This
Chapter describes Shama's strip to Kashi, Prayag and
Gaya and how Baba (in the Form of His portrait) was
there ahead of him; it also describes Baba's
reminiscences of the past birth of two goats.
Preliminary
Blessed, Oh Sai, are Your Feet, blessed is Your
remembrance and blessed is Your darshana which frees us
from the bond of Karma. Though Your Form is invisible to
us now, still if the devotees believe in You, they get
living experiences from You. By an invisible and subtle
thread You draw Your devotees from far and near to Your
Feet and embrace them like a kind and loving mother. The
devotees do not know where You are, but You so
skillfully pull the wires that they ultimately realize
that You are at their back to help and support them. The
intelligent, wise and learned folk fall into the pit of
the samsar on account of their egoism, but You save, by
Your power, the poor, simple and devout persons.
Inwardly and invisibly you play all the game, but show
that you are not concerned with it. You do things and
pose yourself as a non-doer. Nobody ever knows Your
life. The best course therefore for us is to surrender
our body, speech and mind to Your Feet and always chant
Your name for destroying our sins. You fulfill the
wishes of the devotees and to those who are without any
desire You give bliss supreme. Chanting Your sweet name
is the easiest sadhan for devotees. By this sadhan
(means), our sins, Rajas and Tamas qualities will
vanish, the Sattwa qualities and righteousness will gain
predominance and along with this, discrimination,
dispassion and knowledge will follow. Then we shall
abide in our Self and our Guru (who are one and the
same). This is what is called complete surrender to the
Guru. The only sure sign of this is that our mind gets
calm and peaceful. The greatness of this surrender,
devotion and knowledge is unique; for peace,
non-attachment, fame and salvation etc., come in its
train.
If Baba accepts a devotee, He follows him and stands by
him, day and night, at his home or abroad. Let the
devotee go anywhere he likes, Baba is there ahead of him
in some form in an inconceivable manner. The following
story illustrates this.
Sometime after Kakasaheb Dixit was introduced to Sai
Baba, he decided to perform the thread (Upanayan)
ceremony of his eldest son Babu at Nagpur. At about the
same time Nanasaheb Chandorkar decided to perform the
marriage ceremony of his eldest son at Gwalior. Both
Dixit and Chandorkar came to shirdi and lovingly invited
Baba for these functions. Baba asked them to take Shama
as His representative. When He was pressed to come in
person. Baba told them to take Shama with them and that
"after doing Banares and Prayag He would be ahead of
Shama." Now mark these words for they show Baba's
all-pervasiveness.
Taking the permission of Baba, Shama decided to go to
Nagpur and Gwalior for these functions and ceremonies
and thence to Kashi, Prayag and Gaya. Appa Kote made up
his mind to accompany him. They both went first to
Nagpur for the thread ceremony. Kakasaheb Dixit gave
Shama Rs.200/- for his expenses. Then they went to
Gwalior for the marriage ceremony. There Nanasaheb
Chandorkar gave Shama Rs.100/- and his Vyahi (relation)
Mr.Jather gave him also Rs.100/-. Then Shama went to
Kashi, and then to Ayodhya where he was well received in
Jather's beautiful temple of Laxmi-Narayan at Kashi (Varanasi
or Banares) and in the Rama-Mandir at Ayodhya by
Jathar's manager. They (Shama and Kote) stayed for 21
days in Ayodhya and two months in Kashi (Banares). Then
they left for Gaya. In the train they felt a little
uneasy on hearing that plague was prevailing in Gaya. At
night they alighted at Gaya station and stayed in the
Dharmashala. In the morning the Gayawala (the Priest who
arranges and provides for the lodging and boarding of
the pilgrims) came there and aid - "The pilgrims have
already started, you better make haste." Shama casually
asked him whether there was plague in Gaya. "No" said
the Gayawala. "Please come without any fear or anxiety
and see yourself." Then they went with him and stayed in
his house which was a big and commodious Wada. Shama was
pleased with the accommodation provided for him, but
what pleased him most, was the beautiful big portrait of
Baba fixed in the central and front portion of the
building. Seeing this portrait Shama was overwhelmed
with emotion. He remembered Baba's words, viz., "After
doing Kashi and Prayag He would be ahead of Shama" and
burst into tears. His hairs stood on end, his throat was
choked and he began to sob. The Gayawala thought that he
was afraid of plague prevailing there and therefore was
crying. But Shama enquired of him whence he got Baba's
portrait there. He replied that he had 200 or 300 agents
working at Manmad and Punatambe for looking to the
convenience of the pilgrims to Gaya and from them he
heard about Baba's fame. Then about 12 years ago he went
to Shirdi and took Baba's darshana. There he wanted
Baba's portrait hung in Shama's house and with Baba's
permission Shama gave it to him. This was the same
protrait. Shama then remembered this former incident.
The Gayawalas's joy knew no bounds when he learnt that
the same Shama who obliged him before, was his guest
then. Then they both exchanged love and service and were
most delighted and happy. The Gayawala gave him a right
royal welcome. He was a very rich man. He sat in a
palanquin and made Shama ride an elephant and attended
to all his comforts and conveniences.
The moral of the story is this:- That Baba's words came
out true to the letter and unbounded was His love
towards the devotees. But leave this aside. He also
loved all creatures equally, for He felt that He was one
with them. The following story will illustrate this.
Two Goats
Baba was once returning from Lendi, when He saw a flock
of goats. Two of them attracted His attention. He went
to them, caressed and fondled them and bought them for
Rs.32/-. The devotees were surprised at this conduct of
Baba. They thought that Baba was duped in this bargain,
as the goats would fetch Rs.two each, at the most Rs.3/-
or 4/- each, i.e., Rs.8/- for both. They began to take
Baba to task for this, but Baba kept calm and cool.
Shama and Tatya Kote asked Baba for an explanation. He
said He should not store money as He had no home, and
any family to look after. He asked them to purchase at
His cost 4 seers of 'dal' (lentil) and feed the goats.
After this was done, Baba returned the goats to the
owner of the flock and gave out of the following
reminiscences and story of the goats.
"Oh, Shama and Tatya, you think that I have been
deceived in this bargain. No. Listen to their story. In
their former birth they were human beings and had the
good fortune to be My companions and sit by My side.
They were uterine brothers, loving each other at first,
but later on, they became enemies. The elder brother was
an idle fellow while the younger one was an active chap
and earned a lot of money. The former became greedy and
jealous and wanted to kill his brother and take away his
money. They forgot thier fraternal relations and began
to quarrel with each other. The elder brother resorted
to many devices to kill his younger brother, but all of
his attempts failed. Thus they became deadly enemies and
finally on one occasion the elder gave a deadly blow
with a big stick on the latter's head while the latter
struck the former with an axe, with the result that both
fell dead on the spot. As the result of their actions,
they were both born as goats. As they passed by me, I at
once recognized them. I remembered their past history.
Taking pity on them I wanted to feed them and give them
rest and comfort and for this reason I spent all the
money for which you reprove me. As you did not like My
bargain I sent them back to their shepherd." Such was
Sai's love for the goats!
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