Sai Baba the Master by E.Bharadwaja

[Guest guest]

The same saint afforded us another proof that the strength of devotion of

our group was mainly responsible for the arrival of great saints to

these

parts. From 11-12-1975 to 23-12-1975 he performed a yagna at Vakadu

(four

miles from here). Our group visited him there everyday. On the 20th, a

member of our group was meditating in his presence. The swami then

told

him, “As you people here are doing dhyana and performing satsang and

bhajan with devotion, I happened to come here from afar to perform

this

yagna.” The next day when his disciples were dispersing the crowds, he

said to them, “The disciples of Bharadwaja would be coming here. Let

them

sit here and meditate”. Henceforth none from our group was ever asked

by

his disciples to clear off from that place.

 

Now a few instances to show how Sri Sai Baba had established his claim

over me as his own. Sometime before I came to Vidyanagar (i.e., when I

was

at the ashram of a Mother) I happened to go to Naimisaranya to take

darshan of Sri Ma Anandamayi who was conducting a Bhagawata Saptaha

there.

The Swamiji who was giving the exposition, in the course of his talk

one

day said that only a living sage can lead us to Enlightenment or

liberation and that one who had shed his body, however great, can at

best

bless us with material welfare only. This raised a question regarding

the

efficacy of my devotion to Sri Sai though I did not give it up.

 

Sometime after my arrival at Vidyanagar, an old student of mine in

Hyderabad visited me and invited me to his house in Pune on my next

visit

to Shirdi. I casually agreed. I subsequently visited Shirdi with the

idea

of staying there for a week. But from the second day of my stay at

Shirdi,

all my mind was strongly driving me to visit Pune. Finding it useless

to

confine my body at Shirdi any longer, I at last arrived there. My

friend

was away at his office and I resolved to go round the city before he

returned home. On the way the sight of a flower-shop made me inquire

whether there was any great saint in Pune. A gentleman told me that

there

was Gulavani Maharaj, a disciple of Sri Vasudevananda Saraswathi

(alias

Sri Tembe Swami). I at once visited him with a simple offering. When

he

saw me prostrating, he addressed me, “Oh! You are the child of Sai

Baba”.

Thrilled at this uncanny knowledge, I expressed my doubts about the

efficacy of my devotion to Sri Sai, a saint who had shed his physical

body

more than half a century ago. He said that Sri Sai Baba is not a mere

saint but a manifestation of Lord Dattatreya, that he has been guiding

seekers spiritually even after his mahasamadhi and even manifesting

himself physically before some; that I was, on the right path and that

I

need no other guide.

 

(To be contd....)

 

Source http://www.saibharadwaja.org)