WONDEROUS SAINT SRI SAIBABA-PART17

BY PUJYA SRI NARASIMHASWAMY JI

SRI SAI BABA AND THE GEETA A SURPRISING EXPOSITION

Though a great Saint, Sri Sai Baba was generally believed to be unacquainted with Hindu Sastras until he one day began to give an exposition of the Gita.
Nana Saheb had studied Bhagavad Gita along with several Sanskrit commentaries including Sri Sankaracharya's. He piqued himself on his grasp of the Gita.

One day as he was massaging Baba's feet at the Shirdi mosque, he was muttering something.
Baba : Nana, what are yon muttering?
Nana : A sloka in Sanskrit.
Baba : What sloka?
Nana : From the Bhagavad Gita.
Baba: Utter it audibly.
Nana then recited Bhagavad Gita Chapter IV, 34, i.e.,

'Tadviddhi Pranipatena Pariprashnena Sevaya,
Upadekshyanti Te Jnanam Jnaninastattwadarshinah' etc.

Baba : Nana, do you understand?
Nana : Yes.
Baba : Then tell me.
Nana: It means "By making prostration at full length, by questioning the Guru and rendering service to this ," jnani". Then the Jnanis who have realised the Real or Sadvastu will give you instruction in Jnana" .
Baba: Nana, I do not want the general purport. Explain it word by word, with strict reference to grammar.

Then Nana gave such an explanation...

Baba: Is it enough that the prostration should be "full Length." or Saashtanga?
Nane: I cannot see what more is implied in the word "Pranipatena".
Baba : What is Pariprashna?
Nana: Questioning.
Baba: What is Prasna?
Nana: Questioning.
Baba : Nana, If both words mean the same, was Vyasa off his head to use two unnecessary syllables, viz, Pari?
Nana: I cannot see what more it means.
Baba: By Seva, what is the service denoted?
Nana: The service we usually render.
Baba: Like massaging? Nothing more?
Nana: I do not see what further meaning the word Seva could have.
Baba : In the next line, you say Jnana is to be imparted to Arjuna by means of instruction.Was not Arjuna a Jiva?
Nana: Yes.
Baba : How then is Jnana to be imparted to that which is Jnana already?
Nana : I do not know.
Baba : Can you read an extra syllable in the second half of the stanza?
Nana: Yes.
Baba: How?
Nana : Read a before Jnanam by using an Avagraha.
Baba : Then what is the meaning?
Nana: None. Sri Sankaracharya's Bhashya does not give such a reading.
Baba : What if? If the word Ajnana gives a better sense, is there any objection?
Nana: No. But I do not find how to deduce any sense with that word in it.
Baba: Well, you will. First can you say why Sri Krishna refers Arjuna to others to obtain light? Was not Krishna a Jnani and why did he not give him light.
Nana: I cannot say why.


Then Baba began to explain; and he quoted from Jnaneswari passages to explain his answers. The explanations may be briefly summed up thus:

1. Mere prostration is not enough. It must be accompanied by a thorough and complete surrender of oneself (body, mind and soul) and one's possessions.

2. Mere questioning is not sufficient. It must not be out of idle curiosity or with any improper motive or attitude e.g. to catch at mistake in the answer or to trap the Guru. The object must be pure desire to attain progress and liberation.

3. Seva is not any service. To be effective, there must be no lingering idea that one is free to yield service or refuse it. One must feel that one is not the master of one's body-which is the Guru's and exists merely to render Him service.

4. Jnana is Realisation, i.e.. Sad Vastu itself and cannot be imparted by Upadesa i.e., instruction. Everything except Jnana or Sad Vastu is Ajnana or Ignorance including the instruction given by the guru. It is, however, a species of Ajnana that removes all other ignorance and reveals to the self of the pupil that he is the Self and not a creature with limitations. The pupil is sunk in that sort of ignorance; and he is to be raised out of it by constantly rubbing instruction into him, (birth after birth, it may be) by numerous teachers. All these teachers, the earnest pupil views as God. The Guru Jnani is not distinct from Krishna, as He has expressly declared in the Gita. Krishna thus honours all teachers who are Jnanis.
Thereafter, Baba went on day after day teaching Gita to Nana Saheb. What a rare good fortune! Very soon thereafter, crowds began to flock to Baba. There was no more free and clear teaching. Baba thereafter taught in parable by symbology and indirect ways which, however, were very telling and never forgotten by those who
caught their meaning.