O Sai Ram !

I fall in prostration at Thy Holy Feet.

“...His state

Is kingly : thousands at his bidding speed,

And post o’er land and ocean without rest;”

Thus, sang the blind poet John Milton who opened our eyes to the Lord, and gave us wisdom. He laid down a path of wisdom and self-realization, after coming to the realization that God hath ‘thousands’ of devotees who ‘speed,/ and post o’er land and ocean without rest.’

Of course, one such devotee was Hanuman who, in order to get to Lanka, where Sita was held prisoner by Ravana, crossed the ocean. When Lord Rama asked him, “O mighty hero, how did you cross the ocean ?” Hanuman  humbly replied, “By the power and glory of Thy Name, my Lord.” Hanuman is the living embodiment of Ram-Nam. He was an ideal selfless worker, a true Karma Yogi who worked desirelessly and dynamically. He served Shri Rama with pure love and devotion, without expecting any fruit in return. He did, what others could not do – crossing the ocean simply by uttering Ram-Nam.

O Sai Ram ! Thy devotees are

Thy Hanuman.

O Sai Ram ! I fall in prostration at

Thy Holy Feet.

 O Sai Ram ! You make Your devotees perform uphill tasks simply by uttering Sai-Ram. O my Lord ! You never prescribed any Asan, regulation of breathing or any rites to Your devotees, nor did You blow any Mantra into their ears. You simply told them to leave off all cleverness, and always remember “Sai” “Sai”. (Shri Sai Satcharita, Chapter X) Reciting Your Name, repeating it, recalling Your majesty and splendour, Your imminence and transcendence, Your omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, Your perfection – these are the ways in which one uses Sai-Nam for removing one’s all shackles and getting free.

Once, in a packed assembly, somebody questioned Hanuman, whether he really had Sita and Rama in his self, he literally tore open his chest to reveal both, in his heart. Seeing such zealous devotion, Rama embraced him and granted a boon :

“Wherever my Katha is being recited, you shall always be there... I shall never ever be estranged from you.”

Thenceforth :

`Ì `Ì aKwZmWH$sV©Z§

VÌ VÌ H¥$V_ñVH$ AÝOqb

~mîndm[a n[anyU©  bmoMZ§

_méqV Z_üamjg AÝVH§$

Yatra Yatra Raghunath Kirtanam,

Tatra Tatra Krita Mastaka Anjalim;

Bashpawari Paripurna Lochanam,

Marutim Nammascha Rakshas Antakam.

which means :

That wherever the deeds of Shri Rama

are sung

At all such places does Hanuman –

with his palms folded

above his forehead – cry

Tears of devotion and joy,

At all such places

does his presence

remove the fear of demons, –

we bow to him.

O Sai Ram ! Thy devotees are

Thy Hanuman.

O Sai Ram ! I fall in prostration at

Thy Holy Feet.

 O Sai Ram ! You are one of those, Who incarnated for the welfare of the devotees. Supreme in knowledge and surrounded with divine aura, You – O Baba ! – are quite aware that standing on Mahendra Hill, Hanuman decided to cross the ocean with a jump and reach Lanka. Standing there, he observed the vastness of the ocean and the distant lands of Lanka. There was no doubt, there was no fear – absolutely no conflict within – for it was Shri Rama Who was working through him and not him. Wind was flowing freely above the ocean, the waves were traversing it to the other shore. After all, Who made the wind flow ?

It was Shri Rama Himself. And He Who made the wind flow can make Hanuman fly too – perhaps – or if he had other plans, it could be otherwise. As he repeated the Name of the Lord in his mind, his body started to horripilate and a few drops of tears dripped down the corners of his eyes. The whole world appeared to be filled with Shri Rama – the Lord of his heart – and without any intention his body started to expand. The others watched the whole scene in awe, spell bound and amazed and the noble devotee silently repeated his Lord’s Name in choked voice full of love.

Having completely surrendered to Shri Rama Hanuman leapt into the air towards South to cross the ocean, to get to Lanka, where Sita was held prisoner by Ravana.

O Sai Ram ! Thy devotees are

Thy Hanuman.

O Sai Ram ! I fall in prostration at

Thy Holy Feet.

