Holy Pilgrimage - Hindu temples in USA
Shri Shirdi Saibaba Temple, Flushing, NY
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8.30am-9.00pm
EVERY FIRST SATURDAY
Sai Naam Jap 8:30 AM to 8:30 PM
Vishnu Sahasranama 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Gita Study 4:30 PM to 6:15 PM
EVERY SECOND SATURDAY
Sai Naam Jap 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
Devi Mahatmyam 2:00 PM:3:00PM
Gita Study 5:15 PM to 6:15 PM
EVERY THIRD SATURDAY
Sai Naam Jap 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
Lalitha Sahasranama 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Gita Study 4:30 PM to 6:15 PM
EVERY FOURTH SATURDAY
Sai Naam Jap 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
Vedaparayan 2:30 PM to 5:00PM
Gita Study 5:00 PM to 6:15 PM
EVERY FIFTH SATURDAY
Sai Naam Jap 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
Chanting from Vishnu Sahasranama,
Lalitha Sahasranama, Suktas, Rudram
Devi Mahatmyam 2:30 PM 4:00 PM
Gita Study 4:30 PM 6:15 PM
Daily Arathis:
Kakad Arathi 8.30amMdhyana Arathi 12.30pm
Dhoop Arathi 6.30pm
Shej Arathi 8.30pm
Date
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Title
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02-07-2013 00:00
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AT 7.00PMSAI SATHYA VRITHA
KATHA
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05-07-2013 00:00
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AT 7.00PMPRADOSHAM(SHIVA
ABHISHEK)
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20-07-2013 00:00
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AT 7.00PMPRADOSHAM(SHIVA
ABHISHEK)
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21-07-2013 00:00
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GURUPOORNIMA
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22-07-2013 00:00
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AT 7.00PMSATHYANARAYANA VRITHA
KATHA
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Your
Privacy:
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At Shri Shirdi Saibaba Temple , your
personal information is confidential. We do not rent, sell, barter or trade
email addresses.
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Returns
& Exchanges:
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If you are not completely satisfied
for any reason, you can return an item within 30 days of receipt for a full
refund of the Books purchase price.
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Contact Us:
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If your question or comment call
718-321-9243 or email us at info@dwarakamaishirdi.org
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Significance of
Aarti
The devoted worship (Upasana) of the highest entity (Parameshwar), in its form with all its attributes is of great importance. For the ordinary man, the abstract idea, the formless concept of God, has always been incomprehensible. That is why worship (puja) performed with all its different accessories of the idol with flowers, garments and ornaments creates in the mind of the devotee a distinctive attachment for the Lord. Arati is a specially significant offering of worship. Because of the whole atmosphere created with the resounding music of auspicious musical instruments, Arati leads to the high concentration of the total congregation. The necessary atmosphere for utmost concentration is produced. That is why Arati, as an expression of devotion, has become respected by people and the devotees look upon it as a necessary contributive form of worship. Arati is an indigenous or Dravidian word and auspicious five lamps, incense, and lighted wicks are its different forms (for different timings of the day). In reality, Arati is not included in the sixteen forms of daily ritual worship. Similarly, Arati is not mentioned in the Five Upachars or Prakaar. It may be that Arati was introduced to Aryans after their contact with Dravidian culture and perhaps it became more popular in the Bhakti Tradition of worship or devotion to a personal God. This is gathered from available information. Even if the Arati is not included in the sixteen sub-rituals at the end of worship, there are various rites such as: 1. Holding the umbrella2. Waving silken flowing threads in front and at the sides.3. Song4. Music / Instruments5. Dance6. MovementsSince these later forms are included in Arati at the end of the formal Puja, Arati has become a form accepted by even the traditionalists and has increased in importance. In South India, Arati is an important ritual. And there, during the various Aratis offered, the waving of lamps, and ringing of sonorous bells, the blowing of the conch and playing of various instruments are continuous during the Arati. However, singing is absent. In Goa, there is a rich tradition of setting different Aratis to beautiful vocal music. Nevertheless, in large temples, at the time of Arati, the loud sounds of musical instruments is a noteworthy characteristic, but vocal singing is absent. The similar custom is prevalent to a certain extent in Maharashtra. In the Northern Provinces, this form of Arati is accepted but not as vigorously as it is in Maharashtra and in the