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COMPILED AND EDITED

BY

R.NARAYANAIYENGAR

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Copies of this book can be had at

Sri Sai Spirit~al CentreTyagaraja Nagar

Bangalore-28

Packing and Forwarding Charges Rs. 2-50

Registration Charges (Extra) Rs. 2-00

Send only stampsP. O. and M. O. not entertained

Printed by

Samskrita Sahitya Sadana1040 Chamarajapuram

Mysore-4

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This book is offered at the feet of

LORD SRI RADHAKRISHNA

On the occasion of the seventyfifth birthday of

SRI SRI RADHAKRISHNA SW AMIJI

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ If ~

: Message from Sri B. D. Jatti the ~

~ Acting President of India :~ SECRETARY ,: To the Vice-Presidentof India:# New Delhi 110011 i# DecembtJr29, 1976 ~I 1H1Iq~",jJ~ ,I iI II ~; I; I~ ~~ I; ;; While acknowledging receipt of your letter dated December #: 20, 1976, I am desired to inform you as follows. The Vice- :~ President of India thanks you for the nice gesture in thinking of ;~ him and inviting to contribute an Article for the proposed ~

: Special Brochure to commemorate the 75th Birthday Celebrations :; of Param Poojya Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji. Owing to acute I~ pressure on time and numerous other commitments to be fulfilled, I; the Vice-President regrets he has to deny himself the pleasure of ,: acceding to your request. It is hoped you will be good enough :, to appreciate the difficulty and excuse. The Vice-President has, ~, however much pleasure in offering his reverential 'Pranams' to ~~ His Holiness on the crossing of this significant milestone and in I

: wishing many more decades of fruitful endeavours in promoting :~ spiritual advancement. ~I ,I Yourssincerely, ,

: V.PHADKE :# ' #, I, ,~ ;; ~; ,;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;

~~ ,"--::.AIt'!>.-,-- -- ~~1As ~~- ~~-~~~f"~-

Message from Swami Prabuddhanandaent: Vedanta Society of Northern California

2323, VallejoStreet(( San Francisco

I California,94123, U. S. A.

I January2, 1977

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My dear Iyengar,

I was very glad to receive your letter of 16th December

and to learn of your proposal to bring out a souvenir to mark

the 75th birthday of Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji. Thank you

for asking me to write an article on some spiritual subject. So

far, due to various reasons, I have not been able to put my mind

in this direction. It is also true there is very little time left

after attending to our activities. So, please forgive me. I can

only quietly pray for the success of your project.

I too have heard from different sources about the contro-

versy between spirituality vs. scientific thinking. As you have

rightly remarked, they are not really at war. One helps theother. Truth is self.evident. It is untouched by our argu-

ments for or against it. It is also not affected by our belief or

disbelief. It stands on its own strength. It is we who have to

remove the misconceptions or ignorance about it, and realize itas our !own essence and the essence of everything, including

scientific thinking, siddhis, avatars, and so on. At one stage ofour life, we revel in such intellectual and emotional gymnastics.Then through the grace of the Lord a day comes when we wantjust Him. Let us all pray that that day may come very soonin our lives.

Please give my regards to Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji.

With all good wishes,

~Xours in the Lord.PRABUDDHANANDA

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<PREFACE

It has been a long felt desire of all the devotees of SriRadhakrishna . Swamiji that a few publications about his ]ife andteachings should be brought out. The present book is only a small stepin that direction. Once when I asked Swamiji what should I writeabout him in the book, he answered 'write simply Rama, Rama,Rama '. However appropriate this may be, since almost nothingpersonal is known about Swamiji even to many of his close devotees,a few facts about his early life may riot be out of place here.

"Sri Swamiji was born to Srimati Lakshmi Ammal and SriVenkataramana I}er as their third son on 15 Apri I 1902 (Chaitri!,PooTlJashadain the Souramanacalendar) in the village of Poyyamozhi,belonging to the Tiruchinapally district. Since he was born after hismother took the prasadof a Radhakalyanafunction conducted in thevillage, he was named Radhakrishna by his parents. Almostimmediately after his birth he was adopted by a grandmother of his,making him the heir apparent to a large amount of wealth and landedproperty. Till the year 1922 Swamiji was in Trichy Town for hiseducation. From 1922till 1942, when he totally renounced the familyconnections he used to be mostly in Fernhills, Ooty.

Love for God and an urge for a spiritual life have been inbornin Swamiji. Even in his younger days, whenever he got angry in thehouse, he would run to the village Shiva temple to introspect andcontrol the anger. At times he would sit embracing the idol for hourstogether, causing much concern to the priest. The family diety on hisfather's side has been Lord Srinivasa of Gunashekhara. On themother's side Mother Kamakshi has been the family diety. Thus,to these two aspects of the Supreme he developed a greatattraction right from his childhood days. Once, at the age of sevenor eight, late in the night when all were sleeping, he heard some one

knock at the door of the po()jaroom from inside. When he woke uphis mother,she felt it may be cat anqsleptaway. But the strange soundcontinued and Swamiji could even hear a lady's melodious voice 'openthe door'. Taking courage, Swamiji opened the door to find none otherthan the Divine Mother Kamakshi Herself coming out as a youngwomen of about thirty, clad in a green saree and with a biight kumkummark on the forehead. The Mother held his hand and took him to the

terrace to chat and play for some time. When Swamiji felt sleepy sheasked him to go down and sleep. Probably, a full volume can bewritten about his spiritual experiences only. Here it sqffices to say thatthe divine hand has shaped him from his very birth for a higher life.An important incident in his life has been the vision of LordDattatreya. in the caves of Kurla near Poona. Somewhere in 1922,Swamiji, while going from Poona to Bombay, heard of the caves andout of curiosity got down at a way-side station to see them. Afterseeing them he had an urge to remain there for forty-eight days insolitude meditating on the Lord. He lived on the chtlpaties and milksupplied by the vil1agers nearby. On the forty-sixtn day or so,Swamiji had the glorious vision of Lord Dattatreya who asked himto remain in this world helping others.

Swamiji many times refers to his contact with Sri Bet NarayanaMaharaj with great affection. Sri Narayan Maharaj was a saint wellknown as a great Datta-Upasaka, in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Hiss1madhi is in this city only. Sri Narayan Maharaj in 1927, during his stayin the palace of the Maharaja of Mysore, at Ooty used to inviteSwamiji everday to be near him and ask Swamiji to recite PurushaSooktha. He also voluntarHy initiated Swamiji into the Datta Mantra.

Swamiji, came to Bangalore in 1952 at the suggestion of SriNarasimha Swamiji. In 1953, he founded the Sai Spiritual Centre.Currently he has been the President of the All India Sai Samaj.Madras; also. The spreading of the message of his Guru SriNarasimha Swamiji has been the mission of his life. This message isnothing other than the 'shubhra marga' the clean Path of the great saintSri Sai Baba of Shirdi. As a part of this, once in 1954, Baba in avision asked Swamiji to propagate the three things 3t(A), :aCu), and

~(MA);which together form .:V(OM),the Brahman. He further explainedthem as A-Bhagavadgita,U-Vishnu 'Sahasranamaand MA- Satsan:gh."

It is our good fortune we have been able to offer this book toSri Swamiji on his 75th birthday, as a humble token of our love andrespect for him.

The book is divided into four sections. The first section hastwo articles on Sri Sai Baba. 1 he second section with three articles is

on Sri Narasimha Swamjji. The third section is devoted to SriRadbakrishna Swamjji. Tbe first seven articles extracted from thediary of a devotee, are on tbe general teachings of Sri Swamiji. Anattempt is made in these to present the important teachings ofSwamiji in his own words. The remaining articles of this sectionare by a few devotees on their contact with Swamiji. These representnot only a rich variety of experiences, but also a sample of thevarious personal angles from which the devotees view Swamiji.Indeed, the statement ~ ~f~ ~m ~f;:a could be :taken to be trueregarding saints also. The fourth and final section of the book,which opens with an article on Sri Vishnusabasranama in Kannada,bas in all seven articles of general interest. The Sanskrit poemscomposed by Swamiji long back, are given on the inside cover pages.The material printed on the back cover is the daily final prayer at theashram of Swamiji. It is my sincere hope, the book will be of interestnot only to the devotees and admirers of Baba and Swamiji, but alsoto many aspirants on the spiritual path.

