By: Sri Narasimha Swamiji
After Sai Maharaj blessed me with immense peace of mind in 1936, he prompted me to take his message to the nooks and corners of the country. At every step, he offered me guidance, associates, and resources. In my travels, Sai Maharaj prompted a growing desire for deeper, transformative connections with people and places visited. I felt that I was a pilgrim myself.
In his book, ‘Bhakti Leelamrita’ while describing ‘The Art of Pilgrimage’, Das Ganu Maharaj writes: “In each of us dwells a pilgrim… the part of us that long to have direct contact with the sacred…”
This ‘sacred’, he suggests, is that which is worthy of our reverence, what evokes awe and wonder in the human heart, and what, when contemplated, can transform us utterly. Referred to as ‘In Quest of Eternity’, this is about seeking a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. This awareness is supported and enhanced by a slow and steady journey as described by Das Ganu Maharaj and in the last days of Nana Saheb Chandorkar to spread the glory of Sai Maharaj.
To carry Baba’s message to all, I avoided rushing from one place to another. In Sai Prachar, one should always look for angelic and demonic qualities as both are inherent in all people. On March 4, 1861, the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, took the oath of office and made his inaugural address to his country, over which loomed the gathering storm of a murderous civil war. Seven of the states of the South had already seceded from the Union because of Lincoln’s determination to abolish slavery. It was feared that the remaining eight southern states would soon follow, tearing the republic apart.
The President appealed to his compatriots, “The mystic chords of memory will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched as they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
What are the ‘better angels’ in us that Lincoln evoked, in the hope of avoiding a blood-drenched conflict? And if there are the better angels – of compassion, love, and fellowship – must there
not also be their opposite, the demons of hate, rage, and violence, the two sides often engaged in an unresolved civil war within us?
not also be their opposite, the demons of hate, rage, and violence, the two sides often engaged in an unresolved civil war within us?In 1886, R.L. Stevenson personified the angels and demons in us in the characters of the good and gentle Jekyll and the homicidal Hyde, two opposed psyches.
A traveler should remember that in each of us, there is a confrontation between the ideals of truth, honesty, kindness, and generosity and their adversaries – falsehood, deceit, avarice, and malice. Sometimes we fail to distinguish right and wrong, what we ought to do, and what we are tempted to do; we hear the choice we make, in matters trivial or tragic, small or great, is often not a choice at all, but a submission to in which we act against our better judgment through weakness of will.
DH Lawrence wrote: “To be human is to track our way through this haunted forest in that unique expedition that we call our life”.
G.S. Khaparde, a lawyer from Amravati, was shadowed by Britishers and came running to Sai Maharaj. Baba assures protection. In a letter to Kaka Dixit, Kharpade recorded how Baba protected him in a sedition case.
Whether you embark on a physical pilgrimage to a holy place like Shirdi or an ordinary place, know that every step can be sacred if you approach it with intention and openness. Think of Sai Maharaj in all your thoughts.
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