 O Baba, crossing the ocean to get to Sita is actually symbolic of crossing over one’s attachments and desires to reach ‘Devotion Incarnate’ Sita. The attachments and subsequent desires are like a great ocean, one has to traverse to get one’s spiritual goals as it is believed that one of the greatest impediments in the spiritual journey of an aspirant is his attachment towards material objects.

O Sai, our entire life is like the vast ocean, and hence, it is called ‘Sansar Sagar’ (the ocean of life). The goal of life is to cross this ocean without falling down and drowning in it. This ocean of mundane existence is very hard to cross. Waves of attachments beat high against the bank of bad thoughts and break down trees of fortitude. The breeze of egoism blows with force and makes the ocean rough and agitated. Crocodiles in the form of anger and hatred move there fearlessly. Eddies in the form of the ‘I’ and ‘mine’ and other doubts whirl there incessantly, and innumerable fishes in the form of censure, hate and jealousy play there. (Shri Sai Satcharita, Epilogue)

Here, it is necessary to make a mention of a legendary Vedic sage Agastya, who acquired knowledge by practicing penance for 1000 Yugas. Once, a number of demons were harassing the hermits by disturbing them in their ascetic duties. These demons had taken refuge in the ocean, and it was difficult for the hermits to vanquish them. In their desperation the hermits appealed to the sage Agastya, who drank all the water of the ocean in order to carry out the orders of Anakara (incorporeal, shapeless God), and held it within him until the demons were destroyed.

Though, this ocean is so fierce and terrible, O Sadguru Sai ! You are the Agastya to destroy the Bhava Sagar (the ocean of worldly existence) or the sun, to destroy the darkness of ignorance. (Chapter XII)

O Sai Ram, to cross the Sansar Sagar, we need a boat and we need a helmsman to steer the boat clear of all dangers. Our body - mind can be thought of, as the boat and the Sadguru, who guides our intellect etc., as helmsman. O Sadguru Sai ! Thou art our helmsman, and those, who are fortunate and whose demerits have vanished, take to Your worship ! If one always says “Sai, Sai”, You’ll take him over the seven seas. (Chapter XIII)

O Sai Ram, seeing Your blissful form and Your inconceivable power is a bliss in itself. O Baba, how can I possibly describe Your forms, signs or qualities. O Sai, nurture me ! O Mother of this world, may I worship You steadfastly.

O Sai, with Your grace everything is smooth and easy. Listening to Your stories is, in a way, keeping Your company. The importance of Your company is very great. It removes our body-consciousness and egoism, destroys completely the chain of our birth and death, cuts asunder all the knots of the mind and takes us to You, Who is pure consciousness. It certainly increases our non-attachment to sense-objects and makes us quite indifferent to pleasures and pain, and leads us onward on the spiritual path. If one has no other Sadhana, such as worship or devotion etc., but takes refuge in You wholeheartedly, You’ll carry one safely across the ocean of worldly existence. (Chapter X)

O Sai Ram ! Thy devotees are

Thy Hanuman.

O Sai Ram ! I fall in prostration at

Thy Holy Feet.

O Baba, there are several examples of Your sincere devotees who - using this very powerful tool to attain the goal, safely cross the ocean of worldly existence. O Sai, on seeing Your form, which is like eternal Brahma, self-luminous, peerless and pure, one loses mind’s restlessness and becomes calm and composed.

O Sai ! O Foundation of righteousness, salutations to You. I bow to You. It is said that, when Hanuman was about to cross the ocean, he became big in stature. To be big, does not only mean to be tall or stout. To be big, also means to be wise, brave and courageous, to be able to perform such a difficult task. Though big, Hanuman was light in weight. To be light, does not only mean that he was thin and light in weight. What it means is that though Hanuman was so clever and brave, he had no ego and false pride. Humility is one of the most important requisites of the spiritual aspirant’s personality, and true surrender is important in getting rid of one’s ego and once ego is destroyed, bliss results.

