Preliminary
To say that, we shall state such and such in the next or
this Chapter, is a sort of egoism. Unless, we surrender
our ego to the feet of our Sad-guru, we will not succeed
in our undertaking. If we become egoless, then our
success is assured.
By worshipping Sai Baba, we attain both the objects,
worldly and spiritual, and are fixed in our true Nature,
and get peace and happiness. Therefore, those who want
to gain their welfare, should respectfully hear Sai
Baba's Leelas or stories and meditate on them. If they
do this, they will easily attain the object of their
life and get Bliss.
Generally, all people like wit and humour, but they do
not like that jokes should be cut at their expense. But
Baba's method was peculiar; when it was accompained with
gestures, it was very interesting and instructive, and
the people, therefore, did not mind, if they were held
up to the ridicule. Hemadpant gives his own instance
below.
Chanak-Leela
In Shirdi, bazar was held every Sunday, and people from
the neighbouring villages came there, erected booths and
stalls on the street, and sold their wares and
commodities. Every noon, the Masjid was crowded more or
less; but on Sunday, it was crowded to suffocation. On
one such Sunday, Hemadpant sat in front of Baba,
shampooing His Legs and muttering God's name. Shama was
on Baba's left, Vamanrao to His right - Shriman Booty
and Kakasaheb Dixit and others were also present there.
Then Shama laughed and said to Annasaheb - "See that
some grains seem to have stuck to the sleeve of your
coat". So saying he touched the sleve and found that
there were some grains. Hemadpant straightened his left
fore-arm to see what the matter was, when to the the
surprise of all, some grains of gram come rolling down
and were picked up by the people who were sitting there.
This incident furnished a subject-matter for joke.
Everybody present began to wonder and said something or
other as to how the grains found their way into the
sleeve of the coat and lodged there so long. Hemadpant
also could not guess how they found an entrance and
stayed there. When nobody could give any satisfactory
explanation in this matter, and everybody was wondering
about this mystery, Baba said as follows :-
Baba - "This fellow (Annasaheb) has got the bad habit of
eating alone. Today is a bazar-day and he was here
chewing grams. I know his habit and these grams are a
proof of it. What wonder is there is this matter?"
Hemadpant - "Baba, I never know of eating things alone;
then why do you thrust this bad habit on me? I have
never yet seen Shirdi bazar. I never went to the bazar
today, then how could I buy grams, and how could I eat
them if I had not bought them? I never eat anything
unless I share it with others present near me".
Baba - "It is true that you give to the persons present;
but if none be near-by, what could you or I do But do
you remember Me before eating? Am I not always with you?
Then do you offer Me anything before you eat?"
Moral
Let us mark and note carefully, what Baba has taught us,
by this incident. He has advised us that before the
senses, mind and intellect enjoy their objects, he
should first be remembered, and if this be done, it is
in a way an offering to Him. The senses etc. can never
remain without their objects, but if those objects are
first offered to the Guru, the attachment for them will
naturally vanish. In this way, all the Vrittis
(thoughts) regarding Desire, Anger, Avarice etc. should
first be offered and directed to the Guru and if this
practice be followed, the Lord will help you in
eradicating all the Vrittis. When before enjoyment of
the objects, you think that Baba is close by, the
question whether the object is fit to be enjoyed or not
will at once arise. Then the object that is not fit to
be enjoyed will be shunned and in this way our vicious
habits or vices will disappear and our character will
improve. Then love for the Guru will grow and pure
knowledge will sprout up. When this knowledge grows, the
bondage of body - consciousness (we are the body) will
snap and our intellect will be merged in
spirit-consciousness (we are the spirit). Then we shall
get Bliss and contentment. There is no difference
between Guru and God. He who sees any difference in
them, sees God nowhere. So leaving aside all ideas of
difference, we should regard Guru and God as one, and if
we serve our Guru as stated above, Lord (God) will be
certainly pleased and purifying our minds He will give
us self-realisation. To put the matter in a nut-shell,
we should not enjoy any object with our senses etc.
without first remembering our Guru. When the mind is
trained in this way, we will be always reminded of Baba,
and our meditation on Baba will grow apace. The Sagun
Form of Baba will ever be before our eyes and then
devotion, non-attachment and salvation will all be ours.
When Baba's Form is thus fixed before our mental vision,
we forget hunger, thirst, and this samsar; the
consciousness of worldly pleasures will disappear and
our mind shall attain peace and happiness.
Sudama's Story
When the above story was being narrated, Hemadpant was
reminded of similar story of Sudama, which illustrates
the same priciple and, therefore, it is given here.
