Chapter 1 - Historical Commentary - a podcast by Sai Babas Devotee Speaks

As in the beginning of any Pothi, Dabholkar starts with the invocation of the deities, and veneration of all the gods and goddesses, and seeks their blessings for the success of the sacred work that he has undertaken. Then, he describes the Leela of Baba grinding wheat. Baba then asks the four ladies to throw the flour along the boundaries of Shirdi, and thus prevents the cholera epidemic from entering the village and saves the villagers.

I shall now talk about the remote village of Shirdi and the Dwarka Mai, where Baba spent 60 years of His life until He took Maha Samadhi in 1980. Shiladi, or Shirdi, was a small remote village. It had about 700 homes with a school and two wells. There were no roads, street lighting, or any other amenities. However, the villagers had jobs. They were goldsmiths, blacksmiths, potters and farmers. The Dwarka Mai was an old dilapidated mosque, and it was the garbage dumping site for the villagers. Even the lizards had run away from it. It was cleaned and Baba resided there. The floor was uneven with pits in it, and it was covered with a slurry of cow dung, but was very clean. All the devotees congregated there for Baba’s Darbar and to seek His blessings.

Dikshit, Apte and Dabholkar were like-minded friends, who read the Bhagavad Gita together. They had a pact that if any of them met a saint like Shivaji Maharaj's guru, Sant Ramdas Swami, they would go and meet him. Dikshit was the first to go to Shirdi, and from Shirdi, he wrote to them about Baba’s glorious divinity. Dabholkar, however, was wavering in his mind, as he did not believe in Sadgurus, the reason being, a friend of his had recently lost a son in Lonavala. After all medical remedies failed, he asked his guru to sit with the child. However, the child passed away, so Dabholkar thought, 'What is the use of having a guru if he can't save the child?' Dikshit repeatedly asked him to go to Shirdi, but he made excuses. However, it was Chandorkar who forced him to visit Shirdi and thus he came to Shirdi in 1910, and seeing Baba, his life changed forever.

I shall now talk a little about the significance of the quern, or hand mill. If one is born, one has to perform Karma, which leads to a cycle of rebirth. One should perform Nishkama, or selfless Karma, without looking for the fruits of the action. Only then, can one destroy the Karmabeej, or the seed that yields the harvest of rebirth. How does one become free from the shackles of rebirth? The Bhakti Marg is the easiest and the best path to follow. This can be achieved by visualising the quern. The quern has two grinding stones. The lower is stable, and is symbolic of Saburi. The upper is Nishta. Saburi is joyous, courageous forbearance. Baba says: “Saburi overcomes sin, suffering, adversity, and wards off disaster and drives away all fear.”

Nishta is unwavering faith, oblivious of hunger and thirst. Day and night is spent in loving devotion. Thus, the upper grinding stone is rotated with determination and concentration and the goal is achieved. The wheat flour so obtained is the Karmabeej, which is destroyed. The quern will not rotate without a handle or a wooden peg. The peg has to be knocked firmly into the socket or the hole of the upper grinding stone, so that it does not become loose while grinding. In one quern, at one time, there is only one peg which is fitted into the upper stone, or Nishta. This peg guides the rotation of the stone. The wooden peg represents the Sadguru. So, one should have one Sadguru, Saibaba, who will show and guide you along the path of salvation, after which, you will be able to pull up your sleeve and rotate the quern of Nishta and Saburi in that direction. Then, the wheat of Prarabdha will be ground easily, and the flour will be readily available. The Karmabeej will be destroyed and the cycle of birth and death is halted. Mahamari is then stopped and Moksha is obtained.

Baba would often grind wheat and He would do so in the afternoon when the devotees had gone to their rooms and He was all alone. Once, a lady from Mumbai came and saw Baba grinding wheat. She asked, "Baba, why do you grind the wheat? And why do you throw it at the village boundary?" Baba said, “Akkabai and Maribai, the deities of cholera and smallpox, want to enter the village. So I feed them on the other side of the village and prevent them from entering Shirdi. As they are satiated, they do not enter Shirdi, and thus I save my devotees."

In 1917, during the month of Vaishakh, a doctor, his wife and his son came to Shirdi. He hoped that Baba would drive away the evil spirit that tormented his son. In the Dwarka Mai, the doctor thought that Baba's grinding of the wheat and throwing it at the outskirts was futile, and just a superstition. Baba, reading his thoughts, asked him to come at 3 p.m. Exactly at 3 p.m., he and his family went to the Dwarka Mai. The doctor and his son sat massaging Baba's legs, as per Baba's orders. Just then, an ugly devilish looking lady came and grabbed his son, wanting to take him away. Baba, undaunted, gave her a blow with His Satka. She fled crying loudly. Baba then said, “She came to eat your son. She was deprived of her ration. I did not throw the flour on the outskirts, as you thought it was unwanted and unnecessary. So I drove her away with my Satka. Now she will not torment your son.” The father and son were filled with awe and gratitude at Baba's all-pervasiveness, kindness and compassion. Then, Baba gave them permission to leave the next day.
(Reference: Ambrosia in Shirdi, by Ramalinga Swami)

In another Leela, Uddhavesh Shamdas Baba once went to the Dwarka Mai, and found Baba grinding wheat. At that time, Baba had already ground a little wheat, and was about to grind some more. He went to the sanctum sanctorum and sat down and noted that while grinding, Baba was singing a while, saying the Vedanta a while, then shouting abuses. He was so fascinated by the grinding that he asked, "Baba, why have you kept this hand mill, and why do you do the chore of grinding?" Baba said, "Whoever comes to me I have to grind for them." Then, he realised that Baba ground the suffering and Karmas of His devotees who came to Him. This reply from Baba struck the core of his heart, and he realised how much trouble and hardship Baba undergoes for us. Asanchit and Kriyamana Karmas are whirling around like a wheel. Then, there are our hopes, aspirations, goals and trials. Only the Sadguru shoulders our tribulations for materialistic benefits, to set us finally on the path of spirituality, helping us to take the first few steps like a mother, caring for her child who falters and falls, and every time the mother is there to lift the child up. Only the Sadguru can liberate us from the cycle of future births and deaths. No one else can.
(Reference: Sai Leela magazine, ank 4-5, 1926.)
Thus, I have tried to give the possible meaning of the quern, or the hand mill, and the grinding of wheat.

Further episodes of The Essential Sai Satcharita

Further podcasts by Sai Baba's Devotee Speaks

Website of Sai Baba's Devotee Speaks