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Chapter
XLVI
Baba's
gaya Trip - Story of Goats.
This
Chapter describes Shama's strip to Kashi, Prayag and Gaya
and how Baba (in the Form of His portrait) was there ahead
of him; it also describes Baba's reminiscences of the past
birth of two goats.
Preliminary
Blessed,
Oh Sai, are Your Feet, blessed is Your remembrance and
blessed is Your darshana which frees us from the bond of
Karma. Though Your Form is invisible to us now, still if
the devotees believe in You, they get living experiences
from You. By an invisible and subtle thread You draw Your
devotees from far and near to Your Feet and embrace them
like a kind and loving mother. The devotees do not know
where You are, but You so skillfully pull the wires that
they ultimately realize that You are at their back to help
and support them. The intelligent, wise and learned folk
fall into the pit of the samsar on account of their
egoism, but You save, by Your power, the poor, simple and
devout persons. Inwardly and invisibly you play all the
game, but show that you are not concerned with it. You do
things and pose yourself as a non-doer. Nobody ever knows
Your life. The best course therefore for us is to
surrender our body, speech and mind to Your Feet and
always chant Your name for destroying our sins. You
fulfill the wishes of the devotees and to those who are
without any desire You give bliss supreme. Chanting Your
sweet name is the easiest sadhan for devotees. By this
sadhan (means), our sins, Rajas and Tamas qualities will
vanish, the Sattwa qualities and righteousness will gain
predominance and along with this, discrimination,
dispassion and knowledge will follow. Then we shall abide
in our Self and our Guru (who are one and the same). This
is what is called complete surrender to the Guru. The only
sure sign of this is that our mind gets calm and peaceful.
The greatness of this surrender, devotion and knowledge is
unique; for peace, non-attachment, fame and salvation
etc., come in its train.
If Baba
accepts a devotee, He follows him and stands by him, day
and night, at his home or abroad. Let the devotee go
anywhere he likes, Baba is there ahead of him in some form
in an inconceivable manner. The following story
illustrates this.
Sometime
after Kakasaheb Dixit was introduced to Sai Baba, he
decided to perform the thread (Upanayan) ceremony of his
eldest son Babu at Nagpur. At about the same time
Nanasaheb Chandorkar decided to perform the marriage
ceremony of his eldest son at Gwalior. Both Dixit and
Chandorkar came to shirdi and lovingly invited Baba for
these functions. Baba asked them to take Shama as His
representative. When He was pressed to come in person.
Baba told them to take Shama with them and that "after
doing Banares and Prayag He would be ahead of Shama."
Now mark these words for they show Baba's
all-pervasiveness.
Taking
the permission of Baba, Shama decided to go to Nagpur and
Gwalior for these functions and ceremonies and thence to
Kashi, Prayag and Gaya. Appa Kote made up his mind to
accompany him. They both went first to Nagpur for the
thread ceremony. Kakasaheb Dixit gave Shama Rs.200/- for
his expenses. Then they went to Gwalior for the marriage
ceremony. There Nanasaheb Chandorkar gave Shama Rs.100/-
and his Vyahi (relation) Mr.Jather gave him also Rs.100/-.
Then Shama went to Kashi, and then to Ayodhya where he was
well received in Jather's beautiful temple of
Laxmi-Narayan at Kashi (Varanasi or Banares) and in the
Rama-Mandir at Ayodhya by Jathar's manager. They (Shama
and Kote) stayed for 21 days in Ayodhya and two months in
Kashi (Banares). Then they left for Gaya. In the train
they felt a little uneasy on hearing that plague was
prevailing in Gaya. At night they alighted at Gaya station
and stayed in the Dharmashala. In the morning the Gayawala
(the Priest who arranges and provides for the lodging and
boarding of the pilgrims) came there and aid - "The
pilgrims have already started, you better make
haste." Shama casually asked him whether there was
plague in Gaya. "No" said the Gayawala.
"Please come without any fear or anxiety and see
yourself." Then they went with him and stayed in his
house which was a big and commodious Wada. Shama was
pleased with the accommodation provided for him, but what
pleased him most, was the beautiful big portrait of Baba
fixed in the central and front portion of the building.
Seeing this portrait Shama was overwhelmed with emotion.
He remembered Baba's words, viz., "After
doing Kashi and Prayag He would be ahead of Shama"
and burst into tears. His hairs stood on end, his throat
was choked and he began to sob. The Gayawala thought that
he was afraid of plague prevailing there and therefore was
crying. But Shama enquired of him whence he got Baba's
portrait there. He replied that he had 200 or 300 agents
working at Manmad and Punatambe for looking to the
convenience of the pilgrims to Gaya and from them he heard
about Baba's fame. Then about 12 years ago he went to
Shirdi and took Baba's darshana. There he wanted Baba's
portrait hung in Shama's house and with Baba's permission
Shama gave it to him. This was the same protrait. Shama
then remembered this former incident. The Gayawalas's joy
knew no bounds when he learnt that the same Shama who
obliged him before, was his guest then. Then they both
exchanged love and service and were most delighted and
happy. The Gayawala gave him a right royal welcome. He was
a very rich man. He sat in a palanquin and made Shama ride
an elephant and attended to all his comforts and
conveniences.
The moral
of the story is this:- That Baba's words came out true to
the letter and unbounded was His love towards the
devotees. But leave this aside. He also loved all
creatures equally, for He felt that He was one with them.
The following story will illustrate this.
Two
Goats
Baba
was once returning from Lendi, when He saw a flock of
goats. Two of them attracted His attention. He went to
them, caressed and fondled them and bought them for
Rs.32/-. The devotees were surprised at this conduct of
Baba. They thought that Baba was duped in this bargain, as
the goats would fetch Rs.two each, at the most Rs.3/- or
4/- each, i.e., Rs.8/- for both. They began to take Baba
to task for this, but Baba kept calm and cool. Shama and
Tatya Kote asked Baba for an explanation. He said He
should not store money as He had no home, and any family
to look after. He asked them to purchase at His cost 4
seers of 'dal' (lentil) and feed the goats. After this was
done, Baba returned the goats to the owner of the flock
and gave out of the following reminiscences and story of
the goats.
"Oh,
Shama and Tatya, you think that I have been deceived in
this bargain. No. Listen to their story. In their former
birth they were human beings and had the good fortune to
be My companions and sit by My side. They were uterine
brothers, loving each other at first, but later on, they
became enemies. The elder brother was an idle fellow while
the younger one was an active chap and earned a lot of
money. The former became greedy and jealous and wanted to
kill his brother and take away his money. They forgot
thier fraternal relations and began to quarrel with each
other. The elder brother resorted to many devices to kill
his younger brother, but all of his attempts failed. Thus
they became deadly enemies and finally on one occasion the
elder gave a deadly blow with a big stick on the latter's
head while the latter struck the former with an axe, with
the result that both fell dead on the spot. As the result
of their actions, they were both born as goats. As they
passed by me, I at once recognized them. I remembered
their past history. Taking pity on them I wanted to feed
them and give them rest and comfort and for this reason I
spent all the money for which you reprove me. As you did
not like My bargain I sent them back to their
shepherd." Such was Sai's love for the goats!
Bow
to Shri Sai - Peace be to all
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