Sai Baba's Mission
Sai Baba’s Sanction and Promise - Assignment of Work to Devotees - Baba’s Stories as Beacon-light - His Motherly Love - Rohilla’s Story - His sweet and Nectar-like Words
Sai Baba’s Sanction and Promise
As described in the previous Chapter, Sai Baba gave His complete assent to the writing of the Satcharita and said, "I fully agree with you regarding the writing of Satcharita. You do your duty, don’t be afraid in the least, steady your mind and have faith in My words. If my Leelas are written the Avidya (nescience) will vanish. If they are attentively and devoutly listened to, the consciousness of the worldly existence will abate, and strong waves of devotion and love will rise up. If one dives deep into My Leelas she or he will get precious jewels of knowledge."
Hearing this the author was much pleased. He at once became fearless and confident, and thought that the work was bound to be a success. Then turning to Shama (Madhavrao Deshpande) Sai Baba said.
"If a man utters My name with love, I shall fulfill all his wishes and increase his devotion. If he earnestly sings My life and My deeds, I shall beset him in front, back and on all sides. Those devotees, who are attached to Me with heart and soul, will naturally feel happiness when they hear these stories. Believe Me that if anybody sings My Leelas I will give him infinite joy and everlasting contentment. It is My special characteristic to free any person who surrenders completely to Me, worships Me faithfully, remembers Me, and meditates on Me constantly. How can they, who utter My name, who worship Me, who think of My stories and My life, and who thus always remember Me, be conscious of worldly objects and sensations? I shall draw out My devotees from the jaws of death. If My stories are listened to, all the diseases will be gotten rid of. So hear My stories with respect; think and meditate on them, and assimilate them. This is the way to happiness and contentment. The pride and egoism of My devotees will vanish, and the mind of the listeners will be set at rest; the mind will be one with Supreme Consciousness if it has wholehearted and complete faith. The simple remembrance of My name as ‘Sai, Sai’ will do away with sins of speech and hearing".
Different Works Assigned to Devotees
The Lord entrusts different works to different devotees. Some are given the work of building temples, maths, or ghats (flight of steps) on rivers; some are made to sing the glories of God; some are sent on pilgrimages; but to me was allotted the work of writing the Satcharita. Being a jack of all trades but master of none, I was quite unqualified for this job. Then why should I undertake such a difficult job? Who can describe the true life of Sai Baba? Sai Baba’s grace alone can enable one to accomplish this difficult work. So, when I took up the pen in my hand, Sai Baba took away my egoism and wrote His stories Himself . The credit of relating these stories, therefore, goes to Him and not to me. Though Brahmin by birth, I lacked the two eyes. (i.e. the sight or vision) of Shruti and Smriti and therefore was not at all capable of writing the Satcharita but the grace of the Lord makes a dumb man talk, enables a lame man to cross a mountain. He alone knows the knack of getting things done as He likes. Neither the flute nor the harmonium knows how the sounds are produced. This is the concern of the Player. The oozing of Chandrakant jewel and the surging of the sea are not due to the jewel and the sea but to the rise of the moon.
Baba’s Stories as Beacon-light
Light houses are constructed at various places in the sea to enable the boatmen to avoid rocks and dangers, and to make them sail safely. Sai Baba’s stories serve a similar purpose in the ocean of worldly existence. They surpass nectar in sweetness, and make our worldly path smooth and easy to traverse. Blessed are the stories of the saints. When they enter our hearts through the ears, the body-consciousness or egoism and the sense of duality vanish; when they are stored in the heart, doubts will fly out to all sides, pride of the body will fall, and wisdom will be stored in abundance. The description of Baba’s pure fame, and the hearing of the same with love will destroy the sins of the devotee, and therefore this is the simplest Sadhana for attaining salvation. The Sadhana for Krita Age was Shamadama (tranquillity of mind and body); for Treta Age, it was sacrifice; for Dwapara, it was worship, and for Kali Age (present), it is singing of the name and glory of the Lord. This last Sadhana is open to people of all the four varnas (Brahmins etc.). The other Sadhanas, viz., Yoga, Yagya (sacrifice), Dhyana (meditation), and Dharana (concentration) are very difficult to practice but singing and hearing the stories and the glory of the Lord (Sai Baba) is very easy. We have only to turn our attention towards them. The listening and singing of the stories will remove the attachment to the senses and their objects, will make the devotees dispassionate, and will ultimately lead them to self-realization. With this end in view, Sai Baba made me or helped me write His stories, Sat-Charitamrita. The devotees may now easily read and hear these stories of Sai Baba; while doing so they may meditate on Him and His form, and thus attain devotion to Guru and God (Sai Baba) and achieve detachment and self-realization. In the preparation and writing of this work, Sat-Charitamrita, it is Sai Baba’s grace that has accomplished everything, making use of me as a mere instrument.