The book would not bave taken its final shape without theloving support and co-operation of all the autbors. I express myheartfelt thanks to all of them. Eventhougb I like to thank everyoneof them by name, limitations of space restrain me from doing this.Messrs. Samsrkita Sahitya Sadana and Cbanchu Enterprises of Mysorehave done :a very neat job of the printing. My thanks are due tothem. Sri R. S. Chitnis, New Delhi, made available the colour blockof Sri Sai Baba. I am thankful to him for his help. The publicationcost of this book has been met by the voluntary donations of SriJaswant Contractor, Sri Srichand Rajpal, Sri S. Doraiswamy and

-~-=

Sri R. Narasimna. The crejit of briaging oat thi~ b,)ok goes to thesedevotees.

Lastly, I express my gratitude to all my co-devotees forentrusting me with this work, thus giving me an opportunity to be ofsome service to the noble cause of Baba and Swamiji.

BANGALORE8TH MAY 1977

CHAITRA, POORVASHADAR.NARAYANAIYENGAR

CONTENTS

Sri Sai Baba the great Saint of ShirdiR. Narayana Iyengar

2. Sri Sai Baba and Sri Ramakrishna ParamahamsaP. S. Narayana Rao

1.

3. Salem to ShirdiM. Rama Murti

4. On H. H. Sri Narasimha SwamijiR.. Ra jagopalan

5. Pujya Sri Narasimha Swamiji (in Kannada)B. S. NarayanaMurthy

6. Advice to a Devotee

7. How Swamiji was attracted to Sai Baba

8. How to get Happiness9. A Discussion

10. A Public Lecture

11. A Conversation

12. T a]k with dev otees (in Kannada)

13. Sri Guru Stuti (in Sanskrit)

14. Sri Radhakrishna SwamijiB. S. NarayanaMurthy

15. Sri Sai Spiritual CentreM. Subbaramiah

16. Source of Strength and ComfortM. Ramamurti

11. OUf Contact with SwamijiG. R. Inamdar

Sri Radhakrishna SwamijiN. Subramanian

18.

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13

21

25

29

32

35

39

42

49

53

56

60

61

62

66

69

72

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19. My Contact with SwamijiT. s. Ramanujachariar

Sri Swamjji as I saw himv. R. Deshpande

The man of GodR Parthasarathy

My first meeting with SwamijiK. v. Rao

20.

21.

22.

23. How I came to SwamijiR. NarayanaIyengar

24. My mentor and benefactorR. Seshadri

Swamjji as I see himB. K. Raghuprasad

Guru's Laughters. Natarajan

25.

26.

27. Swamiji my GuruJaswanthContractor

Sri Vishnu Sahas ran ama (in KarmaJa)Swami Adidevananda

28.

29. Indina Savalu Adakkondu Uttara (in KarmaJa)H. R. Nagendra

Bhajan and Spiritual LifeSwami Harshananda

30.

31. Ramananda and KabirM. S.Krishnamurthy

32. Radha-KrishnaBakul Harishankar

33. On Bhakthi and PrapattiT. s. Ramanujachariar

Some women Saints of IndiaC. N. Mangala

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79

80

.... 83

86

.... 91

95

99

101

104

108

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116

121

123

130

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Sri Sai BabaThe Great Saint of Shirdi

R. Narayana IyengarBangalore

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. was fond of singing-

Stay your steps, 0 wandering monk!Stand there with begging bowl in hand,And let me behold your radiant face........

A mendicant has come to liS, ever absorbed in divine moods;Holy alike is he to Hindu and Mussalman........

(The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Chaptt'r 38)

Even as Sri Ramakri~hna was singing like this in 1885, SaiBaba was wandering in the streets of Shirdi with a begging bowl anda radiant face, absorbed in a divine mood and treating Hindus andMuslims alike. Due to a strange, probably divine, coincidence a yearlater in 1886 both the saints, with some difference, had to leave theirbodies. The Saint of Dakshineswar ended his earthly sojourn to bein his supraphysical abode, whereas Baba came back from theParabrahmanto continue his mission.

The few lines Sri Ramakrishna sang in his divine mood, can betaken as the best and complete description of Baba ; but then, earthlybeings look for earthly details!

Birth, Childhood and EducationAs is well known, Baba's birth and childhood are shrouded in

mystery. What little is known at present is from the statements madeby Baba at various times to several of his close devotees. Baba was aHindu by birth eventhough many thought and even now think him tobe a Muslim. The fact that his ears were pierced, establishes beyonddoubt his Hindu origin. It is now fairly well established that hewas born to brahmin parents in the village of Panthri (or Patri)

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belonging to the Paravani Taluk of the erstwhile Nizam State. Hisdate of birth, family details and even his childhood name are totallylost. Baba never revealed these things to anyone. It is guessed thathe was born around 1840. Due to some unknown reason, the youngchild was handed over to Sufi fakir. Baba seems to have spent aboutfive years with this Muslim saint. Jt was mostly during this periodBaba picked up his knowledge of Islam.

After the death of the fakir, Baba was taken by the wife of thefakir to Sri Gopalarao Deshmukh, the zamindar of Saitu. Sri GopalaRao was a saint of a very high order eventhough apparently involvedin political administration as the provincial governor of the JinturParagana. He was a great devotee of Lord Venkatesha and due tothis Baba would often refer to him affectionately as Venkusa. GuruVenkusa had a band of students studying with him in the traditionalgurukula fashion. Baba joined this group as a young lad of nine~or ten.It is doubtful whether he received any formal education in subjectslike grammar, poetry or philosophy. However the precocious boy.grasped all these and much more while these were taught to thisfellow students. Baba in his later years often referred to his disciple-ship under Guru Venkusa with great tenderness and devotion. At SaHuhe spent all his time in serving his guru and concentrating on hisguru's form. The guru reciprocated fully and was infact very fond ofBaba. This seems to have upset the other students who went even toto the length of openly hitting Baba in front of Venkusa. Probablythey thought of even killing Baba. This finally lead Venkusa to leavehis body after transferring all his siddhis and powers to Baba. Thereis a tradition which states that Venkusa and Baba were Sri Ramananda

and Kabir in their previous birth. Probably this explains the intenseaffection the guru and the disciple had for each other. Baba himselfhas said that he was Kabir. Be as it may, young Baba left SaHu andmoved westward, as indicated by Venkusa before leaving his body.

Coming to Shirdi :

After Sailu we find Baba only at Shirdi. It is roughly estimat-ed that Baba came to Shirdi around 1870. For all we know, it mighthave been even earlier. Baba seems to have"'Stayed with Guru Venkusa

3

for about twelve years. Th-is would mean he left Sailu around 1860~What he did during the intervening period, what parts of the countryhe visited, we do not know. Probably he was immersed in intensecsadhana.

Baba came to Shirdi for the first time totally unnoticed. Heseems to bave moved in and out of Shirdi many times. However itis reliably recorded, he finally arrived at Shird i along with themarriage party of Chand Patil, the head man of Dhupkeda vilIage~The young saint in a traditionaL fakir's dress got down near theKandoba temple, where Mahlsapathy accosted him with the phrase'ya Sai', meaning 'come Sai'. About the meaning of the word 'Sai"there are several interpretations. Some say, it is an honorofic usedfor sufi saints. A few claim it to be a corrupt form of the word'shahi'. Still others say, it is a sanskrit word 'sayin' like 'swam in '.Probably the last meaning is nearer the truth. On this we have theauthority of no less a person than Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who

has categoricaUy said that the highest siddha of the Baula sect amongVaishnavas is called 'SaL' He further says that, in vedantic parlancea 'Sai' is called' Paramahamsa '. (Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,chapter 27.)