O Baba ! O Mother of the Universe ! I bow to You ! I bow to You yet again !, and yet again and again ! O Sai, when You allotted the work of composing the Shri Sai Satcharita to Hemadpant, You made him big in stature, but light in weight. When he took the pen in his hand, You took away his egoism and wrote Yourself Your stories. The credit of relating Your stories, therefore, goes to You and not to him. (Chapter III)

O Baba, what You expect from devotees are Bhakti or devotion, truthfulness and simplicity. Your own life has always been a shining example of simplicity, devoid of ego. You always categorically said that You would ever be with Your devotees, who possess these attributes. O Sai ! Thou art the essence and embodiment of spiritual enlightenment and religious harmony. You awakened devotees to the eternal truth – ‘Sabka Malik Ek’ (one God governs all). You wanted to provide each one with two powerful implements to make them stronger and wiser – one being Shraddha (faith) and the other being Saburi (patience).

O Sai Ram ! Thy devotees are

Thy Hanuman.

O Sai Ram ! I fall in prostration at

Thy Holy Feet.

 O The One Who blesses us, I bow to You, protect me, I come to Your refuge, O Sai, as Hanuman crossed over the ocean different demonesses across his path. These demonesses that crossed the path of Hanuman are the obstacles that one encounters on the spiritual path.

O Sai Ram ! You always advocated dedicated effort in the path of spirituality. Here, it is worth recalling the story of V. H. Thakur, who was a clerk in the Revenue Department. Once, he - when on an official tour – came to a town, named Vadgaon, near Belgaon. There, he saw a Kanarese saint (Appa) and bowed before him. After being benifitted from the saint’s discourse, Thakur sought Appa’s permission to proceed ahead. Wishing Thakur a happy journey, the great saint suggested him to make a thorough reading of ‘Vichar Sagar’, authored by Nischal Das, to get his desires fulfilled; adding that, when he moves to the North in the discharge of his duties in future, he’ll encounter the Sadguru, who would open his eyes of the intellect and show him the divine beauty of the self, and fulfil his tender longings of devotion. When this was done, his desire for sense - objects would vanish, twin fruits of Vivek (discrimination) and Vairagya (dispassion or non-attachment) would come to his hands and knowledge would sprout up even in his sleep.

The words of the Kanarese saint soon turned true. Thakur was first transferred to Junnar, and then to Kalyan, where he came in contact with Nanasaheb Chandorkar, who - in turn, motivated Thakur to make a pilgrimage to Shirdi. He reached Shirdi, and fell at his Sadguru’s Feet. The omniscient Baba said to him, “... In the spiritual path you have to put in your best exertion, it is very difficult. What Appa told you was all right; but these things have to be practised and lived. Mere reading won’t do. You have to think and carry out, what you read; otherwise it is of no use. Mere book - learning, without the grace of the Guru and self-realization is of no avail. (Chapter XXI)

O Sai Ram ! Thy Devotees are

Thy Hanuman.

O Sai Ram ! I fall in prostration at

Thy Holy Feet.

 O Sai Ram, blessed and fortunate indeed is one, one who knows You. And O Baba ! You know that Hanuman’s next encounter was with a golden mountain. The Lord of the golden mountain asked Hanuman to rest, before he continued the journey. The golden mountain is symbolic of material temptation.

O Sai, here – at this point - my mind goes to the story of a rich gentleman, who was the living embodiment of material temptation. Once, he went to the Masjid, fell at Your Feet, and entreated to get Brahma-Gnyan from You.

O Baba, without any loss of time, You swing into action to show him the Brahma. You made him sit near Your Feet and engaged him in some other talk; and thus, made him forget his question temporarily. Then, You called an urchin and asked him to arrange a loan of Rs. five, either from Nandu or from Bala grocer. But, loan was never arranged. In the meantime, the rich gentleman started repeating his request to You for Brahma-Gnyan.

O Sai Nath, now, You were straight forward in Your explanation – “O my dear friend, did you not understand all the procedure, that I went through, sitting in this place, for enabling you to see the Brahma ?” O Baba, then, You said to the gentleman, “Well, sir, there is in your pocket the Brahma in form of fifty times of five (Rs. 250/-) rupees.”

