Chapter 4 - Historical Commentary - a podcast by Sai Babas Devotee Speaks

Chapter 4 - Vinny Ma's Commentary
Baba is all pervasive, everlasting and immortal.

Leela Number One

Baba said "My Guru has taken me away from this", pointing to His body, that is, His Guru helped him to say that the body was not He. But He was the One-Force that was responsible for manifesting itself as everything in the universe. If you're not your body, and I'm not my body, it is easy to infer that you and I are the same. The difference being caused only by our bodies and not by our real nature. Baba taught him some portion of the truth.

Kashinath Upasani Baba was cooking food at the Khandoba temple and naturally wanted to take the food to his Guru and get back some part of it as Prasad. While he was cooking the food, a black dog was watching and even when he took the food towards the Masjid, it followed him part of the way and suddenly disappeared. When first, the dog was present and anxiously looking at the food, Upasani thought it would be absurd to give a low creature, a dog any food before offering it to God and before men ate, so he did not give the food to the dog. But when he went in the hot sun at noon with his food to Sai Baba, Baba asked him, "What have you come for?" Kashinath said "To bring you my Naivaidya." Baba said, "Why did you come all the way here in the hot sun? I was there." Then Kashinath said "There was none but a black dog there." Baba said "I was that dog. So as you refuse to give me food that I'm not going to take the food." The next day he was determined to avoid the mistake. So when he was cooking his food, he looked for the black dog and found none. He noticed a sickly Shudra was standing against the wall and watching the cooking. To his orthodox mind, it was Drishti Dosha and improper for a Shudra to look when a Brahmin was cooking. So he said "Get away" and accordingly the Shudra left. When that date Kashinath came with the food, Baba was very angry. He said "Yesterday you did not give me food and today you told me to go away." "Where were you Baba" asked Kashinath. Baba said "I was leaning against the wall." Kashinath said, "Could you be the sickly Shudra?" Baba said, "Yes, I am in everything and beyond."

Baba spoke what was written in the Purusha Sukta. The Purusha or God having pervaded all the world exceeded it and went 10 inches beyond.The advice given by Baba to Upasani and all of us is "See me in all creatures." Though it looks absurd in the beginning to believe that everything is really God. Still by impressing it upon yourself with humility and faith, you can begin to feel and see every object that is around you as Sai Baba, and that you must treat it with the reverence, affection and sympathy, as much as you can.

Leela Number Two- Narayan Govind Chandorkar

Baba said "I am not in Shirdi alone. I'm in all creatures." Intellectually this was understood, but Nana did not realize it. Baba wanted him to realize it more vividly, as that was a very important step for his higher spiritual progress. So on one occasion when Nana came to Shirdi, Baba asked him to prepare eight Puran Polis for Naivaidya and then have his food. When Nana placed the Pooran Polis before Baba, Baba did not touch them, but flies sat upon them. Then Baba said "Nana take away the Prasad." Nana insisted that Baba should eat some. Baba said that he had eaten it. "When did you eat them? All the eight Pooran Polis are here." said Nana. Baba said he had eaten it at some time. Then Nana got vexed and went to the Chavadi. When Baba sent for him, the same conversation was repeated. Finally Baba said "You have been living with me for 18 years now. Is this all your appraisal of me? Does Baba mean to you only the three and a half cubics height of this body? Am I not in the fly and the ant that settled upon the Polis?" Nana said he knew that, but he could not realize it. If Baba would make him realize it, Nana said he would 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. Nana discovered that Baba knew the secret, but how. The only explanation was that Baba was Antaryami in his heart. If Baba was Antaryami, He must be the Antaryami of the fly and ant also. So he agreed to eight the Pooran Polis as Prasad and was satisfied. This is a lesson for all of us, as it was for Nana. Leela number one and two were taken from the life of Sai Baba, written by Shri Narsihn Swami Ji

Leela Number Three

Once a sickly bitch came to Mhalsapati wagging her tail. She looked very ill and was drooling from the mouth. He threw a stone and drove her away. She ran away yelping. Later, when he went for Baba's darshan, Baba turned to him and said, "I went with a great deal of hope to you Bhagat, hoping for a piece of Bhakri, but all I got was a stone thrown at me." Two hours after Baba had said this, Kaka and his friends were sitting near the Vada. A dog came and sat on the steps nearby. He drove it away. The dog ran and sat on the steps in front of him. There he was pelted with stones, the dog went away shrieking with pain. Suddenly Kaka was reminded of Baba's words. Kaka with a tinge of sadness thought "If I had not driven the dog away, but had given him a piece of Bhakri, he would have gone away without being hurt." That evening Das Ganu did Kirtan. The story sung there was about Namdev. Once a dog came and took Bhakri from the food offering Nama had placed in front of the idol of Vitthal. Nama said "Deva. don't eat dry Bhakri, apply Ghee." Then Nama ran after the dog with a bowl of Ghee. That very night Madhavrao Arkar was reading aloud Bhakt Leelamrut in the Maruti Mandir. The portion being read was about Namdev and the dog. In this way, Baba reinforced what he had taught in the morning. This Leela was from Sri Sai Leela magazine, year 1923.

Gurusthan

Around the year 1854, Baba manifested in Shirdi at the approximate age of 16 under the Margosa tree. The seller near the Neem tree, Dr. Keshav Gawankar in his book titled Shiladi gives a slightly different and a more detailed account from that mentioned in chapter four of the Sri Sai Satcharita. Baba at that time stayed for a few days under the Neem tree and for a few days in the Masjid. The villagers were curious about Him. One day the villagers asked Him politely, who He was, and why He sat under the Neem tree. But Baba did not respond to their queries. In the end, they sought the help of Lord Khandoba and in a group, they went to the temple. There they got a revelation that there was a cellar about 12 feet deep and the cellar was directly below the area where Baba sat. At that time, Sathe Vada was present. It had an entrance facing east and an exit facing west. There were steps leading to the entrance. They dug up the area adjacent to the steps and found a cellar. It was 10 feet in length, 10 feet in breath and 12 feet high. Inside it, they found a part, that is, a low stool. Next to which were lamps that were lit. On the part there was a rosary or Japa mala and a Gaumukhi, a glove shaped like a cow's mouth which holds the rosary during Naam Japa. The villagers were amazed to see this. They came to Baba and asked him to tell them something about the cellar. Baba answered "This is the place of my Sadguru Maharaj." To prove this, He placed his right hand on a branch of the Neem tree. that was the branch facing the east, and He said, "This is the truth and from today the bitterness on this side of the Neem tree will disappear." Thus, it came to pass that the leaves on the right side are not bitter. The villagers then covered the portion that was dug. They placed the mud over it as before. Then Baba said anyone who applies a slurry of cow dung on the area on Thursday and Friday, and offers incense sticks will be benefited greatly. Devotees offer incense sticks and more even today.

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