Sai Satcharitra-Let us all read it together, a little everyday

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Baba's Wit and I lumour - Chanak Leela - (1) Hemadpant (2) Sudama (3) Anna

Chinchanikar vs. Mavsibai.

Preliminary

To say that, we shall state such and such in the next or this Chapter, is a sort

of egoism. Unless, we surrender our ego to the feet of our Sad-guru, we will not

succeed in our undertaking. If we become egoless, then our success is assured.

By worshipping Sai Baba, we attain both the objects, worldly and spiritual, and

are fixed in our true Nature, and get peace and happiness. Therefore, those who

want to gain their welfare, should respectfully hear Sai Baba's Leelas or

stories and meditate on them. If they do this, they will easily attain the

object of their life and get Bliss.

Generally, all people like wit and humour, but they do not like that jokes

should be cut at their expense. But Baba's method was peculiar; when it was

accompained with gestures, it was very interesting and instructive, and the

people, therefore, did not mind, if they were held up to the ridicule.

Hemadpant gives his own instance below.

Chanak-Leela

In Shirdi, bazar was held every Sunday, and people from the neighbouring

villages came there, erected booths and stalls on the street, and sold their

wares and commodities. Every noon, the Masjid was crowded more or less; but on

Sunday, it was crowded to suffocation. On one such Sunday, Hemadpant sat in

front of Baba, shampooing His Legs and muttering God's name. Shama was on

Baba's left, Vamanrao to His right - Shriman Booty and Kakasaheb Dixit and

others were also present there. Then Shama laughed and said to Annasaheb - "See

that some grains seem to have stuck to the sleeve of your coat". So saying he

touched the sleve and found that there were some grains. Hemadpant straightened

his left fore-arm to see what the matter was, when to the the surprise of all,

some grains of gram come rolling down and were picked up by the people who were

sitting there.

This incident furnished a subject-matter for joke. Everybody present began to

wonder and said something or other as to how the grains found their way into

the sleeve of the coat and lodged there so long. Hemadpant also could not guess

how they found an entrance and stayed there. When nobody could give any

satisfactory explanation in this matter, and everybody was wondering about this

mystery, Baba said as follows :-

Baba - "This fellow (Annasaheb) has got the bad habit of eating alone. Today is

a bazar-day and he was here chewing grams. I know his habit and these grams are

a proof of it. What wonder is there is this matter?" Hemadpant - "Baba, I never

know of eating things alone; then why do you thrust this bad habit on me? I

have never yet seen Shirdi bazar. I never went to the bazar today, then how

could I buy grams, and how could I eat them if I had not bought them? I never

eat anything unless I share it with others present near me".

Baba - "It is true that you give to the persons present; but if none be near-by,

what could you or I do But do you remember Me before eating? Am I not always

with you? Then do you offer Me anything before you eat?"

Moral

Let us mark and note carefully, what Baba has taught us, by this incident. He

has advised us that before the senses, mind and intellect enjoy their objects,

he should first be remembered, and if this be done, it is in a way an offering

to Him. The senses etc. can never remain without their objects, but if those

objects are first offered to the Guru, the attachment for them will naturally

vanish. In this way, all the Vrittis (thoughts) regarding Desire, Anger,

Avarice etc. should first be offered and directed to the Guru and if this

practice be followed, the Lord will help you in eradicating all the Vrittis.

When before enjoyment of the objects, you think that Baba is close by, the

question whether the object is fit to be enjoyed or not will at once arise.

Then the object that is not fit to be enjoyed will be shunned and in this way

our vicious habits or vices will disappear and our character will improve. Then

love for the Guru will grow and pure knowledge will sprout up. When

this knowledge grows, the bondage of body - consciousness (we are the body) will

snap and our intellect will be merged in spirit-consciousness (we are the

spirit). Then we shall get Bliss and contentment. There is no difference

between Guru and God. He who sees any difference in them, sees God nowhere. So

leaving aside all ideas of difference, we should regard Guru and God as one,

and if we serve our Guru as stated above, Lord (God) will be certainly pleased

and purifying our minds He will give us self-realisation. To put the matter in

a nut-shell, we should not enjoy any object with our senses etc. without first

remembering our Guru. When the mind is trained in this way, we will be always

reminded of Baba, and our meditation on Baba will grow apace. The Sagun Form of

Baba will ever be before our eyes and then devotion, non-attachment and

salvation will all be ours. When Baba's Form is thus fixed before our mental

vision, we forget hunger, thirst, and this samsar; the consciousness

of worldly pleasures will disappear and our mind shall attain peace and

happiness. "Gurur Brahma Gurur VishnuGurur Devoh Maheshwar;Gurur Shakshat

ParambramhaTashmai Shri Gurur Veh Namah"May the Merciful Sri Sai Baba always

shower His grace on us and our families and remove our problems and anxieties

by giving us all - strength , goodluck, success and happiness with peace of

mind.Sai bhakt,Deepa Hdebu7366

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