FROM LIFE OF SRI SHIRDI SAI BABA BY NARASIMHA SWAMI

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FROM " LIFE OF SRI SHIRDI SAI BABA " BY NARASIMHA SWAMI

 

Nana Chandorkar was a very respectable, married gentleman, having children and

having family traditions and a position to maintain. Further, his training had

given him excellent qualities of self-restraint and propriety of behaviour. So,

he was not ordinarily what one would call a lustful, lewd, or lecherous person.

He was on the other hand a very properly behaved, and excellent head of a

family. Yet, the saying goes ˜Even an elephant may slip'. Baba, who was watching

Nana wherever he was, and at every moment, noticed that he needed to be taught

and trained in the matter of lust also. On one occasion when Nana was sitting

next to Baba at the Dwarakamayee, two Muslim ladies were standing for a time at

a distance, evidently waiting to see when this Hindu (Nana) would go away. They

had to remove their veils at the time of taking darsan, which meant, putting

their bare foreheads on Babas feet; and being gosha ladies, they did not wish a

Hindu to see their faces. When Nana tried to get up on this account and go

away, Baba pulled him down and said, ‘Let these people come if they care. So,

the ladies had to approach Baba and take darsan with Nana by his side. Nothing

happened when the elderly lady removed her veil and took her darsan. But when

the younger did the same, her face struck Nana as remarkably beautiful. The

sheen of the eyes, the brilliance of the countenance, the perfect proportion of

the features, and the indescribable charm of the whole person, were such that

Nana was at once smitten with her beauty. When his mind was thus occupied, the

lady finished her darsan and resumed her veil. Then the thought struck Nana,

˜shall I have another opportunity of seeing this angelic face? Baba at once

slapped him on the thigh. Then the ladies departed. Baba asked him, ˜Do you know

why I slapped you? Nana admitted that his thoughts were low and unfit for one in

Babas company. He asked, ˜How is it that even when I am next to you, such low

thoughts sway my mind? Baba replied, You are a man after all, and the body being

full of desires, these spring up as sense objects approach. Then Baba asked, Are

there not lovely temples with well coloured exterior? When we go there, do we

admire the exterior beauty or the God within? When you are seeing God within, do

you ever care for the outside beauty of the building? Similarly, remember God is

not only in temples. He is found in every creature.

 

Therefore when you see a beautiful face, remember that it is a temple and the

image of the God within is the Jiva, a pre¬eminent part of the Universal Soul.

So, think at once of God or the Universal Soul in every object, whether

beauteous or ugly. These forms reveal the God within. There is nothing wrong in

admiring beauty, but the thought must follow at once, If this object is so

beautiful, how much more beautiful and powerful must be the God who made this

object and inhabits it? Thinking thus, you will not get smitten by a Muslin

beauteous face hereafterâ€. This was the upadesa given to Nana. Baba had not to

go further and stop him from any sinful acts due to lust, as he had to do in

another's case.