- 🌌As I listen attentively and devoutly to Sai Baba’s stories,My ignorance vanish, and the consciousness of worldly existence abate.
- 💋I utter Sai Baba’s name with love, HE shall fulfill all my wishes and increase my devotion.
- 💫If I sing earnestly His life and deeds, Sai Baba shall beset me in front and back and on all sides.
- 💆I am confident that Sai Baba will draw me out from the jaws of Death.
- 👂All my diseases will be got rid of by hearing Sai Baba’s stories with respect.
- 💌The simple remembrance of Sai Baba’s name as ‘Sai, Sai’ destroys my sins of speech and hearing.
- 🎯Reading of the Sai Baba stories secure me salvation; let me not exhaust myself by other sadhanas.
Tag: Respect
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Self-Affirmation from Chapter III of SSSC for Sai Baba devotees
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Quotation- BCS 309
Alms giving without discrimination
“Athiti is what ever creature is hungry and comes on to you, at that (kakabali-crow offering) time, whether it is human or a bird, beast or insect.All these seek food. The real Athiti that you get, (but) you do not regard as such. These have come to you in lakhs.
Nana! give up your rotten interpretation*. At kakabali, take plenty of boiled rice outside the house and leave it there.
Do not shout or call for any, nor drive away. Whatever the creature that comes to eat, let not that disturb your mind. You get thus the merit of feeding lakhs of guests. “
Baba in BCS para 309 to N G Chandorkar alias Nana
*The phrase “Atithi Devo Bhava” translates to “The guest is akin to God,” highlighting the reverence and care that should be given to guests.
In Hinduism, welcoming guests, especially unexpected ones, is considered a sacred duty. This practice is deeply embedded in the culture and traditions, emphasizing the hospitality that should be extended to guests. Here are a few key aspects:
Rituals and Practices for Welcoming Guests
1. Traditional Welcome:
– Guests are often greeted with a warm “Namaste,” a gesture of respect and reverence.
– In some households, a ceremonial welcome called Aarti might be performed, where a small lamp is waved in front of the guest, accompanied by singing or chanting.
– Some families may apply a small mark (often a red dot known as tilak) on the guest’s forehead as a sign of blessing and respect.
2. Offering Refreshments:
– Guests are typically offered water, tea, butter-milk or other beverages upon arrival. This practice signifies hospitality and the intention to make the guest feel comfortable and valued.
– Following this, guests may be served snacks or meals, often including traditional and home-cooked dishes.
3. Providing Comfort:
– Hosts ensure that the guests have a comfortable place to sit and rest. Clean towels, refreshments, and any other necessities are provided.
– In many cases, if the guest is staying overnight, special arrangements are made to ensure their comfort, including clean bedding and private space.
4. Treating Guests with Respect:
– Throughout the visit, guests are treated with utmost respect. Conversations are often centered around the guest’s well-being, their travel experiences, and any needs they might have.
– Hosts may also offer small gifts or tokens of appreciation when the guest departs, further signifying the importance of their visit.
These practices not only reflect the value placed on hospitality in Hindu culture, but also emphasize the spiritual aspect of serving and honoring guests as part of one’s duty (dharma). -
Characteristic of Shirdi – Pilgrimage
Blessed is Shirdi and blessed is Dwarkamayi where Shri Sai lived and moved until He took Mahasamadhi.
Blessed are the people of Shirdi, whom He obliged and for whom He came such long distance.
Shirdi was a small village at first. It attained great importance due to His contact. It became a Tirtha, a holy place of pilgrimage.
Equally blessed are the womenfolk of Shirdi, blessed is their whole and undivided faith in Him. They sang the glories of Baba while bathing, grinding, pounding corn and doing other house- hold work. Blessed is their love, for they sang sweet songs which calm and pacify the minds of the singers and listeners.
One special peculiarity of Shirdi-pilgrimage was this, that none could leave Shirdi, without Baba’s permission;
- and if he did, he invited untold sufferings,
- but if any one was asked to quit Shirdi, he could stay there no longer.
- Baba gave certain suggestions or hints, when Bhaktas went to bid good-bye and take leave. These suggestions had to be followed.
