Shri Sai Satcharitra · Chapter 47

TL;DRChapter 47 is the Satcharitra's longest sustained past-life narration — told entirely in Baba's first person.

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Editor’s note

Chapter 47 is the Satcharitra's longest sustained past-life narration — told entirely in Baba's first person. While strolling after breakfast Baba came to a river bank, sat to smoke a chillim, heard a frog's croaking. A traveller joined him and asked. Baba's reply: a frog caught by a huge black serpent — both reaping karma from past wickedness. They walked to the spot. Baba addressed the snake by name: "Oh Veerbhadrappa, has not your enemy Bassappa yet repented though he has been born as a frog, and you too, though born as a serpent, still maintain bitter enmity against him?" The snake released the frog and disappeared into the river; the frog hid in the bushes. Returning to the foot of the tree to share a smoke, Baba explained the whole karmic chain: a miserly Treasurer of a dilapidated Mahadev temple swallowed temple-funds, undervalued his pious wife's ornaments to buy them himself, gave her in compensation a sterile field that was not even his (it belonged to one Dubaki, a poor woman who had mortgaged it for Rs. 200); lightning struck their house in a storm, killing both, and Dubaki too breathed her last. In the next life: the miser was reborn as a Brahmin Veerbhadrappa of Mathura; his pious wife as Gouri, the daughter of the same temple's priest; Dubaki as Chenbassappa, the male son of the temple's Gurav. Baba arranged the marriage of Gouri to the wandering Veerbhadrappa with her father's consent. A sudden boom in land prices brought the sterile endowment a lakh of rupees (100 times the ornament value, fulfilling Mahadev's earlier dream-promise of hundred-fold). Veerbhadrappa demanded the money; Baba ruled that as the property had been God's and was vested in the priest, Gouri was the sole heiress; Mahadev appeared to Gouri in dream confirming the apportionment (capital to Gouri, half-interest to Chenbassappa, nothing to Veerbhadrappa). Veerbhadrappa threatened Chenbassappa with death and dismemberment; Baba pledged to protect Chenbassappa. Veerbhadrappa died and was reborn a snake; Chenbassappa died and was reborn a frog. "Hearing the croaking of Chenbassappa and remembering My pledge, I came here, saved him, and kept My word." For modern readers Chapter 47 is the canonical Satcharitra source on karma across multiple lives, on Baba's promises being kept across forms, and on the principle that miserly embezzlement of religious funds carries deep karmic consequence.

Chapter XLVII — Veerbhadrappa and Chenbassappa: the Snake and the Frog

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/sai47.html

Sections

Preliminary — The Saint as the River's Hope

Hemadpant: blessed is the face of Sai; a single glance destroys past-birth sorrows; a single grace-look snaps karmic bondage. The Ganges washes the sins of all who bathe in her — but she longs for the saints to bless her with their feet, knowing only their touch can remove the accumulated sins of all pilgrims.

Baba's Walk and the Croaking

Baba's narration:

"One morning after taking My breakfast I strolled along till I came to a small river bank. As I was tired, I rested there, washed My hands and feet and had a bath and felt refreshed. There was a foot-path and a cart-track sheltered by shady trees. The breeze was also blowing gently. As I was preparing to smoke chillim, I heard the croaking of a frog."

A traveller turned up, sat by Baba's side, bowed, invited him to his house for meals, lit the chillim and handed it over. The croaking continued. Baba:

"A frog is in trouble and is tasting the bitter fruit of its own karma. We have to reap now the fruit of what we sow in our past life, and there is no use crying about it."

The traveller wanted to see. Baba: "A frog is caught by a big snake; both were wicked in past life."

The Sight and the Address

They found a huge black serpent holding a big frog in its mouth. The traveller estimated 10-12 minutes before the frog would be eaten. Baba:

"No, this can't be. I am its father (protector) and I am here now. How shall I allow the snake to eat it up? Am I here for nothing? Just see how I release it."

They smoked again and walked closer. The traveller was afraid. Baba addressed the creatures:

"Oh Veerbhadrappa, has not your enemy Bassappa yet repented though he has been born as a frog, and you too, though born as a serpent, still maintain bitter enmity against him? Fie upon you, be ashamed; give up your hatred now and rest in peace."

The snake immediately released the frog, dived into the river, and disappeared. The frog jumped into the bushes.

The Karmic Chain — Past Life 1

The traveller asked who Veerbhadrappa and Bassappa were. Baba explained.

There was an ancient holy place, a Mahadev temple, four or five miles from Baba's place. The temple was old and dilapidated. The residents collected funds; a rich miser was appointed Treasurer with full charge of accounts and repairs.