South. Arati there is never set to Music.There are various ways to prepare for Arati. The commonest form is having a lamp with ghee and cotton wicks placed in a tray, lit and waved before the idol. Sometimes the lamps are of silver and even of gold. An offering of ghee is superior to an offering of oil, in the Niranjan. In some cases a bunch of cotton wicks fully moistened in oil is lit and waved in front of the idol. At the start of the Arati, the lamp with five wicks is used. In the South, beautifully shaped brass lamps are available in abundance. Some lamps are tall brass pillars, containing 108 lip-shaped wick-holders meant to be used for the Arati. To keep these spic and span and keep them provided with oil and wicks is the work designated to Devadasis. They receive an annual income for this duty from the temple. This practice is prevalent even in Goa, but not in folk-worship or Guru Sampradaya. Actually, Arati is a contribution of the people to the formal prescribed worship. By popular belief, a lamp is waved to ward off the evil eye and to keep away any evil or inauspicious effects. So at the time of weddings or the sacred thread ceremony, after smearing turmeric on the bride or the boy, they are protected from evil by the auspicious waving of the lamps. Similarly on Bhai-beej Day, Diwali, New Year, or when heroes return home, lamps are waved to keep them protected from the evil eye. It is also a belief that ghosts and evil spirits and animals are afraid of the brightness of fire.Light produced by fire is considered splendorous and this itself is a unique concept of all cultures and religions. Therefore, Arati has a special place in Bhakti worship. It is conjectured that Arati accompanied by song and music wards off evil influences obstructing the practice of Bhakti. One should note with significance that there is no singing in Sanskrit temples (traditional temples of gods and goddesses). It is distinctly present in Vithal Sampradaya in Maharashtra. It is also predominantly present in Guru Sampradaya, as it is in the temples of Datta Maharaj and Shri Sai Baba. According to the Guru tradition, the relationship between Guru and disciple and the bond between them and their merger is supposed to be the very heart of Bhakti, superior even to the worship of God. To the common man Vithal or Datta Guru or Sai Baba are closer than the remote, abstract concept of Sanskrit Iswara. That is probably the reason why people are drawn to the former. And this fact makes the basis of religion not just a creation through a miracle but a well-founded fountain of love through faith and experience. The potent expression of this prem is Arati. Taken from Worship of the Manifested Shri Sadguru Sainath by Zarine. (Meher-dhun Endowment)
We are presenting the Baba`s Aarti`s in five languages for the benefit of the devotees.
Who is Saibaba
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Sai Baba, one of the foremost saints of
modern India, lived in the little village of Shirdi in the State of Maharashtra
for sixty years and elevated it to the status of a great spiritual center. He
never stepped out of that village during this long period except for visits to
two villages, Neemgaon and Rahata, three miles on either side of Shirdi. He
never preached, toured, nor discoursed. He never advertised himself. He rather
shunned and discouraged unnecessary publicity. Yet by the sheer brilliance of
his spiritual fire he did draw innumerable devotees to him from all over the
country, irrespective of their caste or creed. When he took samadhi in 1918
(i.e, left off his physical body) he never installed anyone as a successor to
his spiritual throne at Shirdi. Yet his very power to mould and develop his
devotees spiritually is such that even more than 50 years after his samadhi,
Sai Baba is still a dynamic spiritual force that countless Indians invoke for
their spiritual and material welfare. No wonder many of the new born in our
country are named after this great God-man and hundreds of his shrines have
been built and are being visited by his devotes all over India. Many more are
in the offing. Many books have been written of him in various Indian languages.
What is of special relevance to present
day India is Sai Baba’s gospel and example is that religious and communal
differences are meaningless in matters of the spirit.
Yet surprising as it may sound, a god
man of his stature and fame is without a name. No one knows his original name,
time and place of birth, his religion and caste, not even of his parents. He
never revealed the same to anybody. Sai Baba the name by which he came to be
known, is what has been used by one of his first devotees to greet him on his
second arrival at Shirdi. Sai means saint and Baba means father. The name is thus
just an expression of love and reverence due to such a spiritual giant as he,
and is not a personal name. He allowed himself to be addressed as such, ever
since.
All that we definitely know of Sai Baba
is that his arrival at Shirdi was very sudden. One day he appeared as a boy of
sixteen or seventeen, seated under a neem or margosa tree in the outskirts of
the village of Shirdi, about the year 1854. However, even this date is not
definitely noted.