- Accidents were sure to befall those who did not follow Baba’s directions. Problems occurred if they departed from them..
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Baba’s Justice and Equality
{Sai Baba declared that, as per the Book Sai Baba’s Charters and Sayings]
- 585) This world is funny. All are my subjects. I look upon all with equal eye, But some turn thieves. What can I do for them? People at death’s door plot against the lives of others. These offend and hurt me much. But I am quiet, saying nothing. God is great. He has his officers everywhere, who are all powerful. One must rest content with one’s lot. (G.S.K’s diary)
Margosa Tree Branch
586) Baba: You have to cut your own child if it falls athwart the womb, (with this remark, Baba himself cut off a branch of the Gode Neem Tree that interfered with the raising of a wall in Sathe Wada).
S.B.Nachne’s Mother-in-law’s Revenge
587) Dada Kelkar: “Where am I to get onion for my granddaughter’s eye?”
Baba: Get it from this Ayi (pointing to S.B.Nachne’s mother-in-law)
Mother-in-Law: “Baba, this Dada abused me this morning for cutting onions. I do not care to give him anything; but if you order it, I will give him onion.”
Baba: Do. (SBN.’s Mother-in-law had the grand revenge of returning good for evil, by Baba’s just orders).
Bala Patil
588) Damia (i.e., Damodar S. Rasane) went to Baba and requested him to send Bala Patil, his attendant, who was of a low caste, to Damia’s house for a meal as Baba’s representative.
Baba: Yes, but do not cry “Dhut Dhut” (keep away, keep away) at him. Do not give him a place far away from your own place of eating.
Damia adopted Baba’s advice and took Bala Patil as his guest and made him sit near him and not outside the house for the meal.
Peston Jamas
- 590) Peston Jamas and his brother-in-law went in about 1915 to Shirdi, to see “Sai Maharaj” there at the Dixit Wada, there was much crowding and the rich people alone were accommodated upstairs and these two Parsis were left downstairs.
“What sort of justice is here in this Darbar! Big people enjoying comforts above and poor people left downstairs to suffer inconvenience”, thought these Parsis.
When they went to Baba at the Mosque. Baba (to somone present): Take these people up.
And they were given accommodation upstairs.
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UBIQUITY
Sai Baba declared the followings(Para Nos.) in the Book ‘Sai Baba’s Charters and Sayings‘
- 66) I am formless and everywhere.
- I am in everything.
- I am in everything and beyond.
- I fill all space.
- All that you see taken together is Myself. I do not shake or move.
- 67) All that is seen is my form; Ant, Fly, Prince, Pauper.
- 68) I am in the water, in dry places, in woods, amidst crowds, and in the solitary wilderness.
- I am in the Fire and in Ether.
- I am not limited to any place.
- 69) Feeding the hungry Bitch is feeding me.
I have the feeling of my hunger being satisfied, when hers is satisfied:
(Baba to Laxmi Bai Scindhe: I am hungry.
LBS; Shall I go and bring food?
Baba; Do.
LBS; Then brought food; Baba took nothing from it and placed the entire plate before a hungry bitch.
LBS: Baba why do you do so?
Baba: Is not the bitch also a Jiva? We talk, bitches do not. She is hungry; she and I are one and the same. It is the same if I eat or she eats.)
70) Baba to A Bombay Lady:-
I am still belching with the heavy feeding you gave the dog this morning.
I was also in the mire besmirched pig (that you did not feed, though it came to you).
To serve me, give up differentiation,
71) Sometimes I come as dog, sometimes as pig. The devotee who recognises me in each form and treats me adequately is blessed.
- 73-A) Baba as a cat is beaten.
Baba to Hansraj, an Asthma patient: Do not take curds or taste sour things. But Hansraj was daily preparing curds overnight, to drink it at the noon meal. Daily a cat drank it off ;and one day he beat the cat.
