Chapters XLIII & XLIV — Baba's Passing Away (continued): The Last Words; Breaking of the Brick; 72-Hour Samadhi (1886); Jog's Sannyas; "He Who Loves Me Most Always Sees Me"
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/sai43_44.html
Sections
The Ramavijaya Reading
The Hindu custom is to read a religious scripture to the dying — Shuka expounded the Bhagavata to the cursed king Parikshiti in his last week. Baba — an incarnation needing no such help — followed the custom as an example. He directed Mr. Vaze to read the Ramavijaya to him: once in a week, then day and night for three days (completing two readings in eleven days), then three days more. Vaze was exhausted; Baba let him go and "kept Himself quiet."
The Last Day — Setup
Two or three days before, Baba stopped his morning peregrinations and begging rounds and sat in the masjid. He remained conscious to the last, advising devotees not to lose heart. He did not disclose the exact time of departure.
Kakasaheb Dixit and Shriman Booty were dining daily with him in the masjid. On 15 October 1918 after arati Baba asked them to dine at their lodgings instead. There remained at the masjid: Laxmibai Shinde, Bhagoji Shinde, Bayaji, Laxman Bala Shimpi, Nanasaheb Nimonkar; Shama was sitting on the steps.
The Last Words and Mahasamadhi
After giving Rs. 9 to Laxmibai, Baba said:
"I do not feel well here (in the Masjid); take Me to the Dagadi (stone) Wada of Booty, where I shall be alright."
With these last words he leaned on Bayaji's body and breathed his last. Bhagoji noticed the breathing had stopped and told Nanasaheb Nimonkar below. Nanasaheb brought water and poured it in Baba's mouth — it came out. He cried "Oh Deva!" Baba seemed to open his eyes briefly and say "Ah" in a low tone — and was gone.
The Village Mourning
News spread like wildfire. Men, women, children ran to the masjid; some cried loudly, some wallowed in the streets, some fell senseless. Every eye filled with tears.
The 36-Hour Debate Over Disposal
The question arose: where to lay the body? Some Muslims, including Khushalchand and Amir Shakkar, favoured interment in an open space with a tomb built over it. Ramachandra Patil, the village officer, said firmly: "Your thought is not acceptable to us. Baba's body should be nowhere placed except in the Wada." The debate ran 36 hours.
Wednesday Morning — Laxman Mama Joshi's Dream
On Wednesday morning Baba appeared in dream to Laxman Mama Joshi, the village astrologer and Shama's maternal uncle. Baba drew him by the hand:
"Get up soon; Bapusaheb thinks that I am dead and so he won't come; you do the worship and the Kakad (morning) arati."
Laxman Mama was an orthodox Brahmin who daily worshipped Baba first, then the village deities. He came with the puja materials and, ignoring moulvi protests, did the puja and Kakad arati with full formality. At noon Bapusaheb Jog came with the others and performed the noon arati as usual.
The Plebiscite
Tuesday evening the Sub-Inspector came from Rahata; others arrived from elsewhere. Wednesday morning Amirbhai came from Bombay; the Mamlatdar from Kopergaon. The Mamlatdar took a general plebiscite; the proposal to use the Wada won by double the votes. He wished to refer the matter to the Collector; Kakasaheb Dixit prepared to go to Ahmednagar. By Baba's inspiration, opinion shifted and all voted unanimously for the Wada.
Wednesday Evening — Procession to Booty Wada
Wednesday evening Baba's body was taken in procession to the Wada and interred in the garbha — the central portion reserved for Murlidhar. Baba became the Murlidhar; the Wada became a temple and holy shrine. The obsequies were performed by Balasaheb Bhate and Upasani (a great Baba devotee).
The Breaking of the Brick
Some days before the Mahasamadhi an ominous sign occurred. There was in the masjid an old brick on which Baba rested his hand and on which he leaned at night. This had gone on for many years. One day in Baba's absence a boy sweeping the floor took it up; it slipped and broke in two.
When Baba came to know, he lamented:
"It is not the brick but My fate that has been broken into pieces. It was My life-long companion, with it I always meditated on the Self, it was as dear to Me as My life, it has left Me today."
Hemadpant's gloss: saints, though inwardly awake to their mission, outwardly laugh, play, and cry like ordinary people.
The 1886 Three-Day Samadhi
Thirty-two years before Mahasamadhi — in 1886 A.D. — Baba had made a first attempt to cross the border line. On a Margashirsha Pournima (full-moon day) Baba suffered a severe attack of asthma. He decided to take his prana up and go into samadhi. He instructed Bhagat Mhalsapati:
"Protect My body for three days. If I return, it will be alright; if I do not, bury My body in that open land (pointing to it) and fix two flags there as a mark."
Baba fell at about 10 p.m. Breathing stopped; pulse stopped. The villagers gathered, wanting to hold inquest and bury the body in the place pointed. Mhalsapati prevented this. With Baba's body on his lap he sat full three days guarding it. After three days, at 3 a.m., breathing resumed, the abdomen moved, eyes opened, Baba returned to consciousness.
