not in the flesh does not suit
them, as others feel in exactly the opposite way. But by Baba's grace, all
these have been drawn by him to his feet.
In some cases a
person is fully saturated with the doctrines of Srimad Bhagavata141
Yat driscyam
tat Nascyam, or
Drashtam
Vinashtam
that is, all things seen are perishable
and therefore not the real Brahman and the Upanishad teachings are that Brahman
cannot be seen,
Yat chakshusha
na pascyati,
yena
chakshumshi pascyati,
tadeva Brahma
tvam viddhi,
nedam yat idam
upasate
which means, Brahman is not that
which is seen with the eye but that which makes the eye see and Brahman is
not that which people in the world worship, to such as, no seen figure commands
the belief that it is Real and God or Brahman. Such a person cannot
therefore surrender himself to any God or Guru that is seen. To such a
person, Baba is a great boon or blessing.
Sai Baba snuffs
out of him the critical spirit which says, You are seen and not God. How can I
bow to you? Baba's action is not external reasoning but internal unspoken and
unseen working. That takes away and clean wipes off all traces of the critical
spirit and substitutes for it a humility that says in effect 'I am a worm, Thou
art all power and mercy. Protect me, shed light on my path. Take me as a
helpless baby in your arm and deal with me as you like'. This is beginning of
that person's feeling that the Unseen Guru is alive, is powerful and can
lead and only he can lead him right on to the goal.
The former Gurus
of such a person whether Kula Gurus or adopted Gurus have
never influenced him, as they were not Samarthas, interested in him. So
there is no possibility in such a case of any idea of change of Guru or Gurudroha.
Baba makes such a person feel that Baba is the same as the previous Gurus.
Baba is Sarva Antaryami and makes persons like the above and like
Upasani Maharaj, Mule sastri, feel that he is the same as the former Guru. Baba
elevates the devotee and enables him to see Him as the one underlying force or
personality appearing in various forms and called by various names Vyabhichara
by resort to whom is unthinkable.
In getting Baba
as a Guru, one is helped on to the Supreme realisation of Jiva Brahma
Aikya. Those who refer to Baba as a single Guru or saint with a
particular shape in one place are indulging in their tendency of
materialistion, localisation, and fragmentisation. The real fruit of Baba's
influence is perceiving him as the All-every thing includes one's old Guru, one's
Ishta Devata and oneself. When one has reached that stage, no question
of the number of Gurus and justification for change of Gurus can
arise.
The nature of
the Guru-sishya relation may vary from individual to individual amongst
the gurus and sishyas. But on the whole there are certain well
defined principles. We shall here take the best Guru and the best sishya
to show what the mutual relations and conduct rules should be. Sai Baba was
the best sishya and as Guru was the best Guru that we can
think of. So his behaviour and conduct may be taken to establish rules for others.
Guruship of a mere technical or commercial sort cannot lead us to correct
behaviour or conduct. If the engagement of a teacher is a mercenary affair,
then very few of the following rules would apply, though in any case a teacher
must be treated with some respect, whatever his capacity or failings may be.
But in respect of the ideal, that is, Baba's ideal, a Guru is loved
heart and soul by the sishya and the sishyas forsakes everything
including his kith, kin and property, and relies entirely upon the Guru for
looking after his temporal and spiritual needs. The Guru responds with
equally strong love to the sishya's love. In such a case, it is not
necessary to go to the sastras to find out what the mutual relations
should be. Perfect love casts out fear and shows preparedness for any sacrifice
and every sacrifice. A sishya like Aruni is prepared to give up even his
life to save the water in the wet fields of his master.
Sariram vasu
vijnanam
Vasah Karma
Gunan Asun
Gurvartham
dharayet yastu
Sa shisyah Na Itarah
Smritah.
that is, He who maintains his body,
wealth or property, knowledge, residence, work, qualities, and life, barely to
serve the purposes of the Guru, is called a sishya and others are
not sishyas. The counterpart of this is the Guru's duty which Rishaba
mentions to his sons in Srimad Bhagavata,
Guruh na sasyat
Svajano na sasyat
Pita na sasyat
Jnani na sasyat
Daivatn na
sasyat svapatih na sasyat
Na mochayet yas
samupeta mrityum
that is, He is no Guru nor kinsman
nor a father nor she a mother nor he a husband nor he a God, who does not save
one''s life when one is threatened with imminent death. The Guru-sishya relation
is perfectly mutual. If the sishya must sacrifice even his life for the
beloved Guru's property, the Guru also sacrifices his life and
everything for the sake of sishyas. Baba's Guru saved him from
being stoned to death by ordering the brick that came near his head to stand
still in mid air, Sthambhanam, and it stood. Baba himself said he would
give up his very life to save those who were constantly thinking of him and
were absorbed in him142.
