SAI MOTHER'S CARE

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SAI MOTHER’S CARE

Baba said, "Be wherever you like, do whatever you choose, remember this well

that, all what you do is known to Me" in Sri Sai Satcharitra Ch.III.

The following narration will show another instance of the continued presence of

Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi. The following are the experiences of Sri Munshi’s in

his own language. Sri J.M. Munshi is an advocate. He resides in Mumbai.

"Shirdi Sai Baba is a phenomenon. His physical body disintegrated into the

elements many years ago. But today belief in Him and His power to assist people

in times of distress is growing. The Baba started no cult and spread no

religion, which one could identify with Him. His teachings have however been

the essence of all religions. His believers are country wide, and include

Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Christians and Others.

All of us have heard of miracles. A person educated in worldly subjects, however

finds it difficult to accept their existence, for they defy human reasoning and

logic. Normally a person has his pride and ego on which he exists and survives.

Acceptance of a miracle tends to offend his ego and hurts his pride. Indeed it

needs an unchallenging humility, a strong character and strict adherence to

honesty to admit the existence of miracles.

Moreover to acknowledge a miracle is to accept the existence of an agency which

performs it. One had indeed to thrust aside his ego which feels ashamed of such

acceptance, to show reasoning and logic for there is no rational explanation one

can give for it; and in all humility to admit that what one experienced was no

accident or coincidence, but in the words of Gandhiji the work of "an

indefinable mysterious power which pervades everything."

I am a lawyer by profession and I have been trained to accept a fact only when

it is conclusively proved. It was with this background and training that my

association with the name of Shirdi Sai Baba first started.

In May 1948, my wife and I were travelling in a first class compartment of the

train going from Bangalore to Mumbai. There were six of us in the compartment,

including an old couple and two youngsters. Having nothing else to do, the two

youngsters, my wife and I were playing cards. The old man was obviously praying

and his wife was watching us. We had been advised not to travel by this

particular route because of the Razakar trouble then prevailing in the

erstwhile Hyderabad state. As youngsters, we thought it was our privilege not

to heed to such advice which we believed was borne out of undue apprehensions

and fear.

The train had left the last station in Hyderabad territory and was fast

approaching Sholapur station in the Indian Union. Suddenly the train was forced

to stop at a station called Gangapur. There was a large crowd of Razakars in the

station, armed with rifles, lathis, and other lethal weapons. As soon as the

train stopped, a cry was raised by the Razakars. "All Muslims get down. Kill

all Hindus." The old man immediately ordered us to pull down the shutters and

to lock the door. We promptly carried out his orders. For nearly five hours we

could hear screams and wailings of passengers who were pulled out of the train,

beaten and robbed. Third class passengers fled into the nearby fields and their

belongings were looted. The Razakars repeatedly tried to force open our

compartment but failed to do so. Even in the midst of this cacophony and panic,

we would observe the old man praying. Queer enough from the reports confirmed at

the Sholapur station, our compartment

was the only one in the entire train that had escaped the marauders.

After nearly five hours, the train crawled towards Sholapur station. Once we

reached the shores of Safety, the old man’s wife explained to us that the old

man has been suffering from blood pressure and heart disease and that they were

fleeing from the Hyderabad territory with all their money and belongings because

of Razakar trouble. Once we reached Sholapur station, the military officers took

down our statements and the incident came to an end. Although we had escaped

untouched by the Razakars, this incident left such an indelible scar in our

memory that for a long time my wife and I suffered from nightmares arising out

of it.

A few days after this incident a friend of mine read out to me, in Mumbai an

article in a magazine, obviously written by the old man where in he had related

this incident and had claimed that it was because of his prayers to Shirdi Sai

Baba, that the entire compartment of the train escaped unscathed by the

Razakars. As witness to this incident, he had cited my name in the article.

My friend saw me with his article for corroboration of this incident. I told him

that the facts stated in the article were all true. It was also true that our

compartment was the only one which had escaped unhurt. It was also true that

the old man was frantically praying all the time. I however told him that I had

never before heard of Shirdi Sai Baba and that whether this incident was a

miracle or a mere coincidence was for him to judge for himself.

While this incident remained embedded in my memory, except in the course of

stray discussion with friends, Shirdi Sai Baba was more or less forgotten for a

long time. In the early part of 1953, I again came in close association with the

name of Shirdi Sai Baba. This was a bad period for my wife and me. My wife had

been seriously ill and because of her long stay in the hospital she was feeling

very miserable. I was having some trouble in my office and had threatened to

leave my partners. Life in general, was fraught with problems, for which no

solutions were in sight.

