Preliminary
All the things that we see in the universe are nothing
but a play of Maya -- the creative power of the Lord.
These things do not really exist. What really exists is
the Real Absolute. Just as we mistake a rope of a
garland or a stick for a serpent on account of darkness,
we always see the phenomena, i.e. things as they
outwardly appear, and not the Noumenon which underlies
all the visible things. It is only the Sad-guru that
opens the eyes of our understanding and enables us to
see things in their true light and not as they appear.
Let us, therefore, worship the Sad-guru and pray to him
to give us the true vision, which is nothing but
God-vision.
Inner Worship
Hemadpant has given us a novel form of worship. Let us,
he says, use hot water in the form of tears of joy to
wash the Sad-guru's feet, let us besmear His body with
sandle-paste of pure love, let us cover His body with
the cloth of true faith, let us offer eight lotuses in
the form of our eight Sattwik emotions and fruit in the
form of our concentrated mind; let us apply to His head
bukka (black-powder) in the form of devotion and tie the
waistband of Bhakti and place our head on his toes.
After decorating the Sad-guru with all jewelry in this
way, let us offer our all to Him and wave chamar of
devotion to ward off heat. After such blissful worship,
let us pray thus:- "Introvert our mind, turn it inward,
give us discrimination between the Unreal and the Real
and non-attachment for all worldly things and thus
enable us to get Self-realisation. We surrender
ourselves, body and soul (body-consciousness and ego).
Make our eyes Yours, so that we should never feel
pleasure and pain. Control our body and mind as You will
and wish. Let our mind get rest in Your Feet".
Now let us turn to the stories of this Chapter.
Bhakta Pant
Once it so happened that a devotee by name Pant, a
disciple of another Sad-guru had the good fortune of
visiting Shirdi. He had no mind to go to Shirdi, but man
proposes one way and God disposes the other. He was
travelling in a B.B. & C.I. Rly. train where he met many
friends and relations bound for Shirdi. They all asked
him to accompany them and he could not say nay. They
alighted at Bombay while pant got down at Virar. There
he took the permission of his Sadguru for the Shirdi
trip and after arranging for the expenses, left with the
party for Shirdi. They all reached the place in the
morning and went to the Masjid at about 11 A.M. Seeing
the concourse of the devotees assembled for Baba's
worship, they were all pleased, but Pant suddenly got a
fit and fell senseless. They were all frightened, still
they tried their best to bring him to his senses. With
Baba's grace and with pitchers of water which they
poured over his head, he regained his consciousness and
sat upright as if he was just awakened from sleep. The
omniscient Baba knowing that he was a disciple of
another Guru, assured him fearlessness and confirmed his
faith in his own Guru, by addressing him as follows :-
"Come what may, leave not, but stick to your Bolster
(support, i.e. Guru) and ever remain steady, always
at-one-ment (in union) with him." Pant at once knew the
significance of this remark and thus he was reminded of
his Sad-guru. This kindness of Baba he never forgot in
his life.
Harishchandra Pitale
There was a gentleman by name Harishchandra Pital in
Bombay. He had a son, who suffered from epilepsy. He
tried many allopathic and ayurvedic doctors, but there
was no cure. There remained only one way of remedy, viz.
resorting to the saints. It has been stated in Chapter
XV that Das Ganu by his inimitable and splendid kirtans
spread the fame of Sai Baba in the Bombay Presidency.
Mr. Pitale heard some of these kirtans in 1910 and
learnt therefrom and from others that Baba, by His touch
and mere glance, cured many incurable diseases. Then a
desire arose in his mind to see Sai Baba. Making all
preparations and taking presents and fruit-baskets, Mr.
Pitale came to Shirdi with family, wife and children. He
then went to the Masjid with them, prostrated before
Baba and placed his sick son on Baba's Feet. No sooner
Baba saw the child than an untoward thing happened. The
son immediately revolved his eyes and fell down
senseless. His mouth began to foam and his whole body
began to perspire profusely and it seemed as if he
breathed himself out. Seeing this, the parents became
very nervous and excited. The boy used to get such fits
very often, but this fit seemed to persist long. Tears
began to flow ceaselessly from the mother's eyes and she
began to wail, crying that her condition was like that
of a person, who being afraid of the robbers ran into a
house which collapsed on him,or like a cow fearing a
tiger, ran into the hands of a butcher, or like a
traveller, who being tormented by the heat of the sun
went to take refuge under a tree, which fell upon him,
or like a devout person going for worship into a temple
which collapsed upon him. Then Baba comforted her saying
- "Do not wail like this, wait a bit, have patience,
take the boy to your lodging, he will come to his senses
within half an hour." They did as directed by Baba and
found that His words came true. As soon as he was taken
into the Wada, the boy recovered and all the Pitale
family, husband, wife and others were very delighted and
all their doubts disappeared. Then Mr. Pitale came with
his wife to see Baba and prostrated himself before Him
very humbly and respectfully and sat shampooing His legs
and mentally thanking Baba for His help. Baba then
smilingly said - "Are not all your thoughts, doubts and
apprehensions calmed down now? Hari (Lord) will protect
him, who has got faith and patience". Mr. Pitale was a
rich and well-to-do gentleman. He distributed sweet-meat
on a large scale and gave Baba excellent fruits and pan
(betel-leaves). Mrs. Pitale was a very Sattwik lady,
simple, loving and faithful. She used to sit near the
post staring at Baba with tears of joy flowing down from
her eyes. Seeing her of an amicable and loving nature,
Baba was much pleased with her. Like Gods, Saints are
always dependent on their devotees who surrender and
worship them with their heart and soul. After passing
some happy days in Baba's company, the Pitale family
came to the Masjid to take Baba's leave to depart. Baba
gave them Udi and blessings and called Mr. Pitale close
by and said to him - "Bapu, I had given you before, Rs.
