Lord Sainath - The Awtar Purush

(PART I)

(Shri Saileela April, May, June 1985)

 

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Lord Sainath was an Awtar Purush. In other words was Paramatman Incarnate. He was a great Saint and a Sadgun With supreme love and reverence let us bow at the Lotus Ft, of the Sadguru and crave His grace, which is the only covetabl treasure in this Universe.

To write any   thing   in praise  of the Awtar   Purush is ju( like showing an earthen Lamp   to the Sun.   By His grace only beg to lay down a profile of comparative study with other saints, whom I have visited high up over the Himalayas, where they arjj engrossed in deep meditation.

There is no doubt that these Saints have acquired hig( degree of spiritual attainment. Scorching Sun, turbulent rain and even freezing cold in the snow-lands could not debar thei from practice of their hard penance.

To start with, we should first peep into the day to day life and activities of our Lord Sainath and we should be wel acquainted with the same.

Lord Krishna in Bhagwadgeeta asserts:-

Saints are direct representatives of *God* - the 'Paramatman', When vices predominate on earth and people go away from thj usual 'Norm* of life of mutual love, affection and fellow-feeling, God incarnates in human form as saints from time to time, for safeguarding the pious people and rectifying the "Evil-doers and Sinners" to perfection and uplifting the down-trodden. Lord Sainath was born in such a juncture that His life will show how He worked for the benefit of the mankind. First sixteen years of His life however, are unknown to us and no body knows His parentage and early where a bouts.

Towards the mid-nineteenth century our Lord Sainath appeared for the first time as a young lad of sixteen years in the soil of Shirdi village under the famous Neem tree, which was later revealed as His Gurusthan. He was seen engrossed in deep meditation under the scorching Sun without any food or drink. Heavy rains and shivering winter even could not dissuade Him in His hard penance,

The people of the village were wonderstruck to see such a fair complexioned, healthy young lad with radiant glow in His face to practice such hard penance. Though He never associated with anybody and never talked to any body at that time, the people could realise that He was a great soul with high spiritual attainment.

After a period of about 3 years He disappeared from the village all of a sudden and reappeared in His twentieth year of age alongwith the marriage party of Chand Patil. He wss greeted as 'Sai* by Mhalasapati, the 'sewak' of Khandoba temple, who became His first and foremost devotee and admirer. Since then He stayed permanently in a dilapidated Masjid in the village till His 'Maha-Samadhi', on the 15th October 1918 and was popularly known as Sai Baba.

The soil of Shirdi was blesssed to have been trodden by such a great Saint. This time Baba spoke and mixed freely with the people. He was the repository of peace and wisdom. His radiant face was the embodiment of love, affection and happiness. His very look ameliorated the worries and sufferings of the people.

Within a short   time   His   name   and   fame spread far and wjde and the people realised that Baba was Omnipotent, Omnis­cient and Omnipresent,   People of all walks oflife gathered round Him, seeking His advice   and   blessings for solving   their various problems.    Though Baba   never   crossed the outskirts   of Shirdi throughout   the   rest   of  His   life,   He   was in knowledge of all happenings   even   hundreds   of   miles   away   and  He was   giving 'darsban'   to   people   at   different   places,   far   and near* at   the same time.

As an illustration to this it is   noteworthy   that once while sitting by the   side   of the   Dhuni   (sacred fire)   Baba thrust His hand   in   the   fire.     The   hand   was   badly   burnt and   He   was eventually dragged away by the devotees, who were present there at the time.    When asked   about   such an action,   Baba disclosed with contentment that He could   save the life   of a Black-smith's little baby, who fell down in the furnace some   miles away from there.   The fact was corroborated by some devotees later on, who contacted the Black-smith in a fact finding mission.

Lord   Sainath  dedicated   His   life for (he betterment of the mankind and spiritual   uplift of the   people in   particular.    There are innumerable instances, where He got various ailments of His devotees transferred   to His   own   person, out of great   love and affection for them.   Lastly there  is  also  clear evidence that He donated His life and thereby prolonged the longivity of His most beloved devotee, Tatya Kote Patil   and instead  attained His own "Maoa-Samadbi" on   15th October 1618 (Vijaya   Dashami Day), exactly on the day prophesied by Him two years earlier.  

PART II

Lord Krishna asserts in Bhagwadgeeta : -

" Leave aside all rituals and surrender completely to me. I will free you from all worldly worries and hazards". Lord Sainath also asserted in the same tune .— "Come one step towards me and I shall come ten steps nearer". This utterance of Lord Sainath is amply evidenced by His coming in for rescue of His devotees, who have got profound faith in Him

We have seen in the previous issue (Part-I) that Lord Sainath. after His second advent at Shirdi alongwith the marriage party of Chand Patil, stayed permanently in the village in a dilapidated Masjid, which was later famous as "Dwarka-Mayee" by His grace. It has also been seen that this time He moved and talked freely with the people and worked as a philanthropic social worker, great friend and well-wisher to them.

