Sai is all
pervading and knew present, past and future. He helps his devotees based on
their past deeds and gives teachings accordingly. That’s why we can not
attribute Sai’s teachings to one sect or other. He wanted us to know the
equality in this universe with out duality. No difference in religion, cast or
creed. There is oneness in diversity. Understanding this universal nature is
the goal of human life.
Baba gave so
many teachings to mankind through Nana. Nana is of extraordinary caliber. He
was a learned scholar. He was very pious and much disciplined. But there are
some impurities that always drag us down and obstruct our path. This happens with out our knowledge. Only
Guru can extract these impurities and destroy them completely. We are all
slaves to anger, lust, greed and some other shortcomings. These qualities will
impact us negatively. Baba with his miracles, taught us so many things with out
really teaching us. By explaining a verse in Bhagavadgita, exposed the ego in
Nana. After that he understood how much he did not know about these verses and
requests Baba to bless him by teaching him the entire Bhagavadgita. But Baba
said “come every day and sit near me, and you will understand everything”. As
promised, Nana understood deeper meanings just by being near Baba.
Baba always
does the silent teaching which brings a considerable change in our lives. This
is the Lord Dakshina Murthy’s way of teaching, where Lord taught Sanaka,
Sananda and others,
the truth. We can read so many scriptures and try to
understand them but without Guru’s grace, we can not even advance in path of
self- realization. We can achieve any thing if we have faith and patience that
Baba asked.
Baba's teaching about God's Beauty:
On one occasion when Nana
was sitting next to Baba at the Dwarakamayee, two Muslim ladies were standing
for a time at a distance, evidently waiting to see when this Hindu (Nana) would
go away. They had to remove their veils at the time of taking darsan, which
meant, putting their bare foreheads on Baba's feet; and being gosha ladies,
they did not wish a Hindu to see their faces. When Nana tried to get up on this
account and go away, Baba pulled him down and said, 'Let these people come if
they care'. So, the ladies had to approach Baba and take darsan with Nana by
his side. Nothing happened when the elderly lady removed her veil and took her
darsan. But when the younger did the same, her face struck Nana as remarkably
beautiful. The sheen of the eyes, the brilliance of the countenance, the
perfect proportion of the features, and the indescribable charm of the whole
person, were such that Nana was at once smitten with her beauty. When his mind
was thus occupied, the lady finished her darsan and resumed her veil. Then the
thought struck Nana, 'Shall I have another opportunity of seeing this angelic
face?1 Baba at once slapped him on the thigh. Then the ladies
departed. Baba asked him, 'Do you know why I slapped you?' Nana admitted that
his thoughts were low and unfit for one in Baba's company. He asked, 'How is it
that even when I am next to you, such low thoughts sway my mind?'
Baba replied, 'You are a
man after all, and the body being full of desires, these spring up as sense
objects approach.' Then Baba asked, 'Are there not lovely temples with well
colored exterior? When we go there, do we admire the exterior beauty or the God
within? When you are seeing God within, do you ever care for the outside beauty
of the building? Similarly, remember God is not only in temples. He is found in
every creature.
"Therefore
when you see a beautiful face, remember that it is a temple and the image of
the God within is the Jiva, a preeminent part of the Universal Soul. So, think
at once of God—or the Universal Soul in every object, whether beauteous or
ugly. These forms reveal the God within. There is nothing wrong in admiring
beauty, but the thought must follow at once, "If this object is so beautiful,
how much more beautiful and powerful must be the God who made this object and
inhabits it? Thinking thus, you will not get smitten by a Muslin beauteous face
hereafter". This was the upadesa given to Nana. Baba had not to go further
and stop him from any sinful acts due to lust, as he had to do in another's
case.
Bannumai Story:
The next story illustrates
Nana’s self control. Bannu Mai (a young
Muslim girl of 20) lived in a village, Bodegaon, 50 miles away from Ahmednagar,
and she had the local reputation of being a mad girl. She was possessed of
great beauty. She behaved most erratically and wandered anywhere and everywhere
without dress amidst bushes and thorns and did not show the least sign of
observing the rules of propriety demanded of women. Her mother thought she was
hopelessly mad. Most of the villagers were treating her as insane lady. But a
few felt that she was highly inspired and that she was a saint. Nana wanted to
take darsan of her and asked Baba for permission. Baba, though he first
objected, finally granted the permission saying, 'Go, you will have darsan'.
That darsan was no easy joke. Nana went with plenty of preparations, taking a
tent, bathing materials, ornaments, food, Sari (dress) etc., and setting these
up, was waiting for her. He could not find out where she was, and nobody could
tell him anything about her. Some people even got angry at Nana, a young
officer questioning about the whereabouts of a lady who mostly went naked. Then
finally, Nana thought of Baba and prayed to him. When he opened his eyes, Bannu
Mai was right in front of him on the road. He made his prostration (namaskar)
with a feeling of reverence and without the least touch of the sexual urge. He
began to take out the thorns that were found on her feet, but in a second, the
saint, who did not care for such good offices, got up and went away.
