A Born Saint (March 1977)

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness and greatness is thrust on some" is a famous saying in English. It describes three types of people, that we come across in this world. The first type that is described is of persons who are born great. Because of the heritage, family traditions, social status and other favourable circumstances some people are known to be great from very early age. If we scan the world history, it will not be difficult to name this type of persons. The second category is of persons, who achieve greatness by dint of their hard labour.

Napoleon , 'Bonaparte, Mahatma Gandhi, Herr Hitler and many such personalities belong to this category. The mighty efforts, that these people put in for their progress, are really beyond the reach of ordinary people The third and the last category of people is very commonly met by us in our life. These people are really speaking not worth much; but some people, who are perhaps benefitted by them, somehow try to praise them, elevate them, speak lofty things about them and thus because of their constant propaganda people somehow start thinking that they are really great and thus greatness is thrust upon them.

In the animal world also, some are born great. From ancient times, the lion is known as the king of the jungle. The question therefore arises how he came to be known like this? A very good Sanskrit shloka explains how this must have happened. It runs as follows:-

The meaning of the above shloka is, "In the forest, no crowning ceremony or some other ceremony is performed by the beasts. The kingship is automatically earned by the beast who has valour". What is proverbially known as the law of the jungle, is based mainly on valour and strength. Hence the one who is strong and brave naturally gets the best position. It will therefore be seen that like some persons who are born great, the lion in the jungle is also a born great beast.

Among the saints, also there are a few who are born saints. Dnyaneshwar, Eknath, Tukaram, Ramdas, Kabir, can be mentioned as a few names of old saints who were saintly from their early life. Out of all these saints, except perhaps saint Ramdas, no one had a good number of disciples. The disciples of saint Ramdas also came to him after he was known far and wide and after he settled down at Chafal.

Among the modern saints, we will have to name Shri Sai Baba as a born saint. From his life as described in the Sai Satcharita we know that His early life prior to sixteen years of His age is not known to anybody. He came to Shirdi and was at once known and recognised as a saint. "He came. He saw and He conquered". This is said about one king attacking Britain. Similarly Shri Sai Baba also came to Shirdi, looked at Shirdi and He conquered Shirdi. He became the saint of Shirdi. Even though He was not known to the people at large in Shirdi, still they all started honouring Him as a saint and this in itself shows that He was a born saint.

The second and third categories of great men can also be traced among the saints; but they cannot be very clearly denned. Some saints do really strive and are then known to be saints; but in many cases these efforts to become a saint are made through an army of disciples. Just as an ambitious conqueror in good old days, had to gather a good army to follow him, similarly in the present days some ambitious persons gather an army of disciples and through them make very effective propaganda about their saintliness. The success of these saints depends on the capacity of their disciples. If they are monied and clever, they are able to boost up their saint very early. If they are not very sharp, it takes a little time for the saint to come up.

The third type of saints, upon whom saintliness is thrust, are also not few in number. Here the saint is mediocre; but his disciples are very sharp. They only ask him to pose as a saint and manage the other things very capably. The second type of saints, who goad their disciples, being extra clever derive all the advantages and are even amassing huge properties; but in the third category, it is the reverse. The disciples make money. They become rich by earning everything in the name of the saint, whom they call as their guru.

In the modern days, becoming a guru or a saint has become a business. Modern life is full of complications. People have lot of troubles and difficulties. They want a solace somewhere. They are seeking some way to escape from all this. Some cunning persons who are able to feel the pulse of the public properly therefore open a math or an Ashram and become the gurus of the Math or Ashram. Such fake gurus are in a big number in the modern society. Only you must have the eye to see them. Recently in the gathering of the contributors to the Sai Leela magazine, one poem was read out by Shri G. V, R. Naidu, who is the president of Shri Sai Baba Seva Samajam at Market Street, Secunderabad 3. The poem under the caption, "Save us now from all these Sais" presents in a humourous way, the ways of these fake gurus, saints and Babas, who exploit the emotions of the people and hold to them false hopes.

SAVE US NOW FROM ALL THESE SAIS

Sainath Guruji since You left,

Numerous Sais, clever and deft

Sprung up here, sprung up there

District, district everywhere.

They start as devotees first of Sai,

speak of Sai and sing of Sai,

take 'Sai' out of Shirdi Sai and

shoot put them as 'So-So Sai'

Ask us "Follow" —that's the Truth!

They give us Udi say some sooth.

If good comes off, "See my strength"

If not, "You are not fit yet".

"Come surrender your mind and body ,

Gents and ladies, but ladies specially

I shall bring you milk and honey,

Only give me all your money!"

Meek and gullible men and women

Crowd to such-like baba's Sai, "^; -

Lose their money, lose their all;

Finally turn away even from Sai!

"I shall act from even my tomb,

Save you, lead you away from womb,

'You said Swamy in one breath,

Save us now from all these Sais"

It will be seen from the above poem how fake Sadhus and Sannyasis are playing with the people, swindling them and misleading them. From the life of Shri Sai Baba that is known to us, it is very clear that none of these things are even heard anywhere in his life. Money was being given to him and sometimes he was even asking for dakshina from the devotees; but that was for teaching benevolence to the devotee and not for earning money. Besides the record shows that Shri Baba was distributing lot of more money than what He was getting. He cured people of all their ailments not with any ulterior motive; but simply on grounds of humanity. Though sweets and rich food used to be offered to Him by the devotees, He never ate it stomachful. He distributed it among the devotees by way of prasad and ate the stale bread that He got as "Bhiksha"! Many other things from his life can be pointed out which showed his selflessness and his absence of greed. If therefore we are asked to point out the name of any born saint of modern days, then we will at once have to mention the name of Shri Sai Baba. In modern days such born saints are rare and fake once are in abundance. Hence we Sai devotees should call ourselves very lucky in having such a guru as Shri Sai Baba and should have our unreserved faith in him.