|| Aum Sai Ram || Aum Sai Para Brahmanaa Namah ||
Preliminary (contd.)
“Now let us hear, how Sai Baba disposed of a rich man, who came to Him and implored Him to give him Brahma-Gnyan.
These was a rich gentleman (unfortunately his name and whereabouts are not mentioned), who was very prosperous in his life. He had amassed a large quantity of wealth, houses, and lands, and had many servants and dependents. When Baba’s fame reached his ears, he said to a friend of his, that he was not in want of anything, and so he would go to Shirdi and ask Baba to give him Brahma-Gnyan, which if he got, would certainly make him more happy. His friend dissuaded him, saying, “It is not easy to know Brahman, and especially so for an avaricious man like you, who is always engrossed in wealth, wife and children. Who will, in your quest of Brahma-Jnana satisfy you, who does not give away even a paisa in charity?”
Not minding his friend’s advice, the fellow engaged a return-journey tonga and came to Shirdi. He went to the Masjid, saw Sai Baba, fell at His Feet and said, “Baba, hearing that You show the Brahman to all who come over here without any delay, I have come here all the way from my distant place. I am much fatigued by the journey and if I get the Brahma-Gnyan from You, my troubles will be well-paid and rewarded.”
Baba, then, replied, “Oh, My dear friend, do not be anxious, I shall show you Brahma. Many people come to Me, and ask for wealth, health, power, honour, position, cure of diseases and other temporal matters. Rare is the person, who comes to Me and asks for Brahma-Gnyan. There is no dearth of persons asking for worldly things, but people interested in spiritual matters are very rare, I think it is a fortunate and auspicious moment, when persons like you, come and press Me for Brahma-Gnyan. So forthwith, I show to you with pleasure, the Brahma with all its accompaniments and complexities.”
Saying this, Baba started to show him the Brahma. He made him sit there and engaged him in some other talk and thus made him forget his question for the time-being. Then He called a boy and told him to go to one Nandu Marwari, and get from him a hand-loan of Rs. five. The boy left and returned immediately, saying that Nandu was absent and his house was locked. Then Baba asked him to go to Bala grocer and get from him, the said loan. This time also, the boy was unsuccessful. This experiment was repeated again twice or thrice, with the same result.
Sai Baba was, as we know, the living and moving Brahma Incarnate. Then, someone may ask, “Why did He want the paltry sum of five rupees, and why did He try hard to get it?” In reality He did not want that sum at all. He must have known, that Nandu and Bala were absent, and he seems to have adopted this procedure as a test for the seeker of Brahma. That gentleman had a roll or bundle of currency notes in his pocket, and if he was really earnest, he would not have sat quiet and be a mere onlooker, when Baba was frantically trying to get a paltry sum of Rs. five. He knew that Baba would keep His word and repay the debt, and that the sum wanted was insignificant. Still he could not make up his mind and advance the sum. Such a man wanted from Baba the greatest thing in the world, viz., the Brahma-Gnyan!
Any other man, who really loved Baba, would have at once given Rs. five, instead of being a mere onlooker. It was otherwise with this man. He advanced no money nor did he sit silent, but began to be impatient, as he was in a haste to return and implored Baba saying, “Oh Baba, please give me Brahma-Gnyan soon!” Baba replied, “Oh my dear friend, did you not understand all the procedure that I went through, sitting in this place, for enabling you to see the Brahma?”
It is, in short this. For seeing Brahman one has to give five things, i.e. surrender five things viz. (1) Five Pranas (vital forces), (2) Five Senses (five of action and five of perception), (3) Mind, (4) Intellect and (5) Ego. This path of Brahma-Gnyan or self-realization is ‘as hard as treading on the edge of a razor‘.
– SHRI SAI SATCHARITA (Chapters XVI & XVII)
|| Aum Sai Sharnam || May Peace Be To All ||
|| AUM SAI SHARNAM || 