He was also a philosopher of the highest order. We know about the world-famous great philosopher Socrates, who used to go to the market place every day and used to think aloud, "What were the things he could do without, in every day life.'* But we know that our beloved Lord Sainath renounced every thing and the items of His daily use were very few. These were a langot, Kafnee (Kurta), a cloth around the head, a chilam and a small stick. He was also contented with whatever food He got through 'Bhiksha' from certain houses only and He had an extraordinary simple life all through.

As regards the version in Geeta :-

 

it is noteworthy that saints are prodigy of love* and non-violence They can never think of killing or destroying the evil-doers or the miscreants. On the other hand they only destroy their disruptive qualities and sins and thereby play an important role in rectifying and transforming them to perfection. Similar was the action of our Lord Sainath, which is well amplified in different instances of such nature.

Lord Sainath acted as a social reformer of high order, a doctor for the ailing humanity and a spiritual teacher to the multitude. His modus operand! of tackling cases was exemplary. By dint of His Omniscience He could "know the particular short­comings of particular persons. He used to impart small examples which the persons concerned could only follow for whom the same were being told. This had very effective influence on the evil-doers and the sinners, who used to get automatic reformation without being humiliated in the eyes of others present there in the congregation.

Lord Sainath was an embodiment of love, affection and modesty, and was a reservoir of profound peace and solace. Propagation of love, fellow-feeling and good-will was His motto. His advent was at a time when communal frenzy was heading on and His role was conspicuous in promoting and establishing communal harmony. He preached that Ram and Rahim both are toe same. We know how the Hindus and Muslims were jointly celebrating 'Urus* on the Ram Nawami Day, which was later converted into Ram Nawami utsav for the Hindus and Chandan utsav for the Muslims with great amity between both the communities by His grace.

Baba's name and fame spread far and wide for His divine cure of diseases of all kinds. Baba effectively controlled 'all the three wings of healing therapy such as medicine, surgery, obste­trics & gynacology. He never used any modern or indigenous medicines. In some cases He used to administer Vibhuti (Udi) only. In some cases He was, simply touching 'the affected part by His divine hands and in some cases He uttered soothing words only and the cases were being cured magically in due time. In a case of venomous snake-bite, Baba simply commanded the venom to disperse from the body and thus saved the life of Sham a (Madhavrao Desbpandey), His most intimate devotee.

There are cases requiring immediate surgical intervention, which were pulled out to normalcy by Baba's grace only without any need of surgery. There are innumerable cases of barren ladies, being favoured with children by Baba's blessings Compli­cated labour cases also used to have easy delivery by Baba's grace only. There are cases of Baba's utmost love and affection for His devotees, where He got the turbulent diseases like Bubonic Plague etc. transferred to His own body, thereby effecting immediate cure to the ailing persons.

Lord Sainath was averse to give long sermons. He used to impart different directives as guide-lines for promotion of spiritua­lity, which varied from person to person. Baba only was knowing which method would be most effective to a particular person. To some persons He was appearing in vision and giving advice, to some He was advising to study a particular religious book. To some He advised to go to a particular place or person for attaining mental peace or to get the individual problem solved and to some He advised to chant the name of the supreme Lord. He taught people to be egoless and modest. He promoted spiritual trend of the people by sowing the seed of dejection to futile worldly pleasures and attractions. He was an apostle of "Self-Realisation", whose 'darshan' only could sanctify a person.

This is the life of our Lord Sainath, who incarnated in human form and who dedicated whole of His life for the betterment of mankind and its uplift in spiritual spheres.

PART III

 

Guru is the embodiment of Brahma, Vishnu Maheshwar and Guru is. Paramatman incarnate. Before commencement of this article let us therefore bow at the Lotus Feet of our Sad-Guru Lord Sainath and crave His grace and blessings on us all.

In the last article (Part-II) we have seeN how our beloved Lord Sainath won the hearts of the people by playing concurrent roles of a philanthropist, a philosopher, a healing therapist and finally a great spiritual reformer and saviour. Now in the current issue we shall deal witb the life and activities of The Himalayan Saints, personally visited by me alongwith my wife, in contrast to that of our Lord Sainath.

It may be re-called that in December 1971, I was subjected to a great family mishap (Ref :- Nov.' 82 issue of Sai Leela "Sai's Gracious Shelter"). Myself and my wife set out on a pilgrimage to different religious places of India. We covered almost all the places of religious importance, but we could not experience any relief in our mental strain and stress.