An old woman of Shirdi, mother of one
Nana Chopdar described him thus This young lad fair, smart and very handsome
was first seen under the neem tree seated in an asana. The people of the
village were wonder struck to see such a young lad practicing hard penance not
minding heat and cold. By day he associated with none by night he was afraid of
nobody. People were wondering and asking whence this young chap turned up. His
form and features were so beautiful that a mere look endeared him to all. He
went to nobody’s door but always sat near the neem tree. Outwardly he looked
very young but by his action He was really a great soul. He was the embodiment
of dispassion and was an enigma to all. One day it so happened that God
Khandoba possessed the body of some devotee and people began to ask him Deva
god you please tell us what blessed father’s son is this lad and whence did he
come God Khandoba asked them to bring a pickaxe and dig in a particular place.
When it was dug bricks were found and underneath that, a flat stone. When the
stone was removed a corridor was seen in which four samayis earthen lamps were
burning. The corridor led to a cellar where cow mouth shaped structures wooden
boards and necklaces were seen. Khandoba said This lad practiced penance here
for 12 years. Then the people began to question the lad about this. He put them
off the scene by telling them that this was his guru’s place, his holy water
tomb or resting place, and requested them to guard it well. The people then
closed the corridor as before.
Mahalsapathy was probably the first to
introduce himself to Sri Sai Baba: he was so much impressed with the
conversation he had with Baba that he thereafter saw him daily and introduced
baba to his friends Kasinath the tailor and Appa Jogle saying that a fakir Sai
Baba had made a sudden appearance on the outskirts of the village near the
debris of the village wall, that he is far above the common man, a pure and
holy man worth paying respects to. From that time onwards he came to be known
as Sai Baba. This trio-Mahalspathy Kasinath and Joge-daily went to Baba paid
their respects to him and supplied whatever little requirements he had. The
news that one Sai Baba had manifested himself near the nimb neem tree on the
outskirts of the village reached the ears of the late Appa Patil Kote and one
day he, with his wife, went to Baba to pay his respects. He Baba left his seat
got up and welcomed Appa and told his wife that she had been veritably his
sister. The lady Bayajibai on seeing Baba, was so much impressed that she then
and there resolved never to take her food without first feeding Baba.
At first Sai Baba prescribed and gave
medicines to the ailing visitors who sought his help but never charged nor
accepted any money for the same. Not only that; if he found that there was none
to look after or nurse the patient, he would himself be the nurse and serve
him. Once it so happened that his patient failed to observe the rules of diet,
etc., that Sai Baba had prescribed and henceforth Baba gave up administering
medicine and gave only his ‘udi’ or holy ashes for their relief.
Raghuji Gannapat Scinde Patel refers to
this incident in his account As soon as Baba came to Shirdi, one Amanbhai, a
Moslem gave him food. That Amabhai was visiting my mavusi’s grand mother’s
house occasionally. Her son Ganapat Hari Kanade aged thirty-five had leprosy
and fever. Amanbhai told her that a holy man had come to his house and that he
could treat her son. Then Baba came in and saw the patient and told Ganapat to
catch a cobra courageously as the cobra would not bite a leper. Ganapat caught
a cobra and out of its poison the medicine was prepared and given to Ganapat.
He began to improve in a few days. But he did not observe Baba’s injunction to
avoid sex-pleasures. So Baba stopped giving him further treatment. The disease
developed and Ganapat died.
Baba came to this very house to treat
my younger brother Bhagoji who was suffering from fever, at a very critical
period, when death was imminent. Baba gave him some medicine and further had
him branded with red hot iron sone on each temple and one on the back. Bhagoji
recovered his health escaped death and fever.
Young Sai Baba even this title was not
conferred on him by that time stayed under the neem tree for about three years
but suddenly left Shirdi. No one knew where he went or why. After a year or so,
he again returned to Shirdi and stayed on there till his mahasamadhi in 1918
i.e for sixty years.
Where Saibaba was during the interval
between his first and second visits to Shirdi is not definitely known. However,
some vague hints are given by some devotees. For instance, Amoolchand
Chandrabhan Seth of Rahata says.My elder cousin Khusal Bhav who died on
5-11-1918 has told me that Sai Baba lived in a Chavadi now in ruins at Rahata
for some months or so; that previously Sai Baba lived with a Moslem saint Ali
Akbar Ali perhaps whose portrait is still kept in our gin i.e Rahatekar’s gin
near Wadia Park at Ahmednagar that Daulu Sait had seen baba with the saint at
Ahmedngar and that Baba came from Ahmednagar to live at Rahata and then went to
live at Shirdi.Devotees Experiences
The Divine Ministration
D.D. Nanasaheb Rasne who served Baba
for nearly two decades has told the author of a remarkable incident in this
period of Baba’s life as recounted to him by Saint Gadge Maharaj himself.
