What! you want ten janmas?

[Guest guest]

Regarding birth of a child, death of son-in-law, etc., about which Chandorkar

was anxious to make Baba work on his behalf, Baba declared that they were the

result of previous karma and could not be altered. In a sense that is true.

Certain births and certain deaths are all fixed by series of antecedent events,

but yet Baba is able to mould 'these and shape these at certain stages and

modify these for the benefit of the concerned devotees. When talking of Dr.

Chidambaram Pillai, Baba explained the correct doctrine. Dr. Pillai had intense

suffering from guinea worm. He told a friend to go and report to Baba that his

sufferings were intolerable and to request Baba to transfer these sufferings to

some ten later births of his and leave him free from the sufferings in this

janma. When this was reported to Baba, the latter sent for Pillai and told him,

What! you want ten janmas? What has to be endured in ten janmas can be crushed

into ten days by the power of satpurushas.' So Baba ordered him to remain with

his legs outstretched at Dwarakamayee and he told him that a crow would come and

peck at his wound and cure him. In a few minutes, Abdul, Babas permanent

attendant, carelessly put his foot down upon Pillais wound and crushed all the

guinea worms out of it, merely by accident as he (Pillai) would have thought.

But nothing done at the Mosque to Pillai could be considered as an accident, and

Baba said that Abdul was the crow, and that no further crow was wanted to peck

at Pillais wound. Pillai was then asked to go home, and in ten days, the entire

suffering from guinea worm was cured.

 

In another case, that of Bhimaji, who had serious chest disease, asthma,

tuberculosis, etc., Baba first told Shama, Shama, in bringing this thief to me

what a load of responsibility you are placing on me! Baba meant that the

tuberculosis, asthma, etc., from which Bhimaji suffered were the result of

Bhiinajis karma in a previous janma consisting of theft. Bhimaji felt Babas

declaration a blow. At once he surrendered himself to Baba and said, ˜Helper of

the helpless! I am helpless. Pray show thy pity and grace to me. Then Babas tone

changed. Baba told him, ˜The Fakir (God) is merciful, and your disease will be

cured. He was suffering from the results of a karma, but that could be

mitigated, and so the man was sent to live and sleep in a wet verandah. Bhimaji

did so. There, he had two very dreadful dreams. In one dream, he was mercilessly

birched by a school master. For, in the dream he fancied he was a boy and the

master was

birching him. So, he felt the pain in the dream and he roared out. In the

second dream, it was even worse. He felt that some one was placing a stone

roller and rolling it over his breast. He suffered all the horror of instant

death approaching him. All the pain of a hanging sentence and whipping sentence

were endured by this man in the course of one night. Baba thus changed the

punishments which he had earned by his previous karma, and told him that he was

thus free from karmic effects. He then recovered his health. The above instances

go to show that most of our conceptions about karma are nebulous and ungrounded,

and that the safest course for us to follow would be to be guided by the dicta

of Satpurushas like Sai Baba.