It is noted in
G.S. Khaparde's diary that Baba pointed out to him that his body had got
emaciated, his digestion impaired, and his food reduced to bare bread and
water, due to worries of looking after innumerable devotees. Yet in spite of
this, he must, up to the time of his departure from this world go on doing his
duty whatever be the consequences. Baba put his hand143 into the
fire Dhuni at Dwarakamayee to save the life of a blacksmith's child
that had fallen into a blacksmith's fire elsewhere. And, when asked about the
pain and the trouble caused by burning. Baba said that he had saved the child
and that God would cure his burn. It is believed that when Baba passed away in
October, 1918144. Tatya
Patel was lying ill in a critical condition, and Baba gave up his own life to
save the life of Tatya, his much favoured pupil to whose family he was
indebted all his life,
especially in his
earliest days, for sustenance. Giving up life is very
dramatic. But what is more painful and requires greater ability perhaps is to
devote one's life to constant service not minding any question of health or
comfort. That is the real Seva referred to in the Bhagavad Gita145,
as commented upon by Baba himself. The sishya as stated by Lord Krishna
has to render perpetual service to the Guru, having dedicated to him at
the very beginning his Tan, Man, Dhan, and he must not retain any idea
when rendering service to the master that he is free either to render or not to
render service, but think he is only carrying out his surrender of body and
mind by devoting every little power possessed by him to the service of the
master. Instances may be found of seva in various parts of this book,
and the instance quoted in the earliest Sanskrit authorities on the subject of Guru-sishya
relation is generally the collection by the sishya, of fuel for the Guru.
In ancient days forests abounded and fuel could be got by any one who went
into the woods to collect sufficient dried branches. Fuel was wanted for
maintaining the. sacrificial fire as well as the fire for cooking the food, and
the third fire in each Ashram. Therefore, the Mundakaupanishad says,
Tat
Vijnanartham sa Gurumeva Abhigachchet
Samit panih
scrotriyam Brahmanishtam.
that is, For
obtaining learning or wisdom, a student ought to go to his Guru, well
versed in the knowledge of Brahman that is, a man of God realisation
carrying a bundle of faggots in hand. This might be thought inapplicable to
modern days by reason of our reserved forests, but in Baba's case, when he was
taken by Javar Ali as a sishya to Rahata, Baba did such work, namely,
carrying faggots, heating water and cooking the food for his guru. And
the Guru Gita says that one ought to do menial service and stand like a menial
servant waiting upon the Guru at all times Nati Dure Nichavat. That
is, like a peon at the beck and call, he must wait for the Guru''s orders.
