Friday, May 25, 2007

Sai Baba's enlightened devotee in Shirdi Nanavali

Sai Baba had said about Nanavali that he is one with God. Later after 1908, many devotees from Bombay now Mumbai, and other places began to flock to Sai Baba in Shirdi, with the material gains in their minds. Here in the video it is shown how Nanavali reacted once, to the situation. People coming with the material gains in mind he compared that with the donkey. The donkey was symbol put by him for the material gains seeking devotees , coming to Sai Baba in Shirdi. From the one who could give them infinite, people where flocking for the fulfillment of their petty desires. And Sai Baba according to his dictum 'I give people what they want in the hope that they will begin to want what I want to give them.' Also few statements of Sai Baba suggests what Nanavali was pointing to:

“But what My Sircar (God) gives, lasts to the end of time. No other gift from any man can be compared to His. My Sircar says "Take, take," but everybody comes to me and says 'Give, give.' Nobody attends carefully to the meaning of what I say. My Sircar's treasury (spiritual wealth) is full, it is overflowing. I say, "Dig out and take away this wealth in cartloads, the blessed son of a true mother should fill himself with this wealth. The skill of my Fakir, the Leela of my Bhagwan, the aptitude of my Sircar is quite unique. What about Me? Body (earth) will mix with earth, breath with air. This time won't come again. I go somewhere, sit somewhere; the hard Maya troubles Me much, still I feel always anxiety for My men. He who does anything (spiritual endeavour) will reap its fruit and he who remembers these words of Mine will get invaluable happiness."

Also at one instance Sai Baba while sitting in the masjid (Dwarkamai) is reported to say that, the walls of Masjidmai were made of gold (Spiritual Wealth) but very few cared to take that away.

Below is the mention of Nanavali in the live experience of Tarkhad Family:

There was a eccentric devotee of SaiBaba by name Nanavali. I am taking this liberty to term him as cranky because he use to perform very funny acts (monkey tricks), which use to annoy people and they use to complain to Baba about his misbehavior. Baba would then scold Nana stating that devotees would go away from Shirdi if he continues to misbehave. My father had different kind of admiration for Nanavali. He was suffering from hernia so much so that the grown up portion use to touch the ground and he use to walk in that fashion only. Sometimes he used to tie the pieces of cloth to his trousers at the back forming a long tail and then he use to jump like a monkey.

All the children of the village use to get amused with his monkey tricks and then in that state he used to come running to Baba to save him torn the onslaught of the children. My father used to wonder as to how can this man in that state of hernia run so fast. He never thought pf him to be a mad person. Nanavali used to call my father by name Gawalya' and use to beg him for food. Then my father used to go to the eating, house run by Sagun and request him to feed him with sufficient food. According to my father Sai Baba and Nanavali was like a pair of Lord Ram and his ardent devotee Lord Hanuman. Nanavali once commanded Baba to allow him to sit on his seat. Baba responded positively to his call and got up from his seat and allowed Nanavali to occupy the same.

Nanavali sat for a while on the seat and then got up saying, “Oh Lord only you can occupy this seat because it suits you, my right place is near your feet only”. You can all imagine what great guts Nanavali had to ask Baba to allow him to occupy his seat and also the enormous quantum of love that Baba extended to him and vacated his 'Asan' (seat) for beloved Nanavali. Offcourse the reason why my father use to reckon them as an equivalent pair of Lord Ram & Hanuman is different. Once Nanavali told my father "Hey Gawalya come with me and I will show you some fun". He then took my father to 'Chavadi' which is a little distance from Dwarkamai. Baba was sitting there in Chavadi.

In no time Nanavali reduced his stature and made himself so small that he could fit in a 'Handi' (glass bowls which are tied with small ropes and hung onto the ceiling of the Chavadi) and then literally jumped up and went and sat up in one of the 'Handis'. Like a monkey he was sitting in the Handi and teasing my father. My father was astonished to see that act. It was unbelievable. It was nothing short of a miracle. How can Nanavali with that state of his body jump so high and make himself small enough to sit in that Handi. It was simply amazing and unbelievable. He then realized that Sai Baba and Nanavali are Avatar of Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman in Shirdi. He instantly prostrated in front of Baba there and then venerated Him.

Dear Sai Devotee readers Nanavali was deep in sorrow after Baba had taken the Samadhi and on the thirteenth day he himself renounced this world. Nanavali's Samadhi is situated near the eastern entrance door of Lendi Baug. I always bow before it whenever I visit Shirdi. Millions of bows to Lord Sai and his amazing Leelas.

In incidents of a great devotee of Sai Baba Upasani Maharaj, whose ashram is located at Sakori, about 5 kilometers from Shirdi, the following is recorded:

As Upasani Maharaj proceeded from the stage of illumination to self-realisation occult powers and ‘siddhis’ came to him. When an aspirant evolves in the spiritual path higher psychic and occult powers gradually grow in him. He could read the minds of everyone – his past, present and future. People started surrounding him and he had some following. Often, when he would be worshipped by a few persons, a crazy ascetic called Nanavali, who stayed at Shirdi, would come and pull out his cloth and talk with him with disrespect and contempt. Once he tied him up and beat him up. As Nanavali was a tough and dangerous person, no one could protect Upasani Maharaj. His cup of sorrow was full but inwardly his Godly qualities were evolving to perfection. He was getting ready for his new and bigger role. Every time he faced a problem, Sai assured him by saying that He (Sai) was always with him and that the more he suffered at present, better it would be for his future.

As mentioned in Sri Sai SatCharitra, this soul one with the infinite, left his body on the 13th day of MahaSamadhi of Sai Baba.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very Nice Post....yes, Nanavali is like Hanumanji of Sai Baba....Really Loved Reading about it!

Om Sai Ram!

Anonymous said...

You can download Hanuman Chalisa, Bajrang Baan, Shri Gayatri Aarti and much more Mp3s here:
http://hanumanji.wordpress.com
YouRs SinCereLy CrippLeD SaM

రామ ShastriX said...

Yes, very interesting, Alpesh.

Wonder why Hemadpant never mentioned about this Hanuman-ness of Nanavali.

Gnoted the same.

Anonymous said...

Chanting Baba's name really works. My dad was without job for 6 months. But he got 1cafter we went to Shirdi

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