Monday, July 23, 2012

Chapter 6

Highlights of this chapter:


  • Shri Sai's assurance
  • Ramnavami celebrations
  • Masjid renovation
This chapter starts with a sweet assurance, reproduced as is:

Line 1:
असो पर्मार्थु वा संसारु 
जेथे सदगुरु कर्णधारु 
तेंचि तारु पैलपारू 
नेउनी उतारू लावील 

In simple terms it means that one should make Sadguru captain of his life. The way we rely on a ship or aircraft captain to see us through our journey, in the same manner in the journey of this life our beloved Sadguru should be the captain. Its one thing to say, but its a real challenge throughout the devotees life to let go of his judgement and ego and the same time rely on the direction given by his Sadguru. Shri Sai was indeed such a sadguru who by mere glance could arise in all the devotees a feeling of eternal joy, peace and one-ness. Shri Sai used to take the udi (ashes from the dhuni) and apply it on devotees forehead and then keep his hand on the head of the devotees, imparting his blessing. What a wonderful feeling that is and how lucky were the devotees. Even today the picture of Shri Sai in Dwarkamayee or the Samadhi mandir idol imparts the same experience, one can feel the presence of Shri Sai's grace. If we let go of our thoughts, worries, anxiety and quietly look at Shri Sai picture, even today we can have similar experience. We can feel his touch and presence around us and that gives us comfort and peace. Many times we face challenges and problem on both the personal and professional front, and then the solutions magically appear to us. This happens only when we are steadfast in our devotion and yes whenever we keep Shri Sai on the captain seat of our life. He has assured multiple times that he will take care of the devotees and their family and friends, he will make sure they are safe, there is no deficiency of cloth,food or any necessities which arise.

Line 33:
मज भजति जे अनन्यपणे 
सेवती नित्यभियुक्तमने 
त्यांचा योगक्षेम चालविणे 
ब्रीद हें जाणें मी माझें

There was a devotee named Gopal Gund, he was a devout of Shri Sai and used to always chant Shri Sai's name. He didn't had a kid, but later on due to Shri Sai's blessing his family was gifted with a son which obviously made them extremely happy. He once thought that in the village of Shirdi there should be an annual fair or similar function. He got support from other devotees and eventually this idea was supported by Shri Sai. In those days too permit was required from the local government to carry out any public activities so the same was sort out. However one of the local representative of the government didn't support the idea and he went against it. As a result the permission was denied. However Shri Sai had given his support, so all the devotees tried whole-heartedly again and eventually got the permission to conduct an annual fair and it was decided to be on the auspicious day of Ramnavami, that was way back in year 1897. 
That's more than 100 years back, but till this day this festival is pompously celebrated in Shirdi and across various temples of Shri Sai throughout the world. I was lucky enough to once go to Shirdi on the eve of Ramnavami and was surprised to see the crowd and their enthusiasm. They carried the photo or idol of Shri Sai in a decorated palanquin and walked all the way from their distant village to Shirdi, taking Shri Sai's name, dancing, throwing colors and celebrating it in all fervor. All the roads leading to Shirdi was full with devotees and they filled the air with the pious name of Shri Sai.  Looking at their devotion really moved me, we could just imagine how it would have been when Shri Sai was in Shirdi in his physical form.

Shri Sai used to stay in Masjid (or Dwarkamayee) and every alternate days used to go to Chavadi to sleep. This masjid was an old dilapidated structure which Shri Sai made his abode and he never cared to repair or renovate it. Gopal gund had a thought of renovating the masjid and for that he arranged stones to build up the new structure. However it was not his turn, this task was later ordained by Shri Sai to Nanasaheb Chandorkar and Kakasahed Dixit. It was a tough task to get Shri Sai's permission, however the devotees kept pressing and they had to make Mhalsapati the mediator to get Shri Sai's permission. Everyone worked extremely hard to get the work done when Shri Sai either left to Lendi baugh or when he went to Chavadi. But the moment Shri Sai was back in masjid, he used to shake the pillars with anger and uproot it from the ground. The same sequence happened for few days, all the devotees used to toil hard to get something done and when Shri Sai is back he used to take all those things down. Once in this fit of anger Shri Sai got hold of Tatya Patil, his eyes were fuming red and everyone was terrified to see such form of Shri Sai. Several tried to rescue Tatya but in vain. Shri Sai was so angry that he removed the turban from Tatya's head, burnt it and threw it away. But after some time Shri Sai got normal and he immediately ordered a new turban for Tatya and then by his own hand worn it to Tatya. 

This was the nature of Shri Sai, he used to be in great mood most of the time, but he used to get really angry for no obvious reason. No one dared to approach Shri Sai when he got angry, but devotees knew that he will be back to his self in a short time and they marveled at such leela's of Shri Sai.

Jai Shri Sai !



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