Sai Baba's Method By Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji

[Guest guest]

Sai Baba's Method

By Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji

" LORD "

Lord, Bless me fill thy Light in My Heart and Soul

Let me feel your presence in and around me everywhere

Beauty of the nature sooths my eyes and gives relief, it is all them

creation

Bhakti, Bhajans and Meditation are the ways to merge in you thou dwell

in everybody's Heart.

Prayer is always for you to be with me everywhere and all the times.

I surrender at your Lotus Feet with my body and soul.

Jai Sai Ram

- G. K. Bharadwaj

 

The subject of Sai Baba of Shirdi is an extremely interesting one and at

the same time one of great complexity and difficulty. Sai Baba is a

living force and the Sai Movement is growing, expanding, and developing

in its nature as time goes on and though Sai Baba passed away in 1918,

it is quite correct to say that we are too near the trees to see the

forest. Sai Baba's movement is growing around us and we cannot feel sure

that we have seen most of it, much less of it. Baba's Life is also so

full of mystery that one cannot be sure that one gives an accurate

account of Baba. Yet we shall follow the legacy (the unearthed treasure)

stored up by our Sri Narasimha Swamiji, the founder of Baba's world.

 

In the first place, Sai Baba is absorbing the attention of an

increasingly large number of people, and that is the meaning of the

growth of the Sai movement. The subject of Baba's life and the history

of his movement are of romantic interest and far surpass the interest

which we have in reading fiction like Arabian Nights, etc. The

oft-quoted saying that truth is stranger than fiction is best

illustrated here. Taking the mere question of the life of the Saint,

that itself is incredible and marvelous.

 

When he got into Shirdi, he was ripening his process of love in

solitude. Vairagya, Dhriti and interest in all creatures were developed

unnoticed and in obscurity by Baba, and the benefit to the world came

through the intrepid courage of a Goldsmith (Mahlsapathy) who was

anxious to get the best of saints for his Guru. Mahlsapathy, a highly

devout and dispassionate worshipper of Khandoba found that Baba who had

come as an unknown fakir was really a remarkable gem of the highest

virtues and was most fitted to be his own Guru. So he started the

worship of Baba in the mosque itself where Baba was living. His example

was followed by others slowly. Now it has developed so vastly in all

parts of the country and Baba's worship is going on individually and

collectively. This is a well known fact.

 

In Sai's system, (as Sri Narasimha Swamiji puts it), the Guru undertakes

every responsibility for the devotee that surrenders himself. The

devotee is there styled 'the Ankita', i.e., the stamped child of the

Guru. Everything concerning that pupil is looked after by the Guru, with

his wonderful superhuman powers. For a time, the circle of his

worshippers and admirers was extremely limited and in the close

proximity of Shirdi. But as the mass puts it, you cannot conceal the Sun

by covering it with the back of your hand. Murder will be out, truth

will be out, and greatness of Saints will be out also. Baba's powers of

achieving objects by mere blessings were so well known to many now,

without any education or training, he dared to give medicines for highly

advanced cases of tuberculosis, Leprosy, rotting eyes, bone rot etc.,

and effected most remarkable cures. The devotees discovered that Baba

knew everything, their present condition, and the innermost thoughts

that lay hidden in their hearts, their entire past history, their

previous births also, that Baba could definitely state what the future

was going to be for each person that came to him.

 

Those wonderful powers were employed by Baba not for purposes of show or

for getting wealth or plaudits but merely to promote the best interests

of people who confined themselves entirely to his care. Naturally the

advantages of having such a guru to worship were highly esteemed and the

worship of Baba went on from neighborhood of Shirdi to distant outlying

areas and reached practically the confines of Maharashtra by the time of

his Maha Samadhi in 1918. And now it has spread all over our country and

abroad.

 

We shall remember now one of Baba's eleven sayings, " I am ever living to

help all who come to me, who surrender to me and who seek refuge in me. "

 

Thus Baba is living and helping us (his devotees) in every respect,

temporal and spiritual, not for one moment but for the entire life of

the devotees that he takes charge of.

 

Baba's methods are unconventional. He insisted upon the essence of all

religions viz., love, intense, unselfish love evidenced by devotion and

service to all mankind and all creatures. This love begins with the Guru

but grows and covers up every creature. Hatred is inconsistent with

Baba's faith and the more this doctrine of love, gathering momentum

under the Sai Baba Movement, spreads, the more chances there will be for

people's love to grow and for this unfortunate tendency of mutual

jealousy and hatred which now threatens world peace, to get absorbed.

 

That hatred ceases not by hatred but by love, is demonstrated in

individual lives and will also be demonstrated more and more in the

history of groups of nations and of the world.

 

What we Reveal to Others

 

I was abroad a large airliner sometime ago which ran into an extremely

severe wind and rainstorm. Despite the size of the plane and the

tremendous power of its four wasp motors, the ship was being tossed

violently. A little nine-year-old fellow was my seat companion. It was

his first experience in the air, and he was desperately afraid.

 

Suddenly he looked up at me and said " Are you afraid? " I smiled and

replied, " No this is real fun. " An immediate change came over the little

chap - fear and tension left him. He, too, had fun.

 

This taught me a real lesson in living. What he detected in my voice,

what he discerned in my face, helped him over that rough spot in life.

How many people during times of trial watch my face for what it may

reveal, I do not know. This I do know-my face and my life must reveal to

those who observe me or need me, my faith in God.

