|
 Sai
Baba's was not a theoretical or doctrinal instruction but an invisible
influence that transformed the inner self. Baba wrote no philosophy or
expounded any doctrine. He would speak in cryptic and highly symbolic
manner. Such utterances were like some prophetic commands that gave a
powerful impetus to the thoughts and lives of all those who came within
His radiance.
He would often speak in parables
leaving his devotees to work out the answers:
'A man had
a fine horse, but no matter what he did, it would not run in harness. An
expert suggested that it should be taken back to the place from where it
had come. This was done and it became tractable and useful.'
The explanation of the story is that the horse is the ego. As commander of
the physical and mental powers of man it is useful but self-willed, and
therefore causes endless trouble. Taking it back to its source is
re-absorbing it in the spirit or self from which it arises. It is the
return to the source, which purifies and enlightens. From there the ego
issues forth again no longer an ego but a conscious agent of Spirit.
Another parable goes like this,
'Some robbers came and took away my money. I said
nothing but quietly followed them and killed them and so recovered my
money’. The money is the faculties bestowed to man in his
pure and original state, the robbers are the desires, killing them and
recovering the wealth is destroying desires and realizing the self.
On one occasion a station master
came to him without faith, just to see what the strange wonder worker
looked like. On arrival he found Sai Baba washing out mud pots and placing
them mouth downward on the ground. He asked him why was he doing that and
Baba replied with caustic humour, referring to unreceptive listeners, 'Pots
come to me like that, mouth downwards''. He is the giver of
everything material or spiritual gains;but the recipients should have full
faith and receptivity for the same.
Once a devotee seeing a thick
crowd assembled there asked Sai Baba, whether all of them derive full
benefit. For reply Baba pointed to a mango tree in full blossom – “What
a splendid crop it would be if all the blossom seeds turned into fruit,
but do they? Most of them fall off. Very few remain.”
Baba suited his teachings to the
needs and capacity of the recipient to absorb it. He had in front of him a
mass, full of imperfections and shortcomings and he spoke to them - 'My
master (The almighty) told me to give bounteously of material as well as
spiritual rewards to His children. His treasury was indeed always open'. |
