SHRI SAI SATCHARITRA - Ch. XXXVII and XXXVIII

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TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center">Chapter XXXVII Chavadi Procession In this

chapter Hemadpant after making some

preliminary observations on some points of Vedanta, describes the Chavadi

procession. Preliminary Blessed is Sai's life, blessed is His daily

routine. His ways and actions are indescribable. Sometimes He was intoxicated

with Brahmanand (divine joy), and at other times content with Self-knowledge.

Doing so many things sometimes, He was unconcerned with them. Though He seemed

at times quite actionless (doing nothing) He was not idle or dozing; He always

abided in His own Self. Though He looked calm and quiet as the placid sea, He

was deep and unfathomable. Who can describe His ineffable nature? He regarded

men as brothers, women as sisters and mothers. He was a perfect and perpetual

celibate, as everybody knows. May the understanding (knowledge), we got in His

company, last long unto death. Let us ever serve Him with whole-hearted

devotion to His feet. Let us see Him (God) in all beings and let us ever love

His name.

10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">Hemadpant,

after making some lengthy dissertations on some topics of Vedanta, which he

himself considers as a digression, goes on to describe the Chavadi procession.

Chavadi Procession Baba's dormitory has been already described. One day He

slept in the

Masjid and on the next, in the Chavadi (a small building containing a room or

two near the Masjid). This alternate sleeping in both these buildings went on

till Baba's Mahasamadhi. From 10th December 1909 devotees began to offer

regular worship to Baba in the Chavadi. This we will now describe with His

grace. When the turn of retiring to the Chavadi came, people flocked to the

Masjid and made bhajan in the mandap (courtyard) for a few hours. Behind them

was a beautiful Ratha (small car), to the right a Tulsi-vrindavan and in front

Baba, and between these the devotees fond of bhajan. Men and women who had a

liking for the bhajan came in time. Some took Tal, Chiplis and Kartal, Mridang,

Khanjiri and Ghol (all musical instruments) in their hands and conducted the

bhajan. Sai Baba was the Magnet Who drew all the devotees to Him there. Outside

in the open, some trimmed their divatyas, (torches), some decorated the

palanquin, and some stood with cane-sticks in their hands and

uttered cries of victory to Baba. The corner was decorated with buntings. Round

about the Masjid, rows of burning lamps shed their light. Baba's horse

'Shyamakarna' stood fully decorated outside. Then Tatya Patil came with a party

of men to Baba and asked Him to be ready. Baba sat quiet in his place till Tatya

came and helped Him to get up by putting his arm under Baba's armpit. Tatya

called Baba by the name of Mama. Really their relationship was extremely

intimate. Baba wore on his body the usual kafni, took His satka (short stick)

under His armpit and after taking His chillum (tobacco-pipe) and tobacco and

placing a cloth over His shoulder became ready to start. Then Tatya threw a

golden-embroidered beautiful Shela (Shawl) over His body. After this Baba,

moving a little the bundle of fuel-sticks lying behind with His right toe and

then extinguishing the burning lamp with His right hand, started for the

Chavadi. Then all sorts of musical instruments, tashe, band and horns

and mridang, gave out their different sounds; and fire-works exhibited their

different and various colored views. Men and women singing Baba's name started

walking, making bhajan to the accompaniment of mridang and veena. Some danced

with joy and some carried various flags and standards. The Bhaldars announced

Baba's name when He came on the steps of the Masjid. On the two sides of Baba

stood persons, who held chavaris and others who fanned Baba. On the way were

spread folds of cloth on which Baba walked on, being supported by devotees'

