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Salutations
-- The Story of Grinding Wheat and Its Philosophical
Significance.
According
to the ancient and revered custom, Hemadpant begins the
work, Sai Satcharitra, with various salutations.
First, he makes obeisance
to the God Ganesha to remove all obstacles and make the
work a success and says that Shri Sai is the God Ganesha.
Then, to the Goddess
Saraswati to inspire him to write out the work and says
that Shri Sai is one with this Goddess and that He is
Himself singing His own life.
Then, to the Gods;
Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar - the Creating, Preserving and
Destroying Deities respectively; and says that Sainath is
one with them and He as the great Teacher, will carry us
across the River of Worldly Existence.
Then, to his tutelary
Deity Narayan Adinath who manifested himself in Konkan -
the land reclaimed by Parashurama, (Rama in the Hindi
version) from the sea; and to the Adi (Original) Purusha
of the family.
Then, to the Bharadwaja
Muni, into whose gotra (clan) he was born and also to
various Rishis, Yagyavalakya, Bhrigu, Parashara, Narad,
Vedavyasa, Sanak, Sanandan, Sanatkumar, Shuka. Shounak,
Vishwamitra, Vasistha, Valmiki, Vamadeva, Jaimini,
Vaishampayan, Nava Yogindra etc, and also modern Saints
such as Nivritti, Jnanadev, Sopan, Muktabai, Janardan,
Ekanath, Namdev, Tukaram, Kanha, and Narahari etc.
Then, to his grandfather
Sadashiv, father Raghunath, his mother, who left him in
his infancy, to his paternal aunt, who brought him up, and
to his loving elder brother.
Then, to the readers and
prays them to give their whole and undivided attention to
his work.
And lastly, to his Guru
Shri Sainath - an Incarnation of Shri Dattatreya, Who is
his sole Refuge and Who will make him realize that Brahman
is the Reality and the world an illusion; and
incidentally, to all the Beings in whom the Lord God
dwells.
After describing in brief
the various modes of devotion according to Parashara,
Vyasa and Shandilya etc., the author goes on to relate the
following story:
"It
was sometime after 1910 A.D. that I went, one fine
morning, to the Masjid in Shirdi for getting a darshan of
Sai Baba. I was wonder-struck to see the following
phenomenon. After washing His mouth and face, Sai Baba
began to make preparations for grinding wheat. He spread a
sack on the floor; and thereon set a hand-mill. He took
some quantity of wheat in a winnowing fan, and then
drawing up the sleeves of His Kafni (robe); and taking
hold of the peg of the hand-mill, started grinding the
wheat by putting a few handfuls of wheat in the upper
opening of the mill and rotated it. I thought ‘what
business Baba had with the grinding of wheat, when He
possessed nothing and stored nothing, and as He lived on
alms!’ Some people who had come there thought likewise,
but none had the courage to ask baba what He was doing.
Immediately, this news of Baba's grinding wheat spread
into the village, and at once men and women ran to the
Masjid and flocked there to see Baba's act. Four bold
women, from the crowd, forced their way up and pushing
Baba aside, took forcibly the peg or handle into their
hands, and, singing Baba's Leelas, started grinding. At
first Baba was enraged, but on seeing the women's love and
devotion, He was much pleased and began to smile. While
they were grinding, they began to think that Baba had no
house, no property, no children, none to look after, and
He lived on alms, He did not require any wheat-flour for
making bread or roti, what will He do with this big
quantity of flour? Perhaps as Baba is very kind, He will
distribute the flour amongst us. Thinking in this way
while singing, they finished the grinding and after
putting the hand-mill aside, they divided the flour into
four portions and began to remove them one per head. Baba,
Who was calm and quiet up till now, got wild and started
abusing them saying, "Ladies, are you gone mad? Whose
father's property are you looting away? Have I borrowed
any wheat from you, so that you can safely take the flour?
Now please do this. Take the flour and throw it on the
village border limits." On hearing this, the women
felt abashed and whispering amongst them, went away to the
outskirts of the village and spread the flour as directed
by Baba.
I asked the Shirdi people
- "What was this that Baba did?" They replied
that as the Cholera Epidemic was spreading in the village
and this was Baba's remedy against the same; it was not
wheat that was ground but the Cholera itself was ground to
pieces and pushed out of the village. From this time
onward, the Cholera Epidemic subsided and the people of
the village were happy. I was much pleased to know all
this; but at the same time my curiosity was also aroused.
I began to ask myself - What earthly connection was there
between wheat flour and Cholera? What was the casual
relation between the two? And how to reconcile them? The
incident seems to be inexplicable. I should write
something on this and sing to my heart's content Baba's
sweet Leelas. Thinking in this way about this Leela, my
heart was filled with joy and I was thus inspired to write
Baba's Life - The Satcharita.
And as we know, with
Baba's grace and blessing this work was successfully
accomplished.
Philosophical
Significance of Grinding
Apart
from the meaning that the people of Shirdi put on this
incident of grinding wheat, there is, we think, a
philosophical significance too. Sai Baba lived in Shirdi
for about sixty years and during this long period; He did
the business of grinding almost every day - not, however,
the wheat alone; but the sins, the mental and physical
afflictions and the miseries of His innumerable devotees.
The two stones of His mill consisted of Karma and Bhakti,
the former being the lower and the latter the upper one.
The handle with which Baba worked the mill consisted of
Jnana. It was the firm conviction of Baba that Knowledge
or Self-realization is not possible, unless there is the
prior act of grinding of all our impulses, desires, sins;
and of the three gunas, viz. Sattva, Raja and Tama; and
the Ahamkara, which is so subtle and therefore so
difficult to be got rid of.
This reminds us of a
similar story of Kabir who seeing a woman grinding corn
said to his Guru, Nipathiranjana, "I am weeping
because I feel the agony of being crushed in this wheel of
worldly existence like the corn in the hand-mill."
Nipathiranjana replied, "Do not be afraid; hold fast
to the handle of knowledge of this mill, as I do, and do
not wander far away from the same but turn inward to the
Center, and you are sure to be saved."
Bow to Shri Sai -- Peace be to all
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