Shri Sai Satcharitra-Chapter 38-Part III

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Continued From The Second Part

Somebody may raise a doubt here and ask - "Did Shirdi Saibaba distribute vegetable and animal food as prasad alike to all His devotees?" The answer is plain and simple. Those who were accustomed to (take) animal food were given food from the Handi as prasad and those who were not so accustomed, were not allowed to touch it. He never created in them any wish or desire to indulge in this food. There is a principle well established that when a Guru himself gives anything as prasad, the disciple who thinks and doubts whether it is acceptable or otherwise, goes to perdition.

Sai Ram.It is our ego that restricts our vision and creates attributes, characteristics, properties etc. to objects while the reality is that every thing is Para Brahma and all restricted views are due to restricted vision and limited perception of our sensory mind. The real mission of a Guru is to take us beyond this duality by opening our Third Eye and destroying our sense of duality of dharma and adharma, right and wrong, good and bad etc.

In Yogic practices, the two breaths through the right and left nostrils called Ida and Pingala are to be merged into Sushumna. Similarly Jeevatma and Paramatma have to merge like the Ghatakasa (limited space of a pot) merging with the Chidakasa (Universal Space) etc. Lord Sri Krishna was advocating the merger to Sri Arjuna when He asked him to, "Sarva Dharman Parityajya Mamekam Saranam Vraja..." - B.G. Chapter 18 - Sloka 66. Surrender is merger, since the ego has no separate existence after surrender.

Similarly Lord Hayagriva explains to Sage Agastya the thousand names of Divine Mother Lalitha,among other things, that She is "Dhyana Dhyatru Dhyeya Roopa, Dharma Adharma Vivarjitha..." - Sri Lalitha Sahasranama Stotra - 254 and 255. She is the form of the meditation, meditator, object of meditation and is free from dharma and adharma.

Sri Siva also tells mother Parvathi in Guru Geetha, a part of Skanda Purana that Guru is Brahma, Vishnu, Siva and verily Para Brahma and that the disciple should implicitly obey all commands of Guru, i.e. give up the ideas of right and wrong. One, who does that will definitely realise the oneness with every thing and every one. In that plane of perception, He is One with every thing and every one and is Chidananda Roopa, Siva as propounded by Sri Adi Sankara in His Nirvana Shatkam.

A light object is drawn inexorably to the heavy one and finally becomes one, just as a water drop falls from the sky into the sea or river and loses its identity. So does the disciple merge with the Guru, the ultimate. Guru also means one who removes darkness, the darkness of spirit, which causes the delusion of separateness, egoism. Once the lamp is lit, both the lamps have the same mission, i.e. to spread light and to light other lamps ready to be lit. Sai Ram.

To be continued

About the author

S.V. Swamy

Swarna.Venkateswara Swamy, (also known as Venkateswara Swamy Swarna, S.V.Swamy or simply Swamy) is a physicist and a metallurgist by education. He considers Sai Baba of Shirdi as his Sadguru but respects all Gurus. He is an avid reader, a book reviewer and an editor. He has an abiding interest in holistic health systems..