SAI DIVYA KATHA

The serial starts like this. Some school children in a tourist bus visit Puttaparthi. On reaching Puttparthi, they sit at the outskirts and the teacher heading the camp narrates to them about the Divya Katha of Shirdi Sai and Sathya Sai.

Today is shown the part of how the would be mother of Shirdi Sai is approached by an elderly man (Lord Siva in disguise), when her husband is out of town and is asked to massage his feet so that he may be relieved of his pain. The woman having been put in a dilemma like this (this role is being played by the producer-actress Anjali herself; she also plays the role of Swami's mother, Easwarambal)) goes through the back door to her neighbours asking for assistance. Unfortunately no one is able to come as all of them (ladies) happen to be alone in the house. She comes back home finding no solution to her problem and as she prays to Lord Siva seeking help, she gets a knock at her back door and finds a woman who wants to stay with her and leave in the morning.

The would-be-mother of Shirdi Sai feels greatly relieved and also tells her about her own plight, being a lady alone in the house how she could not attend to the request of the elderly gentleman. The newly arrived lady agrees to come to her help and the elderly gentleman is then invited by her inside the house. She then massages His feet. Then both Lord Siva and Parvathi give the woman their physical darshan. Here ends the first episode of the serial.

Episode 2 shown on August 8, 1999

. The second Episode started with a recap of the previous week's. How one night Gangabhavadya left his wife Devagiriamma alone in the house. How an old man came to her , asking her to massage his feet, how unexpectedly another woman came to her rescue agreeing to massage the old man's feet etc.. The last Episode ended here with the sudden appearance before Devagiriamma, of Lord Siva and Parvathi in the place of the old man and the young woman. To continue this week's episode.

Devagiriamma, in all Divine ecstasy and tongue-tied, prostrates at the Lotus Feet of Lord Siva and Umai (Paarvathi). Paarvathi then blesses her :

"I grant you a son to maintain the lineage and a daughter for kanyadhaan (offering a girl in marriage, when the 'gotra' of the girl changes to that of the husband's)"

The Lord Easwara blesses her:

" I am immensely pleased with your devotion. I will incarnate as your third child, a son."

After granting her the boons, the Divine Pair disappear and Devagiramma lies in the ecstatic state until the return of her husband in the early hours. When he calls her up, she wakes up from her Divine Bliss and then narrates everything to him. Ganghabavadhya does not believe her. He says : "Even the great rishis and many Bhaktas of Sivas, had performed severe austerities and penance (Tapas) and they had not been able to get the darshan of the Lord or Devi. You know how much of suffering Ramdas had to undergo before he had the Lord's darshan. How is it possible that they appeared before you, who is just an ordinary woman."

However much she tells him repeatedly he does not believe her. Time rolls by. Devagiriamma delivers a boy and a girl as blessed by Paarvathi. Gangabavadhya is now convinced that his wife had indeed had the Divine Darshan and blessings of the Lord and Devi.

And some time later she conceives again. By the time she is into her ninth month Gangabavadhya feels detached with everything. He tell his wife;

" Lord Easwara and Devi Paarvathi have given you Darshan, I am not a fortunate one. I am leaving the family life and am going into the forest ". so saying and chanting "Om Namaschivaya !" he leaves the home.

Devagiriamm is unable to detain him. So she leaves her children with a trusted neighbour and goes after her husband in torrential rain and storm. Before she could even join her husband, she develops labour pain and the episode ends with a shriek of a new born baby.

This baby is the Shirdi Sai. Until our Swami disclosed this detail, no body knew about this. On September 28, 1990, during a discourse at Prasanthi Nilayam, Swami revealed the details of the incarnation of Lord Siva in the form of Shirdi Sai.on September 27, 1838

Thus the story writer for this Shirdi Sai Katha is Swami Himself!

