THE MYSTIC BLISS OF BABA
Baba gave all things to his devotees and filled them with all sorts of joys – enjoyment of worldly objects, comforts of domestic life riches, honour, success in one's efforts, security from danger, release from disease and troubles of various sorts. It is not to thejoys he gave them of overcoming defects and vices. The new life of virtue and power, with the joyous sense of achievement not only increased the quantum but also the tone and scale of their happiness; lifting it from the animal level of selfish sense gratification to the angelic level of selfless spiritual joy, the joy of life that is grounded in love. But there are special grades of joy – including the "Mystic Bliss" that Baba favoured some devotees with; and it is that bliss that will be described.
First it is necessary to define the term used, "Mystic" is a very elastic, very popular, and therefore much abused term – so much abused in fact as to deter some from using it in serious works. Such vagueness and resulting confusion and abuse can, however, be easilyavoided by starting with a definition and strictly adhered to it. This writer uses the word Mysticism to denote the blissful direct immediate contact by intuition, or attempt at such contact by any person, with the Real or what stands to him as the ultimate that liesbeyond the universe of phenomena, subjective and objective.
This real or Ultimate is God to most persons; and in their case, mystic bliss is the same as or a part of and preparation for perfect Divine Bliss. But even among religious minded people, the Real that the touch in such experience may not be distinctly identified withGod. For instance, Tennyson even as a boy began to dive into himself by pronouncing his own Christian name and riddling it of its finite association, with the result that he was lost in a trance, in which the consciousness of his little ego perished or rather expandedinfinitely into an illimitable Light of Self, full of joy and life, wherein death was an unimaginable or laughable absurdity. This was clear mysticism of the self without distinct reference to a personal or impersonal God, though few would hesitate to give that name to the Illimitable Deathless state of enlightenment.
JOY ALONE LEFT:
This mystic bliss comes to Buddhists in attaining "Nirvana", in "extinguishing" their little self; but as they do not recognize or ascribe their joy to God, such bliss cannot be described as Divine Bliss by them, though a student of religious psychology may have good grounds for identifying the Buddhistic Joy of Nirvana with Vedantic Bliss of the Atman, Brahmananda.
Sri Sai Baba was (and even now is) shedding or showering joy upon his devotees, occasionally when they were away, but frequently when they were in his presence. Anna Saheb Dabolkar in his monumental Marathi biography of Baba, Sai Satcharita, has thus described it:
"When one gazes and gazes upon Baba's face, all hunger and thirst are gone; what other joy can compare with this? One forgets all miseries of earthly existence."
And again:
"Gazing into his eyes, loses one's sense of individuality; Bliss gushes out from within and the mind sinks into an expanse of sweetness"
CARE VANISH:
And he further adds that the Vedic description of Brahman is mere bookish knowledge to most, while at Shirdi, it was the common and daily experience of devotees. That Sri Dabolkar has not overstated fact is borne out by reliable testimony. The Hon. Mr. G.S. Khaparde, the Pepys of Shirdi, has noted the same in his daily dairy during his seven months stay with Baba in 1910, 1911 and 1912 and in his preface to a biography of Baba. In the latter, he says: "From the moment I approached him, all the load of my worldly cares disappeared, though only a few minutes before, it was felt to be exceedingly oppressive and such as to excite disgust of life."
It is needless to quote from the numerous other devotees who have spoken out their experience in similar terms; but we may first refer to those of a Marathi lady Mrs. Manager, and of a Parsi, Mr. Jahangir of Mumbai.
A PARADISE:
Mrs. manager says: "His (i.e., Baba's) loving care combined with those powers made Shirdi a varitable paradise. Directly we went there, we felt safe, that nothing could harm us. When I went there and sat in his presence, I always forget my pain – nay the bodyitself with all mundane concerns and anxieties. Hours would pass and I would be in blissful unconsciousness of their passing. That was a unique experience – shared I believe, by all his real devotees."
