Baba Appears as an Old Man

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Baba Appears as an Old Man

By R. Radhakrishnan

Lovely temple for Sai

Baba has come up at Mekkudi, 18 km from Trichy on the Madurai route. It is built at a cost 65 lakhs and it can accommodate over 500 devotees for

congregation. Kumbabhishekam took place on 24th and 25th October 2001.

 

On 25th October 2001 around 11 a.m., a tall bearded old man came to the temple. He

was dressed poorly and was holding a bamboo stick of 7-ft height. His

personality resembled Baba. On seeing him, my intuition prompted me that it is Sai Baba himself has come in that form. I received him with

folded hands and made him sit on a vacant chair. I called Sai

Bandhu K. V. Ramani and

told him my feelings. He immediately took out an 'Anga

Vastra' and bowed to him by placing it around the old

man's neck. Then the old man pretended that his legs were paining and asked us

whether Baba would alleviate his suffering. We affirmed that Baba would take

care of everything. He then looked at Baba's idol and bowed to him. By then, my

wife, a few devotees like Swaminathan came there and were quick to recognize

the old man as Baba and prostrated before him.

 

The old man told us that he has kept some 'kanikai', which he will bring it next time. He also told us

that he has been visiting this place since a long time and declared that this

is a sanctified place and the devotees who come to this temple will be blessed

and their problems would be automatically solved.

 

Then he received the prasad - sweet ‘pongal’. He put it in his upper cloth and took leave

of us. He walked back to the entrance holding the bamboo shaft for support. Sri

Swaminathan escorted him and at the exit door offered him a ‘dakshina’ of Rs.

10/- with reverence.

 

Sai Baba appears in any form, at any time, at any

place in the form of a fakir, Sadhu, dog, cat, pig

etc., and blesses the devotees. We should be alert always to recognize Baba. If

we are always thinking of him, then we would have his 'darshan'

easily.

 

Wonder To

A holy man who lived at the outskirts of Bangalore was said to perform miracles, so his Ashram was

a centre of pilgrimage for large crowds of people.

 

Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji, who was known to be quite uninterested in the miracles,

would never reply to questions on this holy man. When asked point blank why he

was opposed to miracles, Swamiji replied: " How

can one be opposed to what is taking place before one's eyes each moment of the

day? "

 

Deception

Some devotees asked Sri Radhakrishna

Swamiji: " How shall we distinguish the true

mystic from the false? " Swamiji asked a counter

question: " How do you distinguish the true sleeper from the one who is

feigning sleep? "

Devotee: " There is no way. Only the

sleeper knows when he is feigning. "

Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji just smiled. Later Swamiji

said: " The feigning sleeper can delude others- he cannot delude himself.

The false mystic, unfortunately, can delude both others and himself. "

 

(Source Shri Sai Padananda

April 2002)

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