WONDEROUS SAINT SRI SAIBABA-PART 4

BY PUJYA SRI NARASIMHASWAMY JI

RAMA AND KRISHNA AS AVATARS

Very little is known of Sai Baba's early life; but he had told several of his devotees that his guru was a Brahmin, and even mentioned his name—states Prof. G.G.Narke,recalling his reminiscences of the great saint.
Once, as a result of a disputation between Prof. Narke and some fellow-devotees, a few pointed questions were put to Sai Baba:
Q:—Are the Puranas true?
A:—Yes; true.
Q:—What about Rama and Krishna?
A:—They were great souls; gods they were; Avatars.
Q:—This Narke will not admit all that; and he say you are not god.
A:—What he says is true. But I am your father and you should not speak like that. You have to get your benefit and everything from me.
In certain ecstatic moments, Sal Baba said "I am God'' , Main Allahhum , but his usual role was that of a devotee, entrusted with vast powers to carry out the wishes of God (the Fakir).

Determinism :
Sai Baba was bold in his dealings with persons and occasionally Infused faith in his devotees by even defiance of sanitary precautions. Prof. Narke has himself one such experience.

"Baba used to get sweetmeat for naivedya from one "H". One day in 1916, "H" lay a plague-stricken corpse. Plague was raging at Shirdi. Baba asked me to go and get the sweetmeat from ''H''s shop. I went and told the wife, who was weeping, of Baba's order. She pointed to the corpse and said I might take the sweetmeat from the almirah. I took it trembling with the fear that by this I might catch the infection and others too. That was given as naivedya. Baba told me, "Do you think you will live if you are away from Shirdi and that you would die if you stay at Shirdi? That is not so. Whosoever is to die will die; whosoever is to be caressed will be caressed."

Baba set the example of living amidst society and labouring. He ground grain into flour. He was not for ascetic desertion of society, nor for begging. Though he himself begged within limits, it was for a little food only; when he demanded dakshina that was for a number of reasons, chiefly for clearing rinanubanda. He wanted the general run of visitors to continue their grahasta lives and did not advocate Sanyas.
Sri Sai Baba's demand for dakshina was explained by him to a visitor. "Do I ask of every one? I demand only from those whom the Fakir (God) points out to me.He demanded only particular sums and would not accept anything more.