Chapter XXI — V. H. Thakur; Anantrao Patankar (Nava-vidha Bhakti); the Pandharpur Pleader

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/sai21.html

Sections

Preliminary — Contact with Saints

Hemadpant opens by recalling his own Bandra years as Resident Magistrate. A Mahomedan saint Pir Moulana lived in the same town; his Mujavar Inus pressed Hemadpant repeatedly to come for darshan, but no occasion arose. After many years his turn came — at Shirdi, in Baba's Darbar. Hemadpant draws the general rule: contact with saints is itself a fruit of past merit, granted only to the fortunate.

Institution of Saints

Saints appear in many places to carry out their assigned missions; though working in different places, they are one. They work in unison under the Almighty Lord and know what each is doing. The Thakur episode that follows illustrates this principle.

V. H. Thakur and the Kanarese Saint Appa

Mr. V. H. Thakur, B.A., a clerk in the Revenue Department, came once to Vadgaum near Belgaum (S.M. Country) with a Survey party. He bowed to a Kanarese saint named Appa who was expounding a portion of Vichar-Sagar of Nischaldas. At his leaving, Appa told him: study this book, your desires will be fulfilled, and when you go North in the discharge of your duties you will come across a great Saint by your good luck, who will show you the path.

Thakur was transferred to Junnar, where he had to cross the steep Nhane Ghat — possible only by buffalo-ride, painful and inconvenient. Later transferred to Kalyan on higher post, he became acquainted with Nanasaheb Chandorkar and heard of Sai Baba. He went to Shirdi after a postponed civil case in Thana. Nanasaheb had already left. Friends led him to Baba.

After Thakur's prostration, Baba spoke without prompting:

"The path of this place is not so easy as the teaching of the Kanarese Saint Appa or even as the buffalo-ride in the Nhane Ghat. In this spiritual path, you have to put in your best exertion as it is very difficult."

Thakur was overwhelmed — the references to Appa and the Ghat were known to no one else. He fell at Baba's feet. Baba added:

"What Appa told you was all right, but these things have to be practised and lived. Mere reading won't do. You have to think and carry out what you read, otherwise, it is of no use. Mere book-learning, without the grace of the Guru, and self-realization is of no avail."

Anantrao Patankar and the Parable of the Nine Balls

Anantrao Patankar of Poona came to Shirdi and worshipped Baba. He said:

"I have read a lot, studied Vedas, Vedants and Upanishads and heard all the Puranas, but still I have not got any peace of mind… Unless the mind becomes calm, all book-learning is of no avail. I have heard that you easily give peace of mind by your mere glance and playful word; so I have come here; please take pity on me and bless me."

Baba's reply was a parable:

"Once a Soudagar (merchant) came here. Before him a mare passed her stool (nine balls of stool). The merchant, intent on his quest, spread the end of his dhotar and gathered all the nine balls in it, and thus he got concentration (peace) of mind."

Patankar could not understand. Dada Kelkar (Ganesh Damodar) explained at Baba's inspiration: the mare is God's grace; the nine balls are the Nava-vidha Bhakti — the nine forms of devotion:

1. Shravana — hearing
2. Kirtana — praying / singing
3. Smarana — remembering
4. Padasevana — resorting to the feet
5. Archana — worship
6. Namaskara — bowing
7. Dasya — service
8. Sakhyatva — friendship
9. Atmanivedana — surrender of the self

Faithful practice of any one will please Lord Hari, who will manifest in the home of the devotee. Japa, Tapa, Yoga, study and exposition are useless without devotion. The seeker is the merchant; let him be eager to collect and cultivate the nine types of Bhakti.

The Pandharpur Pleader — Baba's All-Perceiving Knowledge

A pleader from Pandharpur came to Shirdi, fell at Baba's feet, and without being asked offered Dakshina. Baba turned and said:

"How cunning the people are! They fall at the feet, offer Dakshina, but inwardly give abuses behind the back. Is not this wonderful?"

The pleader recognised the remark applied to himself. None of the others understood. Later he told Kakasaheb Dixit: when Mr. Noolkar (sub-judge or munsiff of Pandharpur) had been at Shirdi for health, a discussion in the Pandharpur bar-room had questioned whether an educated man should resort to Baba for cure without medicine. The pleader had taken part in the criticism — both of the sub-judge and of Baba. Baba had now, kindly, shown him the impropriety. "This is not a rebuke to me, but a favour, an advice that I should not indulge in any scandal or slander of others."

Shirdi is about 100 koss (300 miles) from Pandharpur; the bar-room discussion was unknown to anyone present. Hemadpant draws the lesson: Baba's all-perceiving sight crossed rivers, jungles, and mountains. The pleader's "evil tendency was completely got rid of, and he was set on the right path."

Verbatim Sai Baba quotes documented in this chapter

1. (To Thakur, unprompted) "The path of this place is not so easy as the teaching of the Kanarese Saint Appa or even as the buffalo-ride in the Nhane Ghat. In this spiritual path, you have to put in your best exertion as it is very difficult."
2. (To Thakur on practice) "What Appa told you was all right, but these things have to be practised and lived. Mere reading won't do. You have to think and carry out what you read, otherwise, it is of no use. Mere book-learning, without the grace of the Guru, and self-realization is of no avail."
3. (To Patankar, the parable) "Once a Soudagar (merchant) came here. Before him a mare passed her stool (nine balls of stool). The merchant, intent on his quest, spread the end of his dhotar and gathered all the nine balls in it, and thus he got concentration (peace) of mind."
4. (To the Pandharpur pleader) "How cunning the people are! They fall at the feet, offer Dakshina, but inwardly give abuses behind the back. Is not this wonderful?"