Restoring Dharma

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Restoring Dharma

 

Whenever there is a weakening of Dharma and there is an uprising of Adharma,

I come self*created into the world ; for the protection of the righteous and

the destruction of the Unrighteous, and for the establishment of Dharma I

come into being in every age (Yuga) " declares Sri Krishna in the Gita. This

is perhaps the most important Vakya of the Lord in the Gita.

 

When the virtues of Bhakti.Jnana and Vairagya are at a low ebb among

mankind, God comes down to us in order to help us and to lead us along the

path of Dharma. It is for the purpose of leading erring humanity along the

path of righteousness that great saints and yogis have taken birth in our

midst. Many grope in the darkness of ajnana and are unable to find their way

out. Many plunge into the ocean of samsara and become victims to sorrow and

suffering, and are unable to get out of it. It is to help such people and to

lift them out of samsara that great sages and saints come to this world.

Saints like Gnanadev, Namdev, Tukaram, Eknath, Samartha Ramadas, Ramakrishna

Paramahamsa, Vivekananda and Sai Baba came to us only to give us spiritual

illumination and take us to the kingdom of Heaven. They have taught us the

valuable lesson that our life in this earth should always be a striving

after spiritual perfection, 'and that we should be like a drop of water on

the lotus leaf in our attitude towards mundane life.

 

The saint made His sudden appearance at Shirdi under a Margosa tree while He

was in His teens. Even at that early age Baba had developed extraordinary

spiritual powers. He was not affected by heat or cold, wind or rain or by

and of the dwandwas. He was almost always in a state of trance in the

Nirvikalpa samadhi. The people of Shirdi wondered how a very young man of

His age could possess such wonderful yogic powers. The saint then began to

reside in an old dilapidated mosque at Shirdi.

 

Baba in His life worked many miracles and thus convinced many people of His

greatness. His love for humanity knew no bounds. He had realised that God is

love. He constantly preached that in order to reach the abode of God one

should have real and sincere love and bhakti,

He was a great physician. He could give effective medicines for all sorts of

diseases to which men are subject. After some time He stopped giving

medicines. He gave only " udhi " from his dhuni which acted as a panacea for

all ills (including diseases).

 

To those who went to him for spiritual illumination and for the cure of

their physical sufferings He gave his nectar-like uJtii saying, "Allah bhale

karega. " The sufferer did become all right very soon.

 

He made no distinction between man and man. To Him all were equal. The poor

man was as much entitled to His love and attention as the rich man. The

saint first satisfied the worldly desires of the people who went to Him in

order to attract them to Himself. He then gradually purified the minds of

His bhaktas and turned them slowly but surely towards spiritual desires. He

thus made His devotees fit for realizing God and attaining .mukti. He very

often said, " why should any one suffer when I am here ?."

 

About 1886, this great saint said to Mahalsapathy, one of His great

devotees, "I am going to Allah now. I shall not return for three days. "

Soon after, the physical body of the saint became a corpse with no life or

animation. His devotees took care of the body for three days praying to the

saint to return as promised. So at the end of three days the body began to

show signs of life. Slowly the saint opened his lustrous eyes and beheld all

around Him.

 

People belonging to different castes and creeds began to flock to Him in

large numbers for spiritual advice. The saint had the same respect for all

castes and creeds. He strongly advised His bhaktas not to forsake the Gods

of their faith, but to worship them in all sincerity and devotion. He

preached that the goal of all the religions was one and the same, namely the

attainment of mukti. He was not a believer in proselytism. In fact, He

discouraged conversion from one faith to another. He was a great advocate of

Hindu-Muslim unity and worked with might and main for the realization of

this great ideal.

 

The Hindus worshipped the saint in accordance with their sastraic modes,

using mantras in the worship. The saint had a deep knowledge of the Hindu

scriptures as well as of the Koran, the scripture of the Mohammedans. He

often expounded the tenets of these religions in a wonderful way to His

devotees. He often gave money to poor Mohammedan pilgrims for pilgrimage to

Mecca. The holy name of Allah was always on the lips of Sai Baba. He gave

his pictures and padukas to his Hindu devotees and asked them to worship

them. He exhorted the Mohammedans, to perform their Namaz regularly and

without fail. He deprecated strongly the idea of a man praising his own

religion and belittling the religion of another.

 

The saint distributed among His devotees sweetmeatj and other edibles

brought by anyone as prasad. The Rama Navami and Panja Sandal festivals were

celebrated by Baba on a grand scale with the help of His bhaktas of all

castes and creeds. In fact, His noble life was a telling example of

Hindu-Muslim unity. Even to-day Hindus and Muslims offer worship at the

Samadhi of Baba and other holy places connected with the saint without any

hitch or hatred or misunderstanding.

 

The saint sincerely worked for the spiritual benefit of mankind for about 30

years, healing the sores of suffering humanity by the extraordinary power of

his spiritual attainments and shuffled off his mortal coil on October 15,

1918.

 

But is Baba really dead ? No. From His samadhi He hears our prayers and

supplications and grants them with a generous heart. It is this generosity

of Baba that is responsible for the unqualified success of the Baba Mission.

The saint is as alive to-day with His body in His samadhi, as He was while

in flesh and blood. He inclines His ears unto our prayers to-day from His

samadhi as vigilantly as He did while He was in our midst in His physical

body.

 

The main principles of His teaching are these :

1. Always speak truth.

2. Give alms to the poor and needy as much as you can.

3. Do not speak ill of others.

4. Do not be jealous of the wealth and prosperity of another.

5. Always work hard. Do not be lazy or indolent.

6. Do not treat the poor with contempt.

7. Be content with what God has given you. e*-

8. Always contemplate. God and have His holy flame on your lips.

It is Sai Baba who has proclaimed in unequivocal terms from the hilltop

of His spiritual eminence, " Why do you fear when lam here? Cast all your

burdens on Me, I Will bear them." Surely, spiritual history cannot boast

of a greater or nobler declaration than the one made by the Saint of Shirdi.

This great declaration is the sheet-anchor of every devotee's hope of

attaining mukti.

 

>From the foregoing it is clear that sages and saints come to this World when

mankind strays from the path of rectitude and righteousness, when in

consequence sins are on the increase and when adharma rears its ugly head.

Their mission is to put down such adharma and establish the reign of dharma,

Q

 

Saint Sayings

 

A short life is preferable if devoted to the remembrance of God. A life of

one lakh years (withou devotion of God) is of no use at all.

..'Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam.

''Truth is like light and falsehood is like darkness; Only those creatures

who are fallen and degraded can' enjoy darkness and falsehood.

If you do good and surrender it to God, good will come to you. God is the

Lord of them that do good.

H. H, SW'A.W KESAVAIAHJI'S SELECTIONS

 

(Adopted from the Book Pearls of Wisdom by His Holiness Swami Kesavaiahji)