Baba did such work not minding the hardships involved. Baba always set the
example in everything that he undertook, and his services to Javar Ali were a
good example set to others for what they ought to do for their master. Many
pupils however go out from life to Gurus as lawyers, retired teachers,
and merchants, and they cannot be expected to carry faggots or cook food for
their master. But even these are seen in several Ashrams, like those in
the Himalayas and other hills, to be rendering service of various sorts suited
to each one's capacity. The essence consists in self denial and a readiness to
serve willingly a master from whom one expects the most valuable aid if not
everything. That is why, the Gita lays emphasis on sevaya in the above
verse. Incidentally it may be noticed that service is only one form in which
the disciple chooses to help or favour his master. The master's interest must
always be treated as the interest of the pupil and the master's reputation,
property, good name and economic welfare, must all be the chief interest that
guides the conduct of the pupil. This is the basis of the several rules we
shall note below as laid down in the Guru Gita and other books. The pupil has
to render service and this is both a gain and a burden. Physically it is a
burden. Sentimentally it may be a burden, though it ought not to be felt as a
burden by a really enthusiastic disciple. Such enthusiastic devotees take
pride and pleasure
in serving their master. The gain is chiefly the
privilege of Satsang of being always in attendance upon and under the
eye of a great and powerful Guru, a perfect specimen of purity, wisdom,
courage and goodness. Such a Guru, a real saint, will purify one of
taints, durvasanas. All previous traces of bad tendencies and habits
would be burnt up by such contact. Guru Gita says Dussanga has to be avoided
by a sishya in order to become fit to be a sishya. But the traces
of Dussanga may still be there, and the Guru burns up all such
evil traces. Apart from bad company and vices, there are a number of defects in
the pupil, and the constant companionship and advice of the Guru will
remove these and make the sishya fit to take further steps on to reach
the highest goal of knowledge and perfection. The sishya has generally,
inspite of himself, a tendency to be proud of his caste, his learning, his good
qualities, his wealth and his family. These are called Ashtapasas of the
sishya, and the Guru has to bum up all these eight pasas or
knots, obstacles or hindrances of the pupil. The Guru Gita says in verse129,
Karuna Khadga
patena
Chitva pasa
ashtakam sisoh
Samyak Ananda
Janakah
Sadguruh sa
Abhidhiyate.
that is, The Guru's grace is the
sword with which he cuts off the eight bonds of his child, the pupil and
thereby provides for his happiness. Such a person is called a Sadguru. The
eight bonds are stated to be,
Daya compassion wrongly directed like Arjuna's
compassion for his foes in battle
Shanka doubts,
Bhayam fear,
Lajja false sense of shame and shyness,
Ninda tendency to scoff or find fault,
Kula pride of family, caste,
Seelam pride of high breeding and
Dhanam pride of wealth.
Of course,
these are only some instances of the teacher's attention to his pupil's nature.
The perfect guru has himself perfect freedom from all vices and defects,
from all ignorance and delusions, and by constantly being with such a Guru, a
competent sishya absorbs all the qualities of the Guru in
himself. By intimate contact between two loving people, each absorbs the
likeness of the other. They talk alike, they think alike, the feel alike, and
they behave alike. In consequence they become of the same nature. A powerful
fearless, ever self-sacrificing, ever luminous, and calm Guru turns his sishya
into an equally fearless, self sacrificing, ever luminous and calm person. Jnana
thus flows from the Guru on to the sishya through these moral
traits as also by the Gurus direct action on the soul. The Guru engages
in dhyana and Atma Nishta and the sishya by intently
concentrating on the Guru gets his Jnana Nishta. He is able to
shake off all attachment, become thoroughly sattvic, and to rise to the
fullest understanding and appreciation of Brahma Jnana or Brahma
Nishta. The Mahavakyas which get not merely repeated but also
embodied in the Guru soak into
the sishya and he also becomes an embodiment of them. This is the
highest achievement of the Guru. It is for that the Guru is
approached by the sishya. But many other feats are achieved before and
in addition to this final achievement. The Guru's grace is bread and
milk to the pupil and the Guru is treated as the only sadhana by
him. These are not merely the words of Baba but are also found in the Guru Gita
written centuries ago in Skanda Parana. Baba though never taught
reading, was an All-Realiser and did not require any study of any purana for
his purpose, being thoroughly absorbed in his Guru who gave him all
knowledge, wisdom, and realisation which is the goal of all discipleship. Baba
never having touched a single book, so far as we know, in his life and was
never taught even the alphabet of any language, knew languages, thoughts, had
all achievements, intellectual, moral, mental and could interpret any part of
any scripture146. How did he get that knowledge? By Guru seva! That
was his answer. So, Seva, though looked down upon as something menial
and disgusting and as a thing to be avoided by fashionable people, is the
potent means by which Baba achieved the highest goal of life. One of the disqualifications,
noted in a previous chapter, for a pupil is Seva Vimuka, that is,
Disinclination to serve. One sees what a fatal drawback it will be in a sishya
to assert himself and say 'I will not serve'. Such a person lacks humility
and can achieve nothing. Tasting the pada tirtham of the Guru is
said to be the means of attaining knowledge.
Perfect faith
in the Guru and treating him as God, enables a man to take the water
used for washing His feet, either in his mouth or on his head, as being more
valuable than all the tirthas in the world and thus derives the fullest
benefit. That is, to get rid of all bad vasanas or evil tendencies and
by purity of his heart to be fitted for perfect sattva and illumination.
