Chapters XVI & XVII — Brahma-Jnana: the Rich Man and the Five Rupees

Source: Shri Sai Satcharitra, trans. Gunaji
Marathi original: Sai Satcharita (archive.org scan) · Devotee testimonies: Narasimha Swami 1936 (Internet Archive) · Full bibliography: /sources.html

URL: https://www.saibaba.org/satcharitra/sai16_17.html

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The Rich Gentleman Who Came for Brahma-Jnana

A prosperous landowner (name and place not given in the text) heard of Baba and decided he was missing only one thing — knowledge of Brahman. Despite a friend's warning that Brahma-Jnana would be impossible for a man "always engrossed in wealth, wife and children" who would not even give a pice in charity, he engaged a return-journey tanga and came to Shirdi.

He fell at Baba's feet and said: "Baba, hearing that You show the Brahman to all who come over here without any delay, I have come here from my distant place. If I get the Brahman from You, my troubles will be well-paid and rewarded."

Baba's reply:

"Oh, My dear friend, do not be anxious, I shall immediately show you the Brahman; all My dealings are in cash and never on credit. So many people come to Me and ask for wealth, health, power, honour, position, cure of diseases. Rare is the person who comes here and asks for Brahma-Jnana. I think it a lucky and auspicious moment when persons like you come and press Me for Brahma-Jnana."

Baba's Lesson — the Loan of Five Rupees

Baba sat the man down and engaged him in other talk, then sent a boy to one Nandu Marwari to fetch a hand-loan of Rs. 5. The boy returned: Nandu was absent, house locked. Baba sent the boy to Bala the grocer. Same result. This was repeated three times.

Throughout, the rich man sat with a roll of currency notes in his pocket and offered nothing. Eventually he grew impatient and pleaded:

"Baba, please show me the Brahman soon."

Baba turned and said:

"Oh My dear friend, did you not understand all the procedure that I went through, sitting in this place, for enabling you to see the Brahman? It is, in short, this. For seeing Brahman one has to give five things, i.e. surrender five things — (1) Five Pranas (vital forces), (2) Five senses (of action and of perception), (3) mind, (4) intellect, and (5) ego. This path of Brahma-Jnana or self-realization is 'as hard as to tread on the edge of a razor.'"

The Ten Qualifications for Brahma-Jnana

Hemadpant summarises the long discourse that followed:

1. Mumuksha — intense desire for liberation.
2. Virakti — disgust with the things of this world and the next.
3. Antarmukhata — introversion; turning the senses inward.
4. Catharsis from sins — having stopped from doing wrong, and having composed the mind.
5. Right conduct — life of truth, penance, insight, and celibacy.
6. Preferring Shreyas (the Good) to Preyas (the Pleasant) — the wise man chooses the Good; the unwise, through greed, chooses the Pleasant.
7. Control of mind and senses — the body is the chariot, the Self the rider, the intellect the charioteer, the mind the reins, the senses the horses (a paraphrase of the Katha Upanishad).
8. Purification of mind — through disinterested discharge of one's station's duties; only in a purified mind can Viveka (discrimination) and Vairagya (non-attachment) arise.
9. Necessity of a Guru — knowledge of the Self is so subtle and mystic that one cannot, by individual effort, attain it. A teacher who has himself attained must take the disciple step by step.
10. The Lord's Grace — quoting the Katha Upanishad: "The Self cannot be gained by the study of Vedas, nor by intellect, nor by much learning. He, whom the Self chooses, by him It is gained."

The Bundle of Notes

After the discourse Baba turned back to the gentleman:

"Well sir, there is in your pocket the Brahma (or Mammon) in the form of fifty-times five (Rs. 250/-) rupees; please take that out."

The man took out his bundle and counted: exactly 25 notes of Rs. 10 each — Rs. 250. Seeing this omniscience, he fell at Baba's feet. Baba then said:

"Roll up your bundle of Brahma — your currency notes. Unless you get rid completely of your avarice or greed, you will not get the real Brahma. How can he, whose mind is engrossed in wealth, progeny and prosperity, expect to know the Brahma? The illusion of attachment or the love for money is a deep eddy of pain full of crocodiles in the form of conceit and jealousy. He who is desireless can alone cross this whirlpool. Greed and Brahma are as poles asunder, they are eternally opposed to each other. For a greedy man there is no peace, neither contentment, nor certainty. Purification of mind is absolutely necessary; without it, all our spiritual endeavours are nothing but useless show and pomp. My treasury is full, and I can give anyone what he wants, but I have to see whether he is qualified to receive what I give. Sitting in this Masjid, I never speak any untruth."

Special Characteristic of Baba

Hemadpant closes the chapters with a contrast: many saints retreat to forest, cave, or hermitage and remain self-absorbed. Baba did not. He had no home, no wife, no progeny — yet he lived in society, begged from four or five houses, sat at the foot of the Neem tree, taught all who came how to act.

Verbatim Sai Baba quotes documented in these chapters

1. (Welcoming the rich man) "All My dealings are in cash and never on credit. Rare is the person who comes here and asks for Brahma-Jnana."
2. (The lesson) "For seeing Brahman one has to surrender five things: the five Pranas, the ten senses, the mind, the intellect, and the ego. This path of self-realisation is 'as hard as to tread on the edge of a razor.'"
3. (Identifying the bundle) "Well sir, there is in your pocket the Brahma in the form of fifty-times five rupees; please take that out."
4. (Closing teaching) "Greed and Brahma are as poles asunder, they are eternally opposed to each other. For a greedy man there is no peace, neither contentment, nor certainty. Sitting in this Masjid, I never speak any untruth."