Sri Gadge Maharaj alias Sri Guzadi
Maharaj a famous saint of Maharashtra, was serving in a provision store at
Sivagaon Pathado. One day Sai Baba came there from Selu Manvat and begged for
roti. When no one gave him any, he picked an ear of jawar from a ripe farm and went
away, munching it. Gadge went home on leave, picked up roti and proceeded in
search of the fakir. At last, he found the latter sitting under a tree in a
nearby jungle. The fakir demanded Why have you come here
I noticed that they hadn’t offered you
roti and so I got it for you.
Will you give me whatever I demand?
You may ask for anything except money
which I don’t have.
I need your life. Give it.
How can I take it out and offer you?
Take it by your hand, I am ready
The fakir then kept his hand on Gadge’s
head in blessing. The latter instantly galvanized with intense renunciation, at
once went back bade goodbye to his family and rushed to his guru who in the
meanwhile went ahead, when baba saw him he was wild and roared Rogue why have
you come to trouble me further
I cannot part from you Gadge submitted.
Baba then led him to the nearby tomb of
a Moslem saint commanded Gadge to dig a small pit nearby and fill it with two
pot full of water. Getting down into that Baba sipped a little of the water and
directed the other to do the same. Gadge obeyed and at once grew obvious of
everything in a deep yogic trance. By the time he regained his sense, Baba had
left.
Subsequently Gadge reached Shirdi Baba
was at the mosque and the curtains within were lowered Gadge lifted a curtain
up and peeped in Baba grew wild and cried Bastard have you come to eat my bones
having already eaten my flesh Why trouble me even after I gave you what I have
When Gadge said that he would not leave him Baba flung a brick at him. It struck
the former on his brow, leaving a permanent crescent mark. Baba then calmed
down and said You’re fully blessed and will henceforth be a sadguru. God will
bless you. Gadge instantly attained perfect Enlightenment.
Long after on the eve of his mahasamdhi
Sadguru Gadge Maharaj visited Shirdi singing. Ham jato Amche Gaona I am going
to my original adobe. He swept the village clean sang Bhajans and told his
devotees, We shall never meet again. I am going away Then he proceeded singing
to the bank of river Narmada and attained mahasamadhi.
It should be mentioned here that Sri
Gadge Maharaj besides ministering spiritually to countless devotees has also
left behind several charitable and educational institutions in Gujarat and
Maharashtra.
This account gives us an inking of what
baba was and did even during the interval between his first and second arrival
at Shirdi.
The second advent of Baba at Shirdi is
interesting to note. Chand Patil was a wealthy gentleman of Dhoop village in
Aurangabad district. On one of his trips to Aurangabad the horse which he was
riding strayed and could not be found. He was very fond of the animal and so he
searched for it carefully for two months, but he could not find it. At last,
while he was returning home by walk, carrying the saddle with him as a memento
of the animal, he saw a fakir sitting under a tree by the road. The fakir wore
a l0ng gown, and a cap and had a small stick in his hand. He beckoned to Chand
Patil to come and rest in the shade of the tree for a while and enquired of him,
why he carried the saddle and what he was searching for. When Chand Patil told
him of his missing animal, the fakir smiled and asked him to search for it near
a stream. Chand Patil was surprised to see the animal in the same spot where he
could not find it a little earlier when he returned to the fakir in great joy,
the latter told him to share a puff from his chilm. The tobacco and the
clay-pipe were ready with him but he had neither fire to light it, nor water to
wet the cloth through which the smoke is to be sucked. Then the fakir struck
the ground with his stick and there emerged a burning ember from the earth
After lighting the pipe with it, the fakir again struck the ground with the
stick and water bubbled from the same spot The fakir wetted a piece of cloth in
it and, using it as a filter, he puffed the smoke and offered it to Chand
Patil. The latter was already stunned by the miraculous power of the fakir and
he accepted the clay pipe as a sign of blessing from the powerful saint. Then
he touched the feet of the fakir in reverence and begged him to grace his house
with his visit. The fakir agreed and followed Chand Patil to his house.
