|
O
Sai, it is Death that’s dead, not You ! Lo !
it is Vijayadashmi festival to-day. O Baba ! You took Mahasamadhi
in Shirdi on the Dassera day in 1918; and ever since devotees all over
the world have been celebrating Your Punyatithi with ecstatic
devotion on the Vijayadashmi day; and to-day my heart too is at Your 89th Punyatithi fiesta. May Your loving grace
and blessings shower in abundance upon one and all in the Universe. O Deva, let Your Lotus Feet be my Sole
Refuge ! O Sai ! the most important source about Your
life is Shri Sai Satcharita written by Govindrao Raghunath Dabholkar
whom Your nicknamed Hemadpant. The author, in the Epilogue to this holy
book, writes :- “This work should be read at home specially on Guru
Poornima, Gokul Ashtami, Rama Navami, Dassera and Deepawali. If you
study this one book carefully, all your desires will be satisfied...” O Baba ! Since it is the Dassera carnival
to-day, I am making a required reading of this sacred book jubilantly in
compliance with Your biographer’s advice, and soon come across the
writer’s depiction of the events concerning Your Mahasamadhi. O
Sai ! The prelude to Your Mahasamadhi was first evident when
You made an attempt to cross the boundaries of Your mortal coil in 1886,
just 32 years before Your Mahasamadhi on 15th
October, 1918. It was a full moon day in Margashirsha (December), You
were suffering from a severe attack of Asthama. (Perhaps You
might have suffered for the sake of some devotee.) To get rid of it, You
decided to regulate Your Prana (life force) and go into Samadhi
state. You said to Mhalsapati, “Protect my body for three days; if I
return, it is alright. If I do not come back, bury my body at that place
outside (pointing to a particular spot), and have two flags fixed there
as a mark.” Saying this, You fell to the ground at about 10 p.m. Your
breathing stopped, and Your pulse also dipped down; it seemed as if the
life force had left the body. The residents of Shirdi thought You to be
dead, and insisted to hold an inquest and bury the body. But, Mhalsapati
contested their suggestion. He didn’t sleep a wink for three days with
the length of three long nights to safeguard Your body, keeping Your
head on his lap. On the fourth day at about 3 a.m., You showed signs of
life. Your breathing commenced, the abdomen began to move. Your eyes
opened and stretching Your limbs, You returned to consciousness (life)
again. (Shri Sai Satcharita, chapters, 43-44) O
Deva, let Your Lotus Feet be my Sole
Refuge ! O
Sai ! Though You Yourself had given several indications to Your
devotees of the day on which You would be leaving Your earthly body, it
was only after Your Mahasamadhi that it occurred to them that the
hint had been given a full two years earlier. It was the festival of
Vijayadashmi in 1916. Devotees flocked to Shirdi and the whole village
looked like a big fair. All the people of the village went in procession
to attend the ceremonial Seemollanghanam, carrying
worship-materials like incense, singing and playing instruments. They
would cross the border line of the village and then return (This
ceremony was probably a relic of the custom of ancient kings proceeding
on wars of conquest across the borders of their kingdoms on that
auspicious day.) In the evening, when all the people were returning, You
suddenly flew into a wild rage. It was one of Your characteristic ways
to flare up on such auspicious occasions. You took off Your head-dress, Kafni,
and Your Langota (underwear) publicly, tore them up and flung
them in the sacred fire. Your eyes burned like coal and Your whole body
seemed to glow with an uncanny aura. O Baba ! You stood stark naked
in the center of the mosque and shouted “Ye fellows, look at me and
decide, whether I am a Muslim or a Hindu.” (i.e. whether You were
circumsized in the Muslim fashion or not.) None dared to pacify You. At
last Your leper devotee, Bhagoji Shinde made bold to approach You and
succeeded in tying a new Langota round Your waist. Though You
didn’t physically obstruct him, You kept on fuming and cursing.
Bhagoji humbly said, “Baba, to-day is the holy Seemollanghanam.
Why are You angry and why do You frighten people thus ?” Striking
the ground with Your Satka or staff, You said, “This day is my Seemollanghanam.”
(Shri Sai Satcharita, Chapter 42) O Sai ! What You meant, none
could understand then. O Deva, let Your Lotus Feet be my Sole
Refuge ! O
Sai ! Two years passed briskly as though they enjoyed the rising
glory of Shirdi. The year 1918 commenced as inconspicuously as any
other, and a few months passed. But, time is a dressmaker specializing
in alterations; and soon occurred an omnious event forboding an
alteration. O Baba ! There was, in the Masjid, an old brick.
One day, during Your absence, a boy was sweeping the mosque. He took the
brick up in his hand, and accidentally dropped it down whilst removing
dust from it. The brick broke into two. When You came to know of the
breakage, You grieved for its loss, “It’s not the brick, but my fate
that has been broken into two pieces. It was my life-long companion,
with it I always meditated on the self, it was as dear to me as my life,
it has left me to-day.” (Shri Sai Satcharita, chapters 43-44) O sai !