Conduct rules are the result
of very great respect and regard for the Guru. Puja is enjoined. Avoid
familiarity. Avoid contact with the irreverent and avoid listening to ninda,
that is blame or disrespect of Guru or of saints.
Kularnava Tantra says, If any
talk ill of the Guru shut yours ears and go away very far so as not to
hear the talk and then have Guru Namasmarana to restore Bhakti141.
Baba endorses this view.
We have already
noted that the Guru has to be treated as not in the least different from
God, but as identical with God, on the authority of the Upanishads and numerous
other works. A proper sishya must have therefore Para bhakti and Dridha
Sauhruda, that is, strong devotion and attachment to his Guru. The
latter returns the love and proves it by looking after and undertaking to look
after everything that concerns the disciple temporally or spiritually.
Behaviour naturally follows this heart felt love. The sishya feels there
is nothing higher than the Guru
Na Guror
Adhikam Na Guror Adhikam,
Idam eva Sivam, Idam eva Sivam,
Idam eva Sivam, Idam eva Sivam
Viditam,
Viditam, Vijanam, Vijanam Viditam,
Viditam,
Vijanam, Vijanam.148
this means, There is nothing higher than
the Guru. This is God, This is
unique, This is known and experienced.
By meditation Guru
jnana dawns upon the pupil149. The Guru Upadishta Marga that
is, the direction of the Guru has of course, to be strictly followed for
purifying the heart. The ever changing phenomena are fleeting and unworthy of
attachment. Hence turn the mind away from them on to the Real Brahman. This
advice of the Guru must be followed150. Peace of mind follows
by Guru's grace151. The numerous directions in the Guru Gita
as to the propriety of behaviour follow from the above attitude and
relationship. The conduct rules are as follows.
A sishya should
not and can never be blaming his Guru, and should not feel pride, envy,
jealousy, hatred, contempt or entertain any similar feelings towards the Guru.
Of course, he cannot threaten the Guru152, nor treat himself as
equal153. But on the other hand, he must fall at the Guru's feet,
drink the Padatirtha water washing the Guru's feet and always
think of the Guru as long as his body lasts.
Guru is the Sathee
Akaraka that is, the last moment helper, the one person or force that can
help to save the sishya at the moment of his death and make the end
happy, which wife, children, wealth, fame, cannot positively do, which infact
they render painful. If the Guru has been rejected or forgotten, then at
the last moment, the sishya's mind will be greatly perturbed and
agitated or frightened154.
The Guru's orders
must be strictly obeyed and carried out personally and not delegated to others.
Nothing should be done without consulting the Guru.
In the Guru's
presence, the sishya must avoid:
Playing the
part of a master and giving upadesa or orders,
Drinking
spirituous liquor,
Sauntering
about jauntily,
Shaving,
Placing oneself
on a cot,
Stretching
one's legs,
Getting oneself
shampooed or having
other similar enjoyment,
Dressing
foppishly or ornamenting oneself,
One must day
and night attend upon the Guru like a peon.
One must not
take the Guru s property.
What he gives
must be respectfully received.
The Guru's
padukas, asana must all be
respected and not touched with the sishya's feet.
When the Guru
moves, the Sishya, like a shadow, must follow him.
The Guru's
uchchishta remnant of his eatings, must be consumed reverently as
sacrificial offerings and not given away155.
No untrue or
harsh, proud word or command should be uttered in the Guru's presence.
The Guru must
always be addressed as Prabhu, Deva, Kulesa, Swami, Raja Maharajah with
reverence156.
The Guru saves
the sishya from curses of Gods and men and even from death157.
The Guru's name
must be used as the Supreme Mantra158 which will work
wonders. By bare service to the Guru, the import of the Mahavakyas will
be absorbed by the sishya159. The Guru is full of Mahavakya
illumination and the sishya's torch is kindled from that flame and Atma
Jnana is the result160.
The Guru must
be meditated on, dhyana, and bowed to pranama, as being the
Universe and all Gods161 as Paramatma Swarupam, as Satchitdananda
Bhavatita, Nitya Puma, Nirakara, Nirguna, within one's own self162.