Says Mr. Jahangir, "My experience with Baba was very happy. Whenever I went into his presence I forgot everything. I had no trouble, no anxiety, no care, no fear. Everything was blotted out and I passed a blissful time in his company. That was most wonderful. Even now, If he comes in dream vision, that effect is reproduced."
We shall next proceed to consider the instances of mystic bliss he granted through Sakshatkara or vision of divine forms.
A Brahmin doctor who was a devout Ramabhakta was persuaded to go to see Sri Sai Baba despite his strong antipathy to bow at the feet of a Muslim, as Baba was taken to be. But Baba's grace evidently in consideration of his devotion to Rama was shown to him from the time of his entry into the mosque compound. When he saw Baba there, he hurried up and fell at his feet, and later explained his sudden change of attitude to his friends. What he beheld in Baba's seat as soon as he approached it, was not the human figure of Baba, but the divine glory of Sri Rama. Having found God in flesh, he determined to get the highest out of Him, - viz., Brahmananda. As Baba did notgrant it at once this petulant child started satyagraha. He resolved to fast and not to visit Baba at the Mosque unless he should be given the bliss he sought, or be sent for by Baba.
So he fasted three days. Baba, the kind mother that he was, knew of course how the wind blew and steered his own course. On the fourth day of the fast, an intimate friend of the doctor, not seen for many long years turned up at Shirdi – accidentally one might say, if one did not know Sri Sai Baba's vast powers of control. Overflowing with the joy of the friend's arrival, the doctor forgot his fast and his vow and accompanied him to the mosque. Baba asked him, "Doctor, did any one sent for you?" The doctor saw that nothing was or could be concealed from the powerful Sai, and he mentally pressed his quest. That mid night, Baba's grace vouch-safed a response, and the doctor was filled with a strange ecstasy for which there was no physical or physiological explanation and clearly a glimpse of Paramananda or Siva Ananda granted by Baba's will. But what he experienced was short lived. In response to his prayer after he went home, he againexperienced this joy for a full fortnight. But after that, it ceased. The doctor was not yet qualified to get the perpetual Ananda that becomes part of one's nature or rather becomes one's self. i.e., the Jivan Mukta state. Baba gave him just an appetiser to make him workup to the goal.
A YOGIC DOCTOR:
We may close this article with an experience of greater permanence than those above recited, Sri Sai Baba though invested with the nature and powers of a Yogasiddha, was never known to practice ashtanga Yoga and sometime warned his devotees against the snares of the mystic powers for which parts of the yogic course are gone through. If, however, any one who had difficulties or had come to ruin in yogabhyasa sought relief at his feet, relief was afforded. The best instance known to this writer of such help was that given to Sri Upasani Maharaj. in the course of his hata yogic efforts at suspension of breath, his respiration became fitful and evidently on account of a paralytic attack on some of the respiratory organs, respiration would now and then suddenly threaten to collapse, filling him with the fear, thus, of sudden death. No doctor and no yogiscould help him. But Sri Sai Baba appeared to him at Rahuri 30 miles of Shirdi and gave him a very simple hydropathic recipe, which almost completely cured him.
STREAM OF SWEETNESS:
Sri Sai Baba further drew him to Shirdi and there taught him the secret of the Yogic Ecstasy (as practiced by Sufis). Before he went to Shirdi, Sri Upasani Baba easily attained the Samadhi state and remained in it – even for days. But it was a Suskha Samadhi. It was no doubt free from the cares and sorrows of the world but there wasno positive element of joy in it. Sri Sai Baba showed him how to turn his dry Samadhi into a joyous experience. He was made to retain a thin trace of his personality and with it draw in an inexhaustible stream of sweetness from Iswara, the Ocean of Sweetness (Rasa).
And this was a permanent gift. Sri Upasani Maharaj has ever since resorted to this form of ecstasy in preference to his former method. But even this ecstasy is but a preparation for the highest goal, the Jivan Mukta state in which one's personality merges for ever in Sat-
Chit-Ananda from which there is no return.