hands. Tatyaba held the left hand and Mhalsapati the right and Bapusaheb Jog

held the chhatra (umbrella) over His head. In this fashion Baba marched on to

the Chavadi. The fully decorated red horse, named Shyamakarna led the way and

behind him were all the carriers, waiters, musical players and the crowd of

devotees. Hari-nama (the name of the Lord) chanted to the accompaniment of

music rent the skies as also the name of Sai. In this manner

the procession reached the corner when all the persons that joined this party

seemed well pleased and delighted. On coming to this corner Baba stood

facing the Chavadi and shone with a peculiar luster. It seemed, as if the face

of Baba glittered like dawning, or liking the glory of the rising sun. Baba

stood there with a concentrated mind, facing the north, as if He was calling

somebody. All the instruments played their music while Baba moved His right arm

up and down for some time. Kakasaheb Dixit at this time came forward with a

silver

plate containing flowers besmeared with gulal (red powder) and threw them on

Baba's body off and on. The musical instruments played their best at this

juncture and Baba's face beamed with steady and added radiance and beauty, and

all the persons drank this lustre to their hearts' content. Words fail to

describe the scene and splendor of this occasion. Some times Mhalsapati began

to dance being possessed or obsessed by some deity, but all were surprised to

see that Baba's concentration was not in the least disturbed. With a lantern in

his hand Tatya Patil walked on Baba's left side and Bhagat Mhalsapati on the

right, holding with his hand the hem of Baba's garment. What a beautiful

procession and what an expression of devotion! To witness this, men and women,

poor and rich, flocked together there. Baba walked very slowly. Bhaktas

followed on both sides with love and devotion. With joy pervading the whole

atmosphere of the place, the procession reached the Chavadi. That

scene and those days are gone now. Nobody can see them now or in the future;

still remembering and visualising that scene and sight, we can bring solace and

comfort to our minds. The Chavadi was also fully decorated with a good white

ceiling, mirrors and many sorts of lamps. On reaching it Tatya went ahead and

spread an asan and placing a bolster made Baba sit there and made Him wear good

angaraksha (coat). Then the devotees worshipped Him in various ways. They put on

His head a mugut (crown) with a tuft above, placed garlands of flowers

and jewels round His neck and marking His forehead with musk-mixed vertical

lines and a dot (as Vaishnava devotees do) they started at Him for long to

their hearts' content. They changed His headdress now and then and held it

aloft on the head, fearing that Baba might throw it away. Baba knew the heart

of them all and meekly submitted to all their methods without objection. With

these decorations He looked wonderfully beautiful. Nanasaheb Nimonkar held

the Chhatra (umbrella) with its beautiful pendants, which moved, in a circle

with its

supporting stick. Bapusaheb Jog washed the feet of Baba in a silver dish and

offered 'arghya' and worship with due formalities, then besmeared His arms with

sandal paste, and offered tambul (betel-leaves). Baba sat on the asan (gadi),

while Tatya and others kept standing and falling at His feet. When Baba sat on

the gadi supporting Himself against the bolster, devotees on both sides waved

chamars and fans. Shama then prepared the chillum and handed it over to Tatyaba

who drew a flame out of it by his breath and then gave it to Baba. After Baba

had His smoke, it was given to Bhagat Mhalsapati and then it was passed round

to all. Blessed was the inanimate chillum. It had first to undergo many ordeals

of penance, such as being treated by pot-makers, dried in the open sun and burnt

in fire and then it had the good fortune to get the contact of Baba's hand and

His kiss. After this function was over, devotees put garlands of flowers on His

neck and gave Him nosegays and bunch of

flowers for smelling. Baba who was dispassion or non-attachment incarnate, cared

a fig for all these necklaces of jewels, and garlands of flowers and other

decorations; but out of real love to His devotees, He allowed them to have

their own way and to please themselves. Finally Bapusaheb Jog waved the arati

over Baba, observing all formalities, the musical instruments playing their

auspicious tunes. When this arati was over, the devotees returned home one by

one saluting Baba and taking His leave. When Tatya Patil, after offering

chillum, attar (scent) and rose-water, rose to depart, Baba said to him

lovingly - & quot Guard Me, go if you like, but return sometimes at night and

enquire after Me." Replying in the affirmative Tatyaba left the Chhavadi and

went home. Then Baba Himself prepared His bed. He arranged 50 or 60 white

chadders one upon another and thus making His bed went to rest.

