SAI IN BHAGAVATHAM

Synopsis

Sai on innumerable occasions has said that, I am not God but I am only a humble servant of God. There are also instances of his having said that I am the universal mother, Parabrahmah, and the Ruler of the Universe. In parlance, these words were uttered by Lord Sri Krishna himself
On numerous occasions and practically demonstrated in different Contexts in the most reverned Epic Maha Bhagavath.Some of the miracles performed by Lord Sri Hari in Maha Bhagavath
were also performed by Saianth. To quote in the words of Hemadhripanth, no difference between him and Lord Sri Hari,Sainath performed once again all the miracles that Lord Sri Hari did in Sri Bhagavath.

I,read the Holy Maha Bahgavath many a times to draw similarities between the two great works of our times and made efforts to arrive at some conclusions which go beyond to establish doubt that Sainath was indeed God incarnated, to serve Humanity.

Lord Sri Hari said that Saints are the representatives of God who come in to the World with a mission to cleanse the World and to free it from the social evils,and to guide people when ever there is an unbalance in the dispensation of justice and adherence to dharma is lost. Today It gives me pleasure to stand before you to share some of my thoughts on the topic 'Sai in Bhagavatham'. When a young Fakir arrived in Shiridi along with Chand Patil,Mahalsapathi has welcomed the fakir,thus addressing him as - 'Aao Sai'. The word Sai is not new as we find instances where Lord's names in Hindu mythology are followed by the word Sai (for example: Sesha Sai,Vatapathra Sai etc). The literal definition of Sai in any standard dictionary read as: A South American monkey,thereby indirectly indicating that the word Sai originates from the period of the Ape man if we go by the logic of reasoning. I would now like to narate the incidents taken from Sai Satcharitra and compare with those drawn from Maha Bhagavatham for informationand presentation to the readers.

Satsangh by Sri Gopala Rao Ravada: Topic Sai in Bhagavatham

Sai In Bhagavatham :
Sai Ram. Sai and Krishna are one and the same. When Krishna was born, Garg muni, the purohit of the Yadavas named him Krishna which means eternal. Sai is also eternal and instances from Sai Sat Charitam show us that Sai has narrated events which happened in his previous births to his devotees. Also in Brazil, Sai means monkey – the ape. This also proves that the name Sai is one of the oldest in the world and according to Darwin’s theory man evolved from the ape. So we conclude that Sai’s age is a lakh of years.

Whatever miracle Sri Krishna has done in Bhagavatham, Sai has repeated in his Avatar as Sai Baba at Shirdi. A lot of incidents can be quoted and today’s topic deals with this phenomenon. I will deal with this topic by topic so that at the end of my speech you will be able to conclude that Sai is incarnation of Sri Krishna.

Narada and Dasganu:
Bhagavatham: Saint Narada who sings the praise of Narayana was not pious in his early days. By the grace of Shri Narayana , He became a devout and started singing the praise of Lord Narayana

Sai Charitham: Dasganu Maharaj was a police constable who had no faith in Baba and Baba had to forcibly draw him. After dodging Baba several times, he finally became an ardent devotee of Baba when Baba saved him from a calamity. Dasganu , by his kirtans made Baba popular in the north and has written many hymns and aarthi songs which are sung even now at Shirdi.
Worship :

Bhagavatham: In Bhagavatham, the two children Dhruva and Prahlada started worshipping Lord Hari at a very early stage of their life and taught the elders that Bakthi can be developed at an very early age. Lord Hari was pleased with their worship. It was these children who taught the elders the true value of worship at that tender age and proved that Namasmarana (repetition of the Lord’s name) was very dear to Lord Hari.

Sai Charitam: Till 1908, Baba never allowed anyone to worship him. Bapu rao a six year old child used to offer a rose flower at the Maruthi temple everyday. One day he plucked two rose flowers and after throwing one flower at the Maruthi temple, he put the other flower on Baba’s head and prostrated before him. Baba accepted this happily. When Shama questioned Baba, Baba replied, “ He has seen divinity in me. If you also see divinity in me you also can worship me”. Worship of Sai started only after this incident.

Satgati:
Bhagavatham: Suka Maha Muni gave Satgati to Parikshit Maharaj.