Baba gave all things to his devotees and filled them with all sorts of joys – enjoyment of worldly objects, comforts of domestic life riches, honour, success in one's efforts, security from danger, release from disease and troubles of various sorts. It is not to thejoys he gave them of overcoming defects and vices. The new life of virtue and power, with the joyous sense of achievement not only increased the quantum but also the tone and scale of their happiness; lifting it from the animal level of selfish sense gratification to the angelic level of selfless spiritual joy, the joy of life that is grounded in love. But there are special grades of joy – including the "Mystic Bliss" that Baba favoured some devotees with; and it is that bliss that will be described.
First it is necessary to define the term used, "Mystic" is a very elastic, very popular, and therefore much abused term – so much abused in fact as to deter some from using it in serious works. Such vagueness and resulting confusion and abuse can, however, be easilyavoided by starting with a definition and strictly adhered to it. This writer uses the word Mysticism to denote the blissful direct immediate contact by intuition, or attempt at such contact by any person, with the Real or what stands to him as the ultimate that liesbeyond the universe of phenomena, subjective and objective.
This real or Ultimate is God to most persons; and in their case, mystic bliss is the same as or a part of and preparation for perfect Divine Bliss. But even among religious minded people, the Real that the touch in such experience may not be distinctly identified withGod. For instance, Tennyson even as a boy began to dive into himself by pronouncing his own Christian name and riddling it of its finite association, with the result that he was lost in a trance, in which the consciousness of his little ego perished or rather expandedinfinitely into an illimitable Light of Self, full of joy and life, wherein death was an unimaginable or laughable absurdity. This was clear mysticism of the self without distinct reference to a personal or impersonal God, though few would hesitate to give that name to the Illimitable Deathless state of enlightenment.
JOY ALONE LEFT:
This mystic bliss comes to Buddhists in attaining "Nirvana", in "extinguishing" their little self; but as they do not recognize or ascribe their joy to God, such bliss cannot be described as Divine Bliss by them, though a student of religious psychology may have good grounds for identifying the Buddhistic Joy of Nirvana with Vedantic Bliss of the Atman, Brahmananda.
Sri Sai Baba was (and even now is) shedding or showering joy upon his devotees, occasionally when they were away, but frequently when they were in his presence. Anna Saheb Dabolkar in his monumental Marathi biography of Baba, Sai Satcharita, has thus described it:
"When one gazes and gazes upon Baba's face, all hunger and thirst are gone; what other joy can compare with this? One forgets all miseries of earthly existence."
And again:
"Gazing into his eyes, loses one's sense of individuality; Bliss gushes out from within and the mind sinks into an expanse of sweetness"
CARE VANISH:
And he further adds that the Vedic description of Brahman is mere bookish knowledge to most, while at Shirdi, it was the common and daily experience of devotees. That Sri Dabolkar has not overstated fact is borne out by reliable testimony. The Hon. Mr. G.S. Khaparde, the Pepys of Shirdi, has noted the same in his daily dairy during his seven months stay with Baba in 1910, 1911 and 1912 and in his preface to a biography of Baba. In the latter, he says: "From the moment I approached him, all the load of my worldly cares disappeared, though only a few minutes before, it was felt to be exceedingly oppressive and such as to excite disgust of life."
It is needless to quote from the numerous other devotees who have spoken out their experience in similar terms; but we may first refer to those of a Marathi lady Mrs. Manager, and of a Parsi, Mr. Jahangir of Mumbai.
A PARADISE:
Mrs. manager says: "His (i.e., Baba's) loving care combined with those powers made Shirdi a varitable paradise. Directly we went there, we felt safe, that nothing could harm us. When I went there and sat in his presence, I always forget my pain – nay the bodyitself with all mundane concerns and anxieties. Hours would pass and I would be in blissful unconsciousness of their passing. That was a unique experience – shared I believe, by all his real devotees."