two, now I give you Rs. three; keep these in your shrine
for worship and you will be benefited." Mr. Pitale
accepted these as Prasad, prostrated himself again
before Baba and prayed for His blessings. A thought
arose in his mind, that as that was his first trip to
Shirdi, he could not understand what Baba meant, when He
said that He had given Rs. two previously. He was
curious to have this mystery solves, but Baba kept
silent. When Mr. Pitale returned to Bombay, he narrated
to his old mother all that had happened at Shirdi and
the mystery about Baba's giving him Rs. two formerly.
The mother also did not understand the mystery, but,
thinking seriously about that, she was reminded of an
old incident, which solved the mystery. She said to her
son - "As you now went to Sai Baba with your son, so had
your father done when he took you to Akkalkot, for the
darshana of the Maharaj there many years ago. That
Maharaj was also a Siddha, Perfect Yogi, omniscient and
liberal. Your father was pure, devout and his worship
was accepted. He then gave your father Rs. two for being
kept in the shrine and worshipped. Your father
worshipped them accordingly till his death, but
thereafter the worship was neglected and the rupees were
lost. After some years the memory of these two rupees
also disappeared and now, as you are very fortunate, the
Akkalkotkar Maharaj has appeared to you in the form of
Sai Baba just to remind you to your duties and worship,
and to ward off all dangers. Now beware henceforth,
leave off all doubts and bad thoughts, follow your
ancestors and behave well; go on worshipping the family
gods and the rupees, appraise properly and take pride in
the blessing of the Saints. Sai Samartha has kindly
revived the spirit of Bhakti in you, cultivate it it
your benefit." Hearing the remarks of the mother, Mr.
Pitale was very much delighted. He came to know, and was
convinced about the all-prevasiveness of Baba and the
significance of His darshan. From that time he became
very careful about his behaviour.
Mr. Ambadekar
Mr. Gopal Narayan Ambadekar of Poona was a devotee of
Baba. He served for ten years in the Abkari department
in the Thana District and in Javhar state, from where he
had to retire. He tried to get some other job, but he
did not succeed. He was overtaken by other calamities
and his condition grew from bad to worse. He passed 7
years in this condition, visiting Shirdi every year and
placing his grievance before Baba. In 1916 his plight
became worst and be decided to commit suicide in Shirdi.
So he came there with his wife and stayed for two
months. One night while sitting in a bullock cart in
front of Dixit's Wada, he resolved to end his life by
throwing himself into a well close by. He proposed to do
one way but Baba wished to do something else. A few
paces from this place, there was a hotel and its
proprietor Mr. Sagun, a devotee of Baba, came out and
accosted him thus - "Did you ever read this Akkalkotkar
Maharaja's life?" Ambadekar took that book from Sagun
and began to read it. Casually, or we may say
providentially he came across a story which was to this
effect. - During the life time of Akkalkotkar Maharaj a
certain devotee suffered very much from an incurble
disease and when he could endure the agony and pain no
longer, be became desperate and to end his miseries
threw himself one night into a well. Immediately the
Maharaj came there and took him out with his own hands
and advised him thus - "You must enjoy the fruit - good
or bad - of your past actions; if the enjoyment be
incomplete, suicide won't help you. You have to take
another birth and suffer again; so instead of killing
yourself, why not suffer for some time and finish up
your store of the fruit of your past deeds and be done
with it once and for all?"
Reading this appropriate and timely story, Ambadekar was
much surprised, and moved. Had he not got Baba's hint
through the story, he would have been no more. On seeing
Baba's all-prevasiveness and benevolence, his faith in
Him was confirmed, and he became a staunch devotee. His
father was a devotee of Akkalkotkar Maharaj and Sai Baba
wanted him to walk into his father's footsteps and
continue his devotion to Him. He then got Sai Baba's
blessings and his prospects began to improve. He studied
astrology and gained proficiency in it and thereby
improved his lot. He was able to earn sufficient money
and passed his after-life in ease and comfort.
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