How K.J.Bhishma Composed “Shri Sadguru Sainath Sagunopasana�

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Krishnashastri Jageshwar Bhishma was a resident of a village

called Bori in the district of Nagpur. He lived on the income from his

farms. After his second wife died he became restless. His relations

and friends advised him to remarry but he declined. In the month of

Shravan in 1908, on the night of Purnima he had a dream. He saw a

person of dark complexion with tripundra mark on his forehead,

sandal-wood paste mixed with saffron applied to his body and puja

offered at his feet. He gave Bhishma a newspaper. Bhishma enquired of

him as to who he was. He did not reply but pointed to the the

newspaper on which “Sat-Chit-Anand†was printed in bold letters. He

directed Bhishma to read. Bhishma looked at the newspaper wherein he

saw the words “Mantra va shikava†which mean “mantra and learnâ€.

Bhishma was intrigued and wanted to question the dark person, but both

the person and the newspaper had vanished. Bhishma was mystified, but

in the meantime he heard a knock at the door and he emerged out of his

dream. He lost no time in recording this dream. Thereafter he thought

long about his dream but was unable to unravel the mystery. After a

few days a sadhu, a devotee of Ganesh, visited Bori. Bhishma narrated

his dream to the sadhu who told him that “Sat-chit-anand Swami†was

his guru, and gave him the mantra “va shikava†combining the words

“and learnâ€.

 

After sometime Bhishma happened to visit Amraoti whre Dadasaheb

Khaparde asked him whether he would like to accompany him (Khaparde)

to Shirdi. He agreed and in the company of Khaparde arrived in Shirdi.

There is a mention of Bhishma in Khaparde’s Diary pertaining to his

second and long stay at Shirdi beginning from 6th December, 1911. As

soon as Bhishma went to the Musjid for Sai Baba’s darshan, Sai Baba

with folded hands exclaimed “Jaya Sat-chit-anandâ€. Bhishma was

perplexed. He wondered whether the sadhu of his dream was Sai Baba.

However, the sadhu of his dream was a Vaishnav while Sai Baba appeared

to be a Muslim! Yet, why Sai Baba utter Sat-chit-anand? All Brahmin

devotees of Sai Baba took tirtha of his feet but Bhishma did not. Sai

Baba used to smoke the chillim and often invoted others to have a puff

but excluded Bhishma in the beginning. Once while Sai Baba was

narrating a story, a devotee got the chillim ready and handed it to

Sai Baba. Sai Baba held it out to Bhishma and directed him to smoke

after merely touching the chillim to his mouth. Bhishma had a puff and

returned it to Sai Baba. Sai Baba accepted it and remarked, “I rove

everywhere, my friend †" Bombay, Pune, Satara, Nagpur; all those towns

are filled with the presence of Ramaâ€. Then he suddenly said to

Bhishma, “You eat laddus alone by yourslef without offering anything

to me. At least now give me five laddusâ€. It is well known that Sai

Baba asked for dakshina from every devotee and spent the amount

collected for charitable purposes.

 

Sai Baba’s remark had a strange effect on Bhishma. The

distinction between the Vaishnav sadhu of his dream and Sai Baba

disappeared. He knowingly asked the sevak for Sai Baba’s tirtha and

placed his head on Sai Baba’s feet. Sai Baba put his palm on Bhishma’s

head for two full mintues. Bhishma went into ecstacy. How could he

describe the state of his mind except by saying like Devnath in his

famous composition “Gurukrupayka uhnjuna paya mera main januâ€. “The

Guru’s Grace I have received I know it for mSai Baba’s feet. Sai Baba

put his palm on Bhishma’s head for two full mintues. Bhishma went into

ecstacy. How could he describe the state of his mind except by saying

like Devnath in his famous composition “Gurukrupayka uhnjuna paya mera

main januâ€. “The Guru’s Grace I have received I know it for myselfâ€.

 

Bhishma returned to his lodging, brooding on how he could

prepare five laddus in a place where he himself was a guest. Even

otherwise he would have had to take the assistance of another person

for the purpose and Sai Baba would have surely known about it.

Moreover, why did Sai Baba ask him for only five laddus and not laddus

generally? He spent a day thinking about the deeper meaning thereof

and fell asleep with this thought uppermost in his mind. Suddenly he

woke up and was inspired to compose a stanza. In the morning while he

busied himself with the second stanza, Hari Sitaram Dikshit, on his

way to the Musjid, saw the stanza. After his bath, Bhishma went to the

musjid. Sai Baba reminded him about the laddus. Bhishma kept quiet but

Dikshit replied that laddus were being prepared. On hearing this Sai

Baba fell into a silence. Next day, Bhishma completed five stanzas,

and however hard he tried, he could not compose any more. So he placed

the composition of five stanzas into Sai Baba’s hands. Sai Baba asked

him to recite them. While he was reciting, Sai Baba again blessed him

by putting his palm on his head and Bhishma felt exalted. Thereafter

Bhishma would compose a verse and show it to Sai Baba who would order

him to render it. Thus the booklet “Shri Sainath Sagunopasna†wrote

itself and was offered at Sai Baba’s feet. Dadasaheb Khaparde has the

booklet published at his expense till 1922. Later on in 1923, after

Shri Sai Baba Sansthan was founded, with Bhaishma’s consent a revised

edition was planned and published by the Sansthan with incorporation

of more compositions therein.

 

V.B.Kher.

 

(From Shri Sai Leela, Setpember 1985)