On the way to my office there was a small photo frame maker’s shop. Outside his

shop was hung a picture of Shirdi Sai Baba. Below the picture was his message

‘if you look to me, I shall look to you’. I do not remember how long this

picture was hung there, but it was during early 1953 that my attention got

first focussed to this picture and the message.

It was then that I was suddenly reminded of the old man’s assertion during the

Razakar incident, that Shirdi Sai Baba had saved him. Gradually I got so

obsessed by this picture of Shirdi Sai Baba, and the message, that one day, I

told my wife about my obsession and my desire to acquire the said picture and

to perform the pooja of Baba. My wife readily agreed to my proposal.

We purchased Baba’s picture, brought the picture home, lit a lamp before the

photo and prayed that we looked to him for solution of our problems. Within a

few days there after, all our problems got settled to our reasonable

satisfaction and life ran smooth again.

Was this another coincidence? Was this pooja a weakness of our minds? Or could

the solution of our problems be the working of that indefinable, mysterious

phenomenon called Shirdi Sai Baba? Well, let each one judge for himself. For us

since the time Shirdi Sai Baba entered our home and heart, he became a veritable

Pater Familias of our household. Not only the two of us, but our near relations,

as also the domestic servants accepted him as an essential part of our

existence.

As the pooja continued daily, we gradually got used to look to Shirdi Sai Baba

for His blessings, particularly in times of distress. Many things big and small

did happen which ostensibly appeared coincidental but which one could in all

humility attribute to the phenomenon called Shirdi Sai Baba.

A few years there after, I was once travelling by the night train from Surat to

Mumbai. After the train left Surat station, I suddenly developed severe pain,

which later was diagnosed as being on account of stone in the bladder. Within a

couple of hours the pain aggravated to such an extent that I could neither lie

down on my berth nor sit down. The only choice for me was to keep standing

writhing in pain, while my co-passenger was fast asleep on the adjoining berth.

I also began passing blood through the bladder.

When the train reached the Palgar station, at about 2 a.m, the pain became so

severe that I had to shake my co-passenger out of his slumber and urge him to

call the guard and to see whether he could find a doctor travelling by the

train who could relieve me of the pain. My co-passenger there upon called the

guard and explained the situation to him. No doctor could be located in the

train at that time of the night. The guard therefore advised me to get down at

Palghar so that I could receive treatment from a local doctor and proceed to

Mumbai by subsequent train. The guard called the station master and under their

joint advice, I got down at Palghar and the train left the station.

The advice given by the guard and the station master was however not at all

sound. For nearly an hour, I waited at the Palghar station for the doctor who

had been summoned by the station master . I was virtually howling in pain, and

taking the name of Baba. No doctor was however forthcoming. The station master

then told me that the doctor summoned by him was refusing to come to the

station at that time of the night. He suggested that instead I should be taken

to the doctor. There was no taxi available at the time and the only available

conveyance was bullock cart.

So the station Master and his associates lifted me into the bullock-cart and

directed the driver to take me to the doctor. One can imagine my mental state

travelling alone in bullock-cart in that condition at that time of the night,

in a town I had never visited before and where I knew no one. I was not sure

whether I was going to survive this predicament. The only thing I could do in

the circumstances was to look upon Shirdi Sai Baba for aid and assistance.

The doctor diagnosed my ailment, administered morphine injection and I was soon

immersed into oblivion. At my request he had sent a call to my relations in

Mumbai. The next day my relations arrived and I was taken to Mumbai.

But the most important experience of my life was yet to come. It was this

incident which shook the lawyer out of me and converted me into a humble

devotee recognising the work of the Master.

In October 1959, my one month old daughter got seriously dehydrated and was

admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital. Over three weeks of treatment, including

blood transfusion could not bring her round. Leading doctors were attending on

her. The child hand been running high temperature since days and the doctors

were not sure whether she would pull through. My wife and I were on the verge

of a complete breakdown.

On the early morning of November 14th 1959, we were informed by two leading

doctors that the child was so serious that her chances of survival were remote.

She was being administered oxygen as her breathing had been difficult. With

tears, agony and deep dejection, my wife and I came home from the hospital at

about 9 a.m. for a short while, so that we could get ready and again rush back

to the hospital. As soon as we reached our home, I told my wife about a

decision which I had reached. My decision has arisen out of sheer desperation.

I said to my wife "we had been worshipping Shirdi Sai Baba for several years.