After some time, when the Patil had to
attend the marriage of one of his nephews at Shirdi, he requested the fakir to
grate what is this word the occasion, Accordingly the whole party arrived at
Shirdi. The bullock carts halted at the outskirts of the village. When the
fakir alighted from one of these, Mahalspathy, a priest in the village temple,
recognized the great saint to be the same as the lad who appeared sitting under
the neam tree a few years earlier and greeted him with the words Ya Sai elcome
Saint. Henceforth, he came to be known as Sai Baba Saint father. Ramgir Bua, a
devotes of Sai Baba writes about Sai Baba’s second arrival at Shirdi Ramgir
Bua, a devotes of Sai Baba writes about Sai Baba’s second arrival at Shirdi
As a boy I studied in the school at
Shirdi. I was a pupil when Sai Baba came to Shirdi. He was then accompanied by
one Patel of Dhupkheda who came to settle the marriage of a girl with Hamid,
the son of Aminbhai of Shirdi. Baba appeared to be 25 or 30 years old at that
time. He stayed there as a guest of Aminabhai. He had long hair flowing down to
his buttocks. He wore a green kufni, a skullcap next to his hair and over it a
bagawi topi kashaya or ochre coloured cap he carried a danda a small baton in
his hand along with a chilm pipe and match box. He got his bread by begging.
Devotees Experiences.
Four or five months after his arrival
at Shirdi, Baba started wearing a white gown and head-dress. Even after his
second advent at Shirdi, Sai baba seemed to have lived under the neem tree for
some time and a particular incident was responsible for Baba’s changing his
residence to the old dilapidated mosque in the village. The details of the
incidents that I could gather, are as follows
Once there were very heavy rains at
Shirdi and a large portion of it was flooded. After a long while some of his
very early devotees remembered the homeless fakir and wanted to see how he
fared and where he took shelter from the rain. Mahalsapathy and a few others
rushed to the margosa tree and were stunned to see that Sai Baba was there
under the same tree, half-reclining, in a state of samadhi. Water flowed all
over him. All the rubbish and filth gathered over his body. They dared not wake
him up from that state. A few hours later, when the water had drained away,
they returned to see him still lying on the damp earth; his body and face were
completely covered with mud deposited by the receding water. They felt guilty
was their sole protector and guide in all their sufferings This is an
incomplete sentence. Later, when he returned to the worldly place of
consciousness, these devotees persuaded him to take shelter in the small,
dilapidated mud-built mosque in the village. Probably the Hindu natives of the
village felt that Sai baba’ was a Moslem and so unfit to take shelter in Hindu
temples as did the other Hindu saints like Janakidas and Devidas. This shift of
his abode seemed to mark a change in his career. He burst into fame not long
after this event.
One Tatya Baba Kote writes that before
Sai Baba came to live in the mosque, he lived for some time in a jungle of
thorny trees Babul or Acacia and that he was taken to be a madman by the
village urchins who often stoned him. But he never got angry with them nor
protested against their waywardness.
Thus the birth, parentage, religion,
caste and the native place of Baba remained a mystery. Many people repeatedly
asked him about these details but he quietly put them off the point with a
smile. Once a thief who was arrested by the police told the Dhulia Court that
he was given the valuable articles in his possession by Sai Baba of Shirdi.
Then the Dhulia court sent a Commissioner to record Baba’s replies to the
inquiries. The inquiry went on thus:
Commissioner: What is your Name?
Sai Baba: They call me Sai baba.
Commissioner: “Your father’s name?
Sai Baba: Also Sai Baba.
Commissioner:Your guru’s name?
Sai Baba: Venkusa.
Commissioner:Your religion?
Sai Baba: Kabir.
Commissioner:Caste or Community?
Sai Baba: Parvardigar (God).
Commissioner: Your age?
Sai Baba: Lakhs of years.
It is evident from these replies that
Baba did not look upon himself as his body and so he never revealed anything of
his early life to any devotee.
However, once he is reported to have
told late Sri Mahalsapathy that he was horn in a Brahmin family in the village
of Patri and that at an early age he was given away by his parents to a fakir.
Perhaps we should take it as a cryptic and allegorical statement that was
characteristic of him. For instance, he always referred to God as the merciful
Fakir, He also said once, I came here to Shirdi from Aurangabad. My mama uncle
brought me down here. He once told Swami Sai Sharananandaji, I was only eight
years old when I left my parents and came to the Gangas. Baba always referred
to the Godavari River near Kopargaon as Ganges Then I came to Shirdi. This is
perhaps an instance of Baba identifying himself with Sripadavallabha the first
manifestation of Lord Dattatreya who left his home at the early age of eight.
