Baba's
gaya Trip - Story of Goats.
This Chapter describes Shama's strip to Kashi, Prayag and
Gaya and how Baba (in the Form of His portrait) was there ahead of him; it also
describes Baba's reminiscences of the past birth of two goats.
Preliminary
Blessed, Oh Sai, are Your Feet, blessed is Your remembrance
and blessed is Your darshana which frees us from the bond of Karma. Though Your
Form is invisible to us now, still if the devotees believe in You, they get
living experiences from You. By an invisible and subtle thread You draw Your
devotees from far and near to Your Feet and embrace them like a kind and loving
mother. The devotees do not know where You are, but You so skillfully pull the
wires that they ultimately realize that You are at their back to help and
support them. The intelligent, wise and learned folk fall into the pit of the
samsar on account of their egoism, but You save, by Your power, the poor,
simple and devout persons. Inwardly and invisibly you play all the game, but
show that you are not concerned with it. You do things and pose yourself as a
non-doer. Nobody ever knows Your life. The best course therefore for us is to
surrender our body, speech and mind to Your Feet and always chant Your name for
destroying our sins. You fulfill the wishes of the devotees and to those who
are without any desire You give bliss supreme. Chanting Your sweet name is the
easiest sadhan for devotees. By this sadhan (means), our sins, Rajas and Tamas
qualities will vanish, the Sattwa qualities and righteousness will gain
predominance and along with this, discrimination, dispassion and knowledge will
follow. Then we shall abide in our Self and our Guru (who are one and the
same). This is what is called complete surrender to the Guru. The only sure
sign of this is that our mind gets calm and peaceful. The greatness of this
surrender, devotion and knowledge is unique; for peace, non-attachment, fame
and salvation etc., come in its train.
If Baba accepts a devotee, He follows him and stands by
him, day and night, at his home or abroad. Let the devotee go anywhere he
likes, Baba is there ahead of him in some form in an inconceivable manner. The
following story illustrates this.
Sometime after Kakasaheb Dixit was introduced to Sai Baba,
he decided to perform the thread (Upanayan) ceremony of his eldest son Babu at
Nagpur. At about the same time Nanasaheb Chandorkar decided to perform the
marriage ceremony of his eldest son at Gwalior. Both Dixit and Chandorkar came
to shirdi and lovingly invited Baba for these functions. Baba asked them to
take Shama as His representative. When He was pressed to come in person. Baba
told them to take Shama with them and that "after doing Banares and
Prayag He would be ahead of Shama." Now mark these words for they show
Baba's all-pervasiveness.
Taking the permission of Baba, Shama decided to go to
Nagpur and Gwalior for these functions and ceremonies and thence to Kashi,
Prayag and Gaya. Appa Kote made up his mind to accompany him. They both went
first to Nagpur for the thread ceremony. Kakasaheb Dixit gave Shama Rs.200/-
for his expenses. Then they went to Gwalior for the marriage ceremony. There
Nanasaheb Chandorkar gave Shama Rs.100/- and his Vyahi (relation) Mr.Jather
gave him also Rs.100/-. Then Shama went to Kashi, and then to Ayodhya where he
was well received in Jather's beautiful temple of Laxmi-Narayan at Kashi
(Varanasi or Banares) and in the Rama-Mandir at Ayodhya by Jathar's manager.
They (Shama and Kote) stayed for 21 days in Ayodhya and two months in Kashi
(Banares). Then they left for Gaya. In the train they felt a little uneasy on
hearing that plague was prevailing in Gaya. At night they alighted at Gaya
station and stayed in the Dharmashala. In the morning the Gayawala (the Priest
who arranges and provides for the lodging and boarding of the pilgrims) came
there and aid - "The pilgrims have already started, you better make
haste." Shama casually asked him whether there was plague in Gaya.
"No" said the Gayawala. "Please come without any fear or anxiety
and see yourself." Then they went with him and stayed in his house which
was a big and commodious Wada. Shama was pleased with the accommodation
provided for him, but what pleased him most, was the beautiful big portrait of
Baba fixed in the central and front portion of the building. Seeing this
portrait Shama was overwhelmed with emotion. He remembered Baba's words, viz.,
"After doing Kashi and Prayag He would be ahead of Shama" and
burst into tears. His hairs stood on end, his throat was choked and he began to
sob. The Gayawala thought that he was afraid of plague prevailing there and
therefore was crying. But Shama enquired of him whence he got Baba's portrait
there. He replied that he had 200 or 300 agents working at Manmad and Punatambe
for looking to the convenience of the pilgrims to Gaya and from them he heard
about Baba's fame. Then about 12 years ago he went to Shirdi and took Baba's
darshana. There he wanted Baba's portrait hung in Shama's house and with Baba's
permission Shama gave it to him. This was the same protrait. Shama then
remembered this former incident. The Gayawalas's joy knew no bounds when he
learnt that the same Shama who obliged him before, was his guest then. Then
they both exchanged love and service and were most delighted and happy. The
Gayawala gave him a right royal welcome. He was a very rich man. He sat in a
palanquin and made Shama ride an elephant and attended to all his comforts and
conveniences.
The moral of the story is this:- That Baba's words came out
true to the letter and unbounded was His love towards the devotees. But leave
this aside. He also loved all creatures equally, for He felt that He was one
with them. The following story will illustrate this.
Two Goats
Baba was once returning from Lendi, when He saw a flock of
goats. Two of them attracted His attention. He went to them, caressed and
fondled them and bought them for Rs.32/-. The devotees were surprised at this
conduct of Baba. They thought that Baba was duped in this bargain, as the goats
would fetch Rs.two each, at the most Rs.3/- or 4/- each, i.e., Rs.8/- for both.
They began to take Baba to task for this, but Baba kept calm and cool. Shama
and Tatya Kote asked Baba for an explanation. He said He should not store money
as He had no home, and any family to look after. He asked them to purchase at
His cost 4 seers of 'dal' (lentil) and feed the goats. After this was done,
Baba returned the goats to the owner of the flock and gave out of the following
reminiscences and story of the goats.
"Oh, Shama and Tatya, you think that I have been
deceived in this bargain. No. Listen to their story. In their former birth they
were human beings and had the good fortune to be My companions and sit by My
side. They were uterine brothers, loving each other at first, but later on,
they became enemies. The elder brother was an idle fellow while the younger one
was an active chap and earned a lot of money. The former became greedy and
jealous and wanted to kill his brother and take away his money. They forgot
thier fraternal relations and began to quarrel with each other. The elder
brother resorted to many devices to kill his younger brother, but all of his
attempts failed. Thus they became deadly enemies and finally on one occasion
the elder gave a deadly blow with a big stick on the latter's head while the
latter struck the former with an axe, with the result that both fell dead on
the spot. As the result of their actions, they were both born as goats. As they
passed by me, I at once recognized them. I remembered their past history.
Taking pity on them I wanted to feed them and give them rest and comfort and
for this reason I spent all the money for which you reprove me. As you did not
like My bargain I sent them back to their shepherd." Such was Sai's love
for the goats!
Bow
to Shri Sai - Peace be to all
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