THE LAST DAYS OF BABA

I CAME ACROSS THIS ARTICLE IN THE WEB AND WANT TO SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE .THIS WAS WRITTEN BY POOJYA NARASIMHASWAMIJI
Prayer, worship and pilgrimage, all good be, Praise also is due, to the charitable and devoted ones. Pure are those, who meditate, and the wise ones, good are the various modes of worship, of the devotees;
But without Thy grace, they reach You not.
Nor without Thy grace, conies the inner illumination!
He alone, who has been blessed by Thy grace,
Treads the ordained path!
All powers and faculties are but a gift from Thee, And without Thy grace, nothing are They.

What Baba said in the early days of His arrival at Shirdi came literally true. Long before 1908, when Shirdi was still a quiet village, Baba said: "Mansions will rise up in this village. Bigwigs will come. Chariots, horses, elephants, all will come. Grand processions will be held." People then laughed at His naive imagination.

In 1914 Sai Baba made a very casual remark to one of His devotees. He pointed out a piece of waste land to Mrs. Bapusaheb Jog. "It is my site; a big mansion will rise up here and we shall live there. Big people would look after Me." Mrs. Jog took it as one of many inscrutable things He said.

Apparently unconnected with this remark, something equally inscrutable but more shocking happened in 1916. It was the festival of Vijayadashmi. Devotees flocked to Shirdi, to attend the ceremonial Seemollanghan.

Sai Baba suddenly flew into a wild rage. It was one of Baba's characteristic ways to flare up on such auspicious occasions. But what He did on this occasion far exceeded anything He did on any other. He took off His head-dress, Kafni, and His langota (underwear) publicly, tore them up and flung them in the sacred fire in the mosque and cursed in the heat of His rage. Bhagoji tried to pacify Him and said "Baba, what is all this about? Today is the holy day of Seemollanghan. Why are you angry and why do you frighten people thus?" Baba said, "This day is MySeemollanghan."

Bapu Saheb Booty was a famous millionaire of Nagpur. He was drawn to Baba and wished to have a building at Shirdi. One day, he had a dream in which Baba appeared and ordered him to build a wada of His own with a temple in and Shama was also sleeping there. Booty woke up and found Shama shedding tears. Shama said: Baba appeared in my dream and ordered, 'Build the wada with the temple. I shall fulfill the wishes of all.

Bapu Saheb was surprised at their dreams. Being rich enough, he immediately decided to build a wada and with the co operation of Shama and Dixit, drew up a plan. Then he placed it before Baba who blessed it immediately. Work commenced soon and under the supervision of Shama, the ground floor, the cellar and the well were completed. Off and on Baba visited the site and suggested certain improvements. It occurred to Booty that there should be an open platform in the centre, of which the Idol of Muralidhar could be installed. Booty put his idea before Baba through Shama for His consent. Baba readily gave His consent, but added, "After the temple is complete I will come and stay there." Staring at the wada, He added: "After the wada is complete, we shall use it for ourselves; we shall live, move and play there, and be happy."

The year 1918 commenced as any other and a few months passed. Uddhavesa Bua, usually visited Sai Baba every fortnight. One day, when he arrived, Baba told him not to take the trouble of visiting Him thereafter. He said the same to another Mrs. Chandrabai also in July 1918.

Not long after this, one day Sai Baba gave some boli with boiled foul to Kasim (the son of Bade Baba) and told him, "Go to Aurangabad and see Shamsuddin Mia, give him this money, Rs. 2507- let him do Moulu, Kowali and Nyas." Moulu is the singing of devotional songs Kowalis are devotional songs about saints, sung to the accompaniment of Tabla; Nyas is feeding poor people. Baba then told Kasim to go to another fakir,Banne Mia, decorate him with a garland. Thereafter Kasim was to tell Mia "On the ninth day of ninth month, Allah Himself takes away the lamp which He had lit. Such is Allah's mercy." Sai Baba gave him Rs. 250/- and a garland. Kasim pleaded he was a stranger to Aurangabad and so Baba asked Chote Khan to accompany him.

Both Kasim and Chote Khan started for Aurangabad. When they arrived at Aurangabad railway station, Fakir Shamsuddin whom Chote Khan knew had come to the station. He was enquiring "Who are the guests come from Fakir Sai? Chote Khan and Kasim were surprised and bowed to him. Shamsuddin himself repeated the message of Sai Baba, word by word! Then he led the three guests’ home and fed them. With the money sent by Sai Baba, he fed a large number of people. He also performed Kowali and Moulu. By night all this was completed.

Next day, Kasim, started in search of Banne Mia. When they reached his house, they saw him standing still, with one hand raised and the other held down in a trance. There were a few Arabs. They warned the visitors not to approach him, when he was in that state as he would be furious with them. So visitors waited for one hour but Banne Mia showed no sign of regaining awareness. Then Chote khan took the garland which Baba had given them in his hand and put it round the fakir's neck. Then Banne Mia lowered his raised arm, as though he became aware of the arrival of the visitors. So Chote Khan repeated to him the words of Sai Baba, "Ninth day of the ninth month Allah Himself takes away the lamp which He had lit." On hearing the words, Banne Mia gazed at the sky and tears rolled down his eyes.