0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"> We shall also now take rest and close this chapter

with a request to the readers that they should remember Sai Baba and His

Chavadi procession daily before they retire and go to bed. Bow to

Shri Sai - Peace be to all Chapter XXXVIII Baba's Handi - Disrespect of Shrine

- Kala or hodgepodge - Cup of buttermilk

Arial"> In the last chapter we described Baba's Chavadi procession. In this we

take up Baba's Handi (cooking pot) and some other subjects. Preliminary

Oh, blessed Sad-guru Sai, we bow

to You, Who have given happiness to the whole world, accomplished the welfare of

the devotees and have removed the affliction of those who have resorted to Your

Feet. Being very liberal and being the protector and savior of the Bhaktas who

surrender themselves to You, You incarnate yourself in this world to oblige the

people and do them good. The liquid essence of Pure Self was poured into the

mould of Brahma and out of this has come out the crest-jewel of the saints-Sai.

This Sai is Atmarama Himself. He is the abode of perfect divine bliss. Having

Himself attained all objects of life; He made His devotees desireless and free.

Baba's

Handi Different sadhanas (means of accomplishments) are prescribed in our

scriptures for different ages. Tapa (Penance) is recommended for Krita age,

Jnana (Knowledge) for Treta age, Yajna (Sacrifice) for Dwapara age and Dana

(Charity) for Kali (present) age. Of all the charities, giving food is the best

one. We are much perturbed when we get no food at noon. Other beings feel

similarly under similar circumstances. Knowing this, he who gives food to the

poor and hungry, is the best donor or charitable person. The Taittiriya

Upanishad says that Food is Brahma; from food all the creatures are born and

having been born, by food they live, and having departed,

into food again they enter." When an Atithi (uninvited guest) comes to our door

at noon, it is our bounden duty to welcome him by giving him food. Other kinds

of charities, viz., giving away wealth, property and clothes etc., require some

discrimination, but in the matter of food, no such consideration is necessary.

Let anybody come to our door at noon, he should be served forthwith; and if

lame, crippled, blind and diseased paupers come, they should be fed first and

the able-bodied persons and our relations afterwards. The merit of feeding the

former is much greater than that of feeding the latter. Other kinds of

charities are imperfect without this Anna-Dana (giving of food) as stars are

without the moon, a necklace without its central medal, a crown without

pinnacle, a tank without a lotus, Bhajans without love, a married lady without

the kumkum-mark, singing without a sweet voice or butter-milk without salt.

Just as varan (Pulse-soup) excels all other dishes, Anna-Dana

is the best of all merits. Now let us see how Baba prepared food and distributed

it. It has been stated before that Baba required very little food for Himself

and what little He wanted, was obtained by begging from a few houses. But when

He took it into His mind to distribute food to all, He made all preparations

from beginning to end, Himself. He depended on nobody and troubled none in this

matter. First He went to the bazaar and bought all the things, corn, flour,

spices etc., for cash. He did also the grinding. In the open courtyard of the

Masjid, He arranged a big hearth and after lighting a fire underneath kept a

Handi over it with a proper measure of water. There were two kinds of Handi, one

small and the other big. The former provided food for 50 persons, the later for

100. Sometimes He cooked 'Mitthe Chaval' (sweet rice), and at other times

'pulava' with meat. At times in the boiling varan (soup), He let in small balls

of thick or flat breads of wheat flour. He pounded the spices on a stone-slab,

and put the thin pulverized spices into the cooking-pot. He took all the pains

to make the dishes very palatable. He prepared 'Ambil' by boiling jawari-flour

in water and mixing it with buttermilk. With the food He distributed this Ambil

to all-alike. To see whether the food was properly cooked or not, Baba rolled up

the sleeve of His Kafni and put His bare arm in the boiling cauldron without the

least fear, and churned (moved) the whole mass from side to side and up and

down. There was no mark of burn on His arm, nor fear on His face. When the

cooking was over, Baba got the pots in the

Masjid, and had them duly consecrated by the moulvi. First He sent part of the

food as prasad to Mhalasapati and Tatya Patil and then He served the remaining

contents with His own hand to all the poor and helpless people to their hearts'