Shri Krishna and His elder brother, Balarama, were
living with a co-student, named Sudama, in the ashram of
their Guru, Sandipani. Once Krishna and Balarama were
sent to the forest for bringing fuel. Then the wife of
Sandipani sent also Sudama for the same purpose with
some quantity of grams for the three. When Krishna met
Sudama in the forest, he said to him - "Dada, I want
water as I am thirsty". Sudama replied - "No water
should be drunk on an empty stomach, so it is better to
rest a while". He did not say that he had got grams with
him and that He should take some. As Krishna was tired,
He lay down for rest on the lap of Sudama and was
snoring. Seeing this, Sudama took out the grams and
began to eat. Then Krishna suddenly asked him - "Dada,
what are you eating, whence is the sound?". He replied -
"What is there to eat? I am shivering with cold and my
teeth are chattering. I can't even repeat distinctly
Vishnu-Sahastra-Nama". Hearing this, the Omniscient
Krishna said - "I just dreamt a dream, in which I saw a
man, eating things of another, and when asked about
this, he said - "What earth (dust) should he eat?",
meaning thereby that he had nothing to eat? The other
man said - "Let it be so". Dada, this is only a dream. I
know that you won't eat anything without Me; under the
influence of the dream I asked you what you were
eating?" If Sudama had known a bit of the Omniscient,
Shri Krishna and His Leelas, he would not have acted, as
he did. Therefore, he had to suffer for what he did.
Though he was a chum of Shri Krishna he had to pass his
later life in utter poverty. But when he later offered
Krishna a handful of parched rice, earned by his wife
with her own labour, Krishna was pleased and gave him a
golden city to enjoy. This story should be remembered by
those who have the habit of eating things alone without
partaking them with others.
The Shruti also emphasizes this lesson, and asks us to
offer things first to God and then enjoy them after they
are renounced by Him. Baba also has taught us the same
lesson in His inimitable and humorous way.
Anna Chinchanikar vs. Mavsibai
Hemadpant, now describes another witty incident, in
which Baba played a peace-maker's part. There was one
devotee by name Damodar Ghanashyama Babare alias Anna
Chinchanikar. He was simple, rough and straightforward.
He cared for nobody, always spoke plainly and carried
all dealings in cash. Though he looked outwardly harsh
and uncompromising, he was good natured and guileless.
So Sai Baba loved him. One day, like others serving Baba
in their own way, this Anna was, one noon standing prone
and was shampooing the left arm of Baba, which rested on
the kathada (railing). On the right side, one old widow
named Venubai Koujalgi whom Baba called mother and all
others Mavsibai, was serving Baba in her own way. This
Mavsibai was an elderly woman of pure heart. She clasped
the fingers of both her hands round the trunk of Baba
and was at this time kneading Baba's abdomen. She did
this so forcibly that Baba's back and abdomen became
flat (one) and Baba moved from side to side. Anna on the
other side was steady, but Mavsibai's face moved up and
down with her strokes. Once it so happened that her face
came very close to Anna's. Being of a witty disposition
she remarked - "Oh, this Anna is a lewd (bad) fellow, he
wants to kiss me. Even being so old with grey hair he
feels no shame in kissing me." These words enraged Anna
and he pulled up his sleeves and said - "You say that I
am an old bad fellow, am I quite a fool? It is you that
have picked up a quarrel and are quarreling with me".
All the persons, present there were enjoying this
encounter between them. Baba Who loved both of them
equally and wanted to pacify them, managed the affair
very skillfully. Lovingly He said - "Oh Anna, why are
you unnecessarily raising this hue and cry? I do not
understand what harm or impropriety is there, when the
mother is kissed?" Hearing these words of Baba, both of
them were satisfied and all the persons laughed merrily
and enjoyed Baba's wit to their heart's content.
Baba's Characteristics -- His Dependency on Bhaktas
Baba allowed His devotees to serve Him in their own way,
and did not like any other persons interfering in this.
To quote an instance, the same Mavsibai was on another
occasion, kneading Baba's abdomen. Seeing the fury and
force used by her, all the other devotees felt nervous
and anxious. They said, "Oh mother, be more considerate
and moderate, otherwise you will break Baba's arteries
and nerves". At this Baba got up at once from His seat,
dashed His satka on the ground. He got enraged and His
eyes became red like a live charcoal. None dared to
stand before or face Baba. Then He took hold of one end
of the Satka with both hands and pressed it in the
hollow of his abdomen. The other end He fixed to the
post and began to press His abdomen against it. The
satka which was about two or three feet in length seemed
all to go into the abdomen and the people feared that
the abdomen would be ruptured in a short time. The post
was fixed and immovable and Baba began to go closer and
closer to it and clasped the post firmly. Every moment
the rupture was expected, and they were all dismayed,
did not know what to do, and stood dumb with wonder and
fear. Baba suffered this ordeal for the sake of His
Bhakta. The other devotees wanted only to give a hint to
the Mavsibai to be moderate in her service and not cause
any trouble or pain to Baba. This they did with good
intention, but Baba did not brook even this. They were
surprised to see that their well-intentioned effort had
resulted in this catastrophe; and they could do nothing
but to wait and see. Fortunately, Baba's rage soon
cooled down. He left the satka and resumed His seat.
From this time onward, the devotees took the lesson that
they should not meddle with anybody but allow him to
serve Baba as the chooses, as He was capable to gauge
the merits and worth of the service rendered unto Him.
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