Says Mr. Jahangir, "My experience with Baba was very happy. Whenever I went into his presence I forgot everything. I had no trouble, no anxiety, no care, no fear. Everything was blotted out and I passed a blissful time in his company. That was most wonderful. Even now, If he comes in dream vision, that effect is reproduced."
We shall next proceed to consider the instances of mystic bliss he granted through Sakshatkara or vision of divine forms.
A Brahmin doctor who was a devout Ramabhakta was persuaded to go to see Sri Sai Baba despite his strong antipathy to bow at the feet of a Muslim, as Baba was taken to be. But Baba's grace evidently in consideration of his devotion to Rama was shown to him from the time of his entry into the mosque compound. When he saw Baba there, he hurried up and fell at his feet, and later explained his sudden change of attitude to his friends. What he beheld in Baba's seat as soon as he approached it, was not the human figure of Baba, but the divine glory of Sri Rama. Having found God in flesh, he determined to get the highest out of Him, - viz., Brahmananda. As Baba did notgrant it at once this petulant child started satyagraha. He resolved to fast and not to visit Baba at the Mosque unless he should be given the bliss he sought, or be sent for by Baba.
So he fasted three days. Baba, the kind mother that he was, knew of course how the wind blew and steered his own course. On the fourth day of the fast, an intimate friend of the doctor, not seen for many long years turned up at Shirdi – accidentally one might say, if one did not know Sri Sai Baba's vast powers of control. Overflowing with the joy of the friend's arrival, the doctor forgot his fast and his vow and accompanied him to the mosque. Baba asked him, "Doctor, did any one sent for you?" The doctor saw that nothing was or could be concealed from the powerful Sai, and he mentally pressed his quest. That mid night, Baba's grace vouch-safed a response, and the doctor was filled with a strange ecstasy for which there was no physical or physiological explanation and clearly a glimpse of Paramananda or Siva Ananda granted by Baba's will. But what he experienced was short lived. In response to his prayer after he went home, he againexperienced this joy for a full fortnight. But after that, it ceased. The doctor was not yet qualified to get the perpetual Ananda that becomes part of one's nature or rather becomes one's self. i.e., the Jivan Mukta state. Baba gave him just an appetiser to make him workup to the goal.
A YOGIC DOCTOR:
We may close this article with an experience of greater permanence than those above recited, Sri Sai Baba though invested with the nature and powers of a Yogasiddha, was never known to practice ashtanga Yoga and sometime warned his devotees against the snares of the mystic powers for which parts of the yogic course are gone through. If, however, any one who had difficulties or had come to ruin in yogabhyasa sought relief at his feet, relief was afforded. The best instance known to this writer of such help was that given to Sri Upasani Maharaj. in the course of his hata yogic efforts at suspension of breath, his respiration became fitful and evidently on account of a paralytic attack on some of the respiratory organs, respiration would now and then suddenly threaten to collapse, filling him with the fear, thus, of sudden death. No doctor and no yogiscould help him. But Sri Sai Baba appeared to him at Rahuri 30 miles of Shirdi and gave him a very simple hydropathic recipe, which almost completely cured him.
STREAM OF SWEETNESS:
Sri Sai Baba further drew him to Shirdi and there taught him the secret of the Yogic Ecstasy (as practiced by Sufis). Before he went to Shirdi, Sri Upasani Baba easily attained the Samadhi state and remained in it – even for days. But it was a Suskha Samadhi. It was no doubt free from the cares and sorrows of the world but there wasno positive element of joy in it. Sri Sai Baba showed him how to turn his dry Samadhi into a joyous experience. He was made to retain a thin trace of his personality and with it draw in an inexhaustible stream of sweetness from Iswara, the Ocean of Sweetness (Rasa).
And this was a permanent gift. Sri Upasani Maharaj has ever since resorted to this form of ecstasy in preference to his former method. But even this ecstasy is but a preparation for the highest goal, the Jivan Mukta state in which one's personality merges for ever in Sat-
Chit-Ananda from which there is no return.
(By HH B V Narashimaha Swamiji)
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