""My Guru never expected anything from me. He never neglected Me, but protected Me at all times".

Answer to last week Question

If Baba was a Fakir and perfectly non-attached, why should he ask for Dakshina and care for money?

Answer as Explained in Shri Sai Satcharitra

First for a long time, Baba did not accept anything. He stored burnt matches and filled His pocket with them. He never asked anything from anybody--whether he be a devotee or otherwise. If anybody placed before Him a pice or two, He purchased oil or tobacco. He was fond of tobacco, for He always smoked a bidi or Chilim (an earthen pipe). Then some persons thought that they could not see the Saints empty-handed, and they, therefore, placed some copper coins before Baba. If a pice was placed before Him. He used to pocket it; if it was a two pice coin, it was returned immediately. Then after Baba's fame had spread far and wide, people began to flock in numbers; and Baba began to ask Dakshina from them. It is said in the Shruti (veda) that Puja of the Gods is not complete, unless a golden coin was offered. If a coin was necessary in the Puja of the Gods, why should it be not so in the Puja of the Saints also? Ultimately, the Shastras laid it down that, when one goes to see God, King, Saint or Guru, he should not go empty-handed. He should offer something, preferably coin or money. 

In this connection we may notice the precepts recommended by the Upanishads. The Brihadaranyak Upanishad says that the Lord Prajapati advised the Gods, men and demons by one letter "Da". The Gods understood by this letter that they should practice (1) "Dama" i.e. self-control; the men thought or understood that they should practice (2) "Dana" i.e. charity; the demons understood that they should practice (3) "Daya" i.e. compassion. To men Charity or giving was recommended. The teacher in the Taittiriya panishad exhorts his pupils to practise charity and other virtues. Regarding charity he says, "Give with faith, give with magnanimity, i.e. liberally, give with modesty, with awe and with sympathy. In order to teach the devotees the lesson of charity and to remove their attachment to money and thus to purify their minds, Baba extracted Dakshina from them; but there was this peculiarity, as Baba said, that He had to give back hundred times more of what He received. There are many instances, in which this has happened. To quote an instance, Mr. Ganpatrao Bodas, the famous actor, says in his Marathi autobiography, that on Baba's pressing him often and often for Dakshina, he emptied his money-bag before Him. The result of this was, as Mr. Bodas says, that in later life he never lacked money, as it came to him abundantly. 

There were also secondary meanings of Dakshina, in many cases, in which Baba did not want any pecuniary amount. To quote two instances - (1) Baba asked Rs.15/- as Dakshina from Pro. G.G.Narke, who replied that he did not have even a pie. Then Baba said, "I know you have no money; but you are reading Yoga-Vashistha. Give Me Dakshina from that." Giving Dakshina in this case meant - `Deriving lessons from the book and lodging them in the heart where Baba resides'. (2) In the second case Baba asked a certain lady (Mrs. R. A. Tarkhad) to give Rs.6/- as Dakshina. The lady felt pained, as she had nothing to give. Then her husband explained to her that Baba wanted six inner enemies (lust, anger, avarice etc.) to be surrendered to Him. Baba agreed with this explanation. It is to be noted, that though Baba collected a lot of money by Dakshina, He would distribute the whole amount the same day, and the next morning He would become a poor Fakir as usual. When Baba took His Mahasamadhi, after receiving thousands and thousands of Rupees as Dakshina for about ten years, He had only a few Rupees in His possession. 

In short, Baba's main object in taking Dakshina, from His devotees was to teach them the lessons of Renunciation and Purification.  

Question of the Week:

"It is true that you give to the persons present; but if none be near-by, what could you or I do But do you remember Me before eating? Who is this me? What is the moral of this saying?

Question : What should be the attitude of human beings towards passion and lust?

Answer :

As human beings we should keep our inner self in a pious and chaste condition. We must always remember the source from which all the bhava emanate. It is much more important to be free of the bhava of lust than the act of lust. Some people are mentally engrossed in lust. Lust flows in their thought always and they commit number of such actions in a hidden manner. Such people should keep their mind free of lust by taking along the Sadguru with them in their thought process always. Salvage your mind from those causes because of which the lustful bhava is generated.

More questions and answers in the book "May I Answer".

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OM SRI SAINATHA NAMAH.

Myself am Sreevani, Am SAI devotee since 1994. Even I came to know about SAIBABA in the year 1993.

Now everything is SAI to me in my life.

Right now my daughter is 9 months old. She use get very frequently fever one more incident happened to my daughter which i wish to mention. One day there was power cut for full night, then my daughter was 2 months old.

Though i took full care of her for whole night still the mosquitoes didn’t leave her. I myself couldn’t see her face next day, She was severely bitten my mosquitoes and her face, body was full of red marks. Everyone got scared after seeing her. After few hours she got fever, then we took her to doctor. Doctor scolded us and said babies are very tender we should avoid them from such happenings and he also told many diseases come from mosquitoes bite so if fever doesn’t stop for three days then its better to undergo blood test, then actually city was full of brain fever and malaria.

Then I was scared and took vow to sai that i will put this incident in ur site if my baby is all right and even sent M.O to Shirdi in name of my daughter.

It is because of SAI grace my child was quite alright after 3 days.

I LOVE U SAIBABA.THANKS FOR BEING WITH US AT ALL TIMES.

SAIRAM.BOW TO SAI PEACE BE TO ALL.

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|| Bow to Shirdi Sai, Peace be to all ||