BABA'S DIVINITY
But prejudices and sentiments die hard. Even the great Adi Sankaracharya ordered a Harijan, who came near him at Kasi, to go away. The Harijan then requested the Acharya to explain whether his objection was to one earthly body approaching another or whether he wanted the Atman in the one to go away from the Atman in the other. The Acharya perceiving that a great jnani in the form of that Harijan had come to rebuke his prejudices, declared that even a Harijan with jnana was his revered sadguru. Sai Baba never considered any caste or species as capable of polluting him even by touch. Finding a poor Harijan ready to leave Shirdi, Baba put his arm round his neck and tried to stop him at Shirdi. Differences of caste can have no place in the heart of one, whose atmic realisation was evident by his morning dhyana on the basis of "An al haq" and "maim Allah hum" which are the equivalents of "aham Brahmaasmi"
Baba was regularly demolishing the idea of difference in all other matters also which fettered the advance of his sadhaka devotees. "It is a popular fallacy that we are different from each other and that our properties are separate. This is an error. You are I. I am you. Knock down this teli's wall. then, we see each other clearly face to face (i.e., as being the same Atman)". "Inquire into all the scripyures; and see if the Atman is one or many." It is the sad irony of fate that of a Baba, who spoke thus and lived thus, some people still anxiously explore the parentage to discover his caste.
One can easily understand the desire of those who worship images or other objects to avoid the contact of iconoclasts; and generally Mahomedanism is identified with iconoclasticism. But of Baba, it is well-known that he objected to the conversion of any one from his religion to any other religion, that he bade his visitors stick not only to their own religion but also to their usages (sampradaya) their guru, their mantra, their observances, their scruples, their images and objects of worship and that he actually insisted on his devotees visiting the temples and images that they usually visited for worship and that he presented to some a lingam and to some padukas, coins, and pictures for worship. He told his devotees that though formless-nirakara worship was praiseworthy, yet as a concession to the weakness of the vast majority to whom nirakaraworship is an impossibility, any customary object might be used for worship and meditation – including Baba's own physical form for those who found that most suitable.
`Thousands have found that Baba answered in his sookshma form (as apantaratma or as paramatma) prayers earnestly addressed to Him for temporal and spiritual welfare. And still the question is raised: "Is he a Hindu or Moslem?" In the words of the late Rao Bahadur S.B.Dhumal, in reply to an European Dist. Magistrate, who raised this question about 1910, we may well answer: "Sai Baba is neither the one nor the other. He is above both"
Sai Baba repeatedly declared that he was not the eight span body – that he was the antaratma in all creatures.
Ahamiatma hi Chandorkar sarva – bhootasya – sthitah!
Pipilika – mukhenadmi makshikadi – mukhena cha !!
Naa ham prakasah sarvasya yogamaya – samavritah !!!
But prejudices and sentiments die hard. Even the great Adi Sankaracharya ordered a Harijan, who came near him at Kasi, to go away. The Harijan then requested the Acharya to explain whether his objection was to one earthly body approaching another or whether he wanted the Atman in the one to go away from the Atman in the other. The Acharya perceiving that a great jnani in the form of that Harijan had come to rebuke his prejudices, declared that even a Harijan with jnana was his revered sadguru. Sai Baba never considered any caste or species as capable of polluting him even by touch. Finding a poor Harijan ready to leave Shirdi, Baba put his arm round his neck and tried to stop him at Shirdi. Differences of caste can have no place in the heart of one, whose atmic realisation was evident by his morning dhyana on the basis of "An al haq" and "maim Allah hum" which are the equivalents of "aham Brahmaasmi"
Baba was regularly demolishing the idea of difference in all other matters also which fettered the advance of his sadhaka devotees. "It is a popular fallacy that we are different from each other and that our properties are separate. This is an error. You are I. I am you. Knock down this teli's wall. then, we see each other clearly face to face (i.e., as being the same Atman)". "Inquire into all the scripyures; and see if the Atman is one or many." It is the sad irony of fate that of a Baba, who spoke thus and lived thus, some people still anxiously explore the parentage to discover his caste.
One can easily understand the desire of those who worship images or other objects to avoid the contact of iconoclasts; and generally Mahomedanism is identified with iconoclasticism. But of Baba, it is well-known that he objected to the conversion of any one from his religion to any other religion, that he bade his visitors stick not only to their own religion but also to their usages (sampradaya) their guru, their mantra, their observances, their scruples, their images and objects of worship and that he actually insisted on his devotees visiting the temples and images that they usually visited for worship and that he presented to some a lingam and to some padukas, coins, and pictures for worship. He told his devotees that though formless-nirakara worship was praiseworthy, yet as a concession to the weakness of the vast majority to whom nirakaraworship is an impossibility, any customary object might be used for worship and meditation – including Baba's own physical form for those who found that most suitable.
`Thousands have found that Baba answered in his sookshma form (as apantaratma or as paramatma) prayers earnestly addressed to Him for temporal and spiritual welfare. And still the question is raised: "Is he a Hindu or Moslem?" In the words of the late Rao Bahadur S.B.Dhumal, in reply to an European Dist. Magistrate, who raised this question about 1910, we may well answer: "Sai Baba is neither the one nor the other. He is above both"
Sai Baba repeatedly declared that he was not the eight span body – that he was the antaratma in all creatures.
Ahamiatma hi Chandorkar sarva – bhootasya – sthitah!
Pipilika – mukhenadmi makshikadi – mukhena cha !!
Naa ham prakasah sarvasya yogamaya – samavritah !!!
These express Baba's condition – almost in his own words.
(Courtesy: His Holiness Pujyasri B.V. Narasimha Swamiji)
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