Shri Sai Satcharitra-Chapter xx-Part I

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Preliminary

Sai Ram. We have been enjoying the spiritual gems of Brahma Jnan and how Guru takes care of His disciples in the last few chapters. In this chapter, another great disciple of Sai, Shri Dasganu Mahraj is blessed by Sai and Dasganu's doubts regarding the deeper meaning of Isa Upanishad are solved by Sai Maharaj through a small drama. Sai Ram.

"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."

Sai Ram. Here, Shri Hemadpant describes the Nirguna nature of Sai. Maya is the restraining influence of the Para Brahman which makes the parts (individual souls) forget that they are in fact of the same nature. By trapping the awareness into physical senses which are limited in their capacity to show the real picture, Maya allows each of the small fragments to develop a sense of separate identity and thus sets up the stage for the drama of the Universe to take place.

"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".

Sai Ram. Sai was distributing udi and love through His words and actions and was also indirectly advising each soul to enjoy the fruits of the karma with a sense of equanimity. It is an inescapable law of the universe that action is followed by reaction, and that in turn sows the seeds for further action, which in turn leads to more reaction and thus an endless cycle is started. Only when the doer does the action without a sense of the doership (which is possible when the limited soul realises its true nature of being one with every one and every thing), does the cycle stop (for that soul).

"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, revert to the story of this Chapter. "

Sai Ram. One effective way of sublimating our ego is to serve the evolved and enlightened Saints who are fully conscious of their real nature. Sai Sadguru is indeed such and that is why we worship Him so that we too become like Him in due course (Bhramara - Keeta nyaya). Sai Ram.

Sai Ram. After the preliminary introduction, the main topic of the chapter, Isa Upanishad is taken up and how Sadguru removes the obstacles in one's spiritual sadhana is shown. Sai Ram.

To be continued...