Upasini Maharaj Part -2 (Telugu Talk) Click here.
First meeting with Baba:
On 27th
June 1911 he went to Shirdi just to pay a brief formal visit to Sai
Baba. The first interview between Sri Sai Baba and Kasinath is a very
interesting study of the personalities of both, and the method of operation of
Sai Baba peculiar to each case. After staying a day, Kasinath went to take
leave of Baba to go home.
Baba said, 'What so soon? When are you returning?'
Kasinath protested that it was not easy for him to
return,
Then Baba said, 'you had better stay. Do not go away'. Kasinath
did not like both choices.
Then kasinath said “What, either to stay on forever or to
go and return in eight days!"
Baba said, 'Well, go. I shall see what I can do'.
This might appear a threat to those who knew Sai Baba's powers. But as Kasinath
understood none of his powers, he simply thought permission had been given to
him to go and then went away. He was anxious to get back home now that his
health had been restored and have a pleasant family life with his young wife
(third wife).
Upasini trying to leave Shirdi:
He went out for few miles and stayed at a neighboring village for
a bath in the Godavari . Next day he went a
short distance, and again was stopped by something attractive. Like this for
seven days, he was within a radius of eleven miles, and on the eighth day he
was at Kopergaon with a Brahmachari at the Datta Temple on the bank of the
river Godavari, i.e., only six miles from Shirdi.
Brahmachari told
him to go to Shirdi and be with Sai Baba. Kasinath, however, declined to accept
that proposal. As they were talking, some visitors came. They were asked by the
Brahmachari, 'Where are you going?' They said, 'To Shirdi’. Then the
Brahmachari said, 'Take this Kasinath with you'. Kasinath said, 'No, I have
been there already'. Then the visitors said, 'That is the best reason. We have
not been there. We want someone to be with us to guide us'. Kasinath said that
he had not taken his meal and he had no carriage fare, and thus pleaded vain
excuses. They said, 'We have the carriage fare, and we will give you food'- So,
in spite of himself, out of a mere desire to oblige these visitors and to
oblige the Brahmachari, he got into the cart which straightway sped on to Shirdi.
There they all alighted. They all bowed before Baba.
Baba said to Kasinath, "You have come back! How many
days is it since you left?' '
Kasinath said “This is the eighth day”.
'What!' Baba remarked, 'You said you would not come back
in eight days'.
Then the spell over Kasinath seemed to disappear, and he
woke up and said, 'What, Baba, I cannot understand this. I was eager to go
home, and I wonder how I did not go back home. This must be all you’re doing’.
Baba said, 'Yes. I have been with you all these eight days dogging your heels'.
Then it flashed upon Kasinath that Sai Baba was (always) wielding vast powers
over people's mind, that when he could not think of going home, and when the
Brahmachari and others were asking him to go to Shirdi, it was all the work of
Sai.
Upasini's stay at Shirdi:
So, he was under Sai's spell and that was how he
could not think of his home under that spell! He was -aghast at this vast
control over minds and bodies of not one but of many. Then he resigned himself
to fate as he called it. He thought 'Some vast Power is seizing me. So, I must
bend to it’. Then he was staying on, hoping time and again to get
leave of Baba to get back.
Through Shama he asked for permission. Baba said, 'let
him stay on’. Then Shama asked what he was to do. Baba's answer was,
"To do nothing". Kasinath could not understand what he should do
remaining there doing nothing. But doing nothing was only the external
appearance. "Doing nothing" in Baba's parlance meant being receptive
and receiving everything from him.
In Baba's Guru parampara, Sishya's work is simply
nothing. The entire operation of moulding, remoulding, raising and reaching the
top of the highest spiritual experience is the work of the Guru and the Guru
alone. Baba asked him to go and live in solitude (as he already loved solitude)
at Khandoba Temple
Kasinath’s learning, his mastery of Sanskrit and general
information were far superior to those of the ordinary pandit. He was anxious
to go on either with mantra or with study which alone he understood to be the
constituents of real religion. Baba allowed him to indulge in these for a time,
but these were not part of Baba's course for his pupil. Studies are hindrances,
as they raise the thought in the minds of the pupil that he is learned, that he
is something, and that he must understand everything put to him with his
intellect and then rise with the help of that intellect and his book learning.
In Baba's course, the spiritual experience is a sort of
chemical extract inherent in and constituting the spiritual body of Baba, the
Guru, and is poured into the soul of the sishya which must receptively receive
and absorb the same. The entire work is that of the Guru. Kasinath could not understand
this, and went on with his studies especially when he met congenial spirits
like G S. Khaparde, Chidambaram Pillai and others and later went on telling
stories and lecturing. Anyhow Baba had given him directions, and set to work
upon him in a number of ways.