This is illustrated by a mirror reflecting a mirror, Soham represents
that state163. The Guru must be treated as Angushta Matrah
purushah164, in the heart165. According to Bhramara
kita nyaya, Srimad Bhagavata166 the sishya thinking of
the Guru becomes That, Tat 167
Yatra Yatra
manodehi dharayet
Sakalam dhiya
Snehat
dveshat
Bhayatvaapi
yati tat tat sarupatam.
that is, Intense thought by love, hate or fear on a form transforms one into that form
Guru dhyanam
tatahkritva
Svayam Brahma
Mayo bhavet
Pinde pade
tatha rupe
Muktas tena nasamscayah.168
this means, The sishya becomes a
liberated soul in Pinda, that is in Kundalini Sakti, in Pada, that
is by reaching the Hamsa padam and in Rupa, that is by attaining
.the bindu and finally becoming the Rupatita.
The above
summarises the conduct rules for the sishya and the benefits he attains
thereby. Whether these rules are contained in Saivaite purana, Skanda
Purana, or in Bhagavata Vaishanavite Purana, the course of conduct
prescribed and the fruits are the same.
Obstacles
and Objections to Sai worship
The obstacles
to Sai worship that have existed from the very beginning of Sai's rise to
public notice and which continue up to now are numerous. Only some have been
mentioned till now on account of the great and prominent part those obstacles
played in the initial stages of the Sai movement. We shall notice, however,
some more obstacles to Sai worship. Obstacles spring not merely from those who
are against religion and who care nothing for saints or god, but also from
those who are religious and professedly religious too and exulting in their
orthodoxy as the special form in which God has to be approached and religion
exercised. Orthodoxy in all religions played a great part in the resistance to
the Sai movement. The Gita declares that all greatness is from God169
and its worship is the worship of God170, opposition to Sai worship
is greatly toned down among Hindus in this century. Persons who have fixed
ideas, a sort of straight jacket for religion, and who assume that everyone
must bend to their views, or be considered irreligious is the best description
we can give of Ultra orthodoxy. These look askance at anything new which they
have not understood. In the case of Sai Baba, he was very little understood in
his life time, and even now, after so much trouble has been taken to unearth
all the experiences of many devotees, and to arrange them and see what light
they throw upon Baba, his ideas, his methods, and the plan he had, still we are
left in considerable doubt about Baba on many an important matter. No wonder
orthodox people with self-assurance as to the correctness of their modes and as
to their being in high favour with God, on account of their religious orthodoxy
and proud of the position given to them in society, fail to understand Baba or
his methods and work. Of course it is not all orthodox people that object to
Sai. If Baba turned water into oil, several of these orthodox would not get
convinced thereby, but explain it away as a piece of magic worked with the help
of some inferior power and for some worthless purpose. Even Syama alias Madhav
Rao thought so at first. They would not take the trouble of calmly studying all
the facts and arriving at a conclusion as to how that particular chamatkar came
to be exhibited, what Baba's motive was, and how Baba intended that the chamatkar
should operate. Baba was really anxious to humble the two vanis who uttered lies and said that they had
no oil when they had it, and to make them realise that God has various ways of
helping bhaktas like Baba, when people like the vanis should
refuse their help. Baba used that occasion for teaching very good lessons to
the offending vanis and perhaps incidentally realised that the effect
upon large portions of the masses would be to make them no longer deal with him
as a negligible fakir but as a person who enjoyed at least some of God's
powers, if not all, and who is really a Godman. The very highly orthodox,
however, would not draw these conclusions. They kept up their attitude and
would not take any notice of Baba and his work. The immediate result of the chamatkar,
namely, worship of Baba in the Mosque by some unsophisticated villagers,
would and did stiffen the backs of several of the orthodox and make them abhor
its result, a Mohammadan worshipped by Hindus in a Mosque. To treat that as a
good act of religion was something unthinkable for them. They could only
condemn this as being a great evil a doubly bad affair and the chamatkar that
produced this as a still greater evil. This explains how the railway personnel
at Kopergaon and various people like the Valambi Station Master and others
continued lecturing to people that Baba was a dangerous and immoral man or at
least not a person for any good work of God. Many of the orthodox also have a
sort of group feeling and they hold on their ideas decade after decade
uninfluenced by the progress of events. Unfortunately, in the case of Sai Baba,
for a long time, there was no history or explanation of Baba like the present
work, nothing that could enlighten even a fairly calm and impartial member of
the orthodox group or help him to study Baba and arrive at correct conclusions.
