Shri Sai Sat Charitra-Chapter XXIII-Part 5

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The Ordeal Of Guru Bakti (Continued)

Kaka Saheb Dixit's turn came to kill the goat and He was ready to behead it at Baba's bidding. He was born in a pure Brahmin family and never in his life knew killing. Though quite averse to do any act of violence, he made himself bold to kill the goat. All the people wondered to see that Bade Baba, a Mahomedan was unwilling to kill it while this pure Brahmin was making preparations to do so. He tightened his dhotar and with a semicircular motion raised his hand with the knife and looked at Baba for the final signal. Baba said - "What are you thinking of? Go on, strike". Then, when the hand was just about to come down, Baba said - "Stop, how cruel you are! Being a Brahmin, you are killing a goat?" Kakasaheb obeyed and kept the knife down and said to Baba - "your nectar-like word is law unto us, we do not know any other ordinance. We remember you always, meditate on your form and obey you day and night, we do not know or consider whether it is right or wrong to kill, we do not want to reason or discuss things, but implicit and prompt compliance with Guru's orders, is our duty and dharma".

Sai Ram. Bade Baba did not consider himself as a disciple of Sai Baba, even though he was getting a lot of benefit from the association. Shama considered Sai Baba as his Deva, God but had a relationship based on friendship than obedience. Kaka Saheb Dixit considered Sai Baba as his Guru. Here is an example of obedience of the highest order. Once the disciple surrenders to Guru, he should give up the notion of right and wrong, dharma and adharma. Guru's word is law and protects the disciple against karma. Similar advice was given to Sri Krishna to Sri Arjuna in Bhagawad Gita. Sai Ram.

Then Baba said to Kakaseheb, that He would Himself do the offering and killing business. It was settled that the goat should be disposed of near a place called Takkya, where fakirs used to sit. When the goat was being removed to that place, it fell dead on the way.

Hemadpant closes the Chapter with a classification of disciples. He says that they are of three kinds : (1) First or best (2) Second or middling and (3) Third or ordinary. The best kind of disciples are those who guess what their Gurus want and immediately carry it out and serve them without waiting for an order from them. The average disciples are those who carry out the orders of their Masters to a letter, without any delay, and the third kind of disciples are those, who go on postponing the carrying out of their orders and making mistakes at every step.

Sai Ram. A disciple who has become one mentally with the Guru only can know what the Guru wants to be done without explicit instructions. Such disciples are indeed rare. Ordinary disciples, who follow the Guru's order immediately are also great. Sai Ram.

The disciples should have firm faith, backed up by intelligence and if they add patience to these, their spiritual goal will not be distant. Control of breath -- ingoing and outgoing, or Hath-Yoga or other difficult practices are not at all necessary. When the disciples get the above-mentioned qualities, they become ready for further instructions and the Masters then appear and lead them on, in their spiritual path to perfection.

Sai Ram. When the lamp is ready to be lit, the already lit lamp will come and light the lamp. The lamp now lit in turn becomes ready to light other lamps in due course. Sai Ram.

In the next Chapter we will deal with Baba's interesting wit and humor.

Bow to Shri Sai - Peace be to all