Hemadpant's reflection: was Sai Baba the three-and-a-half cubits of body? Or was he the Self inside? The body is perishable; the Self within is the Absolute Reality, immortal. Sai is the pure Being-Consciousness-Brahma pervading all things; for the mission he assumed the body, for the mission he threw it off. "Sai ever lives, as also the previous Incarnation of God Datta, Shri Narsimha Saraswati of Ganagapur."
The Portrait at the Masjid
Though Baba has no body now, his life-like portrait by Shamrao Jaykar — a famous artist and well-known devotee — adorns the masjid. To a devout spectator the portrait can give the satisfaction of darshan even today.
Bapusaheb Jog's Sannyas
Sakharam Hari alias Bapusaheb Jog was the uncle of the famous Varkari Vishnubuva Jog of Poona. After retirement from Government service (Supervisor, P.W. Department) in 1909, he came to live in Shirdi with his wife. He had no issue. Both loved Baba and spent all their time in service.
After Megha's death, Bapusaheb did the daily arati ceremony in the masjid and Chavadi till Baba's Mahasamadhi. He was also entrusted with the daily reading and exposition of Jnaneshwari and Ekanathi Bhagawat in Sathe's Wada.
He asked Baba once:
"I have served you so long; my mind is not yet calm and composed. How is it that my contact with Saints has not improved me? When will You bless me?"
Baba:
"In due time your bad actions (their fruit) will be destroyed, your merits and demerits reduced to ashes, and I shall consider you blessed when you renounce all attachments, conquer lust and palate, get rid of all impediments, serve God whole-heartedly and resort to the begging-bowl (accept sannyas)."
Some time after, Baba's words came true. Jog's wife predeceased him; with no other attachment he became free, accepted sannyas before his death, and realized the goal of his life.
Baba's Nectar-Like Words
Baba's recurring teaching in the masjid:
"He who loves Me most, always sees Me. The whole world is desolate to him without Me; he tells no stories but Mine. He ceaselessly meditates upon Me and always chants My name. I feel indebted to him who surrenders himself completely to Me and ever remembers Me. I shall repay his debt by giving him salvation (self-realization). I am dependent on him who thinks and hungers after Me and who does not eat anything without first offering it to Me. He who thus comes to Me, becomes one with Me, just as a river gets to the sea and becomes merged with it. So leaving out pride and egoism and with no trace of them, you should surrender yourself to Me Who am seated in your heart."
Who is this "ME"?
Baba's central expounding:
"You need not go far or anywhere in search of Me. Barring your name and form, there exists in you, as well as in all beings, a sense of Being or Consciousness of Existence. That is Myself. Knowing this, you see Me inside yourself, as well as in all beings. If you practise this, you will realize all-pervasiveness, and thus attain oneness with Me."
Closing
Hemadpant requests readers to love and respect all gods, saints, devotees. Baba's recurring word:
"He who carps and cavils at others, pierces Me in the heart and injures Me, but he that suffers and endures, pleases Me most."
Hemadpant: those who lovingly sing Baba's fame and those who hear it with devotion both become one with Sai.
Verbatim Sai Baba quotes documented in these chapters
- (To Mr. Vaze) "Read Ramavijaya to me." (Reported as direction; full text per Hemadpant's narration above.)
- (Last words on 15 October 1918) "I do not feel well here; take Me to the Dagadi (stone) Wada of Booty, where I shall be alright."
- (To Laxman Mama Joshi in dream, 16 October 1918) "Get up soon; Bapusaheb thinks that I am dead and so he won't come; you do the worship and the Kakad arati."
- (Lament over the broken brick) "It is not the brick but My fate that has been broken into pieces. It was My life-long companion, with it I always meditated on the Self, it was as dear to Me as My life, it has left Me today."
- (To Mhalsapati before the 1886 three-day samadhi) "Protect My body for three days. If I return, it will be alright; if I do not, bury My body in that open land and fix two flags there as a mark."
- (To Bapusaheb Jog on sannyas) "In due time your bad actions will be destroyed, your merits and demerits reduced to ashes, and I shall consider you blessed when you renounce all attachments, conquer lust and palate, and serve God whole-heartedly and resort to the begging-bowl."
- (Nectar-like passage) "He who loves Me most, always sees Me. The whole world is desolate to him without Me; he tells no stories but Mine… I shall repay his debt by giving him salvation. I am dependent on him who thinks and hungers after Me and who does not eat anything without first offering it to Me. He who thus comes to Me, becomes one with Me, just as a river gets to the sea and becomes merged with it."
- ("Who is this Me?") "You need not go far or anywhere in search of Me. Barring your name and form, there exists in you, as well as in all beings, a sense of Being or Consciousness of Existence. That is Myself. Knowing this, you see Me inside yourself, as well as in all beings."
- (Recurring teaching against slander) "He who carps and cavils at others, pierces Me in the heart and injures Me, but he that suffers and endures, pleases Me most."