DEVOTEES' EXPERIENCES OF SRI SAI BABA BY H.H. NARASIMHA SWAMIJI - PART III

[Guest guest]

properties. "But if one di­gests it i.e., overcomes it injurious i.e., lust

producing tenden­cies it does no harm but good" was what Baba said. So at

Shirdi, as long as Baba was alive I would take onion except on Ekadashi days.

Q. Did Baba rub coins smooth with mantra?. Baba occasionally smashed my

programmes for visit­ing holy places like Pandharpur. I was keen on Bhadrapad

and Aswin months- especially

Aswin Ekadashi at Pandhar­pur. In 1916, I met Nanasaheb Chandorkar at Manmad

and told him I was going to Pandharpur as Bhadrapad was about to begin. He

toke me however with him to Shirdi and Baba made me do 'Saptaha' and Kirtan

there for a week. When I originally began Kirtans it was at the bidding of

Nanasaheb Chandorkar and in Baba's Samasthan at Shirdi. In fact I had started

it in the usual fashionable.dress (i.e., head gear) etc... of Kirtankars and

shone hi borrowed plumes - borrowed from Chandorkar. But Baba at once objected

my adopting that dress and made rne do off it. I am doing Kirtans since then in

Orthodox "Dotar" (i.e., nether cloth) I was thus detained for over one month at

Shirdi. Bhadrapad was gone and Aswin was to begin. I felt chagrined at being

detained from going to Pandharpur even in Ashwin. N.G. Chandorkar wanted to

de­tain me even then. I said within myself. "How is He (i.e., Baba) a Guru

who blocks my way to God (of Pandharpur)"? Baba of course read my mind and told

me to go away at once to Pandharpur and told N.G.C. not to stop me. So I

gladly went to Pandharpur and was there for Ashwin. Baba did not grant me some

of my spiritual prayers. I wanted to get Sakshatkar (i.e., vision) of the God

that

I wor­ship just as Namdev and others got. So I went to Baba sev­eral times with

the request that He should give me Sakshatkar. He was saying each time "Wait,

Wait" Finally (probably in 1916 the above period) I asked Him "Baba you have

been long putting off my request. When will you give me Sakshatkar?" Then He

said "You see me. That is Sakshatkar. I am God" I replied that I expected that

He would say so; but that I was not satisfied with that. I consoled myself

with the explanation that my destiny did not provide for my getting Sakshatkar

and that Saints could not overcome destiny. Af­ter Baba passed away, I have

been seeing several Saints. But hardly any of them satisfied me. There was one

that specially impressed me. Near my

place - Nanded in 1919 there was a Virakta Brahmacharl staying on a rock having

no possessions and caring for nothing. I saw him first, when I was

perform­ing my wife's ceremony and was powerfully attracted. As 1 went there,

to take his Darshan he turned away from me and prevented my taking Darshan.

This happened thrice. I was deeply disappointed, nay mortified. Anyhow, let

me have the merit of feeding him. I thought, and went home, I sent up a man

to that Brahmachari with food. I was agreeably sur­prised to leam that he

accepted it. Then I was emboldened to go to him once

again and I asked him why he would not permit me to bow to him and to take

Darshan. He said in reply. "You call yourself a Kirtankar. Have you left

off Ahankar i.e., Egotism?"

mso-layout-grid-align: none">He : No. How can I ? Each man has Ahankar. Did you

not feel Ahankar. when sending me food, feeling that it was you that were

sending food etc.? I : Ahankar being of three sorts Satwik. Rajasic and Tamasic

some sort of Ahankar would un­derlie all action; only the worst forms arc to be

shunned. He was not of that opinion. He wanted me to drown my Ego completely.

He was always reading my mind. He gave me some samples of is power. He :

Are you not engaged in writing the lives of Saints?

COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">I : Yes.

Then He quoted a few lines of verse that I had just composed six days

previously and not published in any way. I has taken aback by this Antaryamitva

of His. Again He asked me. Did you not get Ganga water from the feet of Sai

Baba?

mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> I : Yes. He : What did you do with it?

LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-layout-grid-align: none">I : I

sprinkled it over my head. He : And you did not drink it, because you thought

you were a brahmin and would be polluted by drinking it. Look at your Egotism.

To Be contd ---DEVOTEES CAN READ THIS BOOK FROM THE BOOK SECTION OF

WWW.SAILEELAS.ORG/BOOKS/EXPPART3.HTM

Jiyo cricket on India cricket

Messenger Mobile Stay in touch with your buddies all the time.