BABA AND NANA--CHANDORKAR AN INTERESTING CONVERSATION

The following is a conversation which a devotee, Nana Govind Chandorkar, a Deputy Collector who was a traditionally well read orthodox person, had with Shirdi Sai Baba.



Nana: Baba, I am fed up with this saMsAra. It is only nissAra. Please help me cut the bonds which bind me to it. What appears as pleasant in the beginning ends in misery. Fate tosses us hither and thither. I don’t see an iota of happiness in this saMsAra.
Baba: Nana, you are prattling like a mad man. What you say is only partially true. You have misunderstood the truth. The saMsAra will exist as long as the body exists. No one can escape from it. How can you? Even I am under its clutches. The saMsAra is varied and different. It is the work of Desire and Anger. All the vagaries of the mind and the body constitute saMsAra. By running away and hiding yourself in a forest you cannot escape it. What you are now has been brought on you by yourself. You are only experiencing the fruits of your actions done by you in your previous lives. It is by that cause the effect of the appearance of this body has taken place. This is called deha-prArabdha. The soul gets a body just to experience the consequences of actions of its own previous lives. Without experiencing the consequences of prArabdha karma one cannot leave this world. Why do people look different? Why, in fact, do various living beings look different? It is all because of the karma of previous lives. A rich man’s dog rolls in joy on a cushioned sofa. A poor man’s dog rots at the street corner. The difference is because of prArabdha.
Nana: Since pleasure and pain do any way alternate in this samsAra, one feels like hating it and renouncing it. Is it not good to renounce?
Baba: Pleasure and pain are both mAyA. What appears as pleasant is not really a pleasure. People in the clutches of samsAra take the appearance of pleasure as real pleasure and are drawn towards it. As a result of prArabdha karma one fellow gets tasty, dainty and rich food while another felllow has onoly stale bread to eat. The former thinks that he has no wants and the latter thinks he is a failure. Think well. Whatever you may eat, the result is the same. Appeasement of one’s hunger. One fellow covers his body with costly cloth with zari and all. Another does the same with a torn old rag. Both serve the same purpose. Pleasure and pain depend on the attitude of your mind. This is the effect of mAyA. Do not give place in your mind to thoughts of pleasure and pain.
mAyA manifests itself as the six enemies of Man.: Lust, Anger, Greed, Delusion, Pride and Envy. They make non-real things appear as real. A poor man, seeing the rich man wearing a gold ornament, wishes to have one like that for himself. This is greed. The others are similar to this. Conquer all six of these foes of Man. No desire will then rise in the mind. Otherwise you will become a slave of these six rogues. Use your discretion and kill them. You will not be affected by pleasure and pain caused by mAyA.
Let me tell you how you should go about in this samsAra. A wise person will be content with whatever he has, knowing full well that it is his prArabdha. If you have riches, be humble. A tree with more fruits in it will bend. But do not bend before all. One should certainly be firm and stern with wicked people. But with sAdhus and the devout, you should show humility and modesty.
Spend your wealth in charity and dharma. But do not be extravagant. This body is certainly impermanent but so long as it is there, wealth is necessary to a certain extent. Even bile is necessary for the health of the body. But do not become greedy as money is the be-all and end-all of life. Be charitable. But do not do wasteful expenditure.
Observe happily all the goings-on in the world. Do not forget God. Remember always: ‘This samsAra is not mine, it is God’s.’ Show your sympathy with the poor and the down-trodden. Do not hurt them by showing hate or disgust. Keep a constant mental analysis of the question: ‘Who am I?’
Nana: Baba, Who is God? How will He look? Where is He? How can we see Him?
Baba: Those who toil in samsAra neither understand what is right and wrong nor do they comprehen the nature of God. Pure thoughts are absent in them. Constantly being immersed in the ocean of samsAra they do not have faith in devotion or in the scriptures. They don’t reach God. They go towards hell.
On the other hand those who are eager to rise higher towards salvation, discard this state of bondage and begin to enquire wiuth discretion and intelligence. They are always itching to see God. They develop bhakti towards Him and observe the laws of the scriptures. They adopt nAma-japa and dhyAna and become a sAdhaka (an aspirant to reach God). They continuously move with the devout. When they reach a mature stage in their japa and dhyAna they become saintly. In that stage God and Man are alike. Praise and blame are one and the same for them. Desires have left them. The thought of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ are not any more there. They begin to see that their own AtmA and God are the same. They realize ‘I am brahman".
Observe how each one of them has reached God. You will yourself then understand that God permeates all animate and inanimate objects in the world.
God is everywhere. There is no place where He is not. What prevents us from seeing Him is the power of mAyA. I, you, this world, all are part of ISvara. Therefore no one should hate another. Never forget that the Lord is everywhere. That will generate Love in you. When love overflows, everything is obtained

A PATH TO YOUR DWELLING

How am I to come to you,

When I stand outside a locked gate?