The early years of Baba at Shirdi were spent in seclusion andmeditation. He would go into the nearby forests to spend much ofhis time. During this period Byaji Bai, wife of Ganapat Rao Patil thevillage headman, used to take food to Baba wherever he might bewandering. In the nights Baba would rest at the dilapitated mosque

, or dance and sing in the takia which was a halting place for traveIlingMuslims. Baba was fond of the sorroundings of the Kandoba temple.But entry into this temple was initially denied to him by Mahlsapathy,who took Baba to be a Muslim. Thus Baba would be found under.neath the nearby neemtree very often. Often Baba would go aroundcollecting medicinal herbs and treat ailing people of their sicknesses.At this period he also raised a flower garden wherein, presently hisSamadhi Mandir stands. Gradually the mosque became his residence.Though some sadhus like Gangagira, Anandanath of Yavala, Devidasand Janakidas recognised Baba as a very great saint, the laymen of

4

Shirdi and nearby villages mostly took him to be an eccentric fakir andtreated him as such. This situtatiQn changed only after he performedthe strange feat of burning the lamps at his mosque with water, ona Ramanavami day, when the usual oil given in charity was denied tohim by Perna and other oil mongers of Shirdi.

Life At Shjrdi :

Even from the very beginning it was difficult for people todecide whether Baba was a Hindu or a Muslim. He lived in a mosquedressed almost like a Muslim and would always say, Allah Malik (Godis the Master). However like Hindu sadhus he burnt a dhuniconstantly,visited Hindu temples and had great respect for Hindu gods. He alsogot many Hindu temples repaired through Mahlsapathy. This ambi-guous nature of Baba attracted and repulsed people of both the religions.Once Baba went out of Shirdi with a Moulana by name Jawar Ali toRahta for nearly two months. Probably Baba wanted to know moreabout Islam; particularly the Koran and the Shariat. However,Mahlspathy along with other Hindu devotees went to Rahta andbrought back Baba to Shirdi where he permanently settled. It isreally ironical that Mahlsapathy the orthodox goldsmith who firstrefused Baba, entry to the Kandoba temple should become also thefirst ardent Hindu devotee of Baba. Most of the Hindus reacted in a

similar manner. After observing the equanimity of Baba under allcircumstances, these people gradually overcame tbeir narrow outlookand recognised Baba as a real Paramahamsa.

Baba did not have any regular routine. He begged his food infront of a few houses and sbared it with tbe dogs and crows underthe neem tree or in the mosque. Even after his fame reached its peak,when devotees vied with each other to serve him, 8aba did not ~topthis practice. He would spend hours together by simply sittingwithout apparently doing anything. One of his popular posture was10 stand with an uprised hand, leaning against a wall and gaze into theinfinite expan5e of space. The maximum he travelled was to thevillages of Rahta in the south and Nimgav in the north. He had veryqueer sleeping habits. It is doubtful whether he slept at all, in theordinary sense of the term. Generally Mahalsapathy kept company

5

with him even in the nights. In 1886 a very interesting incident tookplace. Baba told Mahlsapathy that he will be going to God and thathis body should be protected for three days. He also ordered that incase he did not come back into the body, tbe body should be burriedunder the neem tree. Much against the order of the governmentofficials, who took Baba to be dead, Mahlsapathy kept awake for threedays taking care of the body. Baba did return to this earth tocontinue his mission. After this incident a change was found in Baba'sbehaviour. He no more distributed the various herbs and medicines.

For all diseases, he started giving a bit of the ash (udhi or vibhuti)from the dhuni. His wandering habits also decreased and he could befound in the mosque which he named endearingly Dwaraka Mayi(Mother Dwaraka, the capital city of Lord Krishna). His exce.ssivefondness for seclusion also decreased and he gradually accepted hisnatural role as a Guru to the Hindu, Muslim and Parsee devoteeswho started coming in everincreasing numbers.

As A Guru And HisTeachings:

Eventhougb Baba's social behaviour and way of attracting hisdevotees were queer and quizzical his teachings were very traditionaland none outside the traditional sanction. Thus he recognized theadhikari bhedaand taught according to the level of spiritual develop-ment of the concerned person. Both Muslims and Hindus of differentsubsects and castes stayed with him and received instructions along-their own paths. He never asked the devotees to give up their traditio-nal practices and family gurus. Infact, he was positively against anysuch practice. He discouraged extreme behaviour in day to day life.He advised his personal attendant Abdulla-'eat very little, one sort ofdish will suffice. There is no need to eat several types of stuff. Alsodon't sleep much.' Similarly he chided the old lady Radba Bai forresorting to fasting to force some. Mantropadesha from Baba. He

-explained his own case and asked from the devotees, figuratively tworupees - Nishta and Saburi - namely, steadfastness and courageouspatience. For his very close devotees his suggestion was to look uponthe Guru as everything. In general he advised the devotees to proceed.along the path of devotion (Bhaklhi) and surrender (6haranagati)

6

keeping in view the Guru's form or any of the traditional forms likeRama, Krishna, Shiva or Devi. As a means for this heealwaysextolled Namalapa. He had a peculiar attraction towards Hanuman.Whenever he came in front of the Maruthi temple he would jump up inecstasy. 'When I was a child' Baba once explained '1 was offered bymy parents to Maruthi. So whenever 1 see him I tell him that I amhis brother.' The Dasyabhavaof Maruthi was so ingrained in him hewould invariably say 'Oh, God is the real Master. 1 am only hisservant. The Hindus worship me, but I transfer al1 that to God'Eventhough he had no partiality towards any form of godhead, somehow he seemed to be fond of Ramnam. To Pradhan he suggessed therepitition of 'Sri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram'. To the wife ofKhaparde, Baba's advice was to keep on chanting 'Raja Ram RajaRam.' Some were encouraged in an indirect manner. For example,Annasaheb Dhabolkar, the author ofSai Satcharitra in Marathi havingdecided to take to Ramajapawent to the mosque. To his great surprisethere he found very early in the morning Baba enjoying a Ramabhajansung by Aurangabadkar. Dhabolkar got the message and continuedwith Ramnam. Though Baba declared that complete surrender to theGuru and sitting quiet was all that was really needed for spiritualperfection, at various times he asked his disciples to do some specificsadhanas. Baba prescribed the chanting of VishnuSahasranamafor Dasa-ganu, Shama and Dixit. To Dixit he explained that when he hadheart trouble (literal or figurative, it is not known) he kept VishnuSahasranamaon his heart so that Vishnu could enter the heart and curethe disease. Similarly Baba had great respect for Bhagavadgita. WhenBapn Jog got a copy of Gita Rahasya of Balagangadhar Tilak, Babafelt very happy and encouraged Jog to read the book ccmpletely.However to Rege, Baba said 'do not ready any book. People thinkthey get Brahma by reading books, but they get only Bhrama(illusion)It is sufficient if you keep me in your heart. Let your mind and heartcooperate well'. The direction Kasinath Upasani recieved was totallydifferent. Baba wanted Upasani to remain in Shirdi, in the solitudeof the Kandoba temple for full four years, (June 1911-June 1915)before Upasani could be accepted as a real guru by the people atlarge. But Baba's wish remained unfulfilled. Upasani left Shirdi after

7",

three years without the permission of Baba. Probably due to this,although acclaimed as a powerful saint, U.pasani in his later yearsshowed some social aberrations.

