DEVOTEES' EXPERIENCES OF SRI SAI BABA BY H.H.NARASIMHASWAMIJI - PARTS II

[Guest guest]

FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-VARIANT: small-caps; mso-bidi-font-family:

Arial">chinna kistna rajasaheb bahadur, B.A., LL.B., Saraswath aged about 50,

Interior of India, says: I look upon Sri Sai Baba as the Creator, Preserver and

Destroyer. I did so before His Mahasamadhi in 1918 and I do so now. To me, He is

not gone. He is, even now. To me, He had no limitations. Of course, when He was

with us, there was the fleshy tabernacle. That was promi­nently brought to our

notice at times. But mostly the infinite aspect of His was what remained before

me. I thought of Him as a mental or spiritual image, in which the finite blended

very perfectly - yet allowing the finite to appear before us at times. Now that

the body has been cast off, the infinite alone remains, as 'Sai Baba'. I am not

after metaphysics and philosophical conun­drums. Sai Baba occasionally talked in

mystic language and used parables freely - which however, were constructed in

widely different ways by different listeners. Once He talked to me in the

mystic way and asked me whether I understood Him. I said 'No'. Others were

present then. After they left, I told Him that I did not grasp mystic

utterances and that if He intended that I should grasp anything He should speak

to me in plain terms. After that He spoke to me only in plain words and not in

parables. A short account of myself is necessary to show how I came to Sai Baba

and how He filled my life and became my all in all. Our family God is Durga -

Santa Durga of Goa - a Bhadra form and not a Rudra form. I used to worship her

and pray that she might ever keep me happy. Later when I was about eight years

old, I had my sacred thread initiation and learnt my

Gayatri and Sandhya, These I had regard for. I was thus naturally led on from

Durga to another form of God. i.e., Narayana or Vishnu. Vishnu as

pictured in "Dhruva - Narayana" made a deep impression on me, and I

constantly meditated on that picture. When I concentrated

or tried to concentrate on Vishnu, Dhruva's figure frequently obtruded and so I

cut off that portion of the picture and continued my meditation. I made a

special appeal that in that blank space in the picture, (i.e., in that vacancy)

Vishnu should place me. I had even as a boy practiced Asana and Pranayama. I

could pass one or two hours sitting in Padmas-ana or Siddhasana and concentrate

for at least fifteen min­utes, a single picture holding the entire field of my

attention. I did all this without a Guru. I succeeded in Pranayama also to

some extent. In this way my meditation on Vishnu or Narayana was fairly

intense. This continued till my twenty-first year. Then (i.e., 1910)

one day, I was either sleeping and had dreams or I had trance visions - I cannot

say what they were. But the following three experiences I had in the course of

one night. As I was in the lying posture on my bed, I felt a change. I was

perceiving that the body lay separate and I was disengaged from it -

disconnected or unconnected. I was different from the body; and in front of me

stood the figure of Vishnu Narayana. This ended; and about an hour later, a

second incident followed. Again my body lay there on the bed. I was outside it.

Sri Vishnu

Narayana was standing before me. And by his side stood another figure. Sri

Vishnu addressed me and pointing to the other figure said This Sai Baba of

Shirdi, is your man; you must resort to him". The third incident or vision

followed soon after - after about the same interval perhaps. I felt I was

moving in some strange way. It was like levitation in the air. I came or was

carried thus to a village. I found some one there and asked him what village

that was. He said it was Shirdi, I asked him, "Is there any person named 'Sai

Baba' here?Yes" he an­swered, "come and see". I was

taken to the mosque. There I saw Sai Baba. He was seated with legs outstretched.

I went and reverently placed my head on his feet. He got up and said "Do you

take my darshan? I am your debtor, I must take your darshan," and He placed his

head on my feet. Then we parted. These visions impressed me greatly. Before

that time I had a picture of Sai Baba in the usual seated posture, and I knew

nothing more about him. I did not then know That Baba often sat with both

legs

outstretched. Some time later I started on my first visit to Baba and Shirdi,

and tried to verify my visions and to see if Sai Baba was my destined sole Guru

as indicated in them. Devotees can be read this book from the Book Section

of www.Saileelas.org/books/exppart2.htm Send instant messages to your online

friends http://in.messenger.