He spent very little. The temple progressed poorly. He swallowed most of the amount, spent nothing of his own. The people, frustrated, gave him another round of subscriptions. He again sat quiet.

Mahadev appeared in his wife's dream:

"You get up, build the dome of the temple; I will give you a hundred-fold of what you spend."

She told her husband. He laughed it off as a bad dream meant to create marital discord and pocketed the answer. The wife had to keep quiet.

Mahadev appeared again:

"Do not bother yourself about your husband and the collections with him. Don't press him to spend any amount for the temple. What I want is feeling and devotion. So give, if you like, anything of your own."

She decided to give her own ornaments — gifts from her father.

The Sterile Field

The miser undervalued the ornaments at Rs. 1,000 and bought them himself. In exchange he gave a field to God as endowment. The field was not his own — it belonged to one Dubaki, a poor woman who had mortgaged it to him for Rs. 200 and could not redeem it. The land was sterile, uncultivated, worth nothing. The miser thus cheated his wife, Dubaki, and God in a single transaction.

The poor priest received the endowment, pleased.

The Three Deaths

A terrific storm and downpour came. Lightning struck the miser's house. He and his wife both died. Dubaki also breathed her last.

Past Life 2 — Mathura

The rich miser was reborn at Mathura in a Brahmin family as Veerbhadrappa.
His devout wife was reborn as Gouri, daughter of the same temple priest.
Dubaki was reborn as a male in the family of the Gurav (attendent) of the temple, named Chenbassappa.

The priest was Baba's friend; his daughter Gouri also devoted to Baba. The priest was looking for a husband for Gouri. Baba assured him the bridegroom would come on his own.

A poor wandering boy named Veerbhadrappa of their caste came begging at the priest's house. With Baba's consent Gouri was given in marriage to him. Veerbhadrappa was at first devoted to Baba.

The Sudden Boom

A sudden rise in land prices came. The sterile endowment was sold for one lakh of rupees — exactly 100 times the value of the ornaments, fulfilling Mahadev's hundred-fold promise. Half was paid in cash; the remainder in 25 instalments of Rs. 2,000 each.

Veerbhadrappa demanded the money. The parties came to Baba. Baba ruled:

"The property belonged to God and was vested in the priest. Gouri is his sole heiress and proprietress. No amount should be spent without her consent. Her husband has no right whatsoever to the amount."

Veerbhadrappa accused Baba of wanting to establish Gouri's claim and embezzle the property. Baba remembered God and kept silent.

Gouri's Vision and the Apportionment

Veerbhadrappa scolded Gouri. She came to Baba at noon and sought his protection.

"I gave her a pledge that I would cross seven seas to help her."

That night Mahadev appeared in Gouri's dream:

"The whole money is yours; do not give anything to anybody. Spend some amount for temple purposes in consultation with Chenbassappa. If you want to use it for other purposes, consult Baba in the Masjid (Myself)."

Baba advised her:

"Take the principal or capital amount to yourself; give half the amount of interest to Chenbassappa; Veerbhadrappa has nothing to do in the matter."

The Two Threats and the Two Pledges

As Baba was speaking, both Veerbhadrappa and Chenbassappa came in quarrelling. Baba tried to appease them and told them of Gouri's vision. Veerbhadrappa got wild and threatened to kill Chenbassappa, cutting him to pieces. Chenbassappa was timid; he caught Baba's feet and sought refuge.

"I pledged Myself to save him from the wrath of his foe."

Veerbhadrappa died and was reborn a snake; Chenbassappa died and was reborn a frog.

"Hearing the croaking of Chenbassappa and remembering My pledge, I came here, saved him, and kept My word. God runs to His devotees for help in times of danger. He saved Chenbassappa (the frog) by sending Me here. All this is God's Leela or sport."

The Moral

Hemadpant's closing teaching: one must reap what one sows; there is no escape unless one suffers and squares up old debts; greed for money drags the greedy to the lowest level and ultimately brings destruction on him and others.