O Sai Ram ! You are the living and moving Brahma Incarnate. You spoke to the Brahma-gnyan - seeker thus : “How can he, whose mind is engrossed in wealth, progeny and prosperity, expect to know the Brahma, without removing the attachment for them ? The illusion of attachment or the love of money is a deep eddy (whirlpool) of pain, full of crocodiles in the form of conceit and jealousy. He, who is desireless, can alone cross this whirlpool. Greed and Brahma are asunder as poles, they are eternally opposed to each other. Where, there is greed, there is no room for thought or meditation of the Brahma. Then, how can a greedy man, get dispassion and salvation ! For a greedy man there is no peace, neither contentment, nor steadiness. If there be even a little trace of greed in mind, all the Sadhanas (spiritual endeavours) are of no avail. Even the knowledge of a well-read man, who is not free from the desire of the fruit or reward of his actions, is futile and can’t help him in getting self-realization.” (Chapter XVI-XVII)

O Sai Ram ! Thy devotees are

Thy Hanuman.

O Sai Ram ! I fall in prostration at

Thy Holy Feet.

 O Sai Ram ! I bow to You, O One Who is always changing places, O One Who is full of affection, I bow to You, I bow to You.

– Dr. Subodh Agarwal

Mobile : 09897384814

Fax : 0135 - 2622810

e-mail : subodhagarwal27@gmail.com

qqq

Hemadpant, in ‘Shri Sai Satcharita’, says...

Just as Kakasaheb Dixit read the Nath Bhagvat in the day, every night he read the Bhavarth Ramayan (by Eknath).

It was so regular that some times even the offering of flowers to God could be missed, or he could miss other customary duties or neglect his bath; but the time, which he himself had allotted for reading them, was always adhered.

Both these books, written by Eknath, contained the essence of divine knowledge. Dixit thought them to be Sai Samarth’s blessing to him.

In these two unique books, which were also very appealing, the knowledge of self, non-attachment and practice of ethics – these three qualities - continued to form the three-fold wick of flame, which shone with divine light.

He, who has sipped from the cup, containing the nectar of the preachings of these books, is fortunate. He overcomes the three-fold difficulties of the material world at the same time, and reaches the ultimate (Moksha).

By Sai’s grace, Dixit needed a listener and I got the opportunity to listen to the Bhagvat and was thus obliged.

I began to attend the session, day and night, due to good fortune, which purified my ears.

So be it. One night, when the reading was in progress on the pious stories, an incident occurred. Listeners should listen to that story, which is a digression.

Well, how can I help it ? I am inspired by something else, while describing another. But, why should I ignore something, which I know to be interesting.

An interesting story from the Ramayana was being narrated about Hanuman who, on his mother’s instructions, tried to test his master’s powers and ended by experiencing terrible miseries.

When Hanuman was caught in the cyclonic winds, which were created by the feathers of Rama’s arrows and went round and round in the sky, he was scared to death. At that time his father (Vayu) came to his rescue.

Listening to his father’s advice, Hanuman surrendered to Rama. While this part was being narrated, something amazing took place. Listen to it !

Our mind was engrossed in the story. Each one was involved in the light of listening, when a scorpion, incarnation of death, appeared, God only knows from where !

I do not know, how he got fond of the narration and without my knowledge, he jumped onto my shoulder and settled himself down, enjoying the sentiments of the story.

Look ! Here too Baba was alert. I was not aware of its presence. But, God protects those who love His stories.

I looked casually and saw a terrible scorpion, calmly perched on my right shoulder, on the ‘Uparna’.

He did not move at all and was quietly paying attention, as a very attentive listener would, and was seated peacefully on his seat.

If, as was his nature, he had moved its sting just a little bit, he would not have allowed me to enjoy the freedom and peace and would have given me unbearable pain.

The story from the Ramayana was in full swing. The speaker and the listeners were engrossed in the story – all this would have been spoilt. Such was the ominous companion, whose seizure was difficult and a dilemma.

This is the greatness of the story of Rama. No possible obstacles can be more powerful than it. They have to become repentant and forget their innate nature.

By the grace of Rama, I was endowed with intelligence. I could ward off the difficulty quietly. One should not depend till the last moment on this creature of unsteady nature.

That ‘Uparna’ with which I had covered myself, I gathered cautiously from two sides, folded the scorpion in it tightly, took it out to the garden and spread it out there.