No wonder that Sai Baba was misunderstood by many in the regions around Shirdi
and in Maharashtra. Even now a number of the orthodox in the various States, to
which the Sai movement has spread, continue to be moving and thinking on the
old lines. All sorts of flippant and frivolous objections to some act of Baba
or some fact about Baba which comes to their notice are raised and considered
important by them. Even in January 1955 some one ran up to the All India Sai
Mandir and said that an objection was raised as to the inconsistency in Baba.
He asked, 'If Baba was Venkusa's sishya and Venkusa was a worshipper of
Tirupati Venkatesa, then Sai Baba ought to have worn Namam', that is,
three perpendicular marks on his forehead, whereas several pictures of Baba
exhibit him with three horizontal lines on his forehead. This person who raised
this objection was a very well meaning and educated man. Yet the objection
struck him as a forcible one. Then he had to be shown that.
Baba did not
wear any mark at all on his forehead,
The pictures
that the objector had seen were pictures drawn by worshippers of the present
day who knew only that Sri Babu Rao Chandorkar and some other worshippers had
put on Baba horizontal lines on the forehead to which Baba finally yielded
assent and nothing more.
The whole thing
was a mere external observance of very little significance.
That if Das
Ganu and similar Vittal worshippers could put on Baba's head vertical marks,
Baba would have raised no objection either. Baba's explanation for his
submission to these forehead marks was, 'What am I to do? This worshipper
believes that I am his Guru, Kaka Dhopeshwar, and puts marks on me which
he put on his Guru.' Therefore, it must be understood that Baba was
neither Saivaite nor Vaishanavaite, either in his views or in his
external observances as to painting his forehead, and that he took no interest
at all in all this.
Baba was
perfectly neutral and submitted to the peculiar idiosyncracies of his
worshippers in order to avoid offending them. Left to himself Baba would have
no mark on his forehead. Baba did not believe at all that there is a separate
Siva and a separate Vishnu as Gods. To him, there was only one God, and that
might be called Siva or Vishnu, Vittal, Rama or Datta, Khuda or Khandoba or
Devi or Allah or Hari with equal
justification, for a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. God is only
one and not many. To him, God was to be pleased by the right loving approach
from the heart, while the external marks and observances or names might be
varied and be either indifferent or worthless.
Another objection raised by a Hindu at
Madras was that Sai Baba had no right to allow the performance of his worship
by Hindus or for that matter by anybody. This objection was raised also by a
European Missionary at Rahata to whom the worship of Baba was a mortal sin.
This worship shows that he puts himself on a level with God, so said that
missionary. The missionary's objection was stated with reference to another
Baba but that objection applies equally to Sai Baba or anybody else who is
being worshipped. The orthodox objection is also the same that Sai Baba, being
a man, ought not to be worshipped, and allowing himself to be worshipped shows
that he is unfit to be respected even. It would take a very long time to
convince each of these objectors and show how Baba's worship was first objected
to by himself and finally acquiesced in by him in the interest of the vast
masses and of the nation and of humanity and that his worship is the Guru worship
ordained by the sastras. In spite of all our arguments, such critics
would still continue unconvinced, because their heart is not convinced. A man
convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. Therefore, wise Sai bhaktas
do not wish to waste their time in trying to convince such hopeless
opponents. But here we may point out the answer to such criticism. Sai Baba's
agreeing to his worship, as has been stated already, was not because he wanted
plantains, coconuts, edibles, camphor, stotras and all the rest. It was
justifiable even according to Hindu scriptures and was productive of various
benefits, individual, national and international. It has the remarkable support
of every sacred book of authority amongst Hindus whether Saivaite, or Vaishanavaite.
The Acharya or Guru is in every Hindu community to be worshipped
with the same reverence as God171. It is only in that case the
fullest benefit of divine influence can reach the bhakta, through the Acharya172.