It has been said that if we looked to Him, he would look to us. The survival of

our only child means a lot to us. My decision is that if the child survives, our

faith that Shirdi Sai Baba looks to us in times of distress, would become

conclusive. If on the other hand, the child does not survive, we would end our

worship as He would have failed

us."

The sequence of events, after this decision, is interesting. At 10 a.m. we were

again at the hospital. Another senior doctor was attending on the child. He too

came to the conclusion that the child was dying and there was no hope of

survival. Suddenly a comparatively junior doctor, who was also there, said

"Doctor, I have been observing this child for some time, while she is running

very high temperature, she has not lost consciousness. Could it be that the

child is not suffering from septi anaemia but from malaria?"

The senior doctor laughed and said, "How do you expect malaria in Breach Candy

Hospital. Anyway, there is not much left in the child. You may try a shot of

quinine."As stated above, this talk took place at 10 a.m. At 1 p.m. on that day

the temperature of the child came down to 101 degrees after several days. At 4

p.m. the temperature came further down to 99 degrees and by 7 p.m. the

temperature was 97.5 degrees. Oxygen and blood transfusion were no longer

called for. The eminent doctors who during the earlier part of that day had

certified her as dying left baffled.

The temperature of the child remained at normal ever since. Within three months,

the child was in the pink of health. Those who saw her at the age of 5 months

could hardly believe our description of the crisis that she had passed through

a few months earlier. Consistent with our promise we took our daughter to

Shirdi in March 1960 by car. Strange and dramatic though it may appear, on our

way to Shirdi during a halt, our daughter gazed at the world around her, spread

our both her arms, and madder her first utterance ‘ba, ba, ba, ba.’

These are facts of my life as they stand. The sequence of events is also in the

above order. The conclusion is for each individual to make for himself. For

myself I felt convinced of the existence of that power which assists us, if we,

in all humility look to it. Today with all the above mentioned and other

experiences, my entire family, near relations, and even servants, have got

completely used to looking up to Shirdi Sai Baba for succour in times of

distress. I must admit in all humility that He has never failed us. Many things

big and small, have happened in our lives which have made us acknowledge the

existence of this indefinable mysterious power/phenomenon, whose only message

is that if one looks to Shirdi Sai Baba, the Baba will look to us.

So far as I am concerned, the Baba has now been the very part of my existence.

He has been my guide, philosopher and friend. On difficult occasions, depending

on my variable moods, I have prayed to Him, beseeched Him, implored Him, begged

of Him, argued with Him, and sometimes even quarrelled with Him, for not

solving the knotted problems of my existence. Whatsoever the mood, the problems

have been ultimately solved.

Recently a great devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba, whom I met, has also endorsed this

view of mine and said "Shirdi Sai Baba is not only the father, but also the

mother. A mother sometimes becomes inattentive to the child, sometimes she

punishes the child, but when it is time, she will always give milk to the

child’!

(Taken from the book "The Eternal Sai")

Thought for the day

To the weak, problems are stumbling blocks, to the brave, they are stepping-stones!

Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya.......

Question: I try my best to understand the nature of mind, intellect,

consciousness and ego, I philosophically analyse the real nature of my body and

the world on the strength of scriptures and the words of great saints. But

neither physical attachment nor the futility of the world is really understood;

how to get rid of this attachment?

Answer: Most revered Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj laid great emphasis on "Serve,

Love; Give, Purify, Meditate, Realise". The quintessence of his teachings are

summed up in "Be Good, Do Good". Most revered Swami Sharnanandaji Maharaj with

whom I had long contacts and am greatly influenced by his teachings - also

emphasised service, love and renunciation. In my view it is extremely necessary

to serve the community, to perform our duty to them. Service and performance of

duty are genuine only when done unattached. To expect returns from the family

or the community is to get involved in the world.

To be a sadhaka means not to give up action, or to become lazy, or not to

perform one’s duties. To be a sadhaka means to serve, to get rid of attachment.

The ties of attachment are never snapped with japa and worship alone, nor Asana.

Pranayama can remove body-attachment. Service helps in purifying the heart, so

does pure love. Affection, attachment, desire, or lust is not love. In love

also - love everybody alike - all selfish motives have to be given up.

Give unselfishly unto others with a feeling that whatever you have is not yours.

It is given to you to serve others. Selfless Dhaan has a high place in our

culture. It is improper to keep more than what you need; it is also called

aparigraha. But Dhaan often breeds pride, therefore it should be practised

anonymously. So if you practise service, love, charity, honesty, and leave the

rest to God, you will automatically rise higher, and higher.

(-Swami Premanandaji Saraswati )