It is generally said that people flocked to Baba only to get somematerial benefits out of his yogic powers- This is an overstatement.It is true that may came to him for solving their day to day problems.But even these people gradually got transformed in the hands of theMaster for a better life. Devotees like Rege, Dixit, Purandbare Mahlsa-pathy, Radahkrishna Mayi, Megha, Butey, Abdulla and Nevaskar,to name only a few, were never particular of gaining anything otherthan spiritual progress. Some were not even b0therd about this; theywere with Baba purely out of love for him. At the same time how-ever, Baba on his own accord helped the devotees in both worldy andspiritual matters using his staggering yogic pcwers. The powers heexhibited were mostly of three types, namely, knowledge of the pastand the future, clear vision of incidents taking place at other places,and materializing himself in different forms to help the devotees. Inhis state as a perfect Siddha these powers came naturally to him and healso did not claim any greatness for these things. Once Nana Chan-dorkar came to Baba in a dejected mood and almost accused that Babadid not protect his garandchild and son-in-law from death. 'If youcome here for these things' Baba retorted 'you come here for thesethings' Baba retorted 'you are mistaken. These are not in my hands.Even the Creator of this universe will not change these things. Doyou think the Creator can ask the Sun and the Moon to change theirpositions even by a few yards. Such a thing will never be done. Theywould only produce chaos and confusion, But Nana was unconvinced.'Baba' Nana questioned 'to some you say.you will be blessed with achild.and he gets one. Again you bless some with a good job andindeed he gets nicely employed. Ale these not your own doings l' 'Oh!no Nana' Baba laughed. '1 don't do any miracles. The astrologersdo some calculations with the horoscopes and give their predictions.Some of these come true. In my case, I ,can clearly foresee muchbetter than the astrolgers and my statements are always correct. Yousee, my technique is also like .astrQlogy, but you ordinary men can notpercieve this and you think I do miracles. You respect me for this,

iiiiiiiiI

8

but I in turn direct this respect and worship to the Lord and take careto see that you really benefitby this. '

The lastEight Years And Mahasamadhi :

During the last years namely 1910-1918, Shirdi was hummingwith activity being full with people interested in seeing Baba. Dixitbuilt a house (wada \ where guests could stay. This was opened byBaba on the Rama Navami of 1911. The mosque was also repaired~t this period. The food arrangements were generally looked afterby Sundara Bai Kshirasagar, and orthodox brahmin widow. She had.an interesting practice of addressing everyone 'Radhakrishna'. Alsoshe always kept with her the idol of Balakrishna. Due to this Babanamed her 'Radhakrishna'. Thus she was known only as Radha-kri5hna Mayi. She was an institution by herself. Apart from lookingafter the kitchen, she cleaned the streets through which Baba wouldwalk. Radhakrishna Mayi was also the cause for starting the big.celebrations which attracted many people and also much criticism.The paraphernalia Baba was made to have at this stage, was that of aking. The devotees thrust on him things like horses, silver umbrellasand palanquins. Baba accepted the situation with a resigned attitudeeither as God's will or for pleasing the devotees. The critical peoplearound, however, thought that to maintain the pomp and how Bababegan asking larger dakshinasfrom the devotees. This was anyway awrong interpretation. Baba refused from many visitors even volun-tary contributions. He often said 'I ask money only from them whomthe Fakir points out. In turn I have to take care of them.' He neverallowed the silver things to come inside the mosque. When the silverornaments on the palanquin were stolen and some one informed thisto Baba, Baba contemptuously asked 'why the whole palanquin wasnot taken away?' Again some rumour mongers spread that Babaattracted people by performing feats for which there is no sanction ofthe tradition. This was the talk of idlers who knew nothing aboutBaba or his methods. Baba never did any act like materializing idolsand rings which would baffle the minds of the devotees. As he him-self explained he used his powers only to help the devotees to whomhe was obliged, due to contacts in the previous births or whom the

9

Fakir (God) pointed out.' About his past births, Baba had manyinteresting stories to tell. Incidentally, he never claimed himself asan Avatara, in the Puranic sense, as understood by devout Hindus. It istrue people worshipped him as the incarnatien of Dattatreya. Babahimself said, depending on the circumstances and the persons concer-ned, that he should be considered as the all powerful Father by hisdevotees. From the state of the all pervasive universal conscious-ness he did declare his identification with all the usual Hindu God.

heads, but then he did not just stop at that. He identified himselfwith the dogs, crows and ants also. His sense of I-lessness was sointense he would feel his hunger satisfied when the dogs and ants atewhat was meant for him.

The money Baba received from the devotees, at times, exceededthe income of even a provincial governor. The Government autho-rities wanted to levy income tax on Baba. A Christian by name ChakraNarayan was appointed by the Government to watch the money thatcame to Baba. Baba distributed every day all the amount, as andwhen it was received, to the devotees. At the end of a day he waswhere he began. Thus no tax could be levied on Baba. However,some of the close devotees like Bade Baba and Tatya PatH had to payincome tax. Towards the last years Baba suffered from respiratorytroubles and became very weak. Still, at times, much to the surpriseof the people around he would forget his ailing body and walk aboutnormally. Added to the weakness in the body, he had a severly burntrigbt band. This he got dressed everyday by Bhagoji Sindhe whosefingers had withered away due to leprosy. In 1910 Baba once put hisright band into the Dhuni and forgot to lift it. He later explained thathe did tbis to save the child of a potter nearby, which had fallen acci-dentally into the fireplace. Baba refused all expert medical treatmentto his hand and allowed only herbal applications that too strictly bya lep~r. Through every such act Baba eloquently taught the outsideworld his own bodilessness and indirectly urged his disciples to rea-lize for themselves this state. During the Dasara festival of 1916,Baba must have had tbe foreknowledge of his impending departurefrom the physical boundaries of body and mind. On tb~ Vijaya Dashamiday he tore away all his clotbes, and shouted to tbe people nearby

2

10

'come on, see for yourself whether I am a Hindu or a Muslim'. Babaasserted further that he was doing Seemollanghana(crossing the border)on that day. Baba did nothing without a valid reason, eventhoughordinarily this was not understood and he was thought to be crazy ifnot outright mad. By tearing away the clothes, he was only drama-tizing the eternal truth' as the cloth is to the body, so is the body tothe Alman'. At the level of the Alman where are differences such asMuslim or Hindu, man or woman?

Those were the days when this country was in political rest-lessness. Of the many political leaders who visited Shirdi, BalaGangadhar Tilak was the most prominent. Unfortunately no reliablerecords are available regarding what Baba and Tilak discussed. Accor-ding to one version Baba said 'Swaraj aata hai, tu so jav' (Indepen-dence will come, you sleep away). Any way, Baba was not unaware ofthe political situation. The notes kept by Abdulla indicate that Babadiscussed the political climate of the country now and then. He alsopredicted that there would be only nine English rulers to this country.

Baba hinted to the devotees his forthcoming Mahasamadhi,inseveral ways. He sent Chote Khan, a Muslim devotee, to Fakir BanneMiya, with a garland and the message 'Allah is taking away the lightwhich he had lit himself'. He encouraged Bapusaheb Butey of Nagpurto build a wada. Baba took great interest in the architecture of thisbuilding. He used to inspect the arrangements inside the building onhis way to Lendi garden. 'Once the wada is ready' Baba smilinglytold shama 'let us ourselves sit inside and enjoy'. Bapu Butey plannedto install Krishna's idol inside ana was eager to order the image. ButBaba's illness increased day by day causing concern to the devotees.From 28 September 1918Baba almost stoppea taking his regular food.A fortnight prior to his Mahanirvana,Baba wanted to hear the contin-uous reading of Ramavijaya. A person by name Vaze was asked to dothis. This went on for fourteen days. Only on the fifteenth day Babaasked it to be stopped. On the Vijayadashamiday, IS October 1918,Babawoke up from his bed and sat on his seat at around twelve O'clockin the noon. Naturally the devotees felt happy and sorrounded him.Baba gave away nine rupees (first five and then four) to a lady devotee

,......

11

by name Laxmi who used to send roti for his lunch everyday. As in hislife, he was symbolic in his passing away also. The number nine wasa reminder of tbe nine types of Bhakti and the nine qualities of a gooddisciple as described in Sri Bhagavatha.Towards the last minutes he sentaway Butey and Dixit for taking their lunch, eventhough they wereunwilling to leave him. Then Baba learned on Baiyaji Kothe with tbewords 'I am going, take me to tbe wada. An the Brahmins will staysorrounding me'. Baba left the body as easily as he had discarded hisclothes on a previous occasion. The devotees were all immersed ingreat sorrow. Bapusaheb Jog who did the pooja of Baba regularly,forgot his routine in his deep sorrow. Early in the morning next dayBaba told another close devotee by 'name Laxman, in a dream. 'Hey,Bapu thinks I am dead. He will not come today to do the pooja. Youdo tbe pooja today: Much against the opinion of the Muslims thebody of Babawas worshipped by Laxman in the usual Hindu way.On bearing tbe news of the passing away of Baba the Governmentauthorities rushed to the mosque in great haste to acquire the properties.But to their utter surprise his earthly remains were apart from the body,

. a tumbler, a tin (in which he begged his food), a pair of torn clothes,a broken brick given to him originally by Guru Venkusa and sixteenrupees.

