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Chapter
XXIV
Baba's
Wit and I lumour - Chanak Leela - (1) Hemadpant (2) Sudama
(3) Anna Chinchanikar vs. Mavsibai.
Preliminary
To
say that, we shall state such and such in the next or this
Chapter, is a sort of egoism. Unless, we surrender our ego
to the feet of our Sad-guru, we will not succeed in our
undertaking. If we become egoless, then our success is
assured.
By
worshipping Sai Baba, we attain both the objects, worldly
and spiritual, and are fixed in our true Nature, and get
peace and happiness. Therefore, those who want to gain
their welfare, should respectfully hear Sai Baba's Leelas
or stories and meditate on them. If they do this, they
will easily attain the object of their life and get Bliss.
Generally,
all people like wit and humour, but they do not like that
jokes should be cut at their expense. But Baba's method
was peculiar; when it was accompained with gestures, it
was very interesting and instructive, and the people,
therefore, did not mind, if they were held up to the
ridicule. Hemadpant gives his own instance below.
Chanak-Leela
In
Shirdi, bazar was held every Sunday, and people from the
neighbouring villages came there, erected booths and
stalls on the street, and sold their wares and
commodities. Every noon, the Masjid was crowded more or
less; but on Sunday, it was crowded to suffocation. On one
such Sunday, Hemadpant sat in front of Baba, shampooing
His Legs and muttering God's name. Shama was on Baba's
left, Vamanrao to His right - Shriman Booty and Kakasaheb
Dixit and others were also present there. Then Shama
laughed and said to Annasaheb - "See that some grains
seem to have stuck to the sleeve of your coat". So
saying he touched the sleve and found that there were some
grains. Hemadpant straightened his left fore-arm to see
what the matter was, when to the the surprise of all, some
grains of gram come rolling down and were picked up by the
people who were sitting there.
This
incident furnished a subject-matter for joke. Everybody
present began to wonder and said something or other as to
how the grains found their way into the sleeve of the coat
and lodged there so long. Hemadpant also could not guess
how they found an entrance and stayed there. When nobody
could give any satisfactory explanation in this matter,
and everybody was wondering about this mystery, Baba said
as follows :-
Baba
- "This fellow (Annasaheb) has got the bad habit of
eating alone. Today is a bazar-day and he was here chewing
grams. I know his habit and these grams are a proof of it.
What wonder is there is this matter?"
Hemadpant
- "Baba, I never know of eating things alone; then
why do you thrust this bad habit on me? I have never yet
seen Shirdi bazar. I never went to the bazar today, then
how could I buy grams, and how could I eat them if I had
not bought them? I never eat anything unless I share it
with others present near me".
Baba -
"It is true that you give to the persons present; but
if none be near-by, what could you or I do But do you
remember Me before eating? Am I not always with you? Then
do you offer Me anything before you eat?"
Moral
Let
us mark and note carefully, what Baba has taught us, by
this incident. He has advised us that before the senses,
mind and intellect enjoy their objects, he should first be
remembered, and if this be done, it is in a way an
offering to Him. The senses etc. can never remain without
their objects, but if those objects are first offered to
the Guru, the attachment for them will naturally vanish.
In this way, all the Vrittis (thoughts) regarding Desire,
Anger, Avarice etc. should first be offered and directed
to the Guru and if this practice be followed, the Lord
will help you in eradicating all the Vrittis. When before
enjoyment of the objects, you think that Baba is close by,
the question whether the object is fit to be enjoyed or
not will at once arise. Then the object that is not fit to
be enjoyed will be shunned and in this way our vicious
habits or vices will disappear and our character will
improve. Then love for the Guru will grow and pure
knowledge will sprout up. When this knowledge grows, the
bondage of body - consciousness (we are the body) will
snap and our intellect will be merged in
spirit-consciousness (we are the spirit). Then we shall
get Bliss and contentment. There is no difference between
Guru and God. He who sees any difference in them, sees God
nowhere. So leaving aside all ideas of difference, we
should regard Guru and God as one, and if we serve our
Guru as stated above, Lord (God) will be certainly pleased
and purifying our minds He will give us self-realisation.
To put the matter in a nut-shell, we should not enjoy any
object with our senses etc. without first remembering our
Guru. When the mind is trained in this way, we will be
always reminded of Baba, and our meditation on Baba will
grow apace. The Sagun Form of Baba will ever be before our
eyes and then devotion, non-attachment and salvation will
all be ours. When Baba's Form is thus fixed before our
mental vision, we forget hunger, thirst, and this samsar;
the consciousness of worldly pleasures will disappear and
our mind shall attain peace and happiness.
Sudama's
Story
When
the above story was being narrated, Hemadpant was reminded
of similar story of Sudama, which illustrates the same
priciple and, therefore, it is given here.