Verbatim Sai Baba quotes documented in this chapter

(To the traveller, on the croaking) "A frog is in trouble and is tasting the bitter fruit of its own karma. We have to reap now the fruit of what we sow in our past life, and there is no use crying about it."
(At the sight of the snake holding the frog) "No, this can't be. I am its father (protector) and I am here now. How shall I allow the snake to eat it up? Am I here for nothing? Just see how I release it."
(Addressing the snake) "Oh Veerbhadrappa, has not your enemy Bassappa yet repented though he has been born as a frog, and you too, though born as a serpent, still maintain bitter enmity against him? Fie upon you, be ashamed; give up your hatred now and rest in peace."
(Mahadev's first dream to the miser's wife) "You get up, build the dome of the temple; I will give you a hundred-fold of what you spend."
(Mahadev's second dream) "Do not bother yourself about your husband and the collections with him. Don't press him to spend any amount for the temple. What I want is feeling and devotion. So give, if you like, anything of your own."
(Baba's ruling on the lakh) "The property belonged to God and was vested in the priest. Gouri is his sole heiress and proprietress. No amount should be spent without her consent. Her husband has no right whatsoever."
(Mahadev's dream to Gouri) "The whole money is yours; do not give anything to anybody. Spend some amount for temple purposes in consultation with Chenbassappa. If you want to use it for other purposes, consult Baba in the Masjid."
(Pledge to Gouri) "I would cross seven seas to help her."
(Closing) "Hearing the croaking of Chenbassappa and remembering My pledge, I came here, saved him, and kept My word. God runs to His devotees for help in times of danger."

Frequently asked about this chapter

What is the "snake and frog" story?

A first-person narration by Baba of how he saved a frog held in a snake's mouth on a river bank — by addressing the snake by its previous-life name (Veerbhadrappa). The snake released the frog and disappeared. Baba then explained to a traveller-companion the full karmic chain across two lives: an embezzling temple-Treasurer, his pious wife, a poor mortgagor Dubaki — all three reborn after lightning killed the household, then quarrelling again over the lakh-of-rupees boom on the originally sterile endowment land. The threats and Baba's pledge to Chenbassappa became the snake-frog confrontation in the third life.

Who were Veerbhadrappa, Gouri, and Chenbassappa?

In their second life: Veerbhadrappa was a Brahmin of Mathura (the reborn miser-Treasurer); Gouri was the daughter of the same temple's priest (the reborn pious wife); Chenbassappa was the male son of the temple's Gurav (the reborn Dubaki, the original mortgagor of the field). Baba arranged Gouri's marriage to Veerbhadrappa; the karma between the three brought the lakh-of-rupees dispute that ended in threats and the third-life snake-frog confrontation.

What does the chapter teach about karma?

Hemadpant's closing moral: one must reap what one sows; there is no escape unless one suffers and squares up one's old debts; greed for money drags the greedy to the lowest level and brings destruction on him and others. The chapter is the Satcharitra's longest single illustration of karmic causation traced across three lives.

Did Baba's promise carry across lifetimes?

Yes — this is the chapter's central claim. Baba had pledged Chenbassappa protection "from the wrath of his foe" in the human life. When Veerbhadrappa was reborn a snake and Chenbassappa a frog, Baba's pledge brought him to the river bank at the precise moment to fulfil it: "Hearing the croaking of Chenbassappa and remembering My pledge, I came here, saved him, and kept My word."

What is the "hundred-fold" promise of Mahadev?

In dream Mahadev told the miser's pious wife: "I will give you a hundred-fold of what you spend." The wife's ornaments — undervalued at Rs. 1,000 by her miser husband — were the seed. In the next life the endowment field bought with those ornaments was sold for exactly Rs. 1,00,000 — a hundred-fold — fulfilling the dream-promise. The promise was kept across the death of all three parties.

What does "I would cross seven seas to help her" mean?

Baba's pledge to Gouri at the noon visit when she sought his protection from her husband's threats. The idiom — figuratively limitless devotion — was fulfilled literally across lifetimes: Baba came to the river bank on the day Chenbassappa croaked, in fulfilment of his linked pledge to Chenbassappa, which itself fulfilled his pledge to Gouri.

Did Sai Baba teach against embezzling religious funds?

Chapter 47 is the Satcharitra's most pointed statement on the karmic weight of misappropriating temple money. The miser's three-way cheating — of his wife, of poor Dubaki, and of God — produced a death by lightning, a hundred-fold debt in the next life, and a third life as a snake holding a frog. The Mahadev-dream's correction is also explicit: "God does not like big subscriptions and donations collected against the wishes of the donors, but He likes ever trifling amounts given with love, devotion and appreciation."

Source: Shri Sai Satcharitra by Govind Raghunath Dabholkar (Hemadpant), 1929. English adaptation by N. V. Gunaji. Original chapter text: saibaba.org/satcharitra/sai47.html. This page is a factual summary with verbatim quotations from the source. We add no commentary attributed to Baba.

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Ch. 46 — Shama's Gaya Trip; Two Goats Past-Life

Ch. 48 — Signs of Sadguru; Shevade; Sapatnekars and Murlidhar