He has nothing but gives everything!

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"Chale re Baba bheek maangne, bachche hai bukhiyare" Bachchon ke liye Hari

bhikaari, liye haath me jolee"

"There goes Sai, set out to beg as the children are hungry God the beggar

resorted to the bowl, Oh! children for your sake"

'Unless you have given it before, you do not get it now. Therefore, the best way

to receive is to give. The giving of Dakshina advances Vairagya (Non-attachment)

and thereby Bhakti and Jnana. Give one and receive tenfold. If I take one rupee

as Dakshina from anybody I have to return it tenfold to him' said Shri Shirdi

Baba. So did our scriptures many times. That is why great teachers like

Vivekananda told us not to lose an opportunity to give ever. But to be able to

give, one has to have something first. For example, in the story of Krishna's

poor friend Kuchela, after searching his home again and again, by the grace of

Krishna, Kuchela found a handful of grams and offered them to Krishna who then

blessed him with prosperity. Does all this mean that one should never fall into

a state of not having anything because then one cannot give and therefore never

get out of it. Interestingly, the answer is no. If one truly gives up

everything and has no

desire to receive then such a person will not only lack anything but can give

abundantly. The simple life of Baba, a renunciate by birth, illustrates this.

Baba begged His bread from four or five houses. In one hand, He carried a tin

pot and in the other a zoli. He daily visited certain houses from door to door.

Liquid or semi-liquid things such as soup, vegetables, milk or buttermilk were

received in the tin pot, while solid things like cooked rice and bread were

taken in the zoli. He mixed them up and threw the mixture in an earthen pot

from which dogs, cats and crows ate freely. He ate a little of that hotchpotch

with content because His tongue did not care for taste. The woman who swept the

floor of the old abandoned Masjid in which He lived, took home some of the food

collected by Baba. When He first came to Shirdi, Baba lived at the foot of a

(Neem) tree. Nobody even knew what He ate or when He ate in those days. He was

a celibate sannyasi from boyhood. He slept on a wooden plank tied like a swing,

to the rafters of the Masjid with old shreds and rags. People began to gather

around Him as He

gave them health by curing their various ailments, sometimes by giving them

strange medicines but often by Udi and His blessings. He was soon giving them

not only cures for illnesses but jobs, promotions, help with exams, wealth,

progeny, and protection from dangers, and anything and everything they wanted.

Above all, He was showing them how to get to that perfect state when they would

be so content and so full that they would not have a thing to ask for any more.

Though He begged for His food like a Sanyasi, to show us giving food is the

best charity; sometimes He undertook to distribute food to all. Then He made

all preparations from beginning to end, Himself. He went to the bazaar and

bought all the things, corn, flour, spices etc. He did also the grinding. He

cooked 'Mitthe Chaval', 'pulava' and Ambil and served them with His own hand to

all the poor and helpless people to their hearts' content. Though He collected a

lot of money by Dakshina, Baba would distribute the whole

amount the same day, and the next morning He would become a poor Fakir as usual.

He had no desire for fame. He did not make an effort to get devotees around Him.

Devotees gathered around Him because they were benefiting by His association. He

had no wealth, no house, no family but He could say with confidence 'My treasury

is full, and I can give anyone, what he wants, but I have to see whether he is

qualified to receive what I give. My Sircar says 'Take, take' but everybody

comes to me and says 'Give, give'. Nobody attends carefully to the meaning of

what I say. My Sircar's treasury (spiritual wealth) is full, it is overflowing.

I say, Dig out and take away this wealth in cartloads.'

(Contributed by Shyamala Hari, USA)

saibaba.org

Arun Reddy Nukala

+44 7946 595063

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