Motherly Love of Sai Baba
Everybody knows how a cow loves her infant calf. Her udder is always full, and when the calf wants milk and dashes at the udder, out comes the milk in an unceasing flow. Similarly a human mother knows the wants of her child, and feeds it at her breast in time. In case of dressing and adorning the child, the mother takes particular care to see that this is well done. The child knows or cares nothing about this but the mother’s joy knows no bounds when she sees her child beautifully dressed and adorned. The love of mother is peculiar, extraordinary and disinterested, and has no parallel. Sadgurus feel this motherly love towards their disciples. Sai Baba had this same love towards me, and I give an instance of it below.
In 1916 A.D. I retired from Government Service. The pension that was settled in my case was not sufficient to maintain my family decently. On Guru-Pournima (15th of Ashadha) day of that year, I went to Shirdi with other devotees. There Mr. Anna Chinchanikar, of his own accord, prayed to Baba for me as follows, "Please look kindly on him. The pension he gets is quite insufficient, and his family is growing. Give him some other appointment, remove his anxiety, and make him happy." Baba replied, " He will get some other job but now he should serve Me, and be happy. His dishes will be ever full and never empty. He should turn all his attention towards Me and avoid the company of atheists, irreligious and wicked people. He should be meek and humble towards all, and worship Me with heart and soul. If he does this, he will get eternal happiness".
The question of Who this He whose worship is advocated is, is already answered in a note on "Who is Sai Baba" in the prologue, at the beginning of this work.
Rohilla’s Story
The story of a Rohilla illustrates Sai Baba’s all-embracing love. A Rohilla, tall, well-built and strong as a bull, came to Shirdi wearing a long Kafni (robe), and was enamored of Sai. He used to recite Kalma (verses from Holy Koran) day and night in a loud and harsh tone, and used to shout "Allah Ho Akbar" (God is Great). Most people of Shirdi worked in their fields by day, and when they returned to their homes at night they were welcomed with the Rohilla’s harsh cries and shouts. They could get no sleep, and felt much trouble and inconvenience. They suffered this nuisance in silence for some days. When they could stand it no longer they approached Baba, requested Him to check the Rohilla, and stop the nuisance. Baba did not attend to their complaint. On the contrary Baba took the villagers to task, asked them to mind their own business and not the Rohilla. He told them that the Rohilla had a very bad wife, Zantippi,who tried to come in and trouble the Rohilla and Sai Himself. But hearing the Rohilla’s prayers she dared not to, and they were happy and at peace. In fact the Rohilla had no wife, and by his wife Baba meant Durbuddhi i.e. bad thoughts. As Baba liked prayers and cries for God better than anything else, He took the side of the Rohilla. He asked the villagers to wait and suffer the nuisance, which abated in due course.
Baba’s Sweet and Nectar-like Words
One day at noon after the Arti, devotees were returning to their lodgings, when Baba gave the following beautiful advice.
"Be wherever you like, do whatever you choose but remember this well that all that you do is known to Me. I am the Inner Ruler of all, and seated in your hearts. I envelope all the creatures, the movable and immovable world. I am the Controller, the wire-puller of the show of this Universe. I am the mother-origin of all beings. I am the Harmony of three Gunas, the propeller of all senses, the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer. Nothing will harm him who turns his attention towards Me but Maya will lash or whip him who forgets Me. All the insects, ants, the visible, the movable, and the immovable in this world are My Body or Form".Hearing these beautiful and precious words, I at once decided to henceforward serve no man but my Guru. However, Baba's reply to Anna Chinchanikar’s query (which was really mine), that I would get a job, began to revolve in my mind; I began to wonder whether it would ever come to fruition. As future events showed, Baba’s words came true. I got a Government job but that was of a short duration. Then I became free, and devoted myself solely to the service of my Guru, Sai Baba.
Before concluding this Chapter, I request the readers to leave out the various hindrances namely indolence, sleep, wandering of mind, attachments to senses etc., and turn their whole and undivided attention to these stories of Sai Baba. Let your love be natural, know the secret of devotion; do not exhaust yourselves by other Sadhanas, stick to this one simple remedy i.e. listening to Sai Baba’s stories. This will destroy your ignorance, and will secure salvation for you. A miser may stay at various places but he always thinks of his buried treasure. So let Sai Baba be enthroned in the hearts of all.
In the next Chapter, I shall speak of Sai Baba’s advent in Shirdi.