A powerful and pure Vairagi like Sai Baba gains nothing by anything
done at the worship. Baba could command all wealth and all conveniences by his
wonderful powers, but he did not care for any of these. It is not for these
petty things that Acharyas like Sai Baba agree to be worshipped. They
agree to be worshipped to carry out the divine plan that the vast masses of
pious people should approach God through a Godman, and derive all the benefits
which they wish to attain, temporal and spiritual alike. Such answers do not
easily convince our orthodox friends. They continue to contend that the
existing gods and institutions provide sufficient scope for one's religious
inclinations, and that the addition of an extra god called Sai Baba is
unnecessary and wrong. In the first place, it must be remembered that Sai Baba
is not an additional god. If you have reverence for him and treat him as God,
he is God, and there is only one God. If, however, any one is accustomed to
think always in terms of polytheism and wants additional gods, one after
another, he is at liberty to manufacture out of Sai Baba an additional God if that
suits his need. But really each person that is worshipped is not an additional
God. The objection that there are 33 crores of gods and that there is no need
to add one more to that very large number fails because the number of persons
worshipped according to the Upanishads and Sastras is not 33 crores but
more. Every Acharya is a Deva, just like every Pathi, husband
and parent to the person concerned, and so if we count the number of Acharyas,
fathers, mothers, husbands and who are worshipped or who can be worshipped,
it will run into many hundreds of crores. This is a patently frivolous
objection, because we are not concerned with the number of gods. No earnest man
is bothered, when he is going on with his puja or worship of his own
gods in his home or temple, about the existence of other gods whom others are
worshipping elsewhere or their number. Why should not others go on worshipping
their own forms of God? What harm does that do to any one? The objections are
so patently frivolous to one who has real bhakti in Sai that we need not
dilate on the subject. We may stop with this, that is, that there is no end of
frivolous objections that can be raised. There is a saying in one of the
southern languages that if you do not like a person, say a wife, any touch of
that person's hand or leg or anything else is an offence. So, we may dismiss
this objection to Sai Baba worship on the ground of adding to the number of
gods worshipped in the country as due to prejudice and not worthy of further
attention.
Another obstacle
that arose to Sai worship was from the conservative set, who consider it wrong
for Sai Baba's devotees to ignore what they insist on as the essentials of
religion, for instance, the putting on of marks and the observance of
ceremonies. It is not true to say that Baba discouraged the orthodox people
from following the use of these marks or the performance of ceremonies, where
the usage still lingers. He distinctly encouraged the performance of the post
funeral ceremonies, in the case of several of his bhaktas, for instance,
of S.B. Nachne, S.B. Dhumal, and Upasani Baba. In fact when people were
beginning to doubt whether there was any use in performing post funeral
ceremonies for fear that they might never reach the departed or prove of any
use, the fact that Baba rendered help in the above cases and assured all of
post-mortem life has made some of the loving bhaktas follow the usual
postmortem ceremonies with greater faith. Baba knew that the subtle body or Sukshma
sarira survives the sthula gross and that certain benefits could be
derived and would be derived by the recently departed soul by the observance of
these ceremonies. Therefore, he never objected to these ceremonies. He,
however, had the remarkable power of guiding and directing the departed souls
at the moment of death and thereafter, and his advice and action in the matter
are of special importance to Sai Bhaktas. Baba told S.B. Dhumal to
perform the Masik sraadha ceremony for his wife at Shirdi and added that
he would see that her soul was benefited. It is clear that Baba attached some
meaning and value to these ceremonies. But the main interest in the case of
departed people is not merely the feeding of the hungry Sukshma or Linga
sarira, astral body. The main interest is the help one can give it to reach
God, which is the goal of the above mentioned states or our present life. On
this matter Baba said If a devotee should die even a thousand miles away, I
draw the spirit to myself and see that it is helped. About Upasani's third wife
he said to the greatly agitated Kasinath Upasani Maharaj that her soul had come
to him. As Baba is identified with God, the statement can only mean that the
departed soul had reached God. Such a solace is a very valuable solace and Baba
gave it to several people, not only to Sri Upasani Maharaj known as Upasani
Baba but also to M.B. Rege who lost his child. This matter is dealt with later
on in another chapter. At present we shall only say that the objection that
Baba interfered with the customary and orthodox ceremonies for the living or
