LIFE HISTORY OF SRI SHIRDI SAI BABA - Chapter 1

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram To All

 

Due to Dassra & Sri Shirdi Sai Baba's Maha Samadhi Day I would like

to post the " Life Story Of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba "

 

Om Sri Sai Ram

LIFE HISTORY OF SHIRDI SAI BABA

By Ammula Sambasiva Rao

English Translation by Thota Bhaskara Rao

 

 

 ¡Life History of Shirdi Sai Baba¢ was originally written in Telugu

by Ammula Sambasiva Rao, and translated into English by Thota

Bhaskara Rao. The book delves deep into the details of the life of

Shirdi Sai Baba right from his birth till his attainment of Samadhi.

 

The author has expounded Sai Thathwa or Sai Philosophy in a single

language, interspersed with engrossing anecdotes in the life of Sai

devotees.

 

Ammula Sambasiva Rao, an ardent Sai devotee, has done pioneering work

for the spread of Sai Philosophy and Sai awakening in the people of

Andhra Pradesh. He has undertaken the performance of a unique Yagna

called " Sri Sai Koti Nama Likitha Maha Yagna " in Sai temples in

Andhra Pradesh, and other places in India. He is the Founder-

President of the Shree Shirdi Sai Baba Seva Ashram, a registered body

with its headquarters at Hyderabad.

 

Sri Sambasiva Rao has written several books in Telugu on Sai

philosophy and the life history of Sai Baba.

 

Take the pleasure of sharing this our Divine Lord Sai Baba¢s Divya

life story with our beloved members. We have proposed to post this

Holy life story in Parts with imbedded photos for the benefit of all

our Sai brothers and sisters.

 

With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of our Divine Lord Sai and with

prayers to bless and shower His grace on all.

 

***

TRANSLATOR¢S PREFACE

Om Sree Ganeshaya - Namaha

My salutations to the lotus feet of the Samartha Sadguru Shri Shirdi

Sai Baba.

 

My salutations to Pujya Sri Ammula Sambasiva Raoji, the author of the

Life History of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba in Telugu.

 

Strange are the ways of Sai Baba in dragging his devotees not only to

him but also to his trusted messengers who have dedicated themselves

to the spread of Sai Thathwa or Sai Philosophy all over the length

and breadth of our sacred motherland.

 

I have been a devotee of Sai Baba of Shirdi for three decades. While

the late Sri B.V. Narasimha Swamiji of Madras was responsible for the

spread of Sai philosophy in the South, through his great writings

about Sai Baba and establishing All India Sai Samaj, I find Pujya Sri

Ammula Sambasiva Raoji doing pioneering work for the spread of Sai

Philosophy and Sai awakening in the people of Andhra Pradesh, mainly

I say ¡mainly¢ because of late, his activities are spreading not only

to the neighboring States of Andhra Pradesh, but also to distant

places like Jaipur in Rajasthan, New Delhi and Kharagpur. Before

proceeding to give an account of his activities connected with the

propagation of Sai philosophy, I would like to tell the readers,

briefly about my acquaintance with this great person, who is now

¡Guruji¢ to thousands and thousands of Sai devotees.

 

After my retirement from Government service in the year 1991, I

longed to do service to Sai Baba by associating myself with a person

doing selfless service in spreading Sai¢s message. At that time Pujya

Sri Ammula Sambasiva Raoji was working as an Officer in the State

Bank of India, Secunderabad. Knowing my desire, a friend of mine, Sri

G Manohar Babu who was also working in the same bank, introduced me

to Sri Sambasiva Raoji.

 

We were attracted to each other from the very moment of my

introductions to him. I used to attend the noon Arathis to Sai Baba

in the makeshift Sai Baba Mandir set up by Sri Sambasiva Raoji inside

the bank premises. I thanked Baba for having sent me to this great

and simple person. I used to accompany Sri Sambasiva Raoji

(hereinafter referred to as Guruji) for the conduct of Sai Poojas and

Sai Vratas (observance of fast) in the houses of Sai devotees in the

twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and sometimes in nearby

districts, during holidays and sometimes after office hours. All the

services rendered were absolutely free of cost. Till to this day,

Guruji had performed more than one thousand Sai Vratas.