Baba to others, in the presence of Hansraj. “There is an Urphatia. a cussed, crossgrained man. I told him not to take curds. But he daily prepared it. Daily I went as a cat and drank it off, to save his life. Today I went again. Do you know what he did? He beat me over the shoulder. See here. (Hansraj looked and found a fresh weal on Baba’s shoulder, though it was a cat he beat with a stick on the shoulder)
- 73-B) Baba as a dog and sickly Sudra:
Kasinath Govind Upasani Maharaj who lived at Shirdi in 1911-4, prepared his food which a black dog was watching. Offering nothing to the dog, K.G.U. went to the masjid and offered it to Baba.
Baba: Why did you bring it here. I was there.
K.G.U. to Baba, there was none there, except a black dog.
Baba : I was that black dog.
Baba refused to accept food that day. Next day K.G.U. prepared his meal at his quarters and found no dog there. But a sickly Sudra was standing leaning on a wall and looking at the food. The orthodox K.G.U. drove him away from that place and brought the food to S.Baba.
Baba : Yesterday you did not offer me food. Today also you drove me away. Why bring the food here?
K.G.U.: Where were you there, Baba?
Baba: I was leaning on the wall.
K.G.U.: What! Could you be in such a person?
Baba: Yes I am in all things and beyond.
i.e. He pervades the earth and transcends it.
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Conversion of the heart, which makes a man lose his sinful and bestial nature and climb up to Godhood
Unity of God is the central principle in both Hindu and Muslim religions, and the one God has always to be revered and adored by prayer for protecting oneself and one’s dependants and country. For this purpose, therefore, Hindus and Muslims can always join, and in fact have often joined.
In national calamities and crises, differences of opinion have not prevented people from joining together. They pray to a common God for relief from great distress and peril.
Similarly when an emperor ordered, people were able to join together and pray to a common father. For some time Akbar’s experiment proved to be practical and successful. Unfortunately, his ideas and practice did not take root, and his successors had widely different ideas from his. Aurangazeb’s policy was extremely opposite to his.When we discover a mistake committed in the past, it is our duty to discover and adopt the correct policy. “Live and let live.” Freedom to all people to adopt their ideas of approach to God as far as possible must be the basis on which society must be founded. Any compulsion in religion will destroy religion and society also.
This cardinal principle is noted to be one of the main features of Sai Baba’s dealings with his multifarious devotees. These include Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, and others. Anything like compulsion or for that matter any attempt for conversion is absolutely destructive of the work of religion. We can have neither religion nor unity where compulsion is adopted.
Conversion is very often the result of either compulsion or low motives. Baba knew this fact very well. On one occasion, a Hindu convert to Islam was brought by Bade Baba to him. Saying, ‘Baba, this man has been converted to Islam’. He struck the convert on the cheek and asked, ‘Have you changed your father?’ Changing one’s father is absolutely unthinkable, and an absurd idea.
Each religion makes God the father of its followers. When one has got a useful, accredited father, it looks absurd to think of changing either the physical father who begot one. It also seems absurd to change the Universal Father that is adored in religion. So, Baba always dissuaded people from changing their religion. It did not matter if it was from Hinduism to Islam or from Islam to Hinduism. Baba also discouraged changing from Christianity to Hinduism, and vice versa.
What is most important is not mere external conversion. Conversion of the heart makes a man lose his sinful and bestial nature. It helps him climb up to Godhood. That real conversion is not called conversion by people because it generally has no external marks to denote it. Baba’s object was that all people should be really converted and should have God in their hearts. They should get firmly attached to God so that all of them will be soaked through and through with the idea of God. In consequence, there will be no friction between one person soaked in God and another person soaked in God.
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Who is this ME?
If you practise this, you will realize
all-pervasiveness, and thus attain onenessSai Baba expounded many a time Who this ME (or I) is. He said “You need not go far or anywhere in search of Me. Barring your name and form, there exists in you, as well as in all beings, a sense of Being or Consciousness of Existence. That is Myself.
Knowing this, you see Me inside yourself, as well as in all beings. If you practise this, you will realize all-pervasiveness, and thus attain oneness with Me.”
Hemadpant, therefore, makes a bow to the readers and requests them humbly and lovingly that they should love and respect all Gods, saints and devotees.
Has not Baba often said “He who carps and cavils at others, pierces Me in the heart and injures Me, but he that suffers and endures, pleases Me most.” Baba thus pervades all beings and creatures and besets them on all sides.
