Sai Baba the Master by E.Bharadwaja

[Guest guest]

Vijayananda duly commenced reading of The Bhagawata in the solitude of

Lendi. After two readings he was exhausted, returned to the wada and on

the third day he passed away, resting on Bade Baba’s lap! Baba then told

the people to preserve the body for one day before performing the last

rites. And he proved wise. For the next day the police turned up and after

enquiry into the death found nothing amiss and allowed the people to bury

the body.

 

In retrospect, we have to note that the thief that Baba mentioned to

Vijayananda was death: the senses and the nine openings of man’s body are

the doors which Baba asked him to close either through yoga or devotion.

For, it is said in The Bhagavadgita and other scriptures that a departing

soul would attain that about which it thinks at the moment of death. So

Baba, prepared his soul to leave the body with its attention focused on

the Lord. Else Vijayananda would have died a lost soul, his heart fallen

off from the ideal and duty of sannyasi namely dispassion, and plunged in

attachment to his mother and grief at her death. Further, Vijayananda died

in the blessed presence of Sai Baba which is incomparably better than

dying at his home.

 

Lala Lakshmichand, a clerk in a Bombay office, had a strange dream on one

night in October 1910. He saw an old bearded man standing, surrounded by

his devotees in a part of the Santa Cruz area. Later at Das Ganu’s

devotional singing at his friend’s house, he recognized in Baba’s portrait

displayed there, the saint that appeared to him in his dream! Hearing

about Baba’s powers, he decided to visit Shirdi at the earliest. At 8 p.m.

the same day, his friend Shankar Rao called on him and asked him if he

would accompany him to Shirdi. His joy knew no bounds. He at once borrowed

Rs. 15/- from his cousin and started for Shirdi. Along the way the two

pilgrims did bhajan for sometime and then, meeting some Moslems that lived

near Shirdi, enquired of them about Baba. They told the two friends that

Baba was really a great saint.

 

When they arrived at Kopergaon, Lakshmichand wanted to purchase some

guavas for Baba but soon forgot to take them. When their tonga was nearing

Shirdi he remembered that he failed to buy guavas. In a few moments, he

saw an old woman carrying guavas in basket on her head and she came

running after the tonga. When he stopped the tonga and purchased some of

the fruits the woman gave him the rest of them and said, “Offer them to

Baba on my behalf.” They found her gesture a bit odd and thought that she

was probably related to the old fakir.

 

 

(To be contd....)

 

Source http://www.saibharadwaja.org)