BABA'S SIDDHIS, THEIR ORIGIN AND THEIR USE - 2

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BABA’S SIDDHIS, THEIR ORIGIN AND THEIR USE – 2

There was nothing to be gained by him by a display of powers, for his desires

were all controlled, and his barest necessities were met by his going about

with his begging bowl in the streets and, from there calling out for a rotti or

dhall and returning to the Masjid which gave him shelter. There was nothing else

that he wanted. Food and shelter were provided. The tattered clothes that he

wore quite sufficed, especially with the help of the dhuni or the fire, which

he kept up in the Mosque. Conquest of the Indriyas is said to be a siddhi but

would be better termed as a perfection of the soul from within, which Baba had

achieved by the grace of his Guru and by the long training he had under his

final Guru Venkusa. He was desireless and unaffected by the jeers or the praise

of people about him. To such a person, there was no necessity to utilize siddhi

powers to produce articles as Kusa Bhav did. Kusa Bhav wanted fame and

emoluments, which his power of production of

materialization enabled him to get. But Baba wanted nothing. Baba’s siddhi

powers however, were not an encumbrance. They were part of his equipment. His

guru had divine powers in him and by Saktinipata at the time when he parted

from him, the Guru has passed them over to Baba, either potentially or in full

force and partly in full force. He could invoke the Guru’s own power to raise

the dead as he did about the time when he parted from his Guru. Baba said to

Kaka Dixit, ‘I can revive the dead boy and bring back his soul from the body

into which it has entered, into the corpse of the cobra-bitten boy here, but

that would be interfering with the karma of that soul, and showed Dixit the

impropriety of exercising such siddhis merely to gratify the sympathy of Dixit

with the cries of the agonized mother of the cobra bitten boy. Baba said death

is inevitable and when it takes place at the appointed time, the proper course

of a jnani or yogi is to encourage people to face sorrow and not to

exercise his Powers to bring back the departed soul from the new body into which

it might have entered. On that occasion he showed his Pratibha.’ This single

term would cover the numerous instances in which Baba had shown his knowledge

of things, which took place far and near and of the hearts of all people

including creatures like lizards. This Pratibha is referred to in the

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, verse 14, which runs thus, Pratibhadva Sarvam. This

means, all siddhis and knowledge are attained by the development of Pratibha,

namely, this spontaneous enlightenment of illumination that blazes out in

oneself as a result of and by perfect Satva or purity, that is, absolute

freedom from desire and perfect concentration on God. These powers of Baba’s

Pratibha and his perfect concentration on God resulted in ‘Apratihata Ajna,

Yatha Sankalpa Samsiddhih Bhuta jaya, Aksa Gamana, Manojava and formed a full

panoply and perfect equipment for his work as Samartha

Sadguru for those whom he wished to lead on their path to God.

A Samartha Sadguru must have all powers, though he may or may not exercise them.

The powers are intended to be exercised to help the sishya to grasp the real

nature of his Guru and his real greatness and to overcome numerous obstacles

from time to time that may be impeding his progress. The Guru also might

utilize them for the benefit of the very large class of persons approaching him

not as sishyas prepared to go through the full course of a spiritual discipline,

but to have some benefit at his hands, mostly temporal, and it may by partly

spiritual. Taking for instances the case of G. S. Khaparde, whose object was

mainly to escape from the jaws of the foreign Government and be free from their

molestation in his legal, social and political life. Baba exercised his vast

powers, especially of thought control, and crushed out from the Government

Official’s minds all ideas of prosecuting Khaparde for the speeches he made in

his political activities inspired by

patriotism. Baba utilized similar power for benefitting Damia alias Damodar S.

Rasane in whose case some invisible and unperceived factors were preventing his

having progeny though he lived with two wives and as also for granting longevity

to Narke’s children, born after he gave Narke the blessing ‘Allah will bless’,

after he learnt that all the children born to him until then had died

prematurely. There are mantras in Mantra Sastra for practically each one of the

above objects and specific mantras, yantras, tantras and homas are prescribed

for achieving the very same objects. For example Putra Kameshti would suit the

object which Damodar S. Rasane had in his mind, and Simsumara Yantra puja was

what Narke badly needed for longevity of children Maha Karya Siddhi Homa in

Brihadaranya Upanishad is prescribed for achieving any great object for

example, moulding the mind of any person in power, Koushitaki Upanishad speaks

of controlling all thought of persons in the desired

direction, and these would be prescribed by orthodox Sastris for G S Khaparde.

Baba however did not adopt any of these prescribed process, but purely by his

own will power granted relief in all the above cases. Similarly, Baba mentioned

frequently facts about past, immediate or remote of every one going to him. For

example, Baba said that eight children would be born to Damia in 15 years, and

also spoke of appointment that Narke would get three or four years later. Such

feats are also referred to in the above mentioned books and other books on

Mantra Sastra and also in books on Jyotisha Sastra. Baba himself said, "Your

astrologers dive into the future and say some things of which half or so come

true." Baba added, "I know the future, and what I say come true." As for Yatha

Sankalpa Samsiddhihi Baba said, "I say here. Things happen there in accordance

with what I say." Baba did not proceed in accordance with Yoga sutras or other

texts to achieve these objects. By his contemplation of

the Supreme, the powers of Supreme were inherent in him. This is what Srimad Bhagavata says:

Maddaranam Dharayatah

Ka Sa Siddhih Sudurlabah?

This means, When one gets laya in god all powers, all knowledge, all wisdom, all

perfection, that are termed divine, shine forth from such a person. Baba was

perfect in his concentration on God. Therefore in the above quoted instances as

in the other innumerable instances to be found in the Gospel of Baba or other

books on Baba, the powers exercised by Baba were the result of his laya in God,

that is, they were really divine powers.

(by HH Pujyasri B V Narasimha Swamiji in Life of Sai Baba Vol. 4)

 

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