The Mahasamadhiof Baba started a controversy about where thebody should be kept and who should look after it. Such a quarrel amongthe devotees of great saints is not uncommon in history. Two thou.sand five hundred years ago the Nirvanaof Gautama Buddha lead to aquarrel among his disciples. In medieval times, the Muslim and Hindudevotees of Kabir could not come to an understanding about whetherthe saint's body should be buried or cremated. In the recent past, thefo Howers of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa could not easily settlewho should be in charge of the sacred ashes of the Master. In the caseof Baba it was a controversy between the Muslims and Hindus again.Finally the Government authorities intervened and helped the majo-rity opinion to prevail. Thus, tbe Hindu devotees took charge of thebody and shifted it to the Wada built by Butey. A SaQ1adhi-Mandirwas constructed subsequently.

12

The Story Continues:

Baba had once declared 'I will be active even from my tomb.My very bones will speak'. True to this, the shedding of the shacklesof the body, if anything, has only helped Baba to be more active.Devotees march in thousands to Shirdi to see the stage on which thedivine drama was enacted and to derive the grace of the Great Master.The number of people who approach Baba in the peaceful local SaiMandirs or in the privacy of th~ir homes or in the silence of theirown hearts is just uncountable. Lakhs of people, right from the un-lettered peasant woman to the most learned scholar, from the mostarrogant youth to the serenest sadhaka, are day by day graduallyturned towards a God conscious divine life in everincreasing measures.

This has been the openly declared mission of Baba.Once a visi-tor to the mosque got a doubt about the purity and traditional sanc-tion of the methods of Baba. The doubt was not even openly expres.ssed. Baba however answered back-'This is a white (pure) Brahmin.This mosque is a Brahmin's mosque. He will lead lakhs of peopleon the ShubhraMarga (cleanest path) to God'. Indeed, this is the grea-test miracle the Saint of Shirdi perf0rmed while in the body and isnow performing from his Samadhi.

-R as:....

If onedevotes his entire mind to me and rests in me, heneedfear nothingfor bodyand soul. if oneseeks me and mealone and listens to talks about me and is devoted to me alone?

he will reach God (Chaitanya). He who worships me as

Nitya, Suddha and Buddha, comes to me.

-Baba

---'" ,.'

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsaand

Sri Sai 8aba of ShirdiThe Identity of Their Mission

P. S. NarayanaRaoBangaIore

An ardent devotee of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa whostudies the life and mission of Sri Sai Baba cannot but be struck bythe perfect identity in respect of their outlook on life and theircontribution for the re-vitalisation of religious faith. Both cameupon the Indian horizon when Nastikya (atheism) raised its head andhad begun to ',eatinto the very vitals of religious faith. Both wereknown for their abiding interest and love for the suffering beings.Both stood for the fundamental unity of all religions. Both enterednow and then the realm of Brahman and would with considerabledifficulty come down their ecstatic heights into the humdrum earthlyplane. Both were known for their constant communion with theSupreme.

Birth and early life: In this context, it would be appropriate toconsider, the historical background of the two saints. This is howeveravailable almost to the point of exactitude in the case of SriRamakrishna. But it is to some extent inadequate and inexact in the caseof Sri Sai Baba. Thus. the exact date of birth, parentage, place of birth,the family background and the spiritual inheritance in the case of SriRamakrishna are recorded by chroniclers, whereas there is absence ofsuch detailed information in the case of Sri Sai Baba whose birth andearly life are shrouded in mystery. However, on the availableevidences. and from the casual utterences of Baba himself, who wasreticent in parting with such information, biographers of Baba havemade a most reasonable estimate of the year of his birth, as well asthe place of his birth and parentage. Be that as it may, it should be

14

noted that it i!).-secondary in its importance compared to the greatsaint's work of spiritual ministration. While Baba is worshipped by thecountless devotees as the Avataraof Lord Dattatreya, Sri Ramakrishnais hailed as the Avataraof Sri Gadadhara, i.e., Narayana.

Sadhanas: Despite their god-hood, both the Avatarapurushasunderwent a rigorous course of sadhanasin the ir early life. It is wellknown how Sri Ramakrishna started with the worship of the DivineMother and realised Her as a living reality. Then he practised th~several forms of Bhakti yoga-Dasya, Sakhya and Vatsa(yaBhavas andfound that each united him with the Supreme. Sri Ramakrishna'sspiritual sadlzanas,went later beyond the frontiers of Hinduism. Heyearned for God realization through Christianity and Islam. Hepractised the methods of worship and prayers according to the tworeligions. He met face to face Lord Jesus Christ appearing before himin the Panchavatigarden and entering his heart. He similarly hadthe dar.rhanof the Great Prophet Mohamad Paygambar, appearing tohim in the twilight of the serene and secluded Panchavati, enteringhis heart as did Jesus Christ. Sri Ramakrishna had already realisedthe ultimate reality according to the Tantrika Marga and the AdvaitaMarga.

The result of these sadhanaswas that Sri Ramakrishna was ableto establish the fundamental validity and the universality of thedifferent religions which according to his experience, are "the differentpaths leading to the same goal." Although such details of Baba'ssadhanas are not known, it is clear that he practised Yoga, the pathof Bhakti as well as the Advaita Marga. His respect for Islam wasbecause of his being brought up by a Muslim couple in his infancy,while according to his own statement he was born of Hindu parents.This contact he had with the Muslims gave him opportunities to knowtheir religion thoroughly, enabling him to establish the great truththat both the religions lead to the same goat. Although he did nothave any occasion either to study Christianity or to follow it inpractice, his attitude regarding that religion was one of respect.

Devotees of various denolD.inations: What is of greater conse-

quence is the contribution of these great saints, with their experience

15

and background of the universal religion, to the cause of spirituality.While Sri Ramakrishna used to say repeatedly, "water is called byone as pani, as Jala by another and as water by the third, water assuch will not alter its characteristic in the least. In the same mannercall God as Rama, Krishna or AlIah. AU the names describe theonly one God, the creator". This means, that the different religionsare after al1 the different paths to reach the Supreme Reality. Like wise,Baba would tell his devotees, that "Rama and Rahim are the same."

Just as Sri Ramakrishna embraced the tenets of Hinduism,Islam, Christianity and other religions, and has as his disciples,votaries of the diverse denominations, Baba also established thef1:mdamental validity and unity of all religions and had devoteesflocking to him, belonging to several religious faiths. The annualfestivals of Ramanavamiconducted with great eclat and pomp atShirdi have proved to be a convincing testimony to Baba's catholicity.This great event compares very favourably with the annual celebrationsof the birthdays of Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohamed, Krishna and theAcharyas of Hinduism at every centre of the Ramakrishna Missionthroughout the world. Thus, both the Avatarapurusha.flived for theunfication of the diverse religious faiths. The spiritual and the socialconsequences of such an outlook among the populace are mostsignificant: disharmony is replaced by harmony, discord by concord,hatred by friendliness, cruelty by sympathy and love.

The emphasis on the universality of the teachings of the variousreligious denominations was most needed and crucial in the respectivetimes of the two great saints during which our great nation appearedto have been badly mutilated on account of religious fanaticism andattempts at religious conversions. Both Baba and Ramakrishna hadidentical views in respect of bringing together ou~ people speakingdifferent dialects and practising different religious faiths. So wbatthe latter started in f his life time, was continued by the former afterthe latter's Maha Samadhi in 1886.

Mission of both the saints: The stress'on the developmen t ofa universal and catholic outlook by both the great saints was basedupon a common mission: God realisation. The means for this

I11III

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according to both were renunciation of Kama and Kanchana(lust andwealth). Sri Ramakrishna constantly stressed on ryagaof the worldlypleasures and realisation of the supreme, whether through Bhakti orJnana or Karma Margas. This mission of Sri Ramakrishna bearsperfect identity to that of Sri Sainath. The purpose of SriRamakrishna was to set people on the Dharmikpath and the path ofGod reaUsation. -,Tirelessly, he would continue his ministration to thescores of devotees flocking to Dakshineswar. In an identical manner,Baba would affectionately instruct the devotees to think of Allah (theSupreme Lord) who is the protector and preserver of every being borninto this world.