Episode3 shown on August 15, 1999

Devagiriamma holding the new born baby in hand, vacillates in her mind. Whether she should yield to the call of Motherhood and take care of the child, ignoring the husband or she should observe her duty as a dutiful wife. Thus dwelling in moments of dilemma, she ultimately decides to leave the child in the forest itself and goes after her husband. ( we should understand that These are Acts of Divine Play).

After some time a Hindu Patel couple happen to pass through the forest and as they come near the spot where the baby was abandoned, they hear the cries of the baby. They have their cart stopped and alight to find out where the sound of the baby-cries is coming from. They ultimately locate the child and finding no claimant to the baby nearby, decide to take the child with them. They bring up the child as their own.

As he grows into a small boy only, he starts giving lectures to the parents on complicated religious scriptures. The parents are astonished. Once his adopted mother notices him distributing among his friends some eatables specifically kept for purposes of "Naivedhyam"( offering to Lord), even before they are offered to the Lord in worship. When she reprimands him, he coolly explains that offerings to "Adithis" (guests) are as good as offerings to the Lord. The mother is stunned at his lucid explanation. The parents now realise he is not an ordinary child.

As time rolls by, the boy starts visiting Hindu temples and as well as Masjids. Before a Masjid he goes and preaches Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu Religious scriptures. He declares "Sabka Maalik Ek" (There is only one Master for all", meaning There is only one God). Then he goes to Hindu temples and starts preaching what is stated in Koran. Thus people are bewildered at the strange behaviour of the young boy. However much they try to force him to stop his utterances he silences them by his sparkling replies and countenance and arguments which baffle them. But failing to see the divinity in the boy, all of them go and complain to Patel, the adopted father. They reprimand the father for the utterances of the boy. After they leave his house, Patel tries to convince the boy to give up his odd behaviour but in vain. Feeling deeply hurt, he gets a sudden heart attack and succumbs to it.

Thus ends this week's episode number three.

Episode 4 shown on August 22, 1999

In this episode, all the events are centred around the boy-Shridi baba. He plays �marbles� with boys of his age in the village. Every time during his turn he hits at the marbles accurately and thus wins all the marbles of others. One of the boys� mother has a �Saligram� (like the lingam that our Swami manifests) in the shrine of her house. This boy in his desperation to win back his marbles from the young-Baba, steals this �saligram� from the shrine and comes back to young Baba and plays with that �saligram� as the marble. Little Baba �hits that saligram also out of the circle� and thereby wins that too. The mother finds out that the �saligram�is missing from her shrine and she becomes desperate. By now there is a commotion outside her house and she finds her son and the young Baba indulging in a fracas. Her son tries to snatch the �saligram� from the hands of �baba� who refuses to give it saying �he has won it�. The mother sees the Saligram in his hands and pleads with him to give it back to her as that has to go back to the shrine in her house. Baba refuses. She tries to hold him and snatch it from him. He immediately swallows it. The lady virtually throttles him to spit it out but it is already swallowed by him. However when he opened his mouth she is amazed to see the whole world inside his mouth and ultimately Sri Krishna with His flute. Unable to withstand the effects of such a sudden revelation of Divinity , she swoons on the spot. The other villagers around failing to understand what happened goes to the mother and again complains about the boy. The mother ultimately decides to take the boy and leave him in a Gurukulam.

She takes him to �Venkusa Rishi��s hermitage. As they near the place, they see the Great Rishi teaching all his �sishayas� �Suraya namaskaar� and �Adithya Hridayam�. After the �sishyaas� are dismissed for the day, Rishi Venkusar sees the young Baba and the mother. He is able to see the Divine Halo around the head of the young Baba and immediately realises who He is. And welcomes him with both his hand �Baba, Please come into my hermitage, I am awaiting you� He tells the mother that the boy is no ordinary being. The mother acknowledge what he says and that she also realises that. That is why she wants to leave him in his hermitage so that the ignorant outside world no longer complains about him with knowing about his Divine Nature.