Some of our friends advised us to take refuge in saints, who could only replenish our lost peace and tranquillity. At that time we had little knowledge about our Lord Sainath, We were told that the Himalayas were the abode of great saints. Accor­dingly we started running to different places on the Himalayas such as Badrinath, Kedarnath, Uttar-Kashi, Gangotri, Yamunotri etc. and came in contact with various saints there. i came to know that there were a few saints of high order in the vicinity of Gangotri (Source of the river Ganges) at a higher altitude. Pilgrims congregate here at Gangotri for 3-4 months of the year during the summer and beyond that the entire area becomes snow-clad and out of bound for human habitation and approach. The priests even come down to the district head quarter at Uttar-Kashi. But these few saints stay there all the year round undisturbed and uninfluenced, in practice of their uninterrupted hard penance.

From the Police Out-post at Gangotri we were detailed with full particulars about such saints in different directions over there. After climbing some distance we approached the small cottage of Mouni Baba and had his darshan. Mouni Baba observes complete silence. However, he was kind enough to answer a few of our questions in writing. We stayed there for about an hour and thereafter set out in another direction for darshan of Naga Baba.

After climbing a considerable height we reached the place of meditation of Naga Baba and Had his darshan. The name it­self signifies that Naga Baba was quite naked. All bare-bodied the Baba was found seated in Padmasan (cross-legged) on the ground under a tree and was engrossed in deep meditation. A glow was emanating from his face and we were charmed at his sobre countenance in that pinching cold region.

Spell-bound as we were, we took our seats most silently in front of him and were gazing at him for a considerable length of time. I was thinking within myself that these were the persons who had actually conquered The Universe! Like the worldly people as we were, they were not to be won led for food, drink, clothing and other comforts of life !

After some time the Baba opened his eyes and we bowed to him. He blessed us in the symbolic way by raising his right hand and thereafter closed his eyes again. I could not hold my eagerness to talk to him and seek his valuable advice to soothe our mental strain. We were also required to return to our base camp at Gangotri before dark as there was risk of tracing out our way back in that track-less territory. As such without losing any more time I tried to draw his attention and addressed; him-"BABA!"

At this he reopened his eyes for a moment and put a parti­cular gesture with folded hands and closed his eyes once again. We could easily realise the significance of such gesture, which meaDt-"Good Bye-You worldy people! Do not waste my precious time". We had no other alternative but to retreat from there with a heavy heart and in utter despair.

Dear readers, this is to bring to your notice that desperately we were roaming over for months and years and our mental condition became still more worse. At this juncture a good old friend of ours came to our rescue. Most convincingly he pleaded that it was Shri Sai Baba only, who could give us solace and advised us to seek His divine shelter.

In the long run we came to 'Shirdi*. It is a great pleasure for one to let you know that the moment we stepped down on the soil of Shirdi, we experienced a miraculous juviat .change and a feeling of tightness in us. The very first darshan of Baba wiped out all our worries andl miseries and infused profound peace and contentment io us.

It is important to note that though Lord Sainath had cast off His mortal coil about 66 years back. He is always with us according to His earlier commitment during His life time. When myself and my wife, lost our peace of mind and were running restlessly and unsuccessfully from pillar to post in search of solace, it was only our beloved Sainath, who took pity on us and came to our final rescue. He dragged us with a string to His Lotus Feet like The illustration about Kakaji Vaidya of Vani in Nasik district (vide SAI SATCHARITA-Chapter XXX).

In conclusion, I beg to say that in India, the land of great saints, we generally come across three types of saints. The saints whom we have visited high up over the Himalayas, far away from human reach and habitation, belong to the first category. As we have seen they are ever busy with their ownselves in establishing link with Paramatman, They are totally unconcerned with human society and its betterment in any way.

Next come the Godmen of India in the second category. They are ever busy in establishing their name and fame and amassing huge Bank balance. They lead a very luxurious life and are also beyond the reach of common people.

Lastly conies the third category to which our Lord Sainath belongs. Though an incarnation He was, He lived in the human society just like an ordinary human being. He was 'God-realised' and a 'Sad-Guru', who devoted whole of His life for the better­ment of mankind in general and exercised His divine power for promotion of spirituality of the people in particular. He was sharing individual worries and ailments in His own person, out of extreme love and affection for His devotees. Finally He gifted His own life for one of His most intimate "devotee" and attained His own 'Maha-Nirvana*. Such was our Lord Sainath-The Awtar Purush.

 

Dr. B. G. Das

Kanpur-208 004 (U. P.)