content. Really blessed and fortunate must be those people who got food prepared

by Baba and served by Him. Somebody may raise a doubt here and ask - Did Baba

distribute vegetable and animal food as prasad alike to all His devotees?" The

answer is plain and simple. Those who were accustomed to (take) animal food

were given food from the Handi as prasad and those who were not so

accustomed, were not allowed to touch it. He never created in them any wish or

desire to indulge in this food. There is a principle well established that when

a Guru himself gives anything as prasad, the disciple who thinks and doubts

whether it is acceptable or otherwise, goes to perdition. In order to see how

any disciple has imbibed this principle, Baba at times proposed tests. For

instance, on an Ekadashi day He gave some rupees to Dada Kelkar and asked him

to go in person to Koralha to get mutton from there. This Dada Kelkar was an

orthodox Brahmin and kept all orthodox manners in his life. He knew that

offering wealth, grain and clothes etc., to a Sad-guru was not enough but that

implicit obedience to and prompt compliance with His order was the real

Dakshina that pleased Him most. So Dada Kelkar dressed himself and started for

the place. Then Baba called him back and said, "Don't go yourself, but send

somebody." Then Dada sent servant Pandu for the purpose. Seeing

him starting, Baba asked Dada to call him back and cancelled that programme. On

another occation Baba asked Dada just to see how the saltish `Pulava' (mutton

dish) was done. The latter said casually and formally that it was all right.

Then Baba said to him – "Neither you have seen it with your eyes, nor tasted in

with your tongue, then how could you say that it was good? Just take out the lid

and see." Saying this Baba caught his arm and thrust it into the pot and added,

"Draw out your arm and taking a ladle, put some quantity in the dish without

caring for your orthodoxy and without blustering." When a wave of real love

rises in a mother's mind, she pinches her child with her hand and when it

begins to cry and shout, she hugs it close to her bosom. Similarly Baba, in a

true motherly way pinched Dada Kelkar in this fashion. Really no saint or guru

will ever force his orthodox disciple to eat forbidden food and defile himself

thereby. The Handi business went on for some time till 1910 and was stopped

thereafter. As stated before, Das Ganu spread the fame of Baba by his kirtans

far and wide in the Bombay Presidency and people from that part of the country

began to flock to Shirdi, which became in a few days a place of pilgrimage. The

devotees brought with them various articles for presentation and offered various

dishes of food as naivedya. The quantity of naivedya offered by them was so much

that the fakirs and paupers could feed themselves to their hearts' content,

leaving some surplus behind. Before stating how naivedya was distributed, we

shall refer to Nanasaheb Chandorkar's story

showing Baba's regard and respect for local Shrines and deities. Nanasaheb's

Disrespect of a Shrine By drawing inferences or guessing in their own way

some people said that Sai was a Brahmin, and some that He was a Moslem. Really

He belonged to no caste. No one knew definitely when He was born and in what

community and who were

His parents. Then how could He be a Moslem or Brahmin? If He were a Moslem, how

could He keep Dhuni fire ever burning in the Masjid, how could there be a Tulsi

Brindavan there, how could He allow the blowing of conches and ringing of bells

and the playing of the musical instruments, how could He allow all the

different forms of Hindu worship, there? Had He been a Moslem, could He have

pierced ears and could He have been spent money from His pocket for repairing

Hindu temples? On the contrary He never tolerated the slightest disrespect to

Hindu Shrines and deities. Once Nanasaheb Chandorkar came to Shirdi with his

'Sadu' -

husband of his sister-in-law, Mr. Biniwalle. When they went to the Masjid and

sat before Baba talking, the latter suddenly got angry with Nanasaheb and said

– "You are so long in My company and how do you behave like this?" Nanasaheb

then at first did not understand anything and humbly requested Baba to explain.

Baba asked him when he came to Kopergaon and how he came to Shirdi from thence.