 

Guruji had also undertaken the performance of a unique Yagna

called " Sri Sai Koti Nama Likitha Maha Yagna " in Sai Baba temple at

several places in Andhra Pradesh and also at Shirdi, Jaipur

(Rajasthan) and New Delhi. In each Yagna two crores of " Sree Sai "

names written by the Sai devotees in the books supplied to them free

of cost, are being put in specially constructed Stupas in the Sai

temples. Till date, 35 such Yagnas were conducted and the details are

furnished elsewhere in this book. His speeches about Sai Baba and the

way he expounds Baba¢s philosophy in the Satsang in simple words is a

rare experience for the listeners.

 

Guruji has since resigned his job as an officer in the State Bank of

India, so that he can be in the service of Sai Baba all the twenty-

four hours and work for the establishment of ¡Sai Yuga¢. No sacrifice

is too great in the service of Sai Baba.

 

Guruji has established " Shree Shirdi Sai Baba Seva Ashram " which is a

registered body. He is the Founder - President with headquarters at

Hyderabad. Units of this parent body have been constituted at six

different places in Andhra Pradesh till now. The important aims of

these units are to spread the message of Shirdi Sai Baba among the

general public in order to secure peace and harmony to mankind and to

establish ashrams at different centers to facilitate Adhyatmic

Training Classes for different age groups.

 

Besides the above-mentioned activities, Guruji has written several

books in Telugu and Sai philosophy and the Life History of Shirdi Sai

Baba. The circumstances under which this book was written and

published were given in Guruji¢s (author¢s) foreword. This Life

History contains certain details, which cannot be found in other

similar publications.

 

The need to translate this Life History of Shirdi Sai Baba into other

Indian languages was felt with the spread of Guruji¢s activities to

other States of India. Hence, he has taken a decision to have the

English and Hindi translations of the Life History, to start with.

 

Guruji had been asking me to take up the translation into English

since sometime, but I was hesitating and postponing as I doubted my

capacity to undertake such a work, that too connected with Sai Baba,

But, he finally told me in the last week of December, 1995, that I

should commence the work from 1 January 1996, under any

circumstances, and Sai Baba is there to give me necessary guidance.

 

Therefore with the blessings of Guruji and reposing full confidence

in Sai Baba, I commenced the translation on 1 January 1996 as per the

directions of Guruji and completed the work on 14 February 1996, the

day on which Guruji left for Kharagpur.

 

While I was writing the English translation of Life History, Sai Baba

showed his Leela as follows. The manuscript of the work came to

nearly 500 pages in long hand and I was searching for a person who

could type the matter correctly. I contacted several typewriting-

coaching institutes, where such work was done. But they were not

prepared to undertake this work and those who were prepared, demanded

huge sums. Samartha Sadguru Sai Baba came to my rescue in the form of

Jagannadha Rao, a typist by profession, a Sai devotee, and a complete

stranger to me, who volunteered to do the typing, after knowing that

the original work in Telugu was written by Pujya Sri Ammula Sambasiva

Rao. He told me that he had heard the name and activities of Guruji

and expressed his gratefulness for being of some service to him. He

did the typing work with great devotion and promptness.

 

I pray to Sai Baba to shower his blessings on Sri Jagannadha Rao. If

the above incident is not Sai Leela, what else it is?

 

I express my deep sense of gratitude to Sai Maharaj and also to

Guruji for having given me the opportunity to be of real service to

them and also for getting myself enlightened about ¡Sai Avatar¢.

 

Jai Sai Ram

Om Sree Sainathaya Namaha!

