BABA'S HELP TO DEVOTEES

BABA'S HELP TO DEVOTEES

Sai Baba once revealed a peculiarity of his in the following words:

Me kanala dusnara guru navey
Amacha garanay nirala ahay.

(i.e.,) I am not a guru that bites the ear (i.e., one who whispers the upadesa mantra in to the ear of the devotee at the initiation). Our methods are different.

The usual form of initiation adopted by almost every Hindu guru is –

1) to utter some sacred syllables of mantra;
2) to utter them gently, yet audibly (i.e.) in whispers, into the ear of the person to be initiated.

Sai Baba, when applied to for such upadesa by one Radha Bai Deshmukhin, informed her that his guru had given no such upadesa to him, that he was giving no such upadesa and that the traditions of his Guru Parampara followed a totally different method. What was that method? And has Baba adopted that method on dealing with any devotee?

Baba's method is the same as the Dakshinamurthy method, about which the following verse is well-known:

Chithram vata taro moolay
Vriddah sishya gurur yuva
Gurostu mownam vyakhyanam
Sishyas tu chinnasamsayah:

i.e., Wonderful! At the foot of the Banyan tree, aged disciples are gathered at the foot of a young teacher (Guru). The guru's silence is his speech. The devotees' doubts have fled.

Baba, like Dakshinamurthy, conveyed instruction, edification, light and bliss without uttering a single word from his mouth. The teacher simply glowed with his Light-Bliss, the radiation of which enveloped, saturated and swallowed up the self of the devotees (in which self, manas, buddhi, ahankara and chitta-mind, intellect, ego etc., were all included) without any effort at learning or repeating sounds and grasping their meaning or force, at one stroke, as though by magic. The being of the devotee was absorbed into the being of the guru and become That, or part of That. Knowledge, Power; and superior nature blossomed out and hid the former petty, powerless and wretched nature of the devotee. It was just in that way that Viswamitra is said he have dealt with Sri Rama before the latter was called upon to meet the giant Tataki, "Hold your hand", said Viswamitra, "Here, I give unto you the numerous astras (powers) which I acquired with great effort." Rama held his hand and was at once clothed with numerous powers (siddhis). The will-power of the guru was sufficient to clothe the personality of the devotee with a panoply of spiritual armour, i.e., of powers, without any laborious sadhana of japa, tapa, etc.,

There are several instances in which Baba, by his mere will power, invested his devotees with power. The best instance is that of Kusha Bhav Krishnaji Joshi of Mirajgaon (Ahmednagar Dist) who was hankering after siddhis, i.e., (magical power), which had formerly landed him in regions of low desire and sin. Baba gratified his longing with aboon that filled him not with sin but with merit (punya). Baba told him that instead of getting other people's goods without their consent by force of magic and distributing those goods, as he had formerly done and acquiring sin, he (Baba) now blest him with power, and whenever he lifts up his hands and thought of Baba, the hands would be full of udhi from Shirdi Dwarakamayi fire (dhuni). "You can then give it as Sai Baba's prasad; and you and the recipients will get punyam and benefits". said Baba. Now Kusa Bhav lifts up his hands and thinks of Baba and lo! and behold, warm udhi (ashes) falls from his hands and that udhi is given as Sai Baba's udhi i.e., his blessed ashes to work wonders. another instance is that of nana Saheb Chandorkar, Deputy Collector. Baba told him; "Do not go on different medicines. Give one and the same thing in my name. That will cure everything." Accordingly the Deputy Collector gave only sublimate of alum for everything, and numerous diseases were cured by it.

In the matter of instruction by radiating thought, what Baba and Dakshinamurthy did has been described in many India and non-Indian, religious, moral and spiritualistic books under various names. Dhristi deeksha is the name given to a process by which the guru imparts experience of bliss to the devotee by mere glance at the devotee.

Sparsa deeksha is effecting the same results by the guru's touch alone. this same process is accomplished by the wish or thought of the guru; and then it is referred to as jnana deeksha or korma deeksha in allusion to the supposed power of the tortoise to protectits young by merely thinking of it. In spiritualistic literature, the exercise of influence by any powerful embodied spirit upon any medium of mediumistic individual is said to be accelerated by the latter person's ability to present a carte blanche to the influencingspirit, that is by keeping down all ego and all tendencies to self assertion. In one respect, this process is the same as Sai Baba's and Dakshinamurthy's process. The master-mind reaches forth and engulfs the weaker mind of the person operated on. The difference is only a question of degree, though the degree varies as far as to call for different names for the two processes. The Sai-Dakshinamurthy process is Divine, the power used being infinitely superior to that of the operated person and the latter can only slightly retard the former beneficent influence, which must ultimately prevail. In the case of the ordinary hypnotic operator, the patient or subject can successfully thwart all attempts at influencing him by the exercise of his ego i.e., by self assertion.

The truth we have just now touched upon may be said to be psychological basis of the great doctrine underlying all religions, - the doctrine of surrender or prapatti. For attaining mukti or absorption at the feet of God, the one supreme method advocated byall is the absolute and complete surrender of the soul at the Divine Feet.

Or, in the case of those who conceive of God as the Impersonal Absolute, the process recommended is described as the destruction of the ego. The absorption at the feet of God by prapatti is obstructed by all assertions of the ego, while absorption is rendered more and more effective and real by the increased surrender of the soul. Complete surrender is the goal of all religious effort and the process of surrendering in increased measure is the sadhana, here again proving the truth of the saying that the means and end are found to be same in most , it not all, parts of yoga and religion.

Baba's dealing with his devotees to make them surrender has not infrequently been described by them in relating their experiences. When Sri Upasani Maharaj approached Sai Baba in 1911, very unwillingly, Baba coerced him into submission by a most remarkable capture of his (Upasani's) mind and that of all persons, who dealt with him for days. When Sri Upasani wanted to rake leave of Sai Baba and run home to meet his wife and mother, Sai Baba said that he would see what he could do to bring him back to Shirdi in eight days, a proposal absolutely distasteful to the latter. However, for eightdays after Sri Upasani left Shirdi, determined not to return, he clean forgot his great idea of returning home and spent those days in various camps close to Shirdi, where people were pressing him to return. Pressed by some chance acquaintances, he returned to Shirdiexactly on the eighth day after he left it.

(By HH B. V. Narasimha Swamiji)