Baba's mission is succinctly and effectively expressed in themessage of Sri Radnakrishna Swamiji on the occasion of Babas 50thMahasamadhiCelebrations. "Though Baba was seldom egotisticenough to reveal all his plans and purposes, he did reveal the purposeof his life on a few occasion s. Answering the doubts of a devoteeBaba declared that he would lead lakhs of people to Shubhra Margaand take them to the goal, that is, the feet of God. (Tad VishnohParamam Padam). On other occasions, he revealed the fact that birthafter birth he was taking charge of the souls of those who implicitlytrusted in him and that he provided for all their temporal and spiritualneeds."

Those who have gone through the facts of Baba's life asportrayed in the authentic works of revered Narasimha Swamiji ofblessed memory and also in those published by Sri Sai Samsthana,would be convinced as to how Baba acted as the guardian angel ofthe devotees not only I00king after their worldly needs but alsoprotecting them often against mi!ihaps and diseases.

Sri Sainath's mission of life, as that of Sri Ramakrishna, has aconsiderable impact from a national view point. This is the establish-ment of unity through religious unification, as noted before. When acommon God-hood is identified by the followers of the diverse religiousdenominations, universal brotherhood is the natural fruit coming tothe credit of a nation. Thus states Sai Satcharitra: "Sai Baba cameto bridge the gulf between Hindus and Muslims. His constant advice

:17

to all was to this effect: Rama and Rahim are one and the same;

then why should their devotees fall ~ut and quarrel among them-selves? Bring both the communities together, act sanely and thusyou will gain your object of national unity. "

It must of course be noted that the scores of devotees of Baba

who were attracted to him, desired mostly mundane benefits such asgetting their physical or mental maladies cured, procurement ofemployment, promotions in their jobs, success in examinations, etc.Although Baba was eager to pour out spiritual bliss, very few wentto him to obtain it. Among these, prominent mention may be madeof Kakasahib Dixit, the noted solicitor, who was lame in one leg onaccount of an accident in London, who said to his friends, "I do notdesire that Baba should cure me of my lameness; on the otherhand,I want him to cure the lameness \crookedness) of my mind." It was thespiritual uplift that Dixit desired most. Another notable instance wasthat of R. B. Purandhare who has left a record of his first meetingwith Baba which states: "I went to him with no worldy motives,though I was poor and an orphan. I was always desirous of associat-ing with sadhus. Baba appeared to me in a vision and summoned meto Shirdi." So how did Baba deal with the vast numbers of the former

category? It was characteristic of him to declare, "I give people whatthey want in the hope that they will begin to want what I want to givethem." He wanted to give all of them God realisation ultimately. Itwas seen that his devotees who got their worldly desires fulfilledthrough his abundant grace, gradually turned their minds Godwards,leading a life of purity and integrity. They became illuminated menand women leading a blissful worldly life. We should not howeverforget that there were also a few great souls leading a life of renuncia-tion, such as Swami Vijayanand and Sri Narayan Asram, going toBaba for the highest spiritual gift.

The instances of resorting to Sri Ramakrishna for fulfilment ofworldly desires are few and far between in his biography, becausethose who went to him had already gone through worldly experiences.and bad realiscd fairly well the hollowness of the world. As such~ theywere men and women who were thirsting for spiritual knowledgewhich they got in plenty from Sri Ramakrishna. But there were also

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some who got even their temporal desires fulfilled through his grace.Sri Ramakrishna himself was not averse to beseeching divine gracefor getting over worldly difficulties. It may be remembered that whenNarendra .(Vivekananada) was beset with the acute crisis of poverty~nd financial stringency including litigation, .following the demise.of his father, approached Sri Ramakrishna for the redress of hissuffering he was asked to go to the temple and appeal to the DivineMother for he1p and freedom from suffering. Of course, Narendrabeing not a man of the world, prayed only for jnana, bhakti andvairagya. But if there werf"a man of the world commonly met with,he would have undoubtedly followed the advice of Sri Ramakrishnafor getting his worldly desires fulfilled. For instance, many yearsafter the Mahasamadhiof Sri Ramakrishna, his devotee by name TejChandra, lost Rs. 200 given to his charge by a friend of his. Theformer, while travelling by a tram in Calcutta, lost the entire moneythrough pick-pocketing. Being poor and having absolutely no means10 repay the amount to his friend, he went to the bank of the Gangesbitterly bemoaning the loss, praying to Sri Ramakrishna all the whilefor the relief from his distress. After some time, be saw SriRamakrishna appearing and telling him, "Why do you grieve for theloss of the money. Lift the brick at the foot of the tree on the bankand find your money." Tej Chandra rushed to the particular treepointed out by Sri Ramakrishna and found the amount of Rs. 200underneath the brick. This instance, is very much similar to that of adevotee of Sri Sai who lost a large sum of money during his travel andwho had the vision of Sri Sai who assured him of the recovery of theamount and who later got back the entire amount from the thiefwho was his own cook. It must be noted that Sri Ramakrishna wasnot opposed to prayer to God for the removal of one's worldysuffering. We know how he made a vow to offer a tender coconut tothe Divine Mother for the recovery of Rakhal from his illness. Thereare many instances of his devotees even in the modern times, whoresort to him both for temporal and for spiritual needs. In SriRamakrishna's time, there were of course many going to him solelyfor spiritual knowledge like Vivekananda and Brahmananda andVijaykrishna Goswami.

19

Basic teachings: Our attention may now be tm'ned to thebasic teachings of the two apantaratmas. Baba would say, .'takewhat comes, be contented and cheerful. Never worry. Not a leafmoves but by God's will:' In the same strain, Sri Ramakrishnawould declare, "complete surrender to the Lord should be our goal.He will take full care of the devotee so that ultimately his spiritualuplift is guaranteed."

Another of Baba's constant saying was, "Allah Malik Hai ,~which means that God is the owner and we are all his children actingaccording to His will. In the same strain, Sri Ramakrishna woulddeclare, "I am the machine and You (God) are the operator". Further,according to the tradition of Sri Sai Baba, the devotee who comes tothe feet of the Guru in a spirit of utter self. surrender to him does notneed to do any spiritual practices like japa or meditation. The devoteeshould give up all sense of doer-ship and the resultant ahankara orego, so that the grace of the Guru may flow to him un-interrupted."The Guru does not teach; he radiates influence. This Influence ispoured in and is absorbed with full benefit by the soul which hascompletely surrendered itself, blotting out itself, but it is obstructedby mental activity, by reliance on one's own exertions and by everykind of self.consciousness and self-assertion." The devotee would beasked by Baba, "stay with me and keep quiet. I will do the rest."So the duty of the aspirant is to keep himself pure, chaste, honest andtruthful, so as to be fit to receive the Guru's grace and completelysurrender to him with full faith in him. Then only the Guru will lifthim up and ultimately get him God realisation. This Guru-Godconcept was also stressed by Sri Ramakrishna, who for instance, toldGirish Chandra Ghosh to "give the power of attorney" to his Guruwho would look after every thing necessary for the disciple from thespiritual point of view.

The Guru-God concept in practice means equating the Guruwith the Supreme Lord and resorting to him with the sense ofcomplete surrender. Just as Sri Sainath happens to be the SupremeLord for his devotees, Sri Ramakrishna is considered to be theSupreme Lord by his devotees and disciples. Thus, in both the cases

=iiI

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Ustriving is largely through devotion to the Gu ru". For most of theirdevotees this overshadows everything. This is the meaning of thewords of Baba: "keep still and I will do the rest", and of the words ofSri Ramakrishna: "give the power of attorney to the Guru and hewill do everything necessary for you." The same assurance to thedevotee.

It must be noted that like Sri Ramakrishna, Sai Baba wielded apowerful spiritual influence over his devotees to get them spiritualattainments. While Sri Ramakrishna would transmit his gracethrough his gaze, or touch, Sri Sainath would, rouse one's spiritualconsciousness by placing his hand on the head. It is recorded that histouch conveyed certain spiritual impulses while totally removing allthe lower ones, uplifting the devotee to the higher state of spirituality.