The path to your dwelling

Runs steep and dangerous.

In fear I CLIMB,STEP BY STEP,So steep and dangerous.

O SAI,you seem so far away

That my mind goes up and down.

As I climb the sentinels watch

And robbers wait to waylay me.Though the path to your dwelling

Is steep and dangerous

You have called me home.

My wanderings have ended.

I HAVE FOUND MY WAY TO YOUR FEET

WHAT DOES THE LOOK ON HIS FACE INDICATE OF HIS ATTITUDE?

THE FOLLOWING OBSERVATIONS MADE BY SRI ACHARYA E.BHARADWAJA HAD A DEEP IMPACT ON ME .THE SAME SENTIMENTS SEEMED TO RESONATE INSIDE ME WHEN I WAS LOOKING AT HIS FACE DURING THE DHOOP AARTHI

Was he overwhelmed with compassion for the devotees who came to pay homage,adore and worship him

Or in that mood was he oblivious of his seperate existence,his gaze fixed on the Divine MYSTERY,the ONE OMNIPRESENT SPIRIT?

or WAS IT A LOOK OF RECOGNITION OF THAT ANCIENT SPIRIT,OF HIS

CONTACT WITH THOSE TEEMING CROWDS THAT HAD CONTACTED HIM THROUGH THEIR PREVIOUS COUNTLESS LIVES?And ,was that smile pregnant with his joy of their future possibility of reaching the spiritual summit? Or was he lost in ceaseless contemplation of the one spirit,in his at-one-ment?Or does it signify the PEACE THAT PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING?Or is there a possibility that at a HIGHER level of consciosness all these could co-exist without one interrupting the other?

THIS LAST THOUGHT HE SAYS FLASHED WITH A PARTICULAR INTENSITY AND HIS SPIRIT LEAPT FORTH TO COMPREHEND HOW HE WAS VIEWING ALL EXISTENCE

IS THIS UNIVERSE OF MYRIAD FORMS AN IMAGE PROJECTED IN HIS CONSCIOUSNESS?AND AM I,THEN ,TOO,A THOUGHT IN HIS MIND AND ALL THESE MY THOUGHTS PART OF IT? HE FURTHER GOES ON TO SAY

I AM AWARE HOW ABSURD THESE WORDS MUST LOOK TO ANYONE.

But how ELSE can they be when i verbalise that WHICH CANNOT BE EXPRESSED?

shirdi sai and dakshinamoorthy

IN THIS POST I WISH TO

HIGHLIGHT ANOTHER ASPECT OF

SAI SADGURU AND I WISH TO

POINT OUT THE SIMILARITIES

WITH DAKSHINAMOORTHI

Dakshinamurthy is an aspect of Shiva as a guru (teacher) of all types of knowledge, particularly the jnana. This aspect of Shiva is his personification as the supreme or the ultimate awareness, understanding and knowledge. This form represents Shiva in his aspect as a teacher of yoga, music, and wisdom, and giving exposition on the shastras. He is worshipped as the god of wisdom, Dakshinamurthi, Lord Siva, as a youthful Guru, has been the symbol of the potency of a silent mind from time immemorial. His exposition of the truth, the 'Brahma Tatva', to elderly disciples was through silence. These disciples had mastered the scriptures but not their essence. Their doubts were set at naught in the vast and all pervading silence of Dakshinamurthi

SAI APOSTLE NARASIMHA SWAMIJI HAS SAID--BABA LIKE DAKSHINAMOORTHI CONVEYED EDIFICATION,LIGHT AND BLISS WITHOUT UTTERING A SINGLE WORD.THE TEACHER SIMPLY GLOWED WITH HIS LIGHT BLISS,THE RADIATION OF WHICH ENVELOPED,SATURATED AND SWALLOWED UP THE SELF OF THE DEVOTEES

WITHOUT ANY EFFORT AT LEARNING OR REPEATING SOUNDS AND GRASPING THEIR MEANING OR FORCE AT ONE STROKE, AS THOUGH

BY MAGIC..THE BEING OF THE DEVOTEE WAS ABSORBED INTO THE BEING OF THE GURU AND BECAME THAT OR PART OF THAT..KNOWLEDGE ,POWER AND SUPEROR NATURE BLOSSOMED OUT

AND HID THE FORMER PETTY ,POWERLESS AND WRETCHED NATURE OF THE DEVOTEE.
In Sai's system, (as Sri Narasimha Swamiji puts it), the Guru undertakes every responsibility for the devotee that surrenders himself. The devotee is there styled 'the Ankita', i.e., the stamped child of the Guru. Everything concerning that pupil is looked after by the Guru, with his wonderful superhuman powers

