DEPEND ON ENDLESS CONCERN OF THE GURU

[Guest guest]

DEPEND ON ENDLESS CONCERN OF THE GURU:

 

Alike from danger of thirst and hunger, Baba had saved Nana Saheb

Chandorkar. What was it that saved Nana?

 

The Sanskrit stanza says: -

 

Vane Rane Satru Jalaughamadhye

Maharnave, Parvata Mastakevaa

Supram Pramattam Vishama sthitamvaa

Rakshanti punyani purakritani

 

This means, whether it is in the forests or in the battle field or

amidst foes or in the ocean, or on hill tops, the merit acquired in

former times or janmas saves a person even though he may be sleeping,

disordered in mind or unbalanced. This is an abstract statement,

which is very true.

 

But abstractions do not save any one. It is the concrete person

called Sai that actually saved Nana both on hill top and in the thick

forests and not abstract poorva punya. After all, it is poorva punya

(former merit) that had taken shape as Sai's body, which had

undertaken the responsibilities of a Gurudeva and which therefore

saved Nana. So it is alike poorva punya and also Guru-Deva that saved

Nana.

 

While on this subject we may point out the conclusions into which

people fall when dealing with questions where the abstract and the

concrete or the particular and the universal or the part and the

whole blend as they invariably and necessarily do. I may say that I

stir the milk with my right hand, emphasizing `right' or I may say

with equal truth that I stir the milk with a spoon in my right hand.

Both are the same and not conflicting, and similarly a particular

person protecting a devotee is not inconsistent with his poorva punya

protecting him. Forgetting this obvious truth, recently at the

Thotapalli hills (Visakhapatnam district) there was a confused

distinction without difference. A lady, who was proceeding at dusk

from Sri Omkar Swami's chambers to her own room, trod on a snake, and

cried out `Om Sai'. The snake did not strike her, but bent its head

and away quietly. Some said, `This is Sai's protection'. Others said,

`This is the poorva punyam protection'. The obvious truth is that the

poorva punyam of the lady taking the shape of her contact with Sai,

saver her. Similarly in the above two cases of Chandorkar's troubles

in forest and hill, it is his poorva punyam that saved him, in

accordance with the above stanza. The poorva punyam in Chandorkar's

case was continuous punyam, a punyam which tended to perpetuate

itself because it consisted of a surrender to a most loving and

beloved Guru, janma after janma, who took it on himself to protect

his disciple right through in every detail, and that too life after

life.

 

We shall see how the loving Guru's supervision and watch helped Nana

Chandorkar in his latest birth (which is the one janma known to us)

in matter after matter essential for his temporal and spiritual

safety. Baba having implanted in Chandorkar a sufficiently strong

faith in and reliance on Guru was constantly watering this plant with

fresh instances of his loving watch and care. Even in apparently

trivial matters such as catching trains and meeting official

supervisors, Baba (as was usual with him) showed his concern for the

disciple and helped him as also so many devotees. It is this enduring

and endless concern of the Guru that grips the disciple, and makes

him understand God.

 

Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji

(Shri Vasuki Mahal Shirdi Sai Baba Trust, Coimbatore, India)