To conclude, both Sai Baba and Ramakrishna never founded anew religion. But both gave renewed faith to everyone to continuethe tenents of one's own religion. The devotees of both belong tovarious religious denominations. There are Hindus, Muslims,Christians in the main. The devotees of both have acquired religiouscatholicity and an outlook of universal brotherhood. May theBlessings of both the ava/orapurushasprotect humanity for all timesto ,'ome! May everyone attain the highest spiritual goal throughtheir Grace.

~

Feed the hungry first, thenfeed yourself.

* * *

YOll should not stop evenfor a second at a Place where

ml)'body talks ill of a saint.

-Baha

Salem to ShirdiM. Rama Murti

Baogalore

Salem to Shirdi Would Have Seemed A Far Cry in the seconddecade of this century, if it had occurred to any body to linkthe two places. Around 1918, when Sri Shirdi Sai Baba attainedmaharamadhi, it would have surprised-and probably irritated SriB. V. Narasimha Iyer, leading lawyer of Salem, freedom fighter,and legislator, if anybody had suggested that he shou Id go on apilgrimage to Shirdi. Perhaps the lawyer would have shot back:'Shirdi? Never heard of Shirdi. Where is Shirdi ? Who is the presid-ing deity there? And why should I go there even if I wanted to goon a pilgrimage?" Anyway Sri Narasimha Iyer was too busy tothink of pilgrimages, as all his time and talents were engaged in hisprofessional work and public activities. Among his contemporariesin Salem were stalwarts like Sri C. Vijayaraghavachariar and SriC. Rajagopalachari. Like them he was active in the town's civic,social and cultural life. Sri Iyer was a member of the Indian NationalCongress, and a great admirer of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the stormypetrel of Indian politics. In 1917 he was chosen as a member of thethree-man delegation appointed by Annie Besant's Home RuleLeague to go to England and present India's case for freedom.Members of this team were detained at Gibraltar and sent back toIndia on the orders of Britain's war-time cabinet. Twice he waselected to the Madras Legislative Council, in 1914and and again in1920. There he exposed the iniquities of the alien rule with rareeloquence.

Why, indeed, should a person like Sri Narasimha Iyer, whowas riding the high wave of professional success and public esteem,think of pilgrimages and such things?

1t was the year 1921, the second year of Sri Narasimha Tyer's~econd term in the Legislative COllnciL He was at the very peak of