Dr. K.B. Gawankar, in his book on Sai
Baba, has recorded a few more of Sai baba’s reminiscences of his pre-Shirdi
days. Once Sai baba told his devotees, Bade baba and Bapugir Gosavi, I grew up
in Mahurgad a holy place sanctified by the presence of Lord Dattatreya); when
people pestered me I left for Girnar; there too people troubled me much and I
left for Mount Abu. There too the same thing happened. Then I came to Akkalkot
and from there to Daulatabad. There Janardana Swami a great saint did me a lot
of seva i.e. service. Then I went to Pandharpur from there I came to Shirdi.
Dr. Gawankar also records a significant
aspect of Sai Baba’s life. Once baba asked Smt.Kasibai Kanitkar Did Lord Datta
give you anything at Kopergaon? No she said.
Do you know Sakharam Maharaj of
Angaonkawad famous saint of that place. He is my guru bandhu. We served the
same guru. We planted two mango saplings there.
Next day when Smt. Kasibai went to
Kopergaon to see the saint Sri Sakharam Maharaj he gave her two mangoes and
said Sai
has sent these for you.
There is a mention in Sri Sakharam’s
biography of his frequent chattings with a young fakir Who according to
Gawankar was undoubtedly Sai baba himself. It is also recorded that once
Sakharam Maharaj told his devotees that he was going to his brother and then he
proceeded towards the river Kamode. Devotees who accompanied him thither saw a
fakir on the opposite bank of the river. He was the fakir aulia of the Nizampur
Dargah. They saw each other and exchanged hearty smiles and returned to their
respective abodes. Dr.Gawankar conjectures that it is possible that the fakir
auliya was Sai Baba himself. Chronologically, this incident took place between
Sai Baba’s earlier disappearance at Shirdi and his second and permanent arrival
there in 1858.
How dearly Sai Baba cherished this
phase of his life can be seen from this incident: Bapusaheb jog was a devotee
of Sri Sakharam maharaj. On one of his visits to the latter’s mutt monastery at
Angaonkawad, he saw the two mango trees that were mentioned earlier by Sri Sai
baba. On one of his later visits, jog plucked a mango from one of them as an
offering to Sri Sai baba but realized his error when he found it to be too
unripe. Then he purchased two good fruits on his way for Sai Baba. Later when
he offered the two ripe mangoes Sai Baba would not, take them! He only wanted
the mango that jog had plucked at Angaonkawad! When Sai Baba took it in his
hands tears of joy flowed freely from his easy. Baba examined it and said, “It
is not yet ripe.” Bapusaheb jog said, “Yes, Baba.” Sai Baba stared at it for a
while and with a sportive sparkle in his eye said, “Is it so?” and ordered that
it should be cut and distributed to all the devotees assembled there. Everyone
was surprised to note that the mango was indeed ripe and sweet!
Another reference of Sai baba to his
early life relates to his meeting with his guru I found my master in the
chavadi here. His calm, peaceful, cheerful and meditative face attracted me,
almost bewitched me so much so that my eyes were riveted on his face and even a
moment’s separation made me uneasy. In His company I used to forget even hunger
and thirst. I served him with all my heart for more than 12 years. The duties I
had imposed on myself for him were very arduous. He never left his seat for any
purpose, not even to answer the calls of nature. Merged in mediation, he
entirely forgot that he had a body, mind, etc. He ate, passed urine and stool there
only, on his seat. I fed him, changed his clothes, swept and kept his seat
always clean. As a reward for this he gave me his blessings saying, Wherever
you are, here or even beyond the seven seas, I will ever be with you to guard
and protect you’…..at the start he had asked me to pay his fees dkshina; and on
my asking what his fees were, he coolly said that his fee was only two paise
and these paise were not the government currency I had been using. His two
paise consisted of two things, nishta (absolute faith) and saboori cheerful
patience. I readily gave him these two paise and though I was very eager to
obtain from his holy mouth some holy spell or formula which I could go on
chanting and repeating, he whispered nothing in my ears. He simply said, I shall
ever be with you, protecting you by my mere glance, in the manner of a tortoise
protecting its young ones.The entire credit of all my glory goes to this Guru.
It is the outcome of his blessings.
