By: Chakor Ajagaonkar
When Sai Baba gave up his life temporarily for three days to get relief from his respiratory problem in 1886, God made him reveal himself as the Guru incarnation. This began to manifest between 1905 and 1909 and Baba was known as Satchitananda Guru, a roving incarnation of Dattatreya in the fakir attire. Nana, Ganu, Sathe, Dixit, Dhumal, Bhishma, Kushabhau, Upasani, and many others acted as catalytic agents in revealing Baba in the new form. They became the foundation stones and basic material of his cosmic mission as Guru. Baba was simultaneously helping samsaric, common, and materialistic men and women who had faith in him to develop as bhaktas surmounting their shortcomings and foibles. The Guru Poornima of 1909 was the selected hour for this recognition and manifestation. This was a glorious period of ‘Guru Mahima’ of Baba.
Baba’s mission did not end with his Mahasamadhi. It marked the expansion of his power, glory, and dynamic capacity. It was his entry into the universal plane to lead his work more comprehensibly and more conclusively. Devotees flocked to him in the brighter segment of his life (1909-l8)
Guru Poornima in Shirdi –
The festival of Guru Poornima started in Shirdi in 1909 and went onto becomes a regular feature. The Guru lovers had assembled earlier in 1908 to have Baba’s darshan and Upadesh. However, Baba was in trance (Yoga Nidra) then. Devotees sang the morning Raag in Bhupali:
‘O Shripati, Shrikanta, rise up from slumber.
If you are yourself in slumber, who will rouse the sleeping samsara?’
When Baba woke up, he told his devotees, ‘You have come together on this auspicious day. But I am not God. I am his servant. God dwells in the sky occupied by Brahma and operates even from a pole, like this pole in Dwarkamayi. You adore this pole, which symbolizes my fakir Guru. Guru is not an image or figure. He is a principle.’
In 1908, Baba made all Guru bhaktas worship the pole against which he leaned in the masjid. Next year onwards he allowed them to worship his feet. Baba’s devotees told him that he was their Guru idol and so asked him to give them mantra or Upadesh. They wanted him to rekindle their hearts with the flame of his own heart. Baba was pleased.
He told them that dedication and surrender to one’s Guru was the secret of bhakti. The Nath, Datta, Sufi, and Kabir cult have respected the Guru-disciple relationship with the utmost value. Meditation on Guru form will transform a bhakta into Guru just as a moth which concentrates on a bee and becomes the bee itself. Baba’s message, ‘You look to me. I shall look to you,’ is the essence of the secret of Guru marga.
He said, “My Guru taught this to me. He never imparted any mantra to me. He carried me on his shoulder and protected me from all sides. I had only to look at his face. Shraddha and Saburi were the two things he took as Dakshina from his disciples. I served my Guru for twelve years. What I am before your eyes is itself ‘Sakshatkar’. One who was Rama and Krishna is now Sai Baba. I shall carry you beyond the waves of ‘Maya’ by my own power of grace and compassion.”
“If you recite ‘Sai, Sai,’ always, I will take you beyond the seven seas. If you believe in these words, you will be certainly benefited”. – (Chap 13, Ovi 11-13)
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