Again Nana was in great
difficulties. He wanted that she should come, have a bath, wear the cloth and
the ornaments he had brought for her, and should taste the naivedya which he
had placed inside the tent. He waited and waited, and at last prayed to Baba.
Suddenly Bannu Mai appeared, entered the tent, had her bath, put on new
clothes, the ornaments and the tali or token of Saumangalya (as
Goddess Parvati must wear a tali) specially prepared for her, and ate some of
the naivedya. Nana fell at her feet, treating her as Mother Goddess, and at
once she disappeared. Nana spent the night in a temple within closed doors, and
early morning, before starting to go away, he just thought that it would be a special
blessing if Bannu Mai should give him one more darsan before he departed. In a
second, Bannu Mai was somehow there within closed doors right in front of him.
Nana fell at her feet. Obviously Bannu Mai was a highly advanced Siddha and
perfectly pure, and Nana with perfect purity, thought only of falling at her
feet, and had not the least touch of sex urge at the presence of a young and
beautiful lady in solitude within closed doors. Thus, Bannu Mai's case is a
fairly good proof that Nana had conquered his sex urge at least to the extent
possible.
Sai is so merciful and we
can understand his nature of teaching from this story. We as Sai devotees owe
Sri Narasimha Swamy ji for giving the world so many details about Sai.
Otherwise these teachings could not have reached us. This is the greatest
blessin.
Baba teaching Nana about divinity:
Now let us look at another situation described
by Sri Narasimha Swamy Ji. Nana was very
far advanced among the disciples of Baba. But human nature is hard to subdue.
Familiarity, if it does not breed contempt, at least breeds liberty-taking, and
Nana was the only one or one of the very few who hobnobbed with Baba. All the
hundreds of males and females that went to Baba at puja or Arti time would
invariably stand up, and no one would sit. Upasani Maharaj had to stand and so
had others to stand. The pujari Bapu Saheb Jog had to stand. Every person, male
or female whatever his or her position may be, had to stand before Baba. Nana,
however, used to sit next to Baba, even at Arti. Having studied Baba's nature,
Nana began to get rather weak in his humility and reverence. For instance, the
vessel of water held near Baba's lips at the close of the puja, would be
distributed to all as tirtha, and they would all drink it. But Nana and
Das Ganu would not take it. Therefore, familiarity had its adverse effect in
the case of Nana also. Tirtha taking is after all a minor matter. The
more important matter is that Baba's presence, which was magnetic, lost a great
deal of its magnetic spell in Nana's case by his
So, Sai wanted to make
him feel (firstly) divinity more and more in him and (secondly) the fact that
Baba's divinity is not confined to the Baba's body but extends to all creatures
as Baba is their Antaryami or soul or self. These two are closely connected.
Puran Poli Story - Experiencing Baba as Almighty:
Baba said, 'I am not at Shirdi alone. I am in all creatures, in the ant, etc’.
Intellectually this was understood, but at heart, Nana did not realize it. Baba
wanted him to realize it more vividly, as that was very important for higher
spiritual progress. So on one occasion, when Nana came up, Baba told him to
prepare 8 pooran polis (cakes) for naivedya and then take his food. When Nana
placed before Baba eight pooran polis, Baba did not touch them, but flies sat
on them. Then Baba asked Nana to take away the prasad (i.e. remnant of food
which Guru had first tasted). Nana insisted that Baba should eat some. Baba
said that he had eaten. 'When?' asked Nana. Nana said, 'All the eight polis are
there'. Baba said he had eaten it at some time. Then Nana got vexed and went
away to the chavadi. When Baba sent for him, the same conversation was
repeated. Finally Baba told Nana, 'I say you have been living with me for 18
years now. Is this all your appraisal of me? Does Baba mean to you only the
3'/2 cubits height of this body? Am I not in the fly and the ant that settled
upon the polis?' Nana said that he knew that, but could not realize it. If Baba
could make him realize it, Nana said, he would take and eat the polis as
prasad. Then Baba lifted his hand and made a gesture. He thereby revealed a
secret which Nana was hiding very deep in his heart; and Nana discovered that
Baba knew the secret. How? The only explanation was that Baba was the antaryami
or the inmost soul in his heart. If Baba was his antaryami, he must
be the antaryami of the fly and the ant also. So he agreed to take the
pooran poli as prasad, and was satisfied.
Then Baba told him, 'As
you see the gesture I make, you must remember that I am in all creatures'. Thus
Baba gave him a very valuable lesson and took him up one very important rung of
the ladder, which is, realizing God in one form after another and not confining
Him to the object worshipped at home or in a temple.
Baba made Nana experience the truth and
proved again that Sai’s teachings are silent in nature. Nana took advantage of
Sai’s teachings and advanced in his life.
Nana died in 1921 in Pune , India
OM SAI RAM!
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