Shirdi Sai Thought!

[Dipika]

"Food is Brahman" and showed how those who rejected Vanjari's hospitable offer suffered and how it was impossible to get Jnana without a Guru. The Shruti (Taittiriya Upanishad) exhorts us to honour and worship mother, father and preceptor, and to study (learn and teach) the sacred scriptures. These are the means of purifying our minds and unless this purification is effected, self-realization is not possible. Neither the senses, nor the mind and intellect reach the Self. Modes of proof, such as Perception and Inference will not help us in the matter. It is the grace of the Guru that counts. The objects of our life such as Dharma, Artha and Kama are attainable with our effort, but the fourth object, Moksha (liberation) can only he had with the help of the Guru.


।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

On hearing my answer the Guru was much pleased with me, drew me near him and stroking my body with his hand kept me with him. He took care of me as tenderly as a mother-bird does of her young ones. He put me into his school; how beautiful it was! There I forgot my parents, all my attachment was snapped and I was liberated easily. I thought that I should embrace his neck and remain staring at him always. If his image were not fixed in my pupils, I would like better to be blind. Such was the school! No one, who entered it once, could return empty-handed. My Guru became my all-in-all, my home and property, mother and father, everything. All my senses left their places and concentrated themselves in my eyes, and my sight was centred on him. Thus was my Guru, the sole object of my meditation and I was conscious of none else. While meditating on him my mind and intellect were stunned and I had thus to keep quiet and bow to him in silence.

।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

Blessed is Shirdi and blessed is Dwarkamayi where Shri Sai lived and moved until He took Mahasamadhi. Blessed are the people of Shirdi whom He obliged and for whom He came such long distance. Shirdi was a small village first, but it attained great importance, on account of His contact and became a Tirtha, holy place of pilgrimage. Equally blessed are the womenfolk of Shirdi, blessed is their whole and undivided faith in Him. They sang the glories of Baba while bathing, grinding, pounding corn and doing other house-hold work. Blessed is their love, for they sang sweet songs which calm and pacify the minds of the singers and listeners.


।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

Nobody believed that Baba knew Sanskrit. One day He surprised all by giving a good interpretation of a verse from the Gita to Nanasaheb Chandorkar


।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

Baba never talked, nor ever made any fuss about the things which He wanted to accomplish, but He so skillfully arranged the circumstances and surroundings that the people were surprised at the slow but sure results attained. The construction of the Samadhi-mandir is an instance in point.

 


।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

Bow to the Kind Sai Who is the Abode of Mercy and Who is affectionate towards His devotees. By His mere darshan, He does away with their fear of this 'bhava' (samsar) and destroys their calamities.


।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

Sai knows fully the desire of His devotees and fulfills the same. Hence they get what they want and are grateful. So we invoke Him and prostrate ourselves before Him. Forgetting all our faults let Him free us from all anxieties. He who being overcome with calamities remembers and prays Sai thus, will get his mind calmed and pacified through His grace.


।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

Once a Punjabi Brahmin of Bombay named Ramalal got a dream in which Baba appeared and asked him to come to Shirdi. Baba appeared to him as a Mahant (Saint), but he did not know His whereabouts. He thought that he should go and see Him, but as he knew not His address, he did not know what to do. But He Who calls anybody for an interview makes the necessary arrangements for the same. The same happened in this case. The same afternoon when he was strolling in the streets, he saw a picture of Baba in a shop. The features of the Mahant, he saw in the dream, exactly tallied with those of the picture. Then making enquiries, he came to know that the picture was of Sai Baba of Shirdi. He then went soon after to Shirdi and stayed there till his death.

In this way Baba brought His devotees to Shirdi for darshan and satisfied their wants, material as well as spiritual.

Bow to Shri Sai - Peace be to all

साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

All the things that we see in the universe are nothing but a play of Maya -- the creative power of the Lord. These things do not really exist. What really exists is the Real Absolute. Just as we mistake a rope of a garland or a stick for a serpent on account of darkness, we always see the phenomena, i.e. things as they outwardly appear, and not the Noumenon which underlies all the visible things. It is only the Sad-guru that opens the eyes of our understanding and enables us to see things in their true light and not as they appear. Let us, therefore, worship the Sad-guru and pray to him to give us the true vision, which is nothing but God-vision.

।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

Hemadpant has given us a novel form of worship. Let us, he says, use hot water in the form of tears of joy to wash the Sad-guru's feet, let us besmear His body with sandle-paste of pure love, let us cover His body with the cloth of true faith, let us offer eight lotuses in the form of our eight Sattwik emotions and fruit in the form of our concentrated mind; let us apply to His head bukka (black-powder) in the form of devotion and tie the waistband of Bhakti and place our head on his toes.

After decorating the Sad-guru with all jewelry in this way, let us offer our all to Him and wave chamar of devotion to ward off heat

।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

let us pray thus:- "Introvert our mind, turn it inward, give us discrimination between the Unreal and the Real and non-attachment for all worldly things and thus enable us to get Self-realisation. We surrender ourselves, body and soul (body-consciousness and ego). Make our eyes Yours, so that we should never feel pleasure and pain. Control our body and mind as You will and wish. Let our mind get rest in Your Feet".


।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

Sai Baba lived in Shirdi for about sixty years and during this long period, He did the business of grinding almost every day - not, however, the wheat alone; but the sins, the mental and physical afflications and the miseries of His innumerable devotees


।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

Sai (Lord) was originally formless. he assumed a form for the sake of Bhaktas. With the help of the actress Maya, He played the part of the Actor in the big drama of the universe. Let us remember and visualize Shri Sai. Let us go to Shirdi, and see carefully the programmes, after the noon-Arati. After the Arati ceremony was over, Sai used to come out of the Masjid, and standing on its edge, distribute udi to the devotees with very kind and loving looks. The Bhaktas also got up with equal fervour, clasped His Feet, and standing and staring at Him, enjoyed the shower of Udi. Baba passed handfuls of Udi into the palms of the devotees and marked their foreheads with Udi with His fingers. The love He bore for them in His heart was boundless. Then He addressed the Bhaktas as follows:- "Oh Bhau, go to take your lunch; you Anna, go to your lodgings; you Bapu, enjoy your dishes". In this way He accosted each and every devotee and sent them home. Even now, you can enjoy these sights if you bring into play your imagination. You can visualize and enjoy them. Now bringing Sai before our mental vision, let us meditate on Him, from His Feet upwards to His face, and prostrating before Him humbly, lovingly and respectfully


।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

we are fittingly taught here a lesson of contentment with one's own lot in the belief that whatever happens, it is divinely ordained and it is hence good for us.


।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम

[Dipika]

 If you look to me, I look to you

If you seek my advice and help, it shall be given to you at once

There shall be no want in the house of my devotees

If you cast your burden on me, I shall surely bear it.

।। श्री सद्रगुरु साईनाथार्पणमस्तु । शुभं भवतु ।।


साईं बाबा अपने पवित्र चरणकमल ही हमारी एकमात्र शरण रहने दो.ॐ साईं राम