This is where the fourth episode ends.

Episode 5 shown on August 29, 1999

Venkusar assures the adopted mother of Shirdi Sai that he will take care of her child and that she could leave him in the hermitage. The mother advises little Baba to be very respectful and obedient toward his Guru and learn everything. Then with tears and a heavy heart she leaves him in the hermitage and goes.

The next day morning, Venkusar as a routine his students to repeat the Surya Namaskar taught to them previous day. They chant the slokas worngly. Young Baba says it accurately(!) Venkusar is stunned and asks him how did he know. He says he listened to Venkusar�s teaching when he arrived at the Ashram, the previous day. Venkusar then tells his other students that they should emulate upon Baba in learning.

Venkusar develops a special love and attachment for Baba and gives him the privilege of attending to all his personal needs. This makes the rest of the students jealous of Baba. Baba becomes a lad of about 16 years. As one day some students start discussing among themselves about the increasing love-bondage between Venkusar and Baba and were revealing their envy through their utterances, suddenly Venkusar arrives there. He advises them that they should first give up their jealousy and hatred and develop instead Love towards fellow beings. His advice however falls on deaf ears. After he leaves the place, a few of them pick up a quarrel with Baba and a scuffle ensues. One of the students picks up a brick and throws at Baba�s head. Baba falls down bleeding profusely and writhing in pain. Venkusar comes there and lifts the injured Baba and places his head on his lap.He wipes the blood on the forehead of Baba and then takes a white cloth and ties it around his head (the way Shirdi Baba always wore).

Venkusar then advises all the students how it is essential to give up �Kam and Krodh� . The scene here shifts to students who are camping on the outskirts of Puttaparhti. The teacher who tells the story from the beginning now briefs about what happens next. She then tells her studetns how Baba then leaves Venkusar�s Ashram and how in a forest, one Chand Patil coming in search of his horse is met by Sai Baba and how Baba tells him to find his horse at a particular spot and how accordingly he finds the horse in the said place. Later he asks Baba to go with him to his village and Baba readily goes with him. All these are narrated by the teacher to the students. The last scene of this week�s episode is Baba as a young fakir is seated at the outskirts of the villages. Many hungry people line up in front of him and he distributes all the �puris� kept by him for personal use to all those people and he goes without food.

Here ends the 5th episode.

Episode 6 shown on September 5, 1999

A recap of the previous 5 episodes. Lord Siva takes birth as the third son of Devagiriamma who abandons the child in the forest and goes in search of her husband Ganghabavadhya who had renounced family life in search of God. This child is found and brought up by a Hindu Patel couple. This child is the Shirdi Sai Baba. The adopted father dies suddenly consequent to reports from the village folk against the child Sai Baba, whose divinity, excepting the adopted mother, no body else understands. The widowed mother, because of constant complaints from the neighbours, leaves the child in the "Gurukulam" of Venkusar. Venkusar realises the latent divinity in Sai Baba and shows special kindness and love towards him while he is at his Aashram. The rest of the students get jealous of him and one day in a scuffle, the young Sai Baba is hit with a brick by one of the students. Venkusar ties a white cloth in a particular fashion on his head which remain like that for ever. Subsequently the young Sai Baba leaves the Aashram for ever and travels on his own. The last episode ended with Sai Baba distributing all the puris (a fried pancake sort of thing made from wheat flour mixed with water) he had, without keeping anything for him.

To continue today's episode number 6

Sai Baba settles at Shirdi. He sits under the famous Neem tree outside the old Masjid and goes inside the Masjit for sleeping. He grows old attracting more and more number of devotees. He is all the time shown with his close devotees like Shama , Laxmi Bhai and others. One devotee or the other is always fanning him with the pea-cock feather fan. He keeps on teaching people about the impermanence of all creations excepting the Creator. He further gives sermons to them on the following lines:

"If people or animals come to you for anything, do not discourteously drive them away, but receive them well and treat them, with due respect and Love. Love is actually God. Shri Hari (God) will be pleased, if you give water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, clothes to the naked, and your spare space to strangers for sitting and resting. If anybody wants any money from you, and you feel like not giving, do not give, but do not bark at him, like a dog. Let any body speak ill of you, do not give heed to it. If you always tolerate such things, you will certainly be happy."

