There are instances Baba stressed the importance of “being humble & pride less ”. How about deliberately practicing this for one day today? Whoever is willing to do it – Please deliberately/explicitly try to be humble and be proud less. Let’s try to be conscious of this all day today . Below is an instance where Baba prickled Nana’s proud (taken from Sai Satcharithra) – Babas Interpretation Nobody believed that Baba knew Sanskrit. One day He surprised all by giving a good interpretation of a verse from the Gita to Nanasaheb Chandorkar. A brief account about this matter was written by Mr.B.V.Deo, Retired Mamlatdar and published in Marathi in Shri Sai Leela magazine, Vol IV. Sphuta Vishaya, page 563. Short accounts of the same are also published in Sai Babas Charters and Sayings page 61 and in The Wondrous Saint Sai Baba, page 36 - both by Brother B.V.Narsimhaswami. Mr.B.V.Deo has also given an English version of this in his statement dated 27-9-1936 and published on page 66 of Devotees Experiences, Part III published by the said Swami. As Mr.Deo has got first hand information about this Subject from Nanasaheb himself we give below his version. Nanasaheb Chandorkar was a good student of Vedanta. He had read Gita with commentaries and prided himself on his knowledge of all that. He fancied that Baba knew nothing of all this or of Sanskrit. So, Baba one day pricked the bubble. These were the days before crowds flocked to Baba, when Baba had solitary talks at the Mosque with such devotees. Nana was sitting near Baba and massaging His Legs and muttering something. Baba - Nana, what are you mumbling yourself? Nana - Iam reciting a shloka (verse) from Sanskrit. Baba - What shloka? Nana - From Bhagawad-Gita Baba - Utter it loudly. Nana then recited B.G.IV-34 which is as follows :- Tadviddhi Pranipatena Pariprashnena Sevaya, Upadekshyanti Te Jnanam Jnaninastattwadarshinah Baba - Nana, do you understand it? Nana - Yes. Baba - If you do, then tell me. Nana - It means this - Making Sashtanga Namaskar, i.e., prostration, questioning the guru, serving him, learn what this Jnana is. Then, those Jnanis that have attained the real knowledge of the Sad-Vastu (Brahma) will give you upadesha (instruction) of Jnana. Baba - Nana, I do not want this sort of collected purport of the whole stanza. Give me each word, its grammatical force and meaning. Then Nana explained it word by word. Baba - Nana, is it enough to make prostration merely ? Nana - I do not know any other meaning for the word pranipata than making prostration. Baba - What is pariprashna? Nana - Asking questions. baba - What does Prashna mean? Nana - The same (questioning). Baba - If pariprashna means the same as prashna (question), why did Vyasa add the prefix pari? Was Vyasa off his head? Nana - I do not know of any other meaning for the word pariprashna. Baba - Seva, what sort of seva is meant? Nana - Just what we are doing always Baba - Is it enough to render such service? Nana - I do not know what more is signified by the word seva. Baba - In the next line upadekshyanti te jnanam, can you so read it as to read any other word in lieu of Jnanam? Nana - Yes. Baba - What word? Nana - Ajnanam. Baba - Taking that word (instead of Jnana) is any meaning made out of the verse? Nana - No, Shankara Bhashya gives no such construction. Baba - Never mind if it does not. Is there any objection to using the word Ajnana if it gives a better sense? Nana - I do not understand how to construe by placing Ajnana in it. Baba - Why does Krishna refer Arjuna to Jnanis or Tattwadarshis to do his prostration, interrogation and service? Was not Krishna a Tattwadarshi, in fact Jnana himself. Nana - Yes He was. But I do not make out why he referred Arjuna to Jnanis? Baba - Have you not understood this? Nana was humiliated. His pride was knocked on the head. Then Baba began to explain - (1) It is not enough merely to prostrate before the Jnanis. We must make Sarvaswa Sharangati (complete surrender) to the Sad-guru. (2) Mere questioning is not enough. The question must not be made with any improper motive or attitude or to trap the Guru and catch at mistakes in the answer, or out of idle curiosity. It must be serious and with a view to achieve moksha or spiritual progress. (3) Seva