*****

Om Sri Sai Ram

 

SHREE GANESH VANDANA

 

CHUKLAM BHARADARAM VISHNUM SHASHI VARNAM CHATURBHUJAM

PRASANNA VADANAM DHYAYETH SARVA VIGHNOPA SHANTAYE

AGAJANANA PADMARGAM GAJANANA MAHARNISAM

ANEKA DANTAM BHAKTANAM EKA DANTAM UPASMAHE

 

Mushikavaahana Modaka Hastha,

Chaamara Karna Vilambitha Sutra,

Vaamana Rupa Maheshwara Putra,

Vighna Vinaayaka Paada Namasthe

 

Sainatha Sainatha Sainatha Sadgurum

Yogiraja Yugapurusha Bhaktakoti Vanditham

Kripanidhim Tapodhanim Sainatha Pahimaam

Divyateja Bhavyamoorthi Punyacharita Poojitam

 

 

LIFE HISTORY OF SHIRDI SAI BABA

Chapter I

The earth is only a small planet in this great Universe, which is

beyond the grasp of human intelligence. On this planet earth, there

are numerous rivers, mountains, forests and oceans. Out of 84 million

kinds of insects, birds and animals and other living creatures on

this planet, great sages have concluded that the humans are the best

living forms who can lead a very high form of divine life. But they,

without realising their higher form among the living beings, fell

prey to arrogance, egoism, and Ajnana (ignorance) with the result

there is no peace for them, putting the entire creation to chaos and

confusion. What is the cause for all this? We must know the answer

for this in the first instance. Going further to know the evolution

of life forms on this earth, we came to learn that life first started

under the water. Later on, the creatures living under water learnt to

live outside the water, i.e. on the earth also. Further evolution

took place and

creatures that can live on earth alone developed. Out of these

creatures and animals developed the human form and finally man came

into existence.

 

According to the above-mentioned theory of evolution only, the order

of Dashavatharas is determined in the Puranas. Firstly, Matsyavatara

(in the form of fish) - Fish can live under water only. Then

Kurmavatara (in the form of tortoise), which can live inside water as

well as outside water, i.e. earth. Then Varahavatara,

Narasimhavatara, Vamanavatara, etc. The Ramavatara and Krishnavatara

have shown to what divine heights man can reach.

 

If we examine carefully the order of Dashavatharas, you find that

there is no difference between this order , and the theory of

evolution of man. This theory of evaluation establishes that life at

first started under water, then slowly spread to the earth adopting

itself to the climatic conditions of the earth. These creatures

slowly developed into animal forms and man has also developed from

animal.

 

Man is superior from other forms of animals; in as much as he is

endowed with thinking power He has established a social order in the

society where everyone can live happily. Toward this end, certain

social orders and regulations have started to come into being. People

living in different parts of the earth have formulated their own set

of social orders depending on the local conditions. Over a period,

these social orders and regulations have strengthened and become

the " religion " of those people.

 

People started strengthening their religions. The powerful among them

became leaders and rulers. Religions started bowing before the

powerful and a situation came when the religions had to toe the line

of the powerful. Under religious banners, powerful rulers started

invading other countries as well as attacking other religions also.

This is the naked truth, which is revealed by World History.

 

Thus, many religions started coming into our country ¡Bharat¢.

Several foreign countries invaded our motherland and started

spreading their religions here. Thus Christianity and Islam entered

and established themselves. Religion is meant for leading an orderly

and disciplined way of life in the society and nothing else. But

towards the end of the twentieth century in our country also, certain

religious fanatics or fundamentalists, considering today the country¢

s political scenario, are committing several attrocities in the name

of religion - all Sai Bhaktas should carefully note this. Though

religion is good for the spiritual advancement, only peaceful methods

should be followed as per Hindu dharma. In the present day

conditions, though it is desirable to have one religion for one

country, the ¡means¢ adopted to achieve this should be through ¡Love¢

or prema marga only. We will try to know more about this as we

proceed further.