One another occasion, writes Swami Sai
Sharananandaji in his book Shri Sai, the Superman, He (Sai Baba) said to this
writer, My guru’s name is Roshan Shah Mia. The same writer who lived for quite
some time with Sri Sai baba adds,Subsequently, I marked that Shri Baba was,
from time to time, also using the word ‘Roshan’. He used it particularly when
he told some parables. It seems Roshan Shah thereafter had cast off his mortal
coil (his body) and Baba entombed him under or near the nimb (neem) tree at
present found in Shirdi Navlkar’s wada or mansion. When the previous owner of
this wada, R. S. Sathe, wanted to put up a story and terrace, at the time of
putting up a stair-case he unearthed a tomb with an under-ground cellar or a
cave under the tree. Baba was asked as to what should be done about the tomb
and the cave. Baba said that the place belonged to his elders and it should
neither be disturbed nor opened but it should be covered up with a stone as
before. Some boys playing hide and seek removed the stone and found under it,
several steps leading further down. They said that the cave was dark but rather
long. Baba once told Shri Sai Sharananandji, pointing to a pillar near his
dhuni (the scared fire) in the mosque (Dwaraka Mai) that there was a cave there
under to which he always confined himself, that once his beard grew so long
that it reached the ground and wept it; that he never came out except to meet
some holy or religious man. Throwing light on his life during this period, once
Sai Baba admonished Sagunmeru Naik, What Can’t you put up with a day or two days’
starvation I lived on margosa leaves for twelve long years
A devotee of Sai Baba, Hari Vinayak
Sathe, reports, Baba told me that the tomb close to that (neem) tree was that
of his guru. He gave his name. It ended with ‘Shah or ‘Sah. Some of Sai baba’s
devotees felt that they heard baba say that his guru was Venkusa. While Roshan
Shah is a Moslem name,Venkusa is a Hindu name. Whether this ambiguity lay in
Baba’s pronunciation or in his giving different answers to the same question
when put by devotees of diverse temperaments, we cannot determine.
Our attempt at tracing the period of
discipleship of Baba is already complicated. On the one hand we have his
statement that when his mother rejoiced at his birth he himself wondered why
she should he so elated, as he had always been in existence i.e as the eternal
spirit and he did not wrongly identify himself with his body. On the other side
we have references to his discipleship. What is discipleship to one who was
already perfect
Again we cannot be very sure of the
literal truth of the story of Baba’s discipleship. For he once gave a different
account of it altogether. It is worth quoting in its entirely
Once four of us were studying religious
scriptures and we began to discuss the ways of realizing Brahman. One of us
said that we should elevate ourselves and not depend on others. To this the
second replied that he who controls his mind is blessed, that we should be free
from thoughts and ideas and there is nothing in the world without us. The third
said that the world of phenomena is always changing, between the Real and the
unreal. The fourth i.e., Baba himself urged that mere learning is worthless and
added, Let us do our prescribed duty and surrender our body, mind and five
pranas or life impulses to the guru’s feet. Guru is “God, all-pervading. To get
this conviction, strong and unbounded faith is necessary.
Discussing thus we four men began to
ramble through the woods in quest of God. On the way a labourer met us and
asked us where we were going in the heat of the day. We did not reveal the
object of our quest to him. He then warned us of the danger of our losing the
way in the woods if we went without a guide. Finally he said, you may not give
out to me your secret quest will you sit down, eat bread drink water take rest
and then go! But we rejected his offer and walked on. We lost our way.
Ultimately through sheer luck, we came back to the place from where we started.
The labourer met us again and said. By
relying on your own cleverness you missed your way a guide is always necessary
to show us the right way in all matters. No quest can be successfully carried
out on an empty stomach. Unless God wills it, no one meets us on the way. Do
not reject offers of food,which are to be considered0 auspicious signs of success.
He again offered us food and asked us to be calm and patient.
I was hungry and thirsty and I was
moved by the extraordinary love of the labourer who looked quite illiterate and
of a low caste. I thought that acceptance of his hospitality was the best
beginning of gaining knowledge. So I respectfully accepted the food he had
offered.
Then the guru stood before us and
asked. What was the dispute about I told him everything that had happened. Then
he said, would you like to come with me I will show you what you want, but only
he who believes in what say will be successful I bowed to him reverently and
accepted him as my guide. But the other three spurned his hospitality and his
guidance and wandered away. They no longer searched for God but rambled idly in
hunger and thirst.