Nanasaheb then at once realized his mistake. He usually worshipped the Shrine

of Datta, on the banks of the Godavari at Kopergaon on his way to Shirdi, but

this time he dissuaded his relation who was a Datta Bhakta from going to that

Shrine, to avoid delay and drove straight. He confessed all this to Baba and

told Him that while bathing in the Godavari, a big thorn went into his foot and

gave him much trouble. Baba said that, that was the slight punishment be met and

warned him to be more careful in future.

justify"> Kala (hodge-podge) To revert to the distribution of the naivedya:

After the Aarti was over and after Baba sent away all the people with Udi and

blessings, He went inside and sat with his back to the Nimbar for meals, with

two rows of the Bhaktas, one on each side. The Bhaktas who brought naivedya

thrust inside their dishes containing a variety of food such as Puris, Mande,

Polis, Basundi, Sanza, fine rice etc.,

and kept waiting outside for prasad consecrated by Baba. All the foods were

mixed in a hotch-potch and placed before Baba. He offered it all to God and

consecrated it. Then portions of the same were given to the persons waiting

outside and the rest was served to the inner party with Baba at the center. The

Bhaktas sitting in two rows then dined to their hearts' content. Baba asked

Shama and Nanasaheb Nimonkar daily to serve the consecrated food to all the

persons sitting inside and look to their individual needs and comforts. This

they did very carefully and willingly. Every morsel of the food thus partaken

gave them nutrition and satisfaction. Such sweet, lovely and consecrated food

it was! Ever auspicious and every holy! Cup of Buttermilk Once Hemadpant

had eaten his full in this company, when Baba offered him a cup of buttermilk.

Its white appearance pleased him, but he was afraid that there was no space

inside for it. He, however, took a sip, which proved very tasty. Seeing his

faltering attitude, Baba said – "Drink it all, you won't get any such

opportunity hereafter." He drank it off then, but found that Baba's words were

prophetic, for He passed away soon.

FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> Now, readers, we have certainly to thank Hemadpant. He

drank the cup of buttermilk, but has supplied us with sufficient quantity of

nectar in the form of Baba's Leelas. Let us drink cups and cups of this nectar

and be satisfied and happy. A chronological account of the history of Shirdi

Sai Baba's life on Planet Earth, the first of the triple incarnations of the Sai

Baba Avatar and the Golden

Age. 1838 - Birth of Shirdi Sai Baba at Pathri, Marathwada. 1846 - Left home

at the age of 8, in the company of a Sufi fakir. 1868 - Sai Baba arrived at

Shirdi with Chand Patil for a wedding ceremony. By now he was about 30 years

old, and Nanasaheb heard he was a Chintamani.

1878 - Sai Baba getting recognition among government officials. Some followers

accepted him as Sadguru. 1885 - Shirdi Sai Baba went into a trance for 3 days.

1892 - Shirdi Sai Baba's first miracle, used water to light lamps. Distribution

of Udi (ash) as a cure began. Dasganu met Shirdi.

Arial">1904 - Shirdi Sai Baba's second miracle, known as the Jamner incident.

1908 - Sathe wada was completed. 1909 - Congregational worship of Shirdi Sai

Baba started. Sitaram Dikshit met Sai Baba. 1910 - Feb 10th onward started

night Aarti every alternate day. Shirdi grind wheat to halt cholera epidemic;

another miracle. Began to speak in parables and symbology. Haley Comet first

sighted. 1911 Dikshit wada was completed. Shirdi started celebrating

the now famous Rama Navami festival. 1912 - 15th, Tue 2.35 p.m.

Shirdi Sai Baba entered into Mahasamadi. Oct

16th, Wed, His body was cremated at Bute wada. Before he died, Shirdi told his

devotees he would come back eight years later. 1918 – Baba’s Samadhi on

Vijayadashami day Bow to Shri Sai - Peace be to all

Roman" color="#0000ff" size="2">TO BE CONTINUED… With Sai love from Sai brothers

– ‘’

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