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Chapter XXXIII

Greatness of Udi

Scorpion Sting and Plague Cases Cured - Jamner Miracle - Narayanarao's Sickness

- Balabuva sutar - Appasaheb Kulkarni - Haribhau Karnik.

In the last Chapter we described the greatness of the Guru; now in this we will

describe the greatness of Udi.

Preliminary

Let us bow now before the great saints. Their merciful glances will destroy

mountains of sins and do away with all the evil taints of our character. Their

casual talk gives us good teachings and confers on us imperishable happiness.

Their minds do not know any difference such as 'This is ours and that is

yours.' Such differentiation never arises in their minds. Their debts

(obligations) will never be repaid by us in this birth as well as in many

future births.

Udi

It is well-known that Baba took Dakshina from all, and out of the amount thus

collected, He spent a lot on charity and purchased fuel with the balance left

with Him. This fuel He threw in the Dhuni - the sacred fire, which he kept ever

burning. The ash from this fire was called Udi and it was freely distributed to

the devotees at the time of their departure from Shirdi.

What did Baba teach or hint by this Udi? Baba taught by His Udi that all the

visible phenomena in the universe are as transient as the ash. Our bodies

composed of wood or matter of the five elements, will fall down, after all

their enjoyments are over, and be reduced to ashes. In order to remind the

devotees of the fact that their bodies will be reduced to ashes, Baba

distributed Udi to them. Baba also taught by the Udi that the Brahman is the

only Reality and the universe is ephemeral and that no one in this world, be he

a son, father or wife, is really ours. We come here (in this world) alone and we

have to go out alone. It was found and is even now found out, that the Udi cured

many physical and mental maladies, but Baba wanted to din into the devotee's

ears the principles of discrimination between the Unreal and the Real,

non-attachment for the Unreal, by His Udi and Dakshina. The former (Udi) taught

us discrimination and the latter

(Dakshina) taught us non-attachment. Unless we have these two things, it is not

possible for us to cross over the sea of the mundane existence. So Baba asked

for and took Dakshina, and while the devotees took leave, He gave Udi as

Prasad, besmeared some of it on the Bhaktas' foreheads and placed His

boon-conferring hand on their heads. When Baba was in a cheerful mood, He used

to sing merrily. One such song was about Udi. The burden of the Udi song was

this,"Oh, playful Rama, come, come, and bring with you sacks of Udi." Baba used

to sing in very clear and sweet tones.

So much about the spiritual implication of Udi. It had also its material

significance. It conferred health, prosperity, freedom from anxiety, and many

other worldly gains. So the Udi has helped us to gain both our ends - material

as well as spiritual. We shall now begin with the stories about the Udi."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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