is not rendering service, retaining still the feeling that one is free to offer or refuse service. One must feel that he is not the master of the body, that the body is Gurus and exists merely to render service to him. If this is done, the Sad-guru will show you what the Janna referred to in the previous stanza is. Nana did not understand what is meant by saying that a guru teaches ajnana. Baba - How is Jnana Upadesh, i.e., imparting of realization to be effected? Destroying ignorance is Jnana. (cf. Verse-Ovi-1396 of Jnaneshwari commenting on Gita 18-66 says - removal of ignorance is like this, Oh Arjuna, If dream and sleep disappear, you are yourself. It is like that. Also Ovi 83 on Gita V-16 says - Is there anything different or independent in Jnana besides the destruction of ignornace?)* Expelling darkness means light. Destroying duality (dwaita) means non-duality (adwaita). Whenever we speak of destroying Dwaita, we speak of Adwaita. Whenever we talk of destroying darkness, we talk of light. If we have to realise the Adwaita state, the feeling of Dwaita in ourselves has to be removed. That is the realization of the Adwaita state. Who can speak of Adwaita while remaining in Dwaita? If one did, unless one gets into that state, how can one know it and realise it? Again, the Shishya (disciple) like the Sad-guru is really embodiment of Jnana. The difference between the two lies in the attitude, high realization, marvellous super-human Sattva (beingness) and unrivalled capacity and Aishwarya Yoga (divine powers). The Sad-guru is Nirguna, Sat-Chit-Ananda. He has indeed taken human form to elevate mankind and raise the world. But his real Nirguna nature is not destroyed thereby, even a bit. His beingness (or reality), divine power and widsom remain undiminished. The disciple also is in fact of the same swarupa. But, it is overlaid by the effect of the samaskaras of innumerable births in the shape of ignorance, which hides from his view that he is Shuddha Chaitanya (see B.G. Ch. V-15). As stated therein, he gets the impressions - Iam Jiva, a creature, humble and poor. The Guru has to root out these offshoots of ignorance and has to give upadesh or instruction. To the disciple, held spell-bound for endless generations by the ideas of his being a creature, humble and poor, the Guru imparts in hundreds of births the teaching - You are God, you are mighty and opulent. Then, he realizes a bit that he is God really. The perpetual delusion under which the disciple is labouring, that he is the body, that he is a creature (jiva) or ego, that God (Paramatma) and the world are different from him, is an error inherited from innumerable past births. From actions based on it, he has derived his joy, sorrows and mixtures of both. To remove this delusion, this error, this root ignorance, he must start the inquiry. How did the ignorance arise? Where is it? And to show him this is called the Gurus upadesh. The following are the instances of Ajnana :- 1 - I am a Jiva (creature) 2 - Body is the soul (I am the body). 3 - God, world and Jiva are different. 4 - I am not God. 5 - Not knowing, that body is not the soul. 6 - Not knowing that God, world and Jiva are one. Unless these errors are exposed to his view, the disciple cannot learn what is God, jiva, world, body; how they are inter-related and whether they are different from each other, or are one and the same. To teach him these and destroy his ignorance is this instruction in Jnana or Ajnana. Why should Jnana be imparted to the jiva, (who is) a Jnanamurti? Upadesh is merely to show him his error and destroy his ignorance. Baba added :- (1) Pranipata implies surrender. (2) Surrender must be of body, mind and wealth; Re: (3) Why should Krishna refer Arjuna to other Jnanis? Sadbhakta takes every thing to be Vasudev (B.G.VII-19 i.e., any Guru will be Krishna to the devotee) and Guru takes disciple to be Vasudev and Krishna treats both as his Prana and Atma (B.G.7-18, commentary of Jnanadev on this). As Shri Krishna knows that there are such Bhaktas and Gurus, He refers Arjuna to them so that their greatness may increase and be known
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 06:42:17 +0000
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