Baba likes nothing but love to all beings. Such nectar, pure auspicious ambrosia always flowed from Baba‘s lips. He therefore, concludes – Those who lovingly sing Baba’s fame and those who hear the same with devotion, both become one with Sai.
SSSC ch-43,44
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Religious peoples fighting among them, since they are following different religion. how to approach this and how to solve this, Baba?
SSSC-Ch26 says
All the things that we see in the universe are nothing but a play of Maya — the creative power of the Lord.
These things do not really exist. What really exists is the Real Absolute.
Just as we mistake a rope of a garland or a stick for a serpent on account of darkness, we always see the phenomena, i.e. things as they outwardly appear, and not the Noumenon which underlies all the visible things.
It is only the Sad-guru that opens the eyes of our understanding and enables us to see things in their true light and not as they appear.
That is: You both are God. See his soul, not his outer; your soul connection will help mutually. There will be no hate; only mutual helps.
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Baba said no doubt that Maya is a covering over Chaitanya, but!
In this connection one may note the Maya theory that has been referred to in Srimad Bhagavata and in Baba’s teaching. In Baba’s teaching. the word ‘Maya’ is clearly indicative of darkness. That is, what binds one to darkness is Maya.
It has Aavarana and Veekshepa; the Aavarana portion of it covers up our consciousness and knowledge and Veekshepa creates fictions over that Aavarana.
For example a person who is a cooly dreams that he is a king, forgets his coolyship and assumes kingship, and the whole thing is a miserable fiction. Therefore, Maya does exist and is a thing to be avoided.
But Maya has another sense, namely, that it is the creative power of God. Even in this sense it creates fictions and makes the world run on the basis of those fictions.
But the conclusion drawn and acted upon by some people that everything in this phenomenal world is fiction is not to be accepted as its logical conclusion.
Baba said no doubt that Maya is a covering over Chaitanya, but he did not follow it to the logical conclusion that everything that is seen is merely a fiction and therefore to be disregarded. As long as we are in this phenomenal world with its rules and principles, we have to follow it.
Therefore Baba gave many directions to his pupils and never treated his relations to pupils and to others as mere fictions
He was a realist quite as much as any other that we have seen, and he asked people to stick to truth, the truth understood in the phenomenal sense and not in he sense of Advaitic philosophy, that is, a reality which is not sensed, but is merely conceived of in philosophy, as beyond all time and place.
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BABA and JESUS
One common feature of both Sai’s and Jesus’ lives is the reliance on miracles. People needed miracles to be convinced of their divine nature.
They could only demonstrate their divinity by performing these miracles. Miracles are a concession that divinity allows for human blindness.
*When Jesus said to Nilko … ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Thomas talked to you there.’; The addressee immediately concluded, ‘Surely, thou art the Son of God.’
Jesus said that he would see more wonderful things indicative of divine power . Again when and unable to rise from his bed, saying ‘ Arise , take up thy bed and walk ‘; and the man with palsy rose up and walked. The conclusion was drawn that the miracle was a token of Jesus’s divinity as also
*when Jesus cured a man of leprosy
Some reader might desire to know whether similar incidents happened in Sai’s history .
*First about palsy , a Marwadi had a young daughter of eight years or so with paralyzed legs . She could not walk to Baba, and therefore had to be carried in a chair, palki or stretcher.
She remained with Baba for three days. Suddenly her legs, which she could not bend at all till then, were stretched out and the second day she could stand. Thereafter, before she left Shirdi on the third day, she could walk back.
No application, medical or surgical, was made to her. This cure was purely by Baba’s power with his blessings, offered with udhi applied to her.
*There was once a patient. He had been suffering for years from inflammation of an ulcer in his stomach or bowels. Because of this, he could not eat any food. He was brought to Baba.
Baba ordered sweetmeats to be purchased; and brought and placed before the patient. Strange to say, the man was able to eat them. This cure also was purely by Baba’s power blessings.
"I draw to Me, My man from far off or even across the seven Seas to Shirdi, like a sparrow with a string fastened to its feet"-Shirdi Sai Baba, Indian Spiritual Guru-God 