Topic 26

This is another story taken from the Shri Sai Satcharitra which teaches us that we should be content with what God gave us. Once Lord Shri Shirdi Saibaba made his devotee to learn on his own, this fact. For knowing how He did it and how the devotee learnt the lesson, let us start the story.

Once Shri Dasuganu Maharaj, a devotee of Lord Shri Saibaba, started to write a commentary on Eeshavasyopanishad. This Eeshavasyopanishad, according to Prof. Ranade, contains many details about inner knowledge, beautiful description on Athma (soul) and invaluable description on yogi (spiritual man). Dasuganu wrote a commentary on it in marathi language in Ovi Chandassu (a form of decorative grammar). But he could not get the gist on it. He was not contented with what he wrote. He consulted other well-read people who knew shastras. But he could not get what he wanted.

When no one could give proper explanation to him on this upanishad, he decided to consult Lord Shri Shirdi Sai Baba. When he got chance, he came to Shirdi, met Lord Shri Saibaba, prayed to his Holy feet, explained his difficulty in understanding Eeshavasyopanishad and pleaded Him to give proper explanation for it.

Lord Shri Saibaba blessed him and said, "don't be in a hurry. There is no difficulty in this matter. The maid-girl at Kakasaheb Dixit's house in Viliparle will clarify your doubt on your return journey.". Everyone around there thought that Lord Shri Saibaba is joking. They said how can a complete illeterate maid-girl explain this thing.

Having full faith on Lord Shri Saibaba, Dasuganu left Shirdi for Kakasaheb Dixit's house at Viliparle. The next day morning as soon as he woke up from his sleep he heard a song being sung by a poor little girl. The song is all about describing a red saree. He liked the song and so he came out and listened to the song. That little girl is the sister of Kakasaheb Dixit's servant, Namya. She is a small girl. She wore torn out clothes and was cleaning all the dishes. Seeing her poverty and her happiness, Dasuganu felt pity on her. The next day while Rao Bahadur M.V. Pradhan was giving Dhoti and other clothes to Dasuganu, he recommended Rao Bahadur to give a small saree to that girl. Rao Bahadur bought a nice small saree and gifted it to her. Akin to a hungry man getting delicious food, the little girl's happiness knew no bounds. The next day she wore the new saree. Happily she danced and played with other children. She played and danced better than any other child there. The next day she kept the saree in her suitcase and came with her usual torn out clothes with same happiness on her face as it was there when she wore the new saree. Before the girl was poor, so she wore torn out clothes. Now she got new clothes, but she stored them in her suitcase. Even then without any things like sadness or discontent on her face, she played and danced heartfully.

So, by this, Dasuganu realised that the feelings of happiness and sadness depend upon the behaviour of our heart and its thoughts. He thought very deeply about this thing. We should be contented with what God gave us. God will give us whatever we want, by protecting us from all sides. So, he realised that what all God gave us is for our good. In this particular thing, the little girl, her poverty, her torn out clothes, the new saree, the one who granted it, the one who took it, the feeling of granting are all just various forms of God. God is present among all these things. Here Dasuganu learnt the moral of the upanishad; that we should be happy with what we have, whatever we get is by the order of Him and it is for the good-being of us.

This story is taken from Shri Saibaba Jeevitacharitam originally written in marathi by one of Baba's devotee Hemadpant and translated into telugu by Pratti Narayana Rao.

V Rama Aravind,
2006-04-29.
Posted on: 2006-05-01