The party left Aurangabad quite thrilled by the happenings. But they could not understand what it was all about nor had they the courage to ask Baba about it.

The Brick Breaks:
It was October; one day Baba left the mosque on His daily rounds. Madhavan Fasle was sweeping the mosque. He found the brick which was so dear to Baba on the floor. To prevent the dust falling on the holy brick, the boy took it up in his hands but suddenly it slipped, fell down and broke into two. When later Baba saw it, He was depressed and said: "It is not the brick that is broken; it is My destiny."

Shadows of Death:
About the same time Ramachandra Patil, became seriously ill. He was counting his days in despair. Sai Baba appeared before Ramachandra Patil, physically. Patil held His feet firmly and asked Baba to tell him the exact time of his death. Baba was moved and said, "Don't be anxious, your death-warrant has been withdrawn and you will soon be all right; but I am worried about Tatya Patil. He will pass away on the Vijayadashmi day. Do not divulge this to anyone." Indeed Ramachandra Patil recovered, but he was afraid of Tatya's safety.

On the 3rd October 1918, Raghuvir Purandare and H. S. Dixit were at Shirdi but Baba sent them to Bombay. He said: "I will go ahead and you follow Me." He gave them permission saying "My turbot (tomb) will speak, my muff (dust) will give you replies; My name will speak." As the terrible day neared, Tatya fell ill and was bed-ridden. Though Baba was also down with fever, Tatya had full faith in Baba that He would save his life.

Tatya's condition worsened and at one stage Tatya felt his end was certain. He was getting udi regularly from Baba. One day Baba summoned Tatya. As Tatya could not walk, he was carried thither by a devotee. Then Baba gave him rice boiled in milk which he ate with difficulty. Baba looked enquiringly at Tatya, applied udi to Tatya's forehead and said, "Tatya at first I got two swings ready for both of us. But now I've changed My mind. I don't want to take you now. I am going alone, Go home!" Then Baba gave him udi and Tatya was taken home.

During this period, Baba made one Mr. Vaghe read 'Rama Vijaya' once in a week. Next, Baba made him go through it a second time, non-stop in three days. A third round was also finished. When the man was exhausted Baba let him go and observed silence.

It was four days to go for Vijayadashami. Mrs. Andu Marwadi was sitting before Him, and then Baba told her, "Bat, I am tired of Dwarakamayi and Chavadi. I will go over to the Booty's wada where big people will look after Me." At that time Baba's health was far from satisfactory. He stopped His trips to Lendi and His begging rounds and sat in the mosque.

He told them that He did not feel well there and asked them to take Him to the Dagdi (stone) wada to Booty. Saying these last words, he leaned on Bayaji's body and breathed His last. Bhagoji noticed that His breathing stopped and told Nanasaheb Nimonkar who was sitting below. Nanasaheb then brought a little water and poured it in Baba's mouth but it all came out. Then Nanasaheb burst out weeping.

It was a terrible blow to the countless devotees and the whole of Shirdi felt like a corpse with its spirit gone. The news spread fast and the whole village rushed to the mosque weeping and crying. Strangely, Tatya recovered very rapidly and could sit up by noon. Devotees felt that Sai made the supreme sacrifice of His life to save Tatya from certain death. For did not Sai say that He would even give His own head to save His devotee?

Samadhi or death?
Mrs. M. W. Pradhan, one of Sai Baba's devotees records her experience:
The night after Baba's departure, I saw His body in a dying condition in my dream and said, 'Baba is dying'. Baba replied, 'People do not talk of saints as dying, but as taking samadhi'. His body was still. People were mourning. Such was the dream. I felt sad. I woke up at 12-30 midnight. In the morning we got from Anna Chinchinikar a post-card that Baba passed away at 3-00 p.m. on holy Dasserah, 15-10-1918."

On the day following His Mahasamadhi i.e., on 16th of October, Baba appeared to Das Ganu in his dream at Pandharpur and said, "The masjidhas collapsed; all the oil men and grocers of Shirdi have teased Me a lot; so I left the place. I therefore came to inform you here; go there quickly and cover Me with Bhakkal flowers." Das Ganu came to Shirdi and started bhajan and kirtan before Baba's samadhi which he garlanded. Later he fed a large number of people in Baba's name.

A little later Baba appeared in the dream of another lady and told her to send the pitamber (light yellow silk dhoti) in her trunk to cover Hissamadhi. So she did. When the thirteenth day after the samadhi neared He appeared in the dream of yet another devotee and told him to celebrate the day.

Thus Baba rightly declared:
"I shall be alive and vigorous from the tomb also."
"Even after My Mahasamadhi, I shall be with you the moment you think of Me at any place."
And He stands by His word even today. And that is taking samadhi."
"It is Death that's dead, not He!"
To live is, in itself, a value judgment to breathe is to judge.
- Albert Camus