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SHIRDI SAI PARTHI SAI
PART-12
(Continued from the previous issue)
ACT – V
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SCENE - III
Baba is in His Mandir. Devotees sing Bhajan and then a lady offers Aarathi to Him.
BABA: Lady are you offering Aarathi?… Alright, go ahead.
Baba coughs badly. Devotees are very upset. With an effort,
Baba now speaks.
BABA: Isn’t the Aarathi over? All of you go now and have your meals…………Malsa!
MALSA: Baba!
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BABA: Shyama!
SHYAMA: Baba!
BABA: Aren’t you going to listen to the words of Baba? Are you going to starve this Baba? If you all do not eat, how will My hunger be appeased? That’s why I am asking all of you to go and eat. ………… Listen to Me and go and have your meals. ….. Go….Are you not going? GO! ……GO! Say !! Go and have food.
People leave most reluctantly; Baba is left alone.
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SCENE - IV
Masjid again. The time is fast approaching for Baba to shed His mortal coil. Devotees are aware of it, and are full of grief.
BABA: Shyama!
SHYAMA: Baba!
BABA: Have all the works connected with the modifications to the Krishna Temple in Buti Wada been completed? |
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SHYAMA: Yes Baba, they have all been completed, and I want to take you there….
BABA: Are you taking Me there…?!
SHYAMA: Yes, we all have decided so together. Baba, please will you come?
BABA: Yes Shyama, I shall come, but not now! When it is time to go, we shall all go together!
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APPA KOTE PATIL: Baba, are You saying that we will go after You get better?
BABA: Appa Patil, do you have any doubts that I will get better?
PATIL: Don’t say such a thing, Baba!
BABA: Shyama! It is all your imagination to think that presently I am moving about here and there and that when I stop doing so, it would be Samadhi……..You won’t understand the meaning of all that now, but when the time and the occasion comes, all of you will.
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A LADY: When I hear Your words………….
BABA: Do you think something is going to happen to me? Listen Lakshmi Bai. What has to happen will certainly happen somewhere or the other, sometime or the other!
A MAN: Baba, don’t say that! You must always be with us! Without Your Grace, can we survive even for a minute?
BABA: Mmmm, ……..I am now going to ask all of you a straight question. All these days, did you see only My physical Form? Is there anyone amongst you who has also seen the glory of the Atma? |
ANOTHER MAN: No Baba! When we have Your Darshan, we forget everything else!
MALSA: Baba, my vision is entirely directed towards You. And all I see is the compassion in Your eyes.
BABA: Malsa! If you see only My physical Form, it is your mistake. The Glory of the Atma cannot be seen; it has first to be experienced and then relished. The Atma is subtle and eternal. You cannot see it with your physical eyes; you can only see it with your inner eye and experience it. ……….mmmm.
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LADY: Baba, please don’t strain Yourself by talking.
Baba coughs
BABA: Malsa!
MALSA: Baba!
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BABA: Will you give Me some beetle leaves?
MALSA: Yes Baba, I will.
MAN: Baba, Your health is not good; please rest. You are very weak; Baba, please listen to my words! Can we live without You? |
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BABA: Shyama, life and death are not in our hands. When the work for which we have come here is over, we necessarily have to return! When we inhale air, does the air remain for ever inside? No, it goes out after some time. Similarly, when we eat food, does the food remain inside? No, it does not. ……mmmmm…
The whole of Creation depends on breath, that’s all!…… Life and death are related to inhalation and exhalation. Death pertains only to the body and not to the Atma. …. This being that you are seeing, will still be with you, even if you don’t see the body. My Atma will always be amidst you. I will be like a shadow and a support, and a guide to all of you. It means I am in you, with you and around you.
Baba coughs badly
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LAKSHMI BAI: Baba!
BABA: Lakshmi Bai!
LAKSHMI BAI: Baba!
BABA: Hold out your hand…..(gives coins) Do you know why I am giving you these coins? ……. These nine coins signify the nine paths of devotion. Sravanam [Listening to sacred things], Keertanam [singing the glory of God], Vishnu Smaranam [chanting the Name of the Lord], Charana Sevanam [service at the Lotus feet], Archanam [ritual worship], Vandanam [offering salutations], Dasyam [servitude], Saakhyam [friendship], and Atma Nivedanam [surrender]. These, my dear, are the nine prescribed paths of devotion. …. Lakshmi Bai, you have offered to this Baba during His Shirdi sojourn, these nine forms of devotion with so much love! That’s why, my dear lady, that’s why I am giving you these coins. Keep them carefuly!
Baba again has a coughing bout. |
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MALSA: Baba, Baba, ….. please do not exert Yourself by talking. Please take rest. We are feeling very anxious. Please rest, Baba. We are all frightened, Baba! Yes Baba! Please take rest! Please don’t talk.
BABA: Yes, I shall rest! ….I shall take rest! Till now, all of you have seen only My outer Form. In future, when you meditate on Me, I will be right in front of you; you will see Me just as you are seeing Me now.
Baba coughs once more.
LADY: Please rest, Baba.
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MALSA: Baba, please rest. We are very much worried.
MAN: Please take good rest, Baba. We are frightened!
BABA: I shall do so. …. Malsa!
MALSA: Baba!
BABA: Do you remember how you addressed Me when I first came to Shirdi?
MALSA: Baba, I do remember. I had the good fortune to address You as “Ya Sai”. |
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BABA: How then did that Sai change into Baba?
MALSA: When You were installed in our hearts, You became Sai Baba.
BABA: Mmm… Till today You have heard the words of this Sai. Nana Chandorkar, Shyama, Madhav Patle, Bala Shimbe, Baloji, Malsa, Appa Kote Patil, Ramachandra Patil, Nimondkar, Lakshmi Bai, the words I am now going to utter are not teachings or gospel but a prophecy. This is Baba Vani.
Coughing fit.
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BABA: None of you should get agitated on hearing this prophecy. Eight years after I attain Samadhi, My Atma will again take a body, and, for the sake of service to humanity, incarnate as an Avatar. I shall incarnate again in the village of Puttaparthi that is in Anantapur District of the Rayalaseema region of Madras Presidency. ……….. This is a secret! This is a secret!…. Therefore, none of you should be upset. In this birth, I was born in Pathri but next time, the birth will be in Parthi! Puttaparthi!
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Baba sheds His mortal coil. People cry & wail. They chant:
Asathoma Sadgamaya
(Lead us from Untruth to Truth)
Tamasoma Jyotir Gamaya
(Lead us from darkness to light)
Mrithyorma Amirtham Gamaya.
(Lead us Death to immortality).
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi - Let There Be Peace
END OF THE SHIRDI STORY |
TO BE CONTINUED...
Dear Reader, we started this serial in Jan 2005 and now with the last issue of 2005 the Shirdi Sai story is over. From the new year, Jan 2006 issue, we will start the Parthi Sai story.
- Heart2Heart Team
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