Sheet-Anchor of Everyone By Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji

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Sheet-Anchor of Everyone

By Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji

I Found God

I opened the shell of life, and discovered the brightest

pearl-God.

I broke the almond of the world, and tasted the sweetest

kernel-God.

I caused the bud of Truth blossom, and reveal rare charm and

fragrance-God.

By His grace all things possible. Seek the grace and be blessed.

 

Sai Baba made His sudden appearance at Shirdi under a Margosa tree while He was in His teens. Even at that early

age Baba had developed extraordinary spiritual powers. He was not affected by

heat or cold, wind or rain or by any of the dwandas. He was almost always in a state of trance in the Nirvikalpa Samadhi. The people of Shirdi wondered as

to how a very young man of His age could possess such wonderful yogic powers.

The saint then began to reside in an old dilapidated mosque at Shirdi.

 

Baba in His life worked many miracles and thus convinced many people

of His greatness. His love for humanity knew no bounds. He had realised that God is love. He constantly preached that in

order to reach the abode of God one should have real and sincere love and bhakti. To those, who went to Him for spiritual

illumination and for the cure of their physical sufferings, He gave His

nectar-like udi saying Allah

bhale karega. The

sufferer did become all right very soon.

 

He made no distinction between this man and that

man. To Him all were equal. The poor man was as much entitled to His love and

attention as the rich man. The saint first satisfied the worldly desires of the

people who went to Him in order to attract them to Himself. He then gradually

purified the minds of His bhaktas and turned them slowly but surely towards

spiritual desires. He thus made His devotees fit for realizing God and

attaining mukti. He very often said, " Why should any

one suffer when I am here? "

 

People belonging to different castes and creeds began to flock to

Him in large numbers for spiritual advice. The saint had the same respect for

all castes and creeds. He strongly advised His bhaktas not to forsake the Gods of their faith, but to worship them

in all sincerity and devotion. He preached that the goal of all the religions

was one and the same, namely the attainment of mukti. He was not a believer in proselytism. In fact, He

discouraged conversion from one faith to another. He was a great advocate of

Hindu-Muslim unity and worked with might and main for the realization of this

great ideal.

 

The Hindus worshipped the saint in accordance with their sastric modes, using mantras in the worship. The saint had a deep knowledge of

the Hindu scriptures as well as of the Quran, the scripture of the Mohammedans. He often expounded the tenants

of these religions in a wonderful way to His devotees. He often gave money to

poor Mohammedan pilgrims for pilgrimage to Mecca. The holy name of Allah was always on the lips

of Sai Baba. He gave His pictures and

Padukas to His Hindu devotees and asked them to

worship them. He exhorted the Mohammedans, to perform their Namaz regularly and without fail. He deprecated strongly the idea

of a man praising his own religion and belittling the religion of another.

 

It is Sai Baba who has proclaimed in unequivocal terms from the

hilltop of His spiritual eminence, " Why do you fear when I am here? Cast

off all your burdens on Me, I will bear them. " Surely, spiritual history

cannot boast of a greater and noble declaration than the one made by the saint

of Shirdi. This great declaration is the sheet anchor of every devotee's hope

of attaining mukti.

(Source Shri Sai Padananda July 2001)