Sat Charitam: Baba gives Satgati to Vijayanand by making him stay at Shirdi preventing him from attending his mother’s funeral and asking him to do parayana.
Baba also gave satgati to Megha a brahmin cook and to a tiger which was brought to Baba because it was sick . As soon as the tiger climbed the steps of the mosque , it looked at Baba with affection and breathed its last.

Multiplication of food:
Bagavatham: The pandavas were in their vanavasa in the forest. Duriyodana wanted to trouble them. He wanted to bring disgrace to the Pandavas. During Vanavasa the Pandavas can cook food and eat only once in a day and they should clean the vessels immediately after cooking. Knowing this, Duriydana sent saint Durvasa to the forest along with thousands of his disciples as guests of the Pandavas. Durvasa went to the forest to the ashram of the Pandavas, at 12 o clock in the noon and cried out “Bavathi Bikshan dehi”. Draupadi invited them inside and asked them to have a bath in the river and told them that she would keep the food ready. She cried out to Krishna for help. There was a just a grain of rice sticking to one of the vessels and Krishna turned this one grain of rice to a sumptuous feast for Durvasa and his clanand saved Draupadi from ignominy.

Sai charitam: Balaji Patel Newaskar was a great devotee of Baba. When Balaji reaped his corn every year, he brought the whole quantity and presented it to Baba. Once on Balaji’s death anniversary, certain number of guests were invited but at dinner time it was found that thrice the number of people turned up. Mrs Newaskar was in a fix that the food would not suffice all but her mother in law said, “ it is not ours, but Sai’s food. Put some Udi , Cover all vessels with cloth and serve”. And to their surprise, not only did food suffice all but plenty remained after serving.

Air coach – Chariot (viman) happy death:
Bhagavatham: Dhruva ruled 26000 years and when he was in tapas Vishnu Kingaras come down to the earth and take Dhruva to heaven in a chariot.

Sai Charitam: Kaka Sahib Dixit was an ardent devotee of Baba and passed many years in Shirdi. He built a Wada(lodge house) in Shirdi. Sai Baba had told him-“I will take him in an air coach(Viman)”. True to Sai’s words, on 5th of July 1926, when Kakasahib Dixit was travelling in a train with Hemadpant talking about Sai Baba, he suddenly threw his neck on Hemadpant’s shoulder and breathed his last with no trace or pain or uneasiness.

Bhagat Mhalsapati who first welcomed Sai and who stayed with Baba and served Baba till the end, also died peacefully on one Ekadasi day, just like Kakasahib Dixit.

Lord runs to rescue His earnest Bhakta:
Bhagavatham: Krishna ran to help – an elephant (gajendra Moksha) when he cried to Krishna to save him from the clutches of a crocodile, by sending his chakra .

Sai Charitam: During the first world war in 1914, Capt. Jehangir Baruwala was serving in the Indian Navy. His ship was hit and when it was sinking. Capt Jehangir, holding the photo of Baba cried out aloud to Baba to rescue him from the sinking ship. At the same time at Dwrakamayi, Baba was sitting in the masjid and suddenly he was fully drenched though he was inside the temple. The devotees sitting there were surprised. Only when Captain Jehangir came and narrated the incident and thanked Baba for saving him from the sinking ship, the devotees knew the reason for Baba getting drenched.

Also in the year 1910, Baba was sitting near the fire and pushing firewood inside the dhuni. A little later instead of pushing the logs of wood, Baba pushed His arm inside the dhuni. Shama at once dragged Baba forcibly and asked “deva why have you done this?”. Baba replied that he had done that to save the son of a blacksmith who accidentally fell into into the furnace. In both these incidents Baba feels that it is his duty to save the devotees who surrender to him.

Control over the elements:
Bhagavatham: When Krishna was going through the jungle with the cows and Gopikas, the jungle suddenly caught fire. The cows and the Gopikas were frightened and they cried to Krishna for help. Krishna immediately swallowed the fire and saved the cows and Gopikas.

Sai Charitam: One day the fire in the dhuni at Dwarakamayi began to burn brightly. Its flames seem to reach the rafters above. The devotees sitting inside the masjid were afraid. Baba realised what was happening. He took His Satka (stick) , dashed it against a pillar in fromt saying” Get down, Be calm.” At each stroke of the satka, the flames began to slow down, and in a few minutes the Dhuni became calm and normal.