 

India has been described by our ancestors as Punya Bhoomi , Karma

Bhoomi, Dharma Bhoomi, and so on. We will now make an attempt to know

how these names were given. Our country¢s history of the mid-18th

century reveals how during the British rule, our ancient civilisation

gradually adopted the modern ways of British Civilisation. Under such

circumstances, the Adi Devtas (celestial beings), Ashta Dikpalakas

who guard our Punya Bhoomi, along with Bhoodevi (goddess of earth)

went to Vishnu and narrated their woes to him as follows.

 

" All through the ages, we have been happily discharging the duties

allotted by you in Bharata Desa. But under the changed circumstances,

the people prefer happiness to dharma, wealth to justice, strength to

love, bodily happiness to sacrifice, materialism to Godliness. Unless

these undesirable qualities are nipped in the bud, it will lead to

utter chaos in the near future. So you must take Avatar again in this

world to set things right as you have done during your Krishna Avatar

in Dwaparayuga and established peace after the Maha Kurukshetra war.

After hearing their appeal, Lord Vishnu replied as follows:

 

" All of you have discharged your duties properly and established

peace, prosperity and happiness in Bharata Desa all these ages. But

as soon as I finished my Krishna Avatar, Kali entered the earth. Adi

Shakti has created this Kali with a purpose and therefore it is not

proper to stop him from doing his work. The changes that you are

noticing in the people of Bharata Desa are only due to this Kali. "

 

Then they asked Lord Vishnu as to how to save the people from the

actions of Kali and Lord Vishnu answered them as follows:

 

" You all know why Bharata Desa is called Punya Bhoomi. There are a

number of places on earth, with heavy snowfalls and cold waves. There

are several places where you cannot get water for drinking or proper

food. There are other places, which are very hot. But only in places

like Bharata Desa, there are different seasons. There are also a

number of lives giving rivers. Therefore, the people are able to

raise good crops and are happy. They are able to take bath regularly

and conduct divine activities. The Wind-God gives good air. Only

those who are lucky and did good in previous births are born in this

Punya Bhoomi and enjoy their natural happiness. This is briefly the

history of this Punya Bhoomi. " Lord Vishnu continued. " Kali came

later to our country after showing his effects in other parts of this

planet. His effects will be intensified in the near future and then

the people of this country also will be subject to a lot of changes.

 

" Importance to one¢s duties will take a back seat while importance to

wealth will increase. Everyone desires that others should work for

him. But the fruits will be enjoyed by him only. This leads to class

conflicts. In the name of religion, caste, regions and also sex,

people will form into groups and will shed blood. Morals will

disappear. People belonging to different religions will pray to their

respective gods but none will follow the teachings of gods. Worship

will be mechanical and devotion and worship will be separated.

Opportunists will steal God¢s wealth also. It is difficult to save

mankind from such effects of Kali. This is Yuga Dharma. Slowly pious

and sincere actions will disappear and there will not be any

connection between thoughts and words; deeds will also be entirely

different.

 

" It is impossible to save such a situation completely from the

influence of Kali. But to a certain extent, it can be checked and

brought to a balance with dharma. I am the preserver of this world.

My work increases with the selfishness of man. Therefore, I advise

you to approach ¡Lord Shiva¢ and put forth your prayers. Then he will

come down to this world in the form of Datta Avatar and will impart

¡Jnana' for mankind and will establish peace by his teachings. "

Thereupon the Adi Devatas, Ashta Dikpalakas and Bhoodevi approached

Lord Shiva and put forth their woes. Accepting their pleas, he

promised that he would very shortly come to Bharata Desa as Datta

Avatar. But since it is Kaliyug, where people are more materialistic,

he will show more miracles after leaving the physical body than when

he is with the body. Thus assured, by Lord Shiva, they came back to

their respective places in this world and await eagerly for the birth

of Lord Shiva.

 

As per his promise, Lord Shiva was waiting for an opportune time for

pious parents to whom he would be borne on this planet earth.

" Jnana Swarupa Sai Saranam "