DEVOTEES' EXPERIENCES OF SRI SAI BABA BY H.H. NARASIMHA SWAMIJI - PART II

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mso-layout-grid-align: none">When I went first in 1910 no crowds had come. Baba

was mostly silent then. Very soon Bombay crowds began to pour upon Shirdi. Baba

was being pressed into new habits and ways. Devotees to suit their own tastes

forced numerous forms and observances on Baba and made Him a mere man shining

with the aid of the shows they arranged for Him. His real greatness shone by

itself without forms and rigid observances and pomp, and was shut out by these.

These reduced Baba to earthly grandeur.

mso-layout-grid-align: none">Baba spoke to me only a few words—but they were

direct and plain words. He did not talk to me in parables. He began to employ

parable in teaching the numerous people that flocked to Him. There is a great

deal of parallelism between Sri Sai of Shirdi and Akkalkote Maharaj and that

can be found by reading the life of Akkalkote Maharaj. The latter also hardly

ever spoke of Adwaitic realization. He was a greater Karmata, (i.e., follower

of rigid Karmamarga, the path of works) and insister on forms than Sai Baba.

Baba was trying to push people just a few steps above their level.

mso-layout-grid-align: none">Das Ganu told me that Baba referred to one Daji

Ma­haraj, a saintly grihastha Brahmin, who lived at the village Dangar Takidi

near Nanded (in Nizam's State) as "my brother." That Maharaj passed away in

1934. He was prac­tising Gayatri Purascharan. He said one day in 1914 at

Dangar, Takidi, “Yesterday, Sai Baba came here in the form of Maruti and there

was a great rumbling noise at His arrival". My father and I are

Maruti worshippers. I installed a new Maruti image and got a temple built, land

consecrated in 1918 at Ville Parle, Hanuman Street, I had to name the God, and

I called it Sai Hanuman, remembering that Sai was Ha­numan. I gifted that

temple by deed to my brother. The very day this temple was consecrated at Ville

Parle, Baba gave, it seems, Rs.25 to a Brahmin named Vaze and made him per­form

Satya Narayan Puja at Shirdi. People connect these two events. When I was first

visiting Shirdi, I was heterodox and could hardly be taken for a brahmin. Regard

for Samskaras grew on me. I never cared for Siddhis. I seldom attended Baba's

Chavadi procession even when I was at Shirdi. I was desirous of getting Sanyas

even before I got married. I actually got it only in 1931. But the way was

being paved. My mother and wife are living; but I have no issue. Two children

were born and they passed away after a few days of existence on this earth, one

in 1900, the other in 1915. Brahmacharya is essential to Sanyasa. The fact that

a wife is living in the house is no impediment to my Brahmacharya. If I look

upon my mother like any other human being without special attachment, that is

no hindrance to Sanyasa. The Samskara of going through Sanyasa gave me a great

impetus. Sai Baba never spoke to me(or so far as I remember, to anyone else)

about the desirability, necessity or disadvantages of a life of Sanyasa. About

changes of caste, Ashrama.Guru, methods of Sadhana, caste observances, etc., He

had one and the same advice or prescription "Each must

stick to his lot and get on." (Read over and found correct.) The Guru after all

is a medium, a means to realize your own self. He gives you a push and then you

have to exert yourself and go higher and hold to

your height. Sai Baba thus was a medium though one responsible for a

con­siderable and momentous advance in my spiritual history. Before I went to

Shirdi, one Vinayak Bhat Shadale (supported by the Kolhapur State) whom I met

in 1900 and who had made me read bits of Yoga-Vashishta with zest was also a

"medium" for me. With one help at one time and a second at another, one has to

go on steadily and realize the self. -- to be contdDevotees can read this

book from the Book Section ofwww.Saileelas.org/books/exppart2.htm

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