XXXIII. The Mystic Bliss of Baba

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XXXIII. 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 these joys that this article is

devoted,— nor even to the joys be 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 now

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 the resulting

confusion and abuse can, however, be easily avoided by starting with a

definition and strictly adhering 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 lies beyond 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 with God. For instance, Tennyson

even as a boy began to dive into himself, by pronouncing his own Christian

name and ridding 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 expanded infinitely 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

Iimitable 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 recognise or ascribe

their joy to God, such blus 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 the Vedantic Bli»s 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 fact, all hunger and thirst are gone;

what other joy can compare with tbu? One forgets all miseries of earthly

exitence".

And again!

"Gazing into his eyes, loses one's sense of individuality; Bliss gushes out

from within and the mind sink* 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 Bombay.

A Paradise :

Mrs. Manager says:— "His (i.e., Baba's) loving care combined with tho«e

powers made Shirdi a veritable paradise. Directly we went there, we felt

safe, that nothing could harm us. When I went and sat in his presence, I

always forgot my pain—nay the body itself 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. Jehangir, "My experience with Baba was very happy. Whenever I went

into his presence I forget 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 tee 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 the flesh, he

determined to get the highest out of Him,—viz. Brahmananda. As Baba did not

grant it at once this petulant child started satyagraha. He resolved to fast

and not to visit Baba at the Mosque unless b? 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 sterred 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 send for you?" The doctor saw that nothing

was or could be concealed from this powerful Sai, and he mentally pressed

his quest. That midnight, 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 which was clearly a glimpse of Paramananda or

Siva Ananda granted by Baba's will. But what he experienced was short lived.

In response to his praytT after he went home, he again experienced 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 appetistr to make him work up 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 agaist the snares of the mystic powers for which parts

of the yoga 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 doctors and no yogis could 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 arid there taught him the secret of

the Yogic Ecstasy (as practised 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 Sushka Samadhi. It was

no doubt free from the cares and sorrows of the world but there was no

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 trsce 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 Sot-Chit-Ananda from which there

is no return.

 

 

(This is from the book"The Wonderous Saint Sai Baba" written by Pujyasri

V.Narasimaswami,founder President of All India Sai Samaj,

Chennai...........This book can be read from www.saileelas.org)