Baba's Wit and I lumour - Chanak Leela - (1) Hemadpant (2) Sudama (3) Anna Chinchanikar vs. Mavsibai. Preliminary

To say that, we shall state such and such in the next or this Chapter, is a sort of egoism. Unless, we surrender our ego to the feet of our Sad-guru, we will not succeed in our undertaking. If we become egoless, then our success is assured. By worshipping Sai Baba, we attain both the objects, worldly and spiritual, and are fixed in our true Nature, and get peace and happiness. Therefore, those who want to gain their welfare, should respectfully hear Sai Baba's Leelas or stories and meditate on them. If they do this, they will easily attain the object of their life and get Bliss. Generally, all people like wit and humour, but they do not like that jokes should be cut at their expense. But Baba's method was peculiar; when it was accompained with gestures, it was very interesting and instructive, and the people, therefore, did not mind, if they were held up to the ridicule. Hemadpant gives his own instance below.

We have done with Chapter 51 and now we come to the last Chapter (No. 52 in the original). In this Hemadpant gave his concluding remarks and promised to give an index, giving the contents of all the Chapters in verse as is given in Marathi sacred books, but unfortunately that index was not found in Hemabdpant's papers. It was therefore, composed and supplied by an able and worthy devotee of Sai Baba, Mr. B.V. Deo (Retired Mamlatdar) of Thana. As we give in English books an index in the beginning and contents of each Chapter at its top, we need not consider the last index Chapter here; and so we consider this Chapter as the Epilogue. Unfortunately Hemadpant did not survive to revise the manuscript of this Chapter and made it ready for the press. When it was sent to the press Mr. Deo found it to be incomplete and unintelligible in certain places; but it had to be published as it was found. The chief topics dealt therein are briefly given below.

Chapter 50 of the original Satcharita has been incorporated in Chapter 39, as it dealt with the same subject matter. Now, Chapter 51 of the Satcharita has been treated here as Chapter 50. This Chapter gives the stories of (1) Kakasaheb Dixit (2) Shri Tembye Swami (3) Balaram Dhurandhar.

Victory be unto Sai Who is the main-stay of the Bhaktas, Who is our Sadguru, Who expounds the meaning of the Gitaand Who gives us all powers. Oh Sai, look favourably on us and bless us all. The sandal-wood trees, grow on the Malaya mountains and ward off heat. The clouds, pour their rain-water and thereby, cool and refresh all the people. The flowers, blossom in the spring and, enable us to worship God, therewith. So the stories of Sai Baba come forth, in order to give solace and comfort to the readers. Both, those, who tell; and those who hear the stories of Baba, are blessed and holy, as also the mouths of the former and the ears of the latter. It is well-established fact, that though we try hundreds of means or sadhanas, we do not attain the spiritual goal of life, unless a Sadguru blesses us with his grace. Hear the following story in illustration of this statement.

The Vedas and the Puranas cannot sufficiently praise (describe) Brahma or Sad-guru; then how can we, who are ignorant, describe our Sad-guru Shri Sai Baba? We think that it is better for us to keep quiet in this matter. In reality the observance of the vow of silence is the best way of praising the Sad-guru; but the good qualities of Sai Baba make us forget our vow of silence and inspire us to open our mouth. Good dishes taste flat if there be no company of friends and relations to partake of the dishes with us, but when they join us, the dishes acquire additional flavour. The same is the case with the Sai Leelamrit - the nectar in the form of Sai's leelas. This nectar we cannot partake alone.Friends and brothers have to join us - the more the better.

He who teaches us Veda and Vedanta or the six Shastras (systems), he who controls the breath, or brands his body with Mudras (metallic marks of Vishnu's weapons) or gives pleasing discourses regarding Brahma, he who gives mantras (sacred syllables) to the disciples and orders them to chant the same a certain number of times, but does not assure them any result in a definite time, he who by his spacious wordy knowledge explains beautifully the Ultimate Principle, but has himself got no experience or self-realization is not a Sad-guru. But he, who by his discourse creates in us, a distaste for the enjoyments of this world and the next, and gives us a taste of self-realization, who is well-versed in both the theoretical and practical knowledge (self-realization) deserves to be called a Sad-guru. How can he, who is himself devoid of self-realization, give it to the disciples? A Sad-guru does not, even in his dream, expect any service or profit from his disciples. On the contrary he wishes to serve them. He does not think that he is great and the disciple small. Not only he loves him as his son but regards him as equal to himself or as Brahma. The main characteristic of a Sad-guru is that he is the abode of peace. He is never restless nor ruffled. He has no pride of his learning. The poor and the rich, the small and the great, are the same to him.

Blessed is the face of Sai. If we cast a glance at Him for a moment, He destroys the sorrow of many past births and confers great bliss on us; and if He looks at us with grace, our bondage of Karma is immediately snapped away and we are led to happiness. The river Ganges washes away the dirt and sins of all people who go to her for a bath; but she intently longs for the saints to come to her and bless her with their feet and remove all the dirt (sins) accumulated in her. She knows for certain that this accumulation can only be removed by the holy feet of the saints. Sai is the crest-jewel of the saints, and now hear from Himt he following purifying story.

Blessed, Oh Sai, are Your Feet, blessed is Your remembrance and blessed is Your darshana which frees us from the bond of Karma. Though Your Form is invisible to us now, still if the devotees believe in You, they get living experiences from You. By an invisible and subtle thread You draw Your devotees from far and near to Your Feet and embrace them like a kind and loving mother. The devotees do not know where You are, but You so skillfully pull the wires that they ultimately realize that You are at their back to help and support them. The intelligent, wise and learned folk fall into the pit of the samsar on account of their egoism, but You save, by Your power, the poor, simple and devout persons. Inwardly and invisibly you play all the game, but show that you are not concerned with it. You do things and pose yourself as a non-doer. Nobody ever knows Your life. The best course therefore for us is to surrender our body, speech and mind to Your Feet and always chant Your name for destroying our sins. You fulfill the wishes of the devotees and to those who are without any desire You give bliss supreme. Chanting Your sweet name is the easiest sadhan for devotees. By this sadhan (means), our sins, Rajas and Tamas qualities will vanish, the Sattwa qualities and righteousness will gain predominance and along with this, discrimination, dispassion and knowledge will follow. Then we shall abide in our Self and our Guru (who are one and the same). This is what is called complete surrender to the Guru. The only sure sign of this is that our mind gets calm and peaceful. The greatness of this surrender, devotion and knowledge is unique; for peace, non-attachment, fame and salvation etc., come in its train.

We have described in the last three chapters Baba's Passing away. His physical or finite form has no doubt disappeared from our view; but the infinite or spiritual form (Spirit of Baba) ever lives. The Leelas which occurred during His lifetime have been dwelt upon at great lengthup till now. Ever since His passing away, fresh Leelas have taken placeand are even now happening. This clearly shows that Baba is everliving and helping His devotees as before. The people who got thecontact of Baba when He was living, were indeed very fortunate, but ifany of them did not get a dispassion for the things and enjoyments ofthe world and had not their minds turned to the Lord, it was sheerlytheir ill-luck. What was then wanted and is now wanted is the wholehearted devotion to Baba. All our senses, organs, and mind should cooperate in worshipping and serving Baba. It is no use in engaging some organs in the worship and deflecting others. If a thing like worhsip ormeditation is to be done, it ought to be done with all our mind and soul.