The Dakshinamurthy stotram (Hymn eulogising Dakshinamurthy), viewed as a form of Shiva is a stotra form of the theory or philosophy ofAdvaita vedanta

HOW DOES ONE DEVELOP PURE AND EXCLUSIVE LOVE FOR SAI

THESE ARE SOME METHODS TO DEVELOP PURE AND EXCLUSIVE LOVE FOR SAI

1)Listen to,ponder over

,read and recite the sweet honey like anecdotes illustrating the qualities ,loving nature and greatness of sai

2)Associate with those persons who have faith in sai and love him without earthly gain

3)Repeat and recite loudly the epithets of love on sai,fixing the mind on his divine nature

4)Obey the divine laws and remain cheerful under all circumstances whether favourable or adverse taking it as a divine dispensation.

5)Strive for the good in all creatures knowing them to be his fragments

6)Be eager to grasp His TRUE NATUREand get HIS VISION

7)Pray to SAI in seclusion in A PITEOUS TONE

PRAYER IS AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE LORDSHIP OF SAI OVER OURSELVES,OF OUR FINITUDE AND HIS INFINITUDE AND SUPREME GREATNESS.ALL OUR ILLS ARE DUE TO SEPERATION FROM HIM AND PRAYER IS THE MOST POTENT MEANS OF REBINDING OURSELVES WITH HIM .. .THE MOMENT ONE BEGINS TO PINE IN LOVE FOR THE LORD AND FEELS LIKE A FISH OUT OF WATER THE BLISSFUL LORD MANIFESTS HIMSELF IN HIS BEWITCHING FORM

shirdi sai and dattatreya

IN THIS POST I WISH TO DELVE INTO THE

SAI-DATTA LINK.SAI WAS A SAMPOORNA DATTA AVATAR

It is said in the Hindu scriptures that the foremost in line of the divine teachers to incarnate on earth is Sri Dattatreya. To enable mankind to realize the ultimate truth which is but difficult to comprehend; the Lord kindly consented to incarnate on earth from time to time. The first and foremost time is considered to be as the son of Anasuya and Sage Atri to fulfill the promise as a boon to Anasuya. The Lord born to them was called "Datta Atreya", of which the later word is patronymic derived from Atri. Sri Datta, the Lord of the Avadhutas (the naked sages), first taught the highest truth to Sri Parasurama from whom it was passed on to Sri Haritayana and so on. Thus started the lineage of divine teachers on earth. The lord did promise that this tradition would continue till the earth remained in orbit. In the line of divine teachers many names are taken across the world, some very well known and some unknown. But one thing is common to all these divine teachers; they are pretty much self realized, reflect a personality that is very difficult to comprehend, majority of them have their early life shrouded in mystery and their life is dedicated to spiritual evolution of souls that get attracted to them. The tradition of Sri Datta also referred to as "Datta Parampara" continues uninterrupted even after so many millions of years.

Many consider Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi as being in the lineage of Shri Dattatreya. By His life and stories, Shri Sainath did propound the same principles that were first taught by Sri Dattatreya and by many divine teachers since then. Sri Sai Baba's teachings are more geared towards the current age yet the fundamentals remain unchanged. Among the few books Shri Sainath encouraged his devotees to read and listen was Sri Gurucharitra, the book on life and teachings of Shri Dattatreya! Not only did he encourage reading but to one devotee he explained the meaning of it too! When one reads Sri Guruchartitra they will find many parallels in the stories with that in the life of Sri Sainath. It can't be mere coincidence or chance that lead to this!

O Sai! Thou art the Datta Tatva

Who teacheth us to learn from everything. O Baba!

The year 1910 is written in gold on the heart of each of Your devotees, for that was the year that Govindrao Dabholkar alias Hemadpant visited Shirdi. On seeing You grinding wheat, his curiosity was aroused, and he wished with all his heart to write Your biography. When he did bow before You to seek Your permission through Shama, You were moved, and blessed him by giving him Your udi (vibhuti) and placing Your boon-bestowing hand on his head with these words, "Make a collection of stories and experiences; keep notes and memos; I'll help you. You are only an outward instrument. I should write Myself My autobiography and satisfy the wishes of My devotees. When your ego is completely annihilated and there is left no trace of it, Myself shall enter into you and shall write Myself."(Shri Sai Satcharita, Chapter 2) And Baba! rest is history, history of the God who descended on earth, history of the God who walked on the soil of Shirdi for 60 years. Nay, Baba! Nay, it is the history of the God who is still, and ever will be with His devotees wherever they be. O my Sadguru! Your 'entry into him' made him experience an epiphany, a spiritual flash that You are an "incarnation of Lord Dattatreya"

Hari Om Tatsat Jai Guru Datta Hari Om Tatsat Jai Guru Datta SAINATHA RUPA JAI GURU DATTA HARI OM TAT SATH JAI GURU DATTA