The first essential preparatory step in Baba's course is
not book learning, but the development of humility and receptivity. These would
result from absolute faith in the Guru. The Guru must be everything to the
sishya, the giver of bread, the giver of life and light and the giver of all
that life is worth living for, and at one stroke. He must not regard anything
else. This alone is the tyaga of Tan, Man, Dhan - body, mind and
possessions. However anxious Kasinath might be to benefit from Baba's goodwill,
absolute surrender of self was not there. Absolute ridding himself of all the
contacts with external world was not there and no idea of giving up his family
life. He was still thinking of his own home at Satana, his wife, his mother,
and others. He hoped to join them after achieving progress under Baba and
enjoying the result of that progress with his family. That was his idea. But
that was not Baba's idea. Baba wanted him to be free from all shackles and
absolutely independent of all family or other connections. Sai Baba wanted to
make him feel that he was entirely dependent upon Sai and Sai alone at least
during the period of probation.
Hence, Baba watched him to get into a number of
difficulties for the very essentials of livelihood. Food was easy for a time to
get, but very soon the food problem became the main problem of his life. At
first he had some funds, and lived with the help of what he could get with this.
But Baba deprived him even with these funds. Upasani Maharaj had given some dakshinas
but retained Rs.10 with him thinking that he could bank upon it and live upon
it till he could get further sums. But Sai Baba asked him for dakshina of Rs.10
and deprived him of his bank and reduced him to zero. Then suddenly Kasinath
felt he was unsupported. That is just what Sai Baba wanted him to feel. That
is, the sishya must feel that he has no earthly support barring the Guru. But
no possessions or help is a very painful experience.
Later Dixit requested him to eat at Dixit wada and this
also lasted only few days. Again life was difficult. He was on fast almost
every day and his health deteriorates. He develops piles problem. This was
bothering him but Baba kept quiet. Thus Baba was teaching him, faith and
patience. Baba wanted to make him the best of his devotees. Baba's course was
to give first nishta or full faith and secondly saburi or patience, to wait for
the benefits of the course to be given at the time considered by the Guru to be
proper. These are the two coins which Baba's own Guru wanted him to place at
his (Sai Baba's Guru's) feet, and Sai Baba said he did give them to his Guru.
Similarly Baba expected Kasinath to develop nishta and saburi and offer these
as dakshina to him. Kasinath was slowly developing both nishta and saburi,
and when these two were perfect, the seeds of instruction sown in the heart
of the pupil would bear fruit.
Visions
given to Upasini by Baba:
Sin
bounded Upasini (Papa Purush):
As Kasinath sat up one day, he had the following visions.
The first of these may be called Papa Purusha Nirasana. Baba came up to
him at some mysterious place and sat up. Baba asked him to come near saying, 'I
am going to give you Upadesh'.
When Kasinath was trying to approach the Guru, a dark and
dirty person behind Kasinath exactly like him, that is, his replica pulled him
up and said, "Don't listen to the Guru. But listen to me". Twice this
interruption took place. Then Sai got up, seized that dark person behind
Kasinath, took him and placed him on a pile of faggots and burnt him. All that
time Kasinath was saying 'Baba, it is me whom you are burning, it is me whom
you are burning'. After completely burning him out, Baba turned to Kasinath and
said, 'Yes. That was you no doubt. But you were in that sin form, namely, Papa
rupa. I have destroyed him. You are now free from sin. By our united
efforts there are many things to be achieved in the future. How can that be
done if sin remains?'
Another vision which Kasinath Maharaj had was this. As he
was passing along, there was a deep dark pit. A hand came out of that pit as he
stood on the brink of it, and tried to pull him down into that dark abyss.
Kasinath cried, 'Hands off. Who are you? Why do you drag me? If you do not let
me go, I will report to Sai Baba'. At the mention of Sai's name, his feet were
released. In that very vision, he learnt that the black abyss and black hand
were Hell, that Hell would seize anyone who came near, and it was a mistake to
come near and tempt Hell.
Baba
offering lamp to Kasinath:
Later in another vision he was offered a lamp, and Baba
told him, 'You must accept the lamp. It would light you and protect you
everywhere. You will never be obstructed. You will escape obstacles, and will
give light to hundreds in the future.' Kasinath accepted the light.
Kasinath’s
alter ego with good deeds (Punya purush):
Baba told him at
one time, 'I will take away half of your head and give you half of my own'.
Accordingly, Kasinath had a vision. Some ruffians came and cut his head off,
scooped up the brain, ate the contents and ran away. Then in a later vision,
Sai Baba took Maharaj to some mysterious place and showed him a heap of silver
rupees, 225 feet long. 120 feet, broad, 4 feet high. Over that there was a
princely bed with bolsters of lace cloth, and over all this was a richly
dressed and gaily ornamented person. Sai Baba asked Kasinath to see that man.
Kasinath asked, 'Who is that?' Baba said, 'Have you not recognized yourself? It
is you. Your body of sin has gone. That papa purusha has gone. This is
your punya purusha'. Then, pointing to all the rupees, vast hoards of
rupees, Sai Baba showed him a big room full of rupees and said 'There are
hundreds and thousands of such houses filled completely with rupees. All these
are ours. You will come to know all this by yourself. Thus, the subconscious
mind of Kasinath Maharaj was being impressed by Sai Baba with the feeling that
it was cloyed and glutted with ample possession of wealth.
Baba thus took Kasinath beyond the world of duality so
that he can advance in spiritual world. He gave him these experiences so that
he can streamline whatever Kasinath learned in the form of scriptures. This
learning could have been hindrance to his growth.
OM SAI RAM!
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