(Source Sai Padananda Magazine Special)

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Sai Baba's Method

By Sri

Radhakrishna Swamiji

" LORD "

Lord, Bless me fill thy Light in My Heart and Soul

Let me feel your presence in and around me everywhere

Beauty of the nature sooths my eyes and gives relief, it is all

them creation

Bhakti, Bhajans and Meditation are the ways to merge in you thou

dwell in everybody's Heart.

Prayer is always for you to be with me everywhere and all the

times.

I surrender at your Lotus Feet with my body and soul.

Jai Sai Ram

- G. K. Bharadwaj

 

The subject of Sai Baba of Shirdi is an extremely interesting one

and at the same time one of great complexity and difficulty. Sai Baba is a

living force and the Sai Movement is growing, expanding, and developing in its

nature as time goes on and though Sai Baba passed away in 1918, it is quite

correct to say that we are too near the trees to see the forest. Sai Baba's

movement is growing around us and we cannot feel sure that we have seen most of

it, much less of it. Baba's Life is also so full of mystery that one cannot be

sure that one gives an accurate account of Baba. Yet we shall follow the legacy

(the unearthed treasure) stored up by our Sri Narasimha Swamiji, the founder of

Baba's world.

 

In the first place, Sai Baba is absorbing the attention of an

increasingly large number of people, and that is the meaning of the growth of

the Sai movement. The subject of Baba's life and the history of his movement

are of romantic interest and far surpass the interest which we have in reading

fiction like Arabian Nights, etc. The oft-quoted saying that truth is stranger

than fiction is best illustrated here. Taking the mere question of the life of

the Saint, that itself is incredible and marvelous.

 

When he got into Shirdi, he was ripening his process of love in

solitude. Vairagya, Dhriti and interest in all creatures were developed

unnoticed and in obscurity by Baba, and the benefit to the world came through

the intrepid courage of a Goldsmith (Mahlsapathy) who was anxious to get the

best of saints for his Guru. Mahlsapathy, a highly devout and dispassionate

worshipper of Khandoba found that Baba who had come as an unknown fakir was

really a remarkable gem of the highest virtues and was most fitted to be his

own Guru. So he started the worship of Baba in the mosque itself where Baba was

living. His example was followed by others slowly. Now it has developed so

vastly in all parts of the country and Baba's worship is going on individually

and collectively. This is a well known fact.

 

In Sai's system, (as Sri Narasimha Swamiji puts

it), the Guru undertakes every responsibility for the devotee that surrenders

himself. The devotee is there styled 'the Ankita', i.e., the stamped child of

the Guru. Everything concerning that pupil is looked after by the Guru, with

his wonderful superhuman powers. For a time, the circle of his worshippers and

admirers was extremely limited and in the close proximity of Shirdi. But as the

mass puts it, you cannot conceal the Sun by covering it with the back of your

hand. Murder will be out, truth will be out, and greatness of Saints will be

out also. Baba's powers of achieving objects by mere blessings were so well

known to many now, without any education or training, he dared to give

medicines for highly advanced cases of tuberculosis, Leprosy, rotting eyes,

bone rot etc., and effected most remarkable cures. The devotees discovered that

Baba knew everything, their present condition, and the innermost thoughts that

lay hidden in their hearts, their entire past history, their previous births

also, that Baba could definitely state what the future was going to be for each

person that came to him.

 

Those wonderful powers were employed by Baba not for purposes of

show or for getting wealth or plaudits but merely to promote the best interests

of people who confined themselves entirely to his care. Naturally the

advantages of having such a guru to worship were highly esteemed and the

worship of Baba went on from neighborhood of Shirdi to distant outlying areas

and reached practically the confines of Maharashtra by the time of his Maha Samadhi in 1918. And

now it has spread all over our country and abroad.

 

We shall remember now one of Baba's eleven sayings, " I am

ever living to help all who come to me, who surrender to me and who seek refuge

in me. "

 

Thus Baba is living and helping us (his devotees) in every

respect, temporal and spiritual, not for one moment but for the entire life of

the devotees that he takes charge of.

 

Baba's methods are unconventional. He insisted upon the essence of

all religions viz., love, intense, unselfish love evidenced by devotion and

service to all mankind and all creatures. This love begins with the Guru but

grows and covers up every creature. Hatred is inconsistent with Baba's faith

and the more this doctrine of love, gathering momentum under the Sai Baba

Movement, spreads, the more chances there will be for people's love to grow and

for this unfortunate tendency of mutual jealousy and hatred which now threatens

world peace, to get absorbed.

 

That hatred ceases not by hatred but by love, is demonstrated in

individual lives and will also be demonstrated more and more in the history of

groups of nations and of the world.

 

What we Reveal to Others

 

I was abroad a large airliner sometime ago which ran into an

extremely severe wind and rainstorm. Despite the size of the plane and the

tremendous power of its four wasp motors, the ship was being tossed violently.

A little nine-year-old fellow was my seat companion. It was his first

experience in the air, and he was desperately afraid.

 

Suddenly he looked up at me and said " Are you afraid? " I

smiled and replied, " No this is real fun. " An immediate change came

over the little chap - fear and tension left him. He, too, had fun.

 

This taught me a real lesson in living. What he

detected in my voice, what he discerned in my face, helped him over that rough

spot in life. How many people during times of trial watch my face for what it

may reveal, I do not know. This I do know-my face and my life must reveal to

those who observe me or need me, my faith in God.

(Source

Sai Padananda Magazine Special)