Wonderful words from Sri Satcharita

We begin this Chapter with a bow, with all our limbs to Sai Baba, Who is an Ocean of Mercy, the God Incarnate, the Para-Brahma and the great Yogeshwara (Lord of Yoga). Victory be unto Sai Baba, Who is the crown-jewel of the Saints, an Abode of all auspicious things, our Atmaram (Dear Self), and the able Refuge of the devotees, We prostrate ourselves before Him, Who has attained the Aim and End of life.

Hemadpant closes this Chapter with a prayer. "Oh Sai Sadguru, the Wish Fulfilling Tree of the Bhaktas, we pray - "Let us never forget and lose sight of Your Feet; we have been troubled with by the sins of previous births in this samsar; now free us from this cycle of births and deaths. Restrain us from the outgoing of our senses to their objects and introvert us, and bring us face to face with the Atma (Self). As long as this outgoing tendency of the senses and the mind is not checked, there is no prospect of self-realization. Neither son, nor wife nor friend, will be of any use in the end. It is only, You, Who will give us salvation and happiness. Destroy completely our tendency for discussions and other evil matters, let our tongues get a passion for chanting Your name. Drive out our thoughts, good or otherwise, and make us forget our bodies and houses, and do away with our egoism. Make us ever remember Your name, and forget all other things. Remove the restlessness of our mind, and make it steady and calm. If you just clasp us, the darkness of night, of our ignorance, will vanish and we shall live happily in Your light. That, You made us drink the nectar of Your Leelas and awakened us from our slumber, is due to Your grace and our store of merits in past births".

Bow to the Kind Sai Who is the Abode of Mercy and Who is affectionate towards His devotees. By His mere darshana, He does away with their fear of this `bhava' (samsar) and destroys their calamities. He was first Nirgun (formless), but on account of the devotion of His Bhaktas, He was obliged to take a form. To give liberation and self-realisation to the Bhaktas is the mission of the Saints, and for Sai- the Chief of them, that mission is inevitable. Those, who take refuge in His Feet, have all their sins destroyed and their progress is certain. Remembering His Feet, Brahmins from holy places come to Him and read scriptures and chant the Gayatri mantra in His presence. We, who are weak and without any merits, do not know what Bhakti is; but we know this much, that though all others may leave us, Sai won't forsake us. Those, whom He favors, get enormous strength, discrimination between the Unreal and the Real and knowledge.

Oh blessed Sadguru Sai, we bow to You, Who have given happiness to the whole world, accomplished the welfare of the devotees, and have removed the affliction of those, who have resorted to Your Feet. By being very liberal and also being the protector and savior of the Bhaktas, who surrender themselves to You, You have Incarnated Yourself in this world to oblige the people, and do them good. The liquid essence of Pure Self was poured into the mold of Brahma and out of this has come out the crown-jewel of the Saints-Sai. This Sai is Atmarama Himself. He is the abode of the Perfect Divine Bliss. After having Himself attained all objects of life. He made His devotees desireless and free.

Blessed is Shirdi and blessed is Dwarkamayi, where Shri Sai lived and moved until He took Mahasamadhi. Blessed are the people of Shirdi, whom He obliged, and for whom He came such long distance. Shirdi was a small village first, but it attained great importance, on account of His contact and became a Tirtha, holy place of pilgrimage. Equally blessed are the womenfolk of Shirdi, blessed is their whole and undivided faith in Him. They sang the glories of Baba while bathing, grinding, pounding corn and doing other house-hold work. Blessed is their love, through which they sang sweet songs, which calm and pacify the minds of the singers and listeners. Blessed is Shri Sai Samarat, Who gives instructions, in both temporal and spiritual matters, to His devotees and makes them happy by enabling them to achieve the goal of their life, - Sai Who, when He places His hand on their heads, transfers His powers to them, and thus destroying the sense of differentiation, makes them attain the Unattainable Thing. - He Who embraces the Bhaktas, who prostrate themselves before Him, with no sense of duality or difference. He becomes one with the Bhaktas, as the sea with the rivers, when they meet it in the rainy season and gives them His power and position. It follows from this that he, who sings the Leelas of God's Bhaktas, is equally or more dear to Him, than one who sings the Leelas of God only. Now to revert to the stories of this Chapter.

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 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. While You do things, You 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. The chanting of Your sweet name, is the easiest sadhan for devotees. By this sadhan (means) our sins, Rajas and Tamas qualities, will vanish and the sattwa qualities, 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.

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 Him the following purifying story.

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