~

~~~

22

professional and public activities. He was also engaged in carryingout repairs to the. Laksminarayana temple in the town. There wasnothing to suggest that a complete change in his life was imminent.Tragedy struck in a blinding flash, taking away Sri Narasimha Iyer'stwo little children in one fell swoop. The children, a boy and a girl,who were playing 10the courtyard, fell in a well and were drowned.When Sri Iyer recovered from shock and trauma, when the painin his aching heart eased, when the tears dried up, he saw withdear eyes that life had a deeper mean ing than seemed on the surface.His vi~ acquired an altogether different perspective and he sawthat he had a tryst with destiny, though he was but dimly aware ofIts true dimensions. As Sri Narasimha Swamiji's devoted biographerand antarangabhakta, Sri Salpadananda Radhakrishna Swamiji, hassaid, even as the bodies of the little ones were being taken out of thewell, Sri Narasimha Swamiji resolved to renounce the grihasthaashramaand devote the rest of his life to spiritual quest and service tohumanity.

The strength of his resolve may be seen from the fact that hedid not leave at once, when his grief was white hot. Instead, hestayed on and withdrew from his temporal responsibilities in anorderly fashion so as to cause the least inconvenience to the others.He completed the repairs to the Lakshminarayana temple, resignedrrom the Legislative Council, and returned his High Court vakilsanad.And then, with the permission of his kulaacharya, he set out in searchof a spiritual Guru.

Sri Narasimha Swamiji's first port of call in his spiritual voyagewas Tiruvannamalai where he sought refuge at the feet of the sage ofArunachala, Sri Ramana Maharshi. He stayed there for three yearsfrom 1928to 1930and made a deep study of the Vedanta.

At the end he found to his dismay that the intensity of bhaktiwhich he had cultivated. even before leaving Salem was waning.Alarmed, he left Tiruvannamalai to resume his quest for a Guru whocould meet his need and was suited to .his temperament of bhakti.

Thereafter Sri Narasimha Swamiji visited many temples andshrines, met many saints and sages.

,

13

The one saint who impressed him most and gave him practicalguidance for his bhakti Jadhana was Sri Upasani Baba of Sakori inMaharashtra.

Sri Sakori Baba advised Sri Narasimha Swamiji to stick to bhaktimarga and avoid metaphysical speculation. He asked him to develop-his bhakti through japa, bhajana and parayana, and live the life of an.okinchana,a holy ascetic.

Sri Swamiji, however. did not approve of some elements in the--teachings of Sri Upasani Baba and left Sakori in 1933, resolvingnever to return. This was a resolve Sri Narasimha Swamiji was,destined not to carry out, as we shall soon see. Returning to Madrasfrom Sakori, 3d Narasimha Swamiji chalked out another tour ofpilgrimage anGathis time he planned to visit Dwaraka. On his wayhe stayed at Sri Siddharudha Mutt in Hubli where a sadhakamet himand sopght his guidance. Sri Swamiji decided that the be~tplace forthis sadhakawas Sakori. But as he was anxious to avoid Sri UpasaniBaba, he proceeded to Sakori only after ascertaining that the Baba wasnot there at the time. But Sri Upasani Baba was right there in Sakoriwhen Sri Narasimha Swamiji reached the place, as if he was waitingfor the return of the truant dicjpJe. Sri Swamiji found that there wasno escape from the Sakori Baba. So great was the reputation of SriUpasani Baba tbat Mahatma Gandhi himself had sought his blessingsfor the national movement. Sri Swamiji reasoned that if the disciple{Sri Upasani Baba) was so great, then the Guru (Sri Sai Baba) must be_greater still, a mahapurusha.

By tbe time Sri Sai Baba dawned in Sri Narasimba Swamiji'sconsciousness, it was too late for a physical meeting. Sri Sai Baba bad-attained mahasamadhififteen years earlier. There were not many peoplewho knew Sri Sai Baba. The few that had seen him did not know much.There was more legend than fact more bias than balance. But thefew fragments of verified truth that he bad managed to glean whettedbis appetite for more. And with missi<:maryzeal Sri Swamjji set about-collecting every bit of information he could lay his hands on, travelJ-ing long distances, braving hardships, ignoring his own advancing.age and physical frailty. As the pieces fell together, the picture that

24

emerged was that of a great mahatma. For Narasimha Swamiji Sai Bababecame a mighty reality, a living presence that guided him in hisquest at every stage and turn. Sri Swamjji saw in Sai Baba the unityof the Trinity. All his doubts vanished. His heart was full withbhakti. His spiritual voyage had ended. His ship was at anchor.At last he haQ arrived at his final port of call, Sri Sai Baba, his paramo-dhama. Seeing that even after death Sri Sai Baba was radiating fromhis samadhihis immense power of love for the good of the stricken man-kind, Sri Swamiji took upon himself the task of making Baba's loveavailable to all seekers. Thus was born the Sai bhakti movement.

Sri Swamiji travelled all over the country spreading Baba's messageof universal love, and establishing Sai mandirs. The Sai movement,which WfS a mere trickle in 1936, became a vast stream, within adecade. The bhagiratha who brought this purifying stream of lovewas SriNarasimha Swamiji.

In the spititual annals of India Sri Narasimha Swamiji will beremembered as the great sage who rediscovered and presented tohumanity the mighty spiritual force that is Sai Baba.

~

From highest-Brahman to the yonder 'WormAnd to the very minutest atom,Everywhere is the same God, the All Love;Friend, offer mind, soul, body, at their feet.These are His manifold forms before thee.Rejecting them, 'Whereseekest thou for God!Who loves all beings, 'Withoutdistinction,He indeed is 1»orshippingbest his God.Truth never comes 'Wherelust and fame and greedOf gain reside. No man 1»hothinks of WomanAs his 'Wifecan ever perfect be;Nor he 'Whoo'Wnsthe least of things. nor heWhom anger chains, can ever pass thro' Maya's gatesSo give these up, Sannyasin bold!

Say-HOrn Tat Sat Om !'~

,

Sri Narasimha Swamiji

Sri Narasimha Swamiji and Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji during a travel

;iI

On His Holiness Sri Narasimha SwamijiR. Rajagopalan

Madras

All of us proclaim and claim to be devotees of Sri Sai Baba.We say we love and adore Sri Sai Baba. His Holiness Sri NarasimhaSwamiji, the Founder of the All India Sai Samaj, Mylapore, Madras,was also a great devo'ee of Sri Sai Baba. His love of Sri Sai Baba wasun ique and unparalJelt.d. Our love or worship of Sri Sai Baba is veryoften conditioned by Baba fulfilljng our prayers for relief fromdifficulties official, financial, physical, mental, etc. If Baba shouldeitter delay the grant of our prayer or not grant at all our prayer forreasons best known to him, most of us would be sore with Baba andour love and regard for Baba would thereafter undergo a diminutionon that score. Our love of Baba may not be totally extinct, but it willnot be as vigorous and powerful as it was before.

Let us take H. H. Sri Narasimha Swamiji's love of Baba. SriSwamiji was born rich and lived rich. He was a lawy~r of great reputein the Salem Bar enjoying a very lucrative practice. He had eyerythingin life which could make life quite happy and comfortable. He was heldin high esteem in social and political circles. To quote Sri Swamiji'sown words, ' B.V. N. Swami was one of the foremost in the ranks oflawyers and political agitators, legislative councillors and Home Ruleworkers ' (Life of Sai Baba, Vol. II, First Edition P. 3J2). Thedomestic calamity in 1921of two of his children getting drowned inthe well in the compound of his bungalow in Salem is only, as itturned out to be, an excuse for his turning away from all domestic,social, and political affairs, which he was pursuing until then, anddirecting his attention to the realisation of God. He immediatelyrenounced his position and possessions and went to Sri Ramanasramamin Tiruvannama]ai, and from there ultimately reached Shirdi, whereSri Sai Baba completely possessed him. Swamiji found his God inSri Sai Baba. Swamiji also realised then that it was Baba after allwho was shaping his career for decades.

5

26

Thereafter, Sri Swamiji, with his large heart, wanted thewhole of humanity to benefit by. contact with Sri Sai Baba. So, with9aba's implicit approval, he started giving lecture<; all over Indiaspreading the name and glory of Sri Sai Baba and emphasising thatBaba is Krishna, Rama, Shiva, Lakshmi, and all the other gods, andworship to and prayer to him would greatly benefit the devotees. Healso published number of pamphlets and books on Sri Sai Baba. As aresult. many beyond the borders of M'aharashtra became Sai devotees,and theV have found in actual life that Sai is their whote support. SriSwamiji did all this Sai fJracharun'11indful of the difficulties he had tomeet in travelling by train, on road, or foot too sometimes betweenvillages. (He was not the 'affluent lawyer of the Sale'l1 Bar then).Sri Swarniji consider'ed that he lived solety for the purpose of carryingon Sai fJrachar. This is something extraordinary.

When Sri Swamiji was in the General Hospital, Madra~, under-going treatment for a hroken thigh bone, an iron pin was driventhrough his calf muscle, and the foot from knee downwards was kept ona pedestal. In that painful po~ition, Sri Swamiji lay for a few days. Henever said even once why Raba, his God, should put him to this painand suffering. Instead, he converted the whole ward into a miniatureSai Mandir. He went on giving udhi to all the hospital staff-nurses,ward boys, and doctors and thus making use of his stay in the hospHalfor Sai "rackar. Manv persons. big and small. in all walks of lifevisited him. To all he gave udhi with the blessing baba /Joorna prasada

siddhirasthu. Any ordinary person would have probably held Baba toblame for the suffering. Sri Swamiji was different.

As one assisting him in the preparation of numerous articlesfor Sai Sudha and other publications on Sri Sai, I used to be withSwamiji almost everyday. Normally I would take with me a few piecesof sugarcandy or some fruits to be given to him before I bowed tohim. Swamiji would receive them or sometimes ask me to place themby his side. But whenever I gave him a few pages of typed matter forpublication, he would at once take it from me with his face beamingwith great joy. The joy tbat he exhibited then was in direct propor-tion to his love of Sri Sai Baba.

1

27

One morning, in the Samaj premises (the Samaj was then inSri Thiagaraja Iyer's house, near the present Sai Mandir), Sri Swamij iwas telling me 'Alright; if Baba is pleased to remain in a stable, lethim be'. The construction work in the newly acquired premises was thenvery much halting for want of funds. After a few minutes I left. Inthe evening, I saw him again. Tn great joy he announced, '¥ ou see,how gracious Baba is. Two mica merchants from Gudur came in theafternoon and each gave Rs. 1,500/- With this, the construction workcan proceed'. This is just one instance of his demonstration of his deeplove for Baba. Much against the advice of some well meaning peopleSwamlji acquired the land adjoining the then Samaj premises inMylapore. Thanks to his foresight. Today Sri Sai Vidyalaya and SaiKala Mantap (H. H. Narasimha Swamiji Centenary Hall) are pror:dlystanding on tbis land.

Sri Swamiji's expression of gratitude to all those who renderedhim any help whatever was something very distinct. The humblewriter of this articIe was helping Sri Swamiji in the preparation ofthe work 'Life of Sai Baba, by taking notes to his dictation. Whenthe work was complete and ready for the press. Sri Swamiji wroteout the preface, and in the conclud ing portion of it recorded hisacknowledgements to all those who helped him in the preparation ofthis w(\rk. Wllile dictating the notes, Swamiji said' His work, ifit had been charged for according to the prevailing scales, would baveinvolved the author in the ~xpenditure of over a thousand rupees which,of course, were not avaiJable . . .' (p. xii, Life of Sai Baba, Vol. I, FirstEdition). But, in actually typing out the copy, for the words 'overa thomand rupees' Ttyped 'a few hundred rupees'. This was donepurposely so as to take away so much importance being shown. to me.But. Sri Swamiji, with his critical eye noted this variation, cut it ont,and restored the original namely, 'over a thousand rupees'. By the timeI came to know of it, the forme had been printed and brought outSri Swamiji always magnanimously acknowledged appropriately anyhelp, however small it may be, rendered to Baba's work.

Even in physical strength and stamina Swamiji excelled manyof us. It was difficult to keep pace with him while wa lking. Swamijion many days would walk from the AISS premises to the second hand

28

book shop near Luz. To accompany him 1 hart to run almost !On oneoccasion, T remember, somebody gave Swamiji a piece of manifoldingpaper in the center of the road in front of the samaj. Swamijiwrote on it witb a steady hand. There was no support or pad to holdthe paper in position. Stilt the writing was very clear and distinct.Swamiji wa~ a good cook and humorist also. For some time, whenhe was staying with his son on the Mount Road, Swamjji used tocook his food himself. Even as he would be dictating notes to me, hewould suddenly say 'the rice is cooked.' The power of smell shouldhave been very strong in him, since the stove used to be some fifteenfeet away. About his sense of humour, I recall a funny incidentat the end r Fortunately, the book was in the from of proofs and notin the final stages of publication.

Sri Swamiji would call Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji endearingly'Radhakrishna'. The love the two had for each other can be explainedby them only. I can only say that it was something divine. I havebeen told by Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji that Sri Narasimha Swamijiwanted him to go to Bangalore and start the work of Sai prachar. Trueto the words of the Master, Sri Radhakrishna swamiji by his pioneeringand enthusiastic efforts has carried on Sai prachar in Bangalore andother adjoining areas for about twentyfive years. He has also brougtinto existence a mandir for Sri Sai in the name 'Sri Sai SpiritualCentre', which is attracting larger and larger number of devotees dayafter day. Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji has also laid down certain codesof discipline for the devotees, to be observed, while in the Centre.These codes are scrupulously followed by all wiIlingly and sponta-neously.

All glory to Sri Sai Baba, his apostle Sri Narasimha Swamiji,and his disciple Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji 1

--

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