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

DEDICATION

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

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!

Preface to Part I

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

One

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 3^1/2’ 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. Narke¹²and 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.

Two

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.

Three

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 mental³⁵and 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 nut³⁶as 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

Four

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 begins⁴⁷and 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.

Five

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 Devadas⁵⁹that 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

Deho Varteta Yavata

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 Bhagavata⁶¹says,

Sayantanam Scwastanam Va

Na Sangrinhita Bhikshitam

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.

Six

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.

Seven

Worship, Its Further Expansion

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 declared⁶⁷that 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.

Eight

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.

Nine

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",

Bhava aranya pravishtasya

Ding moha bhranta chetasah

Yena sandarscitah panthah

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 potsherd¹⁰²and 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.

Ten

Gurus Qualifications

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.

Eleven

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.

Twelve

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 Sutras¹³⁷and 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.

Thirteen

Guru Sishya Mutual Relations and Conduct Rules

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.

MUTUAL RELATIONS OF GURU AND SHISYA

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 Mantra¹⁵⁸which 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.

Fourteen

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