Then the devotees sing the bhajan " Om Sri Sai Jaya Jaya Sai". And at the end of the bhajan Baba accepts Aarthi from the devotees. Baba becomes quite old and sickly also. His devotees get frightened and express their fears. Baba tells them not to fear and that the body is not a permanent thing and it has to perish one day etc. etc.

Thus during this week's episode there is very little shown. I feel that the way the part of the serial concerning Shirdi Sai is being speeded up, by the eighth episode only the Advent of our Swami, Parthi Sai may come up on the screen. Let us wait and see

Episode 7 shown on September 12, 1999

Once again it is Divine moments on the TV this Sunday. The previous 6 episodes have dealt with the birth and growth of Shirdi Sai Baba, how he reached Shirdi.etc. His present body becomes old causing concern and grief to His very close devotees. Sai Baba however tells them not to worry as the body is after all impermanent and has to perish one day.

Now to continue the current episode.

It is again the reenactment of last week�s scenes. Baba in between coughs reiterates His preachings. �Atma alone is permanent and never perishes whereas the body which houses the Atma perihes like a water bubble,:� Next day again the same assembly of people is there. Baba this times talks of His remaining permanently in the hearts of those people who sincerely yearn for Him, that He would be appearing to His devotees even after His leaving the mortal coil. He again stresses the need for His devotees to follow His preaching. �Show love to fellow beings. Share excess with those who do not have etc. etc.� After some preaching He starts coughing and his physical condition worsens., Shama and Laxmi Bhai and others once again start weeping. They all beg Him to stop talking and have rest. Baba says: �Yes Yes I will have permanent rest.�

Then he asks Shama about the renovation of the Krishna temple for which Shama answers that the renovation of the temple was going on well.. Then He hands over to Laxmi Bhai nine pieces of stones (something like gems) and explains to her that they represent the nine codes of conduct to be followed by all human beings. That He expects all His devotees to follow what He has preached them And that He will install Himself in the hearts of people who sincerely love Him and yearned for Him.

So saying He suddenly stops talking and coughs with great physical strain. Devotees around once again request Him to stop talking and take rest. He says He is going to take permanent rest. As He talks suddenly a �Halo� appears around His head and He make the great proclamation:

� I have incarnated in Badri village in this birth and 8 years from now I will reincarnate in the village called Puttaparthi�

So saying He slowly lies on His back to breath His last and the Atma leaves his mortal coil and Shirdi Sai Baba attains the Samaadhi that He frequently referred to while talking to His devotees. The Devotees lie prostrate before the body and weep uncontrollably. Eventhough I was watching only the TV I myself could not control my tears, (attachment!?) as I saw Shirdi Sai Baba leaving the mortal coil and attaining the Samaadhi.

PARITRAANAAYA SADHUNAAM
VINAASHAAYA CHA DUSHKRITAAM
DHARMASANSTHAAPANAADHAAYA
SAMBHAVAMI YUGE YUGE

This verse of the Bhagavad Gita is always recited melodiously with the picture in the background of our beloved Puttaparthi Sai in a blessing posture , each time the episode starts. This time it has special significance because the advent of the Shirdi Avathar gets over in this episode.(As I had surmised already)

OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI

We will meet next Sunday

Click to read from the 8th to 12th Episodes

Click to read from the 13th to 16th Episodes
Click to read from the 17th Episode

Sign Guestbook View Guestbook
You are visitor number since SEP 04, 1999

� 1999 [email protected] or at [email protected]


<

---

My Home Page | This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws