HEADS YOU WIN

HEADS YOU WIN

 

 

 "Is destiny more important or one's own efforts?" – Shri Sai Samarth Satcharita, Ch. 2, Ovi 156.

 

 

During a momentous battle, a Japanese general decided to attack even though his army was greatly outnumbered. He was confident they would win, but his men were filled with doubt.

 

On the way to the battle, they stopped at a religious shrine. After praying with the men, the general took out a coin and said, "I shall now toss this coin. If it is heads, we shall win. If tails, we shall lose. Destiny will now reveal itself."

He threw the coin into the air and all watched intently as it landed.

 

It was heads.

 

The soldiers were so overjoyed and filled with confidence that they vigorously attacked the enemy and were victorious.

 

After the battle, a lieutenant remarked to the general, "No one can change destiny."

"Quite right," the general replied as he showed the lieutenant the coin, which had heads on both sides.

 

Sai Experience of Upasani Baba's Brother

26th July 1936

BALAKRISHNA GOVIND UPASANI SASTRI, S/O Govind Gopal Upasani Sastri, Brahmin, aged about 69, retired Professor of Sanskrit, Saniwarpeth, Poona, says:

When plague was raging at Poona, my college was closed for many long months, and then I went on pilgrimage with my mother and wife. When I went from Haridwar and Rishikesh to Tapovan, there I met a sadhu who glared at me - at least he was persistently looking at me. I bowed to him and he still looked at me, and asked me 'Are you not from Satana?' 'Yes', I answered, for Satana is my ancestral village. Then, I, in my turn inquired of him, who he was. 'Come here again tomorrow at this time - (afternoon) and I will tell you, he said. I then went to my quarters and informed my mother. She thought that this might be our (family) Mutt Founder, Sri Uddhava of Mulhare (Mayurapura). Next day, she wanted to come to see the saint and she accompanied me to the appointed place at the time fixed. After 15 minutes of wandering up and down, she thought it was a wild goose chase to find a wandering saint and went away. Almost immediately after she left, that saint appeared before me and said, with a grave countenance, 'Do not act in this manner again'. I: In what manner? He: Only those directed to come should come. There is always difference between one individual and another alike in physical and other peculiarities. No two are exactly the same. So only the bidden person should come. I agreed to abide by that rule.

Then as I wanted to know his identity, he informed me that I had a saligram among the Gods that I worshipped at home and he gave me an exact description of it. I said that I had that saligram. Then, he added, that he was the person who gave it to Uddhava Maharaj from whose grandson, my grandfather had got it. It has been a heirloom with us and I am still worshiping it.

Still as his identity was not clear, he thus replied to me – talking this time in Hindustani. Till then, he was talking in Marathi. He waved his hand so as to attract my attention and said 'Lo, there was a tree. Two persons went up that tree.  One came down; the other went up'. He wound up with the remark 'you will come to know' and then he disappeared. He looked like a man of 50 or 60 years, rather bulky and stout and he wore only a coupina and no other article of dress.

Many years later, say about 1910-11, I was trying to utilize my Christmas Holidays for a trip from Dhulia southward to see if any trace could be found of my younger brother Kasinath (i.e Upasani Baba). He had contacted some strange disease in the course of his efforts at Pranayama. He could not lie down lest breathing should stop. He had no sleep, nor good digestion. So he left home and we had no trace of his whereabouts. As I was in the train from Manmad going south, it stopped at Kopergaon for a few minutes and the local mamlatdar, Mr. Bhat, a friend of mine who was on the platform made me alight and spend a pleasant day with him. He told me that Sal Baba was a saint living 6 miles off (i.e) at Shirdi and worth a visit. He sent me in his tonga to that village.

I went to the mosque and found Sai Baba at the dhuni in the mosque.   He was standing close to the fire and occasionally turning round Himself.   He saw me and invited me inside.   I went and prostrated myself before him.   Gazing at me, he told me to go to Khandoba's temple. I thought he recommended that visit to see the image of that God and I said that all Gods were there with Him, and was quite content to see Him.   He repeated the words 'Go to Khandoba's. I inferred that He wanted me to get away and not to stay there. So I went to an adjoining house and there they told me (after I mentioned Baba's order) that there was one Upasani Sastri at Khandoba's. I then went to Khandoba's and found my brother there. He said that he was remaining there by Sai Baba's order and that he saw very little of Sai Baba.  I then gave him or rather one Dada Kelkar on his account some Rs.4 for his food expenses and went back to the Masjid.  I stayed at Shirdi for one or two days at that time.

On the first day, He asked all generally for dakshina kukshana, some gave. He extended His palms towards me and asked for dakshnia kukshan. I said I had nothing and made pranams.

On the occasion, Sai Baba said to me the same words as the sadhu at Tapovan. 'Lo there was a tree. Two persons went up that tree.   One came down; the other went up, in Hindustani. I was at once reminded of the Tapovan saint whose person closely resembled Sai Baba's, though the dress was different.    Sai Baba mentioned some autobiographical reminiscences of His own.  He said He had been at the battle in which the Rani of Jhansi took part.   He was then in the army.

On the second day He asked me again for dakshina. I excused myself on the ground that I had barely the railway fare for my Journey with me. Then He pointed to a silver watch I had in my pocket and asked for it as dakshina. I gave it - but not without a momentary regret and hesitation. He received it and handed it over to some fakir by His side. Then looking at me and evidently to meet my momentary regret at losing the watch, Baba said to me "You are not going to be worse off (on this account)'. I said, 'Of course, it was nothing I had given. Then I started back, and via Kopergaon came to Poona. There I went to a friend's (Mr. Natu's) house. I was talking of my Shirdi watch incident and inquired what it would cost to get a similar watch. Just then my friend's brother sent down his gold watch worth about Rs. 60 and wanted me to accept it as a present and I accepted it. So, I was not worse off for parting with my watch to Sai Baba. I visited Shirdi on one or two occasions.  I composed then Sanskrit poems on Sai Baba.

Shri Sai Satcharitra Parayana - Chapter – 15 Assigned for April 01, 2016

Shri Sai Satcharitra Parayana

Chapter – 15 Assigned for  April 01, 2016, 

Naradiya Kirtan - Paddhati - Mr. Cholkar's Sugarless Tea - Two Lizards. 

DIRECT DOWN LOAD LINKS IN MAJOR INDIAN LANGUAGES:

Shri Sai Satcharita in English Ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsMGVkOGMwaXVMOFU/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharita in Hindi ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsM25mRUZYT3ZabnM/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharita in Marathi Ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsZG43aXJfQXBVT00/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Tamil Ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsSDBzckk2TnFUTXM/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Telugu ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsSndBLXpRdG5jcUU/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Malayalam ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsYkx1aEdYSTd5NWs/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Kannadam ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CscTVWNi00OXVpV0U/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Konkani  ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsWFZWc0RnTVFIdzg/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Bengali ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsdTQydDYweVYxaGs/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Gujarati  ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsOXZEV2VKVUJMMmc/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Odia 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsWmt1TmtKVmpNOG8/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Punjabi ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CscEZCT3dGUkxvYm8/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Sindhi ch 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsV3NwUkQ0ZUpUaWc/view?usp=sharing

SHRI SAI SATCHARITRA IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES:

Shri Sai Satcharitra in Nepali

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1bwnkVMR-Csb0Q4T0JfR3dlY2M&usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra in German

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1bwnkVMR-CsRXd1TW5QSWhjN1U&usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra in French

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsY0JCdGdsYV9lWUE/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra in Spanish

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsOXJSaVBSZjN2ckU/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra in Urdu

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsclNCdlBjTlA3X1U/view?usp=sharing

SHRI SAI SATCHARITRA IN AUDIO MP3 FORMAT:

Shri Sai Satcharitra Audio in English Ch. 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsOU9wd3ExOUl3MzQ/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Audio in Hindi Ch. 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsUE0xRG5uRmpOSHM/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Audio in Marathi Ch. 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CscmxqTmtBdm1haHM/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Audio in Tamil Ch. 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsVi1FVWMzQXFveTg/view?usp=sharing

Shri Sai Satcharitra Audio in Telugu Ch. 15

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1bwnkVMR-CsbGxxOXc4c0g1YU0/view?usp=sharing

Chapter XV

Naradiya Kirtan - Paddhati - Mr. Cholkar's Sugarless Tea - Two Lizards. 

The readers may remember that mention was made in the 6th Chapter regarding the Rama-Navami Festival in Shirdi; how the festival originated and how in the early years there was a great difficulty in getting a good Hardidas for performing Kirtan on that occasion, and how Baba permanently entrusted this function (Kirtan) to Dasganu permanently. Now in this Chapter we shall describe the manner in which Dasganu was performing the Kirtan.

Naradiya Kirtan-Paddhati

Generally our Haridasas, while performing the Kirtan, wear a gala and full dress. They put on a head-dress, either a pheta or a turban, a long flowing coat with a shirt inside, an uparane (short dhotar) on the shoulders and the usual long dhotar from the waist below. Dressed in this fashion for some Kirtan in the Shirdi village, Dasganu once went to bow to Baba. Baba asked him - "Well, bridegroom! where are you going dressed so beautifully like this?" 'For performing a Kirtan' was the reply. Then Baba said - "Why do you want all this paraphemalia-coat, uparani and pheta etc, doff all that before Me, why wear them on the body?" Dasganu immediately took them off and placed them at the Baba's Feet. From that time Dasganu never wore these things while performing the Kirtan. He was always bare from waist upwards, a pair of `chiplis' was in his hand and a garland round his neck. This is not in consonance with the practice generally followed by all the Hardidasa, but this is the best and the purest method. The sage Narada, from whom the Kirtan-Paddhati originated, wore nothing on his trunk and head. He carried a 'veena' in his hand, and wandered from place to place everywhere singing the glory of the Lord.

Mr. Cholkar's Sugarless Tea

Initially, Baba was known in Poona and Ahmednagar Districts, but Nanasaheb Chandorkar, by his personal talks and by Dasganu, by his splendid Kirtans, spread the fame of Baba in the Konkan (Bombay Presidency). In fact, it was Dasganu - May God bless him-who, by his beautiful and inimitable Kirtans, made Baba available to so many people there. The audience, who come to hear the Kirtans have different tastes. Some like the erudition of the Haridas; some his gestures, some his singing, some his wit and humour, some his preliminary dissertation on Vedanta, and some others, his main stories and so on; but among them, there are very few, who by hearing the Kirtan get faith and devotion or love for God or saints. The effect of hearing Dasganu's kirtan on the minds of audience was however electric, as it were. We give an instance here

Dasganu was once performing his Kirtan and singing the glory of Sai Baba, in the Koupineshwar temple in Thana. One Mr. Cholkar, a poor man serving as a candidate in the Civil Courts in Thana, was amongst the audience. He heard Dasganu's Kirtan most attentively and was much moved. He there and then mentally bowed and vowed to Baba saying - "Baba, I am a poor man, unable to support my family. If by your grace, I pass the departmental examination, and get a permanent post, I shall go to Shirdi, fall at Your Feet and distribute sugar-candy in Your name." As good luck would have it, Mr.Cholkar did pass te examination and did get the permanent post and now it remained for him to fulfil his vow, the sooner the better. Mr. Cholkar was a poor man with a large family to support; and he could not afford to pay for the expenses of a Shirdi trip. As is well said, one can easily cross over Nahne ghat in Thana District or even the Sahyadri Range; but it is very difficult for a poor man to cross Umbareghat, i.e., the threshold of his house. As Mr. Cholkar was anxious to fulfill his vow as early as possible, he resolved to economize, cut down his expenses, and save money. He determined not to use sugar in his diet; and began to take his tea without it. After he was able to save some money in this way, he came to Shirdi, took Baba's darshan, fell at His Feet, offered a coconut, distributed it with a clean conscience along with sugar-candy as per his vow and said to Baba that he was much pleased with His darshan and that his desires were fulfilled that day. Mr. Cholkar was in the Masjid with his host Bapusaheb Jog. When the host and the guest both got up and were about to leave the Masjid, Baba spoke to Jog as follows:- "Give him (your guest) cups of tea, fully saturated with Sugar." Hearing these significant words, Mr. Cholkar was much moved, he was wonderstruck, his eyes were bedewed with tears, and he fell at Baba's Feet again. Mr. Jog was also curious about this direction, regarding the tea-cups to be given to his guest. Baba wanted by His words to create faith and devotion in Cholkar's mind. He hinted as it were, that He got the sugar-candy as per his vow and that He knew full well his secret determination not to use sugar in his diet. Baba meant to say, "If you spread your palms with devotion before Me, I am immediately with you, day and night. Though, I am here bodily, still I know what you do; beyond the saven seas. Go wherever you will, over the wide world, I am with you. My abode is in your heart and I am within you. Always worship Me, Who is seated in your heart, as well as, in the hearts of all beings, Blessed and fortunate, indeed, is he who knows Me thus."

What a beautiful and important lesson was thus imparted by Baba to Mr. Chokar !

Two Lizards

Now we close this Chapter, with a story of two little lizards. Once Baba was sitting in the Masjid. A devotee sat in front of Him, when a lizard tick-ticked. Out of curiosity, the devotee asked Baba whether this tick-ticking of the lizard signified anything; was it a good sign or a bad omen? Baba said that the lizard was overjoyed as her sister from Aurangabad was coming to see her. The devotee sat silent, not making out the meaning of Baba's words. Immediately, a gentleman from Aurangabad came on horse-back to see Baba. He wanted to proceed further, but his horse would not go, as it was hungry and wanted grams. He took out a bag from his shoulders to bring grams and dashed it on the ground to remove dirt. A lizard came out therefrom and in the presence of all, climbed up the wall. Baba asked the questioner devotee to mark her well. She at once went strutting to her sister. Both sisters met each other after a long time, kissed and embraced each other, whirled round and danced with love! Where is Shirdi and where is Aurangabad? How should the man on horse-back come there from Aurangabad with the lizard? And how should Baba make the prophesy of the meeting of the two sisters? All this is really very wonderful and proves the omniscience -- the all-knowing nature of Baba.

Post Script

He who respectfully reads this Chapter or studies it daily, will get all his miseries removed by the grace of the Sadguru Sai Baba, Hence:

Bow to Shri Sai - Peace be to all