The significance of Sri Sai's Re-birth - By Bro.Swamy Mahadevan

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The significance of Sri Sai's "Re-birth"In 1886, Baba died his first death. One day whensitting along with his devotee Mahalsapathy in theDwaraka Mayi, Baba said that he was going to Allah andthat consequently for three days his body was to belooked after for, after that period, he might returnto the body, and that in case he did not do so, thebody should be interred near the mosque. For a timebeing, Baba's body became a corpse. An inquest washeld over the same and the officer holding the inquestinsisted on Mahalsapathy burying the body. ButMahalsapathy vehemently opposed the proposal andsucceeded in preventing the internment. On the fourthday, Baba's body revived and for thirty-two yearsthereafter, Baba worked through that living fleshycase and finally left it on the 15th October, 1918,with the same prescience and clear control over allthe circumstances which

he showed in 1886. Thisleaving of the body at will and returning to it atpleasure is a siddhi, described in the Yoga Sastras;and Baba's exercise of such powers convinced and wouldconvince many of the truth of the Sastras.'Dharmasamsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge' (i.e.'I am born in each age for establishing Dharma') saidKrishna of Dwapara Yuga to Arjuna. And this divinityof the twentieth century A.D. in Kaliyuga, like othermen of God (Devatmas) of the same period, hasfrequently by his conduct proved the truth of, andconfirmed, the belief in Dharma and Sastras.One noticeable feature of Baba's life after his returnto the body was that he began to encourage the arrivalof bhaktas to his feet. Evidently the object of hisreturn to his body was to carry out his mission morefully and for a longer period on earth, especiallywith reference to the devotees and others bound to himby former ties,

rinanubandha. This is well illustratedby his call to Narayana Govind Chandorkar, B.A.,Personal Assistant to the Collector of Ahmednagar, tocome to his feet.When N.G.Chandorkar or 'Nana' as Baba affectionatelycalled him, was halting at Kopergaon, Baba sent wordto him repeatedly to come to Shirdi for a visit. Nanaafter much hesitation came up to Shirdi and asked Babawhy he was sent for. Baba replied that for fourprevious births, Nana had been intimate with Baba andthat therefore in this life also, he should get intosimilar close contact. Again Nana hesitated. But Baba,by the exercise of his wonderful powers and hiskindness especially, filled Nana's heart with faithand gratitude for numerous miraculous favors showeredupon him. On one occasion when Chandorkar was strandedon a hot day on a waterless hill (Harischandra Hill)unable to climb up or get down, he suddenly exclaimed;'If Baba were here, he

would give me water'. Baba whowas then at Shirdi, forty miles away, mentioned to thepeople there that Nana was thirsty and should beprovided with a palmful of water. At that time, a Bhilappeared on that hill and pointed out a palmful ofwater to Chandorkar, under the very rock over whichthe latter was seated. Later when Nana visited Shirdi,Baba informed him that it was; he who provided wateron the waterless rock. When Nana's daughter wasundergoing the tortures of prolonged parturition, Babasent a gosavi from Shirdi with udhi to be used foreasing the parturition. Chandorkar wondered at Baba'spower to provide everything he wanted at any place andat any time and at the depth of Baba's love for hisdevotees.Nana had innumerable proofs of Baba's vast, nay,unlimited powers, his perpetual watch over his beloveddevotees, his invariable kindness towards all thatapproached him, and summed them all up in the

phrasethat Baba was omnipotent, omniscient and universallykind. No word aptly expresses the sum total of theseattributes except 'God'.Chandorkar was convinced that Baba was God andworshipped him as God; and by reason of Chandorkar'svast influence, Baba's greatness and glory becameknown to all in various parts of Maharashtra. OneGanpat Rao Sahasrabuddhe, a constable attending on NGCwas similarly turned in to a devout Bhakta and made toquit Government service (in 1905) substitutingtherefore the service of God or Baba. SriSahasrabuddhe has thenceforward been known as DasGanuMaharaj and as a Kirtankar-devotee of Baba all throughthese forty years. By his powerful Harikathas and histalents, he has carried Baba to the homes of tens ofthousands in Maharashtra. His works on Baba are theearliest authorities on the life of Baba. The abovementioned two gentlemen with others like H.S.Dixit andAnna Dabolkar,

may be regarded as Baba's apostles whocarried the faith in Baba to the length and breadth ofMaharashtra.Baba's own miraculous personality surviving hisrelease from his physical body has however been theprincipal reason for the success of all thispropaganda. His power is still working and by reasonof that along, myriads in Madras and otherPresidencies have become firm adherents to, andworshippers of, Baba. The faith is well grounded inthe experience showered upon them now as liberally andmiraculously, as they were showered before Baba'spassing away. Baba's figure is occasionally seen by,and his wondrous powers are manifested to, those thathave the necessary faith, at any place, as Baba has nopartiality and his grace cannot be the monopoly of anyperson or place. He is working wonders today atvarious places and therefore Sai Mandirs have sprungup in many of them. Send instant

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