No one realized the full import of Your words then. But, You meant, what
you sdid; and, therefore, made one Mr. Vaze read out to You the sacred
book, Ramavijaya. (Shri Sai Satcharita, chapters 43-44) O Baba ! At
last the Ides of October (15th
of October, 1918) downed. You called Mrs. Laxmibai Shinde – a
well-to-do woman devotee, and gave her nine coins in two lots – first
five rupees and then four. Those who witnessed the event interpreted it
as Your manner of acknowledging Laxmibai’s Navadha Bhakti. O
Sai ! You usually loved to be surrounded by Your devotees. However,
as the afternoon advanced, You made it a point to send them away from
the Dwarkamai on one pretext or the other. Just a few like Laxmibai,
Bhagoji, Bayaji Appaji Patil, Bala Shimpi and Nanasaheb Nimonkar stayed
with You. O Baba ! You told them that You didn’t feel well there
in the mosque and asked them to take You to the Dagadi
(stone-work) Wada, where You would be alright. Saying these last
words, You leaned on Bayaji’s body and breathed Your last. When the
news of Your passing away spread, the whole village of Shirdi felt like
a corpse with its spirit gone. The Dagadi Wada to which You
referred was a then recently completed building of palatial proportions.
It had been built by Your millionaire devotee Bapusaheb Booty of Nagpur.
O Sai ! Your body is resting in this Wada, which is now
called the Samadhi Mandir. (Shri Sai Satcharita, chapter 4) O Deva, let Your Lotus Feet be my Sole
Refuge ! O
Baba ! The banks of the Godavari river, in the Ahmednagar district
of Maharashtra, are very fortunate for they gave birth and refuge to
many saints, prominent amongst them being Dnyaneshwar. After crossing
the Godavari river at Kopargaon Taluka of the Ahmednagar
district, one gets the way to Shirdi where – O Sai ! Thou
alighted on. You lived, acted and behaved as only a “God descended on
earth” can. O Baba ! It is a fascinating fact that Dnyaneshwar
remains one of India’s most beloved saints and his Samadhi
shrine in Alandi (in which he was voluntarily entombed in Nirvikalpa
Samadhi while alive) is visited by thousands of people annually. He
is widely revered as an incarnation of Lord Krishna. Centuries later, Sant
Eknath entered the tomb and saw a radiant youth seated in
meditation. Dnyaneshwar is still believed to be alive, anchoring his
light body as a crystal of enlightened energy radiating from Alandi to
the entire world. Moreover, it gives me a real thrill to recall that the
Varkaris who regularly go on a pilgrimage to the sacred town of
Pandharpur to celebrate the biennial festivals of their Parent Deity
Pandurang, – believe that at the climax of his last Kirtan, Sant
Tukaram bodily ascended the Vaikunth (Vishnu’s heavenly
abode). O
Baba ! Although
Thou hast attained Mahasamadhi, Thy
spiritual presence is manifest all the while And
a fervent call to Thee in humble devotion Brings
Thy Divine Presence to devotees’ side Relieving
all their cares and woes, And
blessing them with joy and peace. O
Sai ! Times without number You exhorted Your followers not to
attach undue importance to Your physical presence in Shirdi or to Your
person as a flesh and blood man – “I am not confined to these three
- and - a half cubits. (Shri Sai Satcharita, chapter 31) Devotees who
confided in You that they depended solely upon You, and would flounder
and be lost after You passed away, were reassured by You that You would
be as active and vigorous in looking after their welfare even after Your
physical departure from their midst : “Even when I leave my mortal
body, I shall ever be guiding and helping my devotees from within my
tomb.” O Baba ! This is the most unique feature of Yours; even
after 89 years of Your Mahasamadhi, You have remained true to
Your words. Though we no longer behold Your mortal body, but Your
spiritual presence is felt. O Sai, it is Death that’s dead, not You ! O
Baba ! You are the fountain head of unsurpassed spiritual glory.
Few years before Your Mahasamadhi, You said that even after Your
passing away, You would speak from the Samadhi (tomb); and,
really, the pull of the tomb, above which Your idol sits, is powerful
and intense and is drawing seekers to Shirdi from all over the world.
Here, devotees address their heart-felt prayers, beg for help, give
thanks and offerings for prayers answered and wishes fulfilled, sign
their devotion, and pay humble obeisance at Your Lotus Feet. For them,
the idol does not merely represent God, it is God; and the opportunity
to prostrate before it and make oblations may be fulfilment of a
lifetime’s ambition. O Deva, let Your Lotus Feet be my Sole
Refuge ! O Baba ! Thou art the one spirit of all
existence, which is God in all the forms of God, in all the saints, in
all the men and in all the creatures. The most prominent feature of Your
spiritual perfection is that even when You were in your body, You were
not really in Your body, nor You Your body in the sense in which we are
our bodies. He who thinks that You are only at Shirdi has totally failed
to see you. “I am with you wherever you be”, You exhorted. Thus, if
the separation of body and soul alone be the essence of death, we have
to admit that You never lived, even when You moved amidst us and acted.
If we also add that obsence of awareness and the power to speak, act,
appear and move about are the real attributes to death, then You were
alive, but in a quite different way from us. And You are so even now, as
is amply proved by the experiences of innumerable devotees. O Sai, it is Death that’s dead, not You ! O Deva, let Your Lotus Feet be my Sole
Refuge ! – Dr. Subodh Agarwal Mobile : 09897384814 Tel. & Fax : 0135-2622810 e-mail : subodhagarwal27@gmail.com |
||||
| Back |