Then he the guru took me to a well,
tied my legs together with a rope and suspended me head downwards from a tree
that stood close by. My head was three feet above the water, so that I could
not reach it. Then he left me and returned again after about five hours and
asked me how I was getting on.I am in bliss supreme, I replied. The guru was
much pleased with my reply, embraced me, stroking my body with his hand. He
accepted me as his disciple. I forgot my mother and father and all my desires.
I loved to gaze on him endlessly I did not want to go back. I forgot everything
but the guru. My whole life was concentrated in my sight and my sight on him.
He was the object of my meditation In silence I bowed down.
However, that Baba had a guru is
certain for he had a brick with him which he always used as a pillow when he
slept, and on which he always kept his hand when he sat. He said of it, This
brick is my guru’s gift, my life’s companion. Probably the two accounts of his
discipleship supplement each other.
Earlier biographers of Sai Baba have
taken this episode, especially his being suspended head downwards, three feet
above the water in a well, as being merely symbolic. Though their explanation
of the symbolism is illuminating, the possibility of it being a literal fact
cannot be ruled out. The earlier writers based their conjecture as to the
symbolic nature of the episode on the common experience that ‘no one can be at
ease and feel bliss if he be suspended with a rope head down and feet up in a
well for hours together A similar incident took place in the life of Hazrat
Tajuddin Baba of Nagpur, a contemporary of Sai Baba, which shows that the
incident could literally have taken place. I shall quote at length from my
unpublished book on the great saint:
The uncanny ways in which he
transmitted various spiritual experiences are no less striking. One day someone
asked Tajuddin Baba, Master how can hal bliss be experienced Baba took off his
cap and kept it on the ground top downwards. The seeker was suddenly
overwhelmed with the direct experience of hal and in that ecstatic state, stood
on his head and started dancing on his head and hands Only after baba turned
the cap into the normal position did the visitor get out of the ecstatic mood
and he stood upright. Then Tajuddin Baba asked him have you realized how it is
to be experienced The question has a deeper significance than is apparent. He,
as a spiritual teacher out of his grace, has to grant it to his disciple and
that is the only way of experiencing hal. This incident also shows that
mystical states of consciousness are not merely subjective states which the
saint has to experience for himself through self-conditioning or
auto-suggestion, without any objective reality about them. He could at will
communicate it to one who could not obtain the experience through his own
endeavors. This finds a parallel in Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa giving an
experience of God to Vivekananda at will.
This experience of hal by Tajuddin
Baba’s disciple and his experience of bliss in an inverted position shows that
it is not only possible but conducive to certain types of spiritual ecstasy
conferred upon disciples by their gurus.
Indeed the hanging of a sadhaka head
downwards into a well seems to be a specific technique adopted by certain gurus
to help their disciples achieve quick spiritual progress and some saints used
the technique even for themselves. Baba Farid Ganj Sakkar, the guru of the
celebrated saint of Delhi, Sheikh Nizamuddin Aulia, hung himself head down into
a well for forty days. But he administered no such method to his disciples. So
it is a technique, which was called for by an individual need.
Excerpt from Book Sai Baba The Master
By Acharya E. Bharadwaja
His Assuarances
|
Whoever puts his feet on Shirdi’s soil, his
sufferings would come to an end.
The wretched and miserable would rise into plenty
of joy and happiness, as soon as they climb the steps of my Mosque.
I shall be ever active and vigorous even after
leaving this earthly body.
My tomb shall bless and speak the needs of my
devotees.
I shall be active and vigorous even from my tomb.
My mortal remains would speak from my tomb.
I am Ever living to help and guide all, who come to
me, who surrender to me and who seek refuge in me.
If you look at me I look at you.
If you cast your burden on me, I shall surely bear
it.
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.
|
From the long Island Expressway (LIE) take exit# 24 (Kissena Blvd). Go north on Kissena Blvd. At Holly Avenue (fourth light) make a right turn. Make another right turn on Robinson Street (two streets from Kissena Blvd).Shri Shirdi Saibaba Temple is located at 46-16, Robinson Street.(2nd building on the right.)
If Visiting the Temple by Public transportation, Please take Q17 or Q27 near the subway at Main street (#7 Train from Manhattan- last stop is Main Street, Flushing.) If taking Q17 get off at Holly Avenue. If taking Q27, get off at Robinson Street.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations to the great devotees , wikisources
and Pilgrimage tourist guide for the collection )
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