the dead is not true and sound. Baba allowed everyone to carry on whatever he
considered proper unless there was any direct harm in allowing it. However
objections are not always well thought out and based on reason. It is the conservative
feeling that all is well with the objectors; that they are safe with God and
with men, that is at the root of the objections. If some one starts something
outside the accustomed circle and groove of ideas, several at once condemn it
as being totally wrong, for to them, only their ideas and their practice are
right. When we realise that such is the nature of orthodox and other
objections, we can see how orthodoxy and similar criticism failed to stem the
torrent of the Sai movement. That movement is based upon very sound principles
of religion, morality, philosophy and the fact that Sai Baba is a God realiser
of the highest level working to benefit humanity itself, that he was a Parama
Bhagavata, a Parama Jnani, and a perfect master of all yoga, whether
understood from the Sufi or Hindu or Muslim stand point. Throughout his life he
carried on a very noble mission and acted mostly unperceived as the Guru and
protector of many souls, though expressly and avowedly acting as Guru to
some. The basis of Baba's dealing as Guru with such sishyas has
to be explained and understood, and that is why a number of chapters in this
book have been devoted to the headings of Guru Worship, Qualifications
of Gurus and Sishyas, their relations, number of Gurus, before
a detail account of the sishyas is given. For Baba has acted for many
decades as the Guru and had plenty of instances which are covered by
what has been said in these chapters. A small percentage of his earlier sishyas
were orthodox to some extent. The extreme opposition by the orthodox to
such Sai worship would naturally fall blunted and made ineffective where the
worship of and adherence to Baba was by such learned and eminent persons like
Narayan Govind Chandorkar, Deputy Collector, B.V. Dev, Mamlatdar and so
many others, all at the head of orthodox circles. As time went on, the number
of orthodox men in eminent positions joining the Sai movement and treating him
as their great Divine Guru increased, and that is what is going on even
now in the twentieth century. It is clear that it was Baba's intention to
overcome orthodox objections by mere lapse of time, allowing the Sai worship by
its intrinsic merit to extend and overflow to all parts in India and thus make
the orthodox realise that the great oceanic movement has vast force, Divine
force, behind it. Even one of a very dull imagination would be forced to see
that the movement which has covered the whole country and in so short a time,
say within the past 20 years, must be Divine as explained by Lord Krishna in
the Bhagavad Gita.
Yadyad
vibhutimat satvam
Srimat
Urjitameva Va
Tattat eva
avagachcha tvam
Mama Tejo Amsa
Sambhavam.
this means, Whatever has abundance of
splendour or has all prosperity, or strength, know that as a manifestation of a
small fraction of Myself. So, says Lord Krishna. The essence of the tenth
chapter of the Gita is to point out that whatever is powerful and splendid in
every class or genius in existence is a manifestation of God, like the lion
amongst the animals and the ocean amongst the waters. Thus, the slowly thinking
and slowly working mind of even the torpid ultraorthodox objectors at last
comes to realise that this movement is of God and cannot be resisted, and that
the best thing one can do is to make the best of it, for Sai Bhakti offers
excellent chance of individual benefits to all and sundry, provided they summon
up some faith and act upon the same.
Truth is one and falsehoods are many. The sorts of objections that are raised from time to time to Sai worship or that have been or can be raised are so varied that it is not possible to give an exhaustive list of them, nor is it worthwhile. All these have been washed away by the tide of the Sai movement and more of them are now being washed away. When the flimsiness of these objections is realised, the fact that the objections are so flimsy adds to the strength of the Sai movement. Objections to the Sai movement have been raised in some quarters with reference to Sastraic texts such as that Brahmins Srotria are the highest class and others are lower and that Brahmins should not worship persons of the lower class or adopt a Guru from the lower class. This raises again the old vexed question about caste and class which luckily in the present state of Independent India is dying out. There is increasing recognition even from political or social standpoints that class and caste fetters are out of date, that the formerly accepted standards of class and caste are not being kept up by everyone coming under the group name, and that there is no justification for the limitations and disqualifications imposed on members of the several classes. Above all this objection begs the question as to caste. As has been discussed amply elsewhere, if there is any caste still surviving. Baba's caste cannot be peremptorily fixed as being of this or that caste. Baba is to be treated as a Brahmin according to the definition given of that word in v