WONDEROUS SAINT SRI SAIBABA-PART 7

BY PUJYA SRI NARASIMHASWAMY JI

SHOWN IN A VISION
HOW A SADHAK WAS DRAWN TO SAI BABA

"To me Sai Baba is not gone. He is, even now".
"To me he had no limitation. Of course when he was with us, there was the fleshy tabernacle. Now that the body is cast off, the infinite alone remains as Sai Baba".
With this declaration an esteemed Judge in the North opens his statement on the great saint of Shirdi and Judge Sahib's introduction to him was as remarkable as his later experiences.
Early in life, Judge Sahib had made great progress in spirituality. Vishnu was the object of his meditations and the picture of Dhruva-Narayana impressed him most.

Three Incidents :
"I constantly meditated on that picture; but when I tried to concentrate on Vishnu. Dhruva's figure frequently obtruded and so I cut off that portion of the picture. I also made a special appeal that in that blank space in the picture Vishnu should place me" .

He writes, and proceeds:
"In this way, my meditation on Narayana continued till my twenty-first year''.
Then, one day, I was either sleeping and had dreams or I had trance visions. I cannot say what it was. But the following three experiences I had in the course of one night".
"As I was in the lying posture on my bed, I felt a change. I was perceiving that the body lay separate and I was disengaged from it; and in front of me stood the figure of Vishnu-Narayana. This ended; and about an hour later, a second incident followed.
"Again my body lay there on the bed. I was outside it. Sri Vishnu-Narayana was standing before me. And by his side stood another figure. Sri Vishnu pointed to the other figure, and said, "This Sai Baba of Shirdi, is your man , you must resort to him".

Strange Meeting :
The third incident or vision followed soon after:
"I felt I was moving in some strange way. It was like levitation in the air. I came thus or was carried thus to a village. I found some one there and asked him what that village was. He said it was Shirdi. I asked him, "Is there any person named Sai Baba here?" "Yes", he answered,
"come and see". I was taken to the mosque. There I saw Sai Baba. He was seated with legs outstretched. I went and reverently placed my head on his feet. He got up and said, "Do you take my darsan? I am your debtor, I must take your darsan" and he placed his head on my feet. Then we parted".
"These visions impressed me greatly. Before that time I had seen a picture of Sai Baba in the usual seated posture and I knew nothing more about him. I did not then know that Baba often sat with both legs outstretched".
"Sometime later I started on my first visit to Baba, and tried to verify my visions and to see if Sri Sai Baba was my destined Guru as indicated in the dream".

First Repulsed :
"When I went to Sri Sai Baba at the mosque, there were many others with him. I went and prostrated, placing my head on his feet. He then said "What ! Why do you worship a man?" At once I retreated some distance and sat. I felt the rebuff very keenly. I had, it is true, my scholastic notions that men should not be worshipped and I thought Sai Baba was hitting at me for going to him, with such notions lingering in my head. I felt deeply mortified and continued to sit for some hours. Then all had cleared off, leaving Baba alone on the floor of the mosque. That was in the afternoon. It was believed that none should go to Baba at that time, lest any serious harm should be inflicted as a penalty for the intrusion. But in my state of mind such harm did not deter me. So , i , went nearer and nearer to the place where Baba sat. While I was some yards off, Baba gently beckoned to me to approach him. Thus encouraged I went and placed my head on his feet. He at once hugged me, made me sit close to him, and thus addressed me , "You are my child. When others i.e. , strangers are in the company, we keep the children off ". My apparent rejection or expulsion earlier in the day having been thus satisfactorily explained, I felt the full force of his deep and intense love for me and my heart responded to it. "There was my Saviour, my Guru, the man of my destiny, found at last''.