Sathyam Sivam Sundaram - Part I (Sl# 31)

May 4, 2006

SaiRam

Sai Baba Again (Continued..)

Whenever anyone came into the Presence, even in those days, Sai Baba immediately took him in hand, and by advice, suggestion, satire, sarcasm, or even reprimand, He slowly shaped him into a humble, silent, pious, and thereby efficient, enthusiastic limb of society. That is the alchemy of His Touch. Even when He addressed groups of devotees He emphasized the need for an inner transformation in every individual. He told everyone to have courage and said that courage can come only by faith in the Infinite Power, the Infinite Mercy of the Lord. Anyone inclined to doubt this need only watch Him and taste His Infinite Power and His Infinite Mercy.

An incident regarding His Mercy happened at Bangalore when He was still in His teens. A cobbler, plying his trade on a corner of a road in the Civil Station, saw Baba in a bungalow opposite the place where he sat. Many cars were moving in and out of the house grounds. Flowers and fruits were being taken in and the faces of those who came out on the road were bright with joy and contentment. They were talking of an Incarnation of Lord Krishna, of the Lord Sai Baba, and so forth. The cobbler too ventured to enter the gate and peep nervously into the hall where Sai Baba was seated on a special chair with men on one side and women on the other. His eyes fell on Baba just when He too looked at him. Sai Baba immediately arose and came forward to the door where the cobbler stood. He approached him, took the little dried up garland of flowers that he held in his hand, even before the man offered it, and asked him in Tamil, the only language the cobbler knew, what he

wanted from Him! The temerity to formulate his wish and express it in so many words must have been granted to that aged "untouchable" outcaste by Baba Himself, for how else can one explain the astounding request that he dared to make? He said quite confidently and without hesitation, to the surprise of everyone who heard him, "Please come to my house and accept something!" Baba patted his back lovingly and said, "All right, I shall come," and resumed His seat at the other end of the hall.

The cobbler waited for a long time because he wanted to tell Sai Baba where his house was and to know when Baba would visit it so that he might clean it and be ready to receive Him; but he finally had to hurry back to his corner to keep watch over his heap of leather pieces and old shoes. He was pushed and jostled by the rush of visitors. No one listened to him when he said that Baba had promised to pay a visit to his hut. The cobbler wanted them to find out from Sai Baba when He would be coming. Some laughed at him and his audacity; some said he was drunk or mad. Days passed. Sai Baba spent His days with other blessed hosts and did not visit the bungalow opposite the cobbler's corner. So the cobbler gave up all hopes of meeting Baba again!

Suddenly one day a fine car was driven right up in front of the aged cobbler. He was taken aback; he was afraid it might be the police van or some City official intent on prosecuting him for plying his trade on the pavement. But it was Sai Baba! He invited the cobbler to get into the car; the man was too confused even to open his mouth to direct the driver to his hut, Sai Baba seemed to know. Stopping the car on the side of the road, Baba got down and hastened over the cobblestones in the by-lane to the exact hut in the midst of the slum! The cobbler ran forward to warn his family. Sai Baba created some sweets and fruits and gave them as consecrated gifts to the members of the cobbler's family and sat on a plank near the wall. He blessed the aged man who was shedding tears of joy and took with Him a few bananas the cobbler had brought from a shop nearby. He then left the hut which was thereafter made a place of pilgrimage for the entire neighborhood! Such was

Sai Baba's love.

(Sai Baba Again To be continued..)

SaiRam