DIVINE EXPERIENCES - Sri. DAS GANU (4)

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DIVINE EXPERIENCES – DAS GANU MAHARAJ (4)

Das Ganu Maharaj, Kirtankar, aged about 78, residing generally at Nanded (Nizam’s State) says:

When I first went with Nana G. Chandorkar to see Sai Baba, that was out of a

desire to ingratiate with N.G. Chandorkar, and with no particular desire to see

Sai Baba or esteem for him. I had no spiritual or other temporal desire or

object in seeing Baba. One year later, I chanced to see Vaman Sashi

Islampurkar, an old Brahmin of Islampur near Osmanabad (N.S.) a graduate (of

the Madras University) and a married man. I had to attend upon him at Saigonda

in obedience of my superior’s orders. Finding him to be highly devout and

spiritually advanced and believing that a Guru was necessary to obtain Moksha,

I asked him to give me Upadesh as and he agreed. He gave me Siva Mantra Upadesh

as desired by me, for then I was an out and out Shivabhakta. He told me to go on

with my Mantra. I then asked him as I was visiting Sai, whether that was

harmful. He said that no harm could arise if one was firm in his faith,

whatever Saints he visited, I asked him what sort of person Sai

Baba was and the reply that he had himself visited Shirdi and stayed with Baba

for three days, that Baba was a great Saint and Ramabhakta, whom none had yet

properly understood and that people would get to know and appreciate him later

on. With this estimation in my view I had more regard for Baba and I went to

him with more faith.

Baba sometimes came into some conflict with the local Mussulmans, as very often

his acts and ideas did not agree with their Orthodoxy. Bade Baba and other once

asked Sai Baba to go outside the town for saying the Kutba prayers. Baba said,

"Yes, let us go", at first; but when they finally came to take him, he declined

to go. Another time they came up and offered prayers inside the Mosque. But Baba

did not join them in the group prayer. At Moharram, some local Moslems came up

to Baba and said they wanted to bring into the Mosque a Tajia. Then they

constructed a Tajia and brought it and installed it on the fifth of Moharram at

Mosque. Baba allowed it to remain there for a couple of days and then dragged it

out and placed it on his fire saying, "I do not want a corpse in the Mosque".

The Moslems who were working up their Tajia dared not do anything against this

powerful Baba. An orthodox Moslem brought a ‘Sera’, i.e., an ornamental

arrangement of flowers, to decorate the

niche in the Mosque and wanted Baba’s permission. Baba said, "Take it and put it

on Hanuman." The Moslem replied that he was a Mohammedan and could not decorate

a Hindu idol. Baba fulminated some foul abuse (in which Hanuman was depicted as

superior Allah) and the Sera was taken away.

Baba’s respect for Hanuman or Maruthi:- There was a small image of this God in a

corner of the upper platform of the Chavadi. Baba was in the lower platform and

when showers began to drive into it, some one told Baba that he should go up

into the upper platform. Baba refused to do so saying, "How can we be seated on

the same level as God?" Fakir Baba alias Bade Baba brought up a recent convert

form Hinduism to Islam to the Mosque. Baba slapped that convert and taunted him

with the remark "You have changed your father." Even towards Hindu Gods as to

Allah, he would use uncomplimentary expressions in some moods. People

occasionally asked him for permission to go to Pandharpur and he would reply

"Go" but would add some abuse. On the other hand, when arati was sung of

Jnanadev or Tukaram, he would sit up and fold his palms in reverence.

Baba’s treatment of Advaitism is not easy to make out. He never expressly dealt

with it. He would say "I am God", "God is in all" etc. He was really Advaita

personified. He was sitting up still whatever went on. Thirty two dancing girls

would come and play before him daily; he would never care to look at them. He

never cared for anything. He was detached and in his Ananda state once a

devotee asked him "What is God (Brahma) like?" Baba did not reply to him but

sent some one to Bagchand Marwadi for 100 rupees. That man did not give it, but

sent his Namaskar to Baba. He sent the man to another person with the same

negative result. Baba then sent for Nana Saheb Chandorkar and asked him for Rs.

100. Nana Saheb sent a chit to the Bagchand Marwadi and the latter sent 100

rupees at once. Baba merely remarked "All is like this in the world." The

questioner asked me later on privately why Baba gave no answer. I explained

that the demands for dakshina and response thereto were

the reply to the questioner. When other asked for money, it was not forthcoming.

But when Nana Saheb Chandorkar wanted it, it came at once. Similarly the man who

merely wants to know Brahma does not get it. It is he who qualified to know it

that gets it. The lesson is "Deserve before you desire (Brahman)"

As for the miracles, I have hardly seen any of Baba. I saw him about 1898

sleeping on a plank suspended about 7 or 8 feet above the ground. The wonder

was how he got into or out of it, without a ladder. How he could swing himself

up or down, non saw. The supporting threads were weak and lamps were loosely

placed on it. They would fall down if one swings into it. When I went to see

him as he lay in it. He got angry and drove me off. Baba was occasionally doing

something strange between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. at the Mosque with a cloth screen in

front of him and he was alone. He would take out a pouch 10 or 15 old coins.

They were of various values and descriptions i.e., 0-0-3, 0-0-6, 0-1-0, 1-2-0,

0-8-0, 1-0-0. He would rub his finger tips constantly yet gently against their

surface (whether with or without Mantra, I cannot say). Their surfaces had all

become worn out and smooth. He would say, as he rubbed his finger against the

coins, "This is Nana’s, this is Bapu’s, this

is Kaka’s, etc" If any one approached, he would gather the coins, put them back

in the pouch and hide them.

(Written by HH Pujyasri B V Narasimha Swamiji during June 1936, Devotees Experiences Vol.3)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The heavens are for enjoying pleasure and the hell for pain. Rising above

pleasure and pain, we can achieve bliss, in this human world. -Amrta Bindu 2

Thamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya.......

Question: Doing everything and doing nothing-how can both mean the same?

Answer: When a helpless man knows his incapability, he calls to God. God answers

to his entreaties. But when a man thinks himself capable, he becomes unaware of

his helplessness. That is the illusion. He becomes proud of his capabilities

that brings about his downfall and he drifts farther and farther away from the

Almighty God. But if he is convinced of his helplessness he gets everything.

When Gajendra and Draupadi realised their utter helplessness. God rushed to

their rescue.

(-Swami Premanandaji Saraswati )

 

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