I HAD THE DARSHAN OF SRI SAINATH MAHARAJ!

[Guest guest]

Sri Sai Baba incarnated in Shirdi. He took up the task of leading the world

to salvation from there. He fulfills the desires of his devotees, removes

their sorrows and gives them peace and happiness. Even now he is with us in

the form of his samadhi at Shirdi. Sai Baba is in the heart of all living

beings. He showers his grace on all and gives divine experiences to all his

devotees. Even though it is fifty-seven years since he entered mahasamadhi

he is still present in Shirdi in the form of his samadhi. This is an

indubitable fact. He is beyond time. Where can he go leaving us all behind?

Wherever in this world his devotees may be, the moment they cry for his

help, he comes running like a concerned mother to offer them succour. They

immediately become aware that Baba is with them. We get immediate recompense

for the love and devotion we bear towards him.

My mother used to have the darshan of Sri Sai Baba every day. She would

apply turmeric and vermilion powder to his feet and salute him reverently.

Once she asked him, “Do you like it when I apply turmeric and vermilion

powder to your feet? Baba replied, “Whatever you do with love and devotion

is to my liking.” Baba would ask my mother for dakshina sometimes. She would

then take a quarter of a rupee from my father and offer it to Baba as

dakshina. As a result of the service she had done to Baba she had a very

good death. She was fully conscious and her faculties were stilled in peace

at the end of her time and she breathed her last repeating the holy name of

Lord Rama. My father also had great devotion and love for Sri Baba. He used

to regard Baba as the almighty. One morning, after the arati, Baba went from

Chavadi to the mosque. My father was standing nearby and Baba while passing

him hit him on his head with his satka (hand stick). My father had a small

injury to the head, which was soon cured by applying udi to it. He looked

upon the injury as a prasad of Baba. Within fifteen days, my father’s salary

increased by 15 rupees per month – a princely sum in those days. The

devotees used to feel Baba’s anger as a great prasad or gift to them. His

anger was always directed at the defects of his devotees to rid them of

those defects. This is the literal truth.

Sri Sai Baba is a divine incarnation; he is not born of human parentage. He

shines as an eternal flame in the form of his samadhi and gives his divine

experiences to all mankind. He is the very form of the perfect almighty. It

is the experience of many devotees that the descriptions given in Srimad

Bhagavadgeeta of the perfect superman and Para Brahman suit him to fullest

extent. I am enraptured by bliss whenever I recollect his form, which I had

seen in my childhood. I pray to him that I imbibe fully of his teachings and

tradition and travel farther along the beautiful path prescribed by him and

thereby gain his grace.

It is the constant experience of the devotees that the words of the Arati

“Jayamani Jaise Bhava, Taya Taisa Anubhava, (as is our feeling towards him,

so is our experience)” are literally true. I have heard of the experiences

of innumerable devotees; where even when they had prayed to other gods, Sri

Sai Baba had given his darshan to them in the form of those gods and proved

to them that his is the manifest form of all gods. I too have had the direct

experience of this truth. This experience gives us wisdom and acts as our

guide in spiritual endeavour. Once we surrender to Sri Sai Baba we need no

other yoga, as he is the perfect Brahman who is omnipresent.

 

 

 

(To be contd....)

 

Source (source www.saipatham.org) Saipatham September 2001 Magazine