Bhagavatham: Indira was very angry with the Yadavas because he felt that they worshipped Krishna and ignored him. So one day he ordered Varuna the rain God to bring down a heavy downpour. The Yadavas turned to Krishna for help and Krishna uprooted the mountain Govardanagiri and held it as an umbrella and the whole Yadava village was saved from the heavy rain.

Sai Charitam: One evening at Shirdi, there was a terrible storm and the village of Shirdi was flooded with water. All the people and creatures flocked to the masjid to Baba. Baba at once went out and ordered the rain to stop.

Blessings for the birth of child:
Bhagavatham: Saint Angireesa performs Purtakameshti Yagam for Chitrakeeth Maharaj and a child is born to him.

Sai Charitam: Baba performed Amra leela to Damu Anna Kasar by offering mangoes to his wife and blessed him with a child. For Aurangabadkars’s wife Baba broke coconut ate one half and gave the other half to her promising a baby for her within twelve months. With Baba’s blessings, Nana Sahib Dengale, Rathan chand Wadia, and Gopal Rao Gund were also blessed with children .
Namasmarana

Bhagavatham: Dhruva won the battle with the Yakshas by continuously uttering Lord Hari’s name while fighting this very difficult war. This again proved that Lord is pleased with namasmarana and runs to help such devotees who think of Him always.

Sai Charitam: Baba encouraged Namasmarana and chanting of Vishnu Sahasranama was especially very dear to Baba. The reason is when we do mass prayer, the vibrations will be more effective and it will remove our sorrows and pain. Baba encouraged Shama to read Vishnusahasranama by stealing the book from the Ramdasi and giving it to Shama. Also he encouraged Namasmarana started by Radhakrishnamayi during Ramnavami. He also promised Kaka Sahib, Vittal darshan if he recited Lord Hari’s name continuously. Kaka sahib got the darshan through a photograh which a hawker was selling, which tallied exactly with the vision he saw that morning.

Lord acknowledges and reciprocates the true love of a baktha:
Bhagavatham: Kuchela was a very dear friend of Krishna. He was very poor with a lot of children and was finding it difficult to make both ends meet. His wife asked him to seek Krishna’s help and sent him to Krishna with a bag of beaten rice. When Krishna saw Kuchela, He was overjoyed. The hospitality which Krishna showered on Kuchela was enough to prove that Lord reciprocates the pure love of His devotees. Krishna took Kuchela inside His palace, and washed His feet and made Him sit in the golden throne. He happily took and ate small quantity of beaten rice which Kuchela had brought for Him and in return conferred on Kuchela all the riches in the world. The Lord follows His devotee birth after birth and promises to take care of their material and spiritual progress.

Sai Charitam: Baba did the same at Shirdi. Mrs Kaparde was faithful and devout and loved Baba deeply. Every noon she brought food to the masjid and after offering to Baba used to come home and eat .Baba wanted to exhibit her devotion to others. One day when she brought food, Baba who usually waited for hours got up at once and rushed to her and began to partake the food zealously. When Shama asked Baba why he was partial to Mrs Kaparde, Baba replied- “ This food is extra-ordinary. In her previous birth when she was a cow , she had given me milk and in all her previous birth when she a rich merchant’s wife and a brahmin lady, she has fed me. So I love to take few morsels of love from her dish. Then he asked her to chant “rajarama” continuously to attain peace.

Feeding the hungry creatures:
Bhagavatham: Ransidev just like Karna offered food and materials to the poor and needy.

Sai Charitam: Baba did the same at Shirdi. He used to collect dakshina from his devotees and that same evening distributed the money collected to the needy people of Shirdi. Not only money- even the food which he begged from the houses of Shirdi was kept in the vessel at the mosque. The poor people used to take some rotis from that and even the dogs , cats and birds had a good feast from the little which Baba begged. Baba ate only what remained in the vessel .
There are many incidents which clearly show us that Sai is Krishna. It will take more than a day to narrate all incidents. As time does not permit me I close with this.

Sai Ram
Gopala Rao Ravada


Sai Banisa's Mission:
"To help Sri Shirdi Sai devotees in realising that Sai lives in their Heart."