Shri
Krishna and His elder brother, Balarama, were living with
a co-student, named Sudama, in the ashram of their Guru,
Sandipani. Once Krishna and Balarama were sent to the
forest for bringing fuel. Then the wife of Sandipani sent
also Sudama for the same purpose with some quantity of
grams for the three. When Krishna met Sudama in the
forest, he said to him - "Dada, I want water as I am
thirsty". Sudama replied - "No water should be
drunk on an empty stomach, so it is better to rest a
while". He did not say that he had got grams with him
and that He should take some. As Krishna was tired, He lay
down for rest on the lap of Sudama and was snoring. Seeing
this, Sudama took out the grams and began to eat. Then
Krishna suddenly asked him - "Dada, what are you
eating, whence is the sound?". He replied -
"What is there to eat? I am shivering with cold and
my teeth are chattering. I can't even repeat distinctly
Vishnu-Sahastra-Nama". Hearing this, the Omniscient
Krishna said - "I just dreamt a dream, in which I saw
a man, eating things of another, and when asked about
this, he said - "What earth (dust) should he
eat?", meaning thereby that he had nothing to eat?
The other man said - "Let it be so". Dada, this
is only a dream. I know that you won't eat anything
without Me; under the influence of the dream I asked you
what you were eating?" If Sudama had known a bit of
the Omniscient, Shri Krishna and His Leelas, he would not
have acted, as he did. Therefore, he had to suffer for
what he did. Though he was a chum of Shri Krishna he had
to pass his later life in utter poverty. But when he later
offered Krishna a handful of parched rice, earned by his
wife with her own labour, Krishna was pleased and gave him
a golden city to enjoy. This story should be remembered by
those who have the habit of eating things alone without
partaking them with others.
The
Shruti also emphasizes this lesson, and asks us to offer
things first to God and then enjoy them after they are
renounced by Him. Baba also has taught us the same lesson
in His inimitable and humorous way.
Anna
Chinchanikar vs. Mavsibai
Hemadpant,
now describes another witty incident, in which Baba played
a peace-maker's part. There was one devotee by name
Damodar Ghanashyama Babare alias Anna Chinchanikar. He was
simple, rough and straightforward. He cared for nobody,
always spoke plainly and carried all dealings in cash.
Though he looked outwardly harsh and uncompromising, he
was good natured and guileless. So Sai Baba loved him. One
day, like others serving Baba in their own way, this Anna
was, one noon standing prone and was shampooing the left
arm of Baba, which rested on the kathada (railing). On the
right side, one old widow named Venubai Koujalgi whom Baba
called mother and all others Mavsibai, was serving Baba in
her own way. This Mavsibai was an elderly woman of pure
heart. She clasped the fingers of both her hands round the
trunk of Baba and was at this time kneading Baba's
abdomen. She did this so forcibly that Baba's back and
abdomen became flat (one) and Baba moved from side to
side. Anna on the other side was steady, but Mavsibai's
face moved up and down with her strokes. Once it so
happened that her face came very close to Anna's. Being of
a witty disposition she remarked - "Oh, this Anna is
a lewd (bad) fellow, he wants to kiss me. Even being so
old with grey hair he feels no shame in kissing me."
These words enraged Anna and he pulled up his sleeves and
said - "You say that I am an old bad fellow, am I
quite a fool? It is you that have picked up a quarrel and
are quarreling with me". All the persons, present
there were enjoying this encounter between them. Baba Who
loved both of them equally and wanted to pacify them,
managed the affair very skillfully. Lovingly He said -
"Oh Anna, why are you unnecessarily raising this hue
and cry? I do not understand what harm or impropriety is
there, when the mother is kissed?" Hearing these
words of Baba, both of them were satisfied and all the
persons laughed merrily and enjoyed Baba's wit to their
heart's content.
Baba's
Characteristics -- His Dependency on Bhaktas
Baba
allowed His devotees to serve Him in their own way, and
did not like any other persons interfering in this. To
quote an instance, the same Mavsibai was on another
occasion, kneading Baba's abdomen. Seeing the fury and
force used by her, all the other devotees felt nervous and
anxious. They said, "Oh mother, be more considerate
and moderate, otherwise you will break Baba's arteries and
nerves". At this Baba got up at once from His seat,
dashed His satka on the ground. He got enraged and His
eyes became red like a live charcoal. None dared to stand
before or face Baba. Then He took hold of one end of the
Satka with both hands and pressed it in the hollow of his
abdomen. The other end He fixed to the post and began to
press His abdomen against it. The satka which was about
two or three feet in length seemed all to go into the
abdomen and the people feared that the abdomen would be
ruptured in a short time. The post was fixed and immovable
and Baba began to go closer and closer to it and clasped
the post firmly. Every moment the rupture was expected,
and they were all dismayed, did not know what to do, and
stood dumb with wonder and fear. Baba suffered this ordeal
for the sake of His Bhakta. The other devotees wanted only
to give a hint to the Mavsibai to be moderate in her
service and not cause any trouble or pain to Baba. This
they did with good intention, but Baba did not brook even
this. They were surprised to see that their
well-intentioned effort had resulted in this catastrophe;
and they could do nothing but to wait and see.
Fortunately, Baba's rage soon cooled down. He left the
satka and resumed His seat. From this time onward, the
devotees took the lesson that they should not meddle with
anybody but allow him to serve Baba as the chooses, as He
was capable to gauge the merits and worth of the service
rendered unto Him.
Bow
to Shri Sai - Peace be to all
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