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Shirdi Sai and Sathya Sai are One
and the Same
By Arjan D. Bharwani
21. THE PAVITRA TIRATHA
The eighty
two year old Janakamma, mother of Shri N. Kasturi, who had been
living at Prasanthi Nilayam for the past twenty years, had
repeatedly prayed to Baba to bless her with sips of holy water at
the last moment of her life. The compassionate guarantor of the
bhaktas' yearnings, had promised to grant her prayer.
Baba was
away at Whitefield when the last day arrived. At about 9.00 A.M.
that day, Janakamma had nausea whilst she was engrossed and deeply
lost in her prayers during the bhajans. She immediately left the
prayer hall and rushed to her room. Reaching there she vomitted.
Thereafter, she abstained totally from any food or drink. Just as
she was resting at about noontime, she saw a stream of holy water
flowing from the right foot of the idol of Shirdi Sai, placed in
the domestic alter. She was startled on seeing this unique and
Divine miracle. She sat up exclaiming loudly, "Oh ' Tiratha is
falling from Baba's Foot' There and then she started collecting
this Tiratha into a cup and with extreme devotion and sense of
gratitude, she partook the Divine Tiratha. With the drinking of
this blissful and life giving elixir she was filled with great
Ananda. Within a few moments of this and having attained the
fulfillment of her intense yearning, this purified soul departed
from its habiliment. Three days after this incident Bhagavan Sri
Sathya Sai returned to Prasanthi Nilayam and informed Shri Kasturi,
"On the last day of her life at the time when bhajans were going
on in the Prasanthi Mandir, did not your mother have vomits in her
room. It was I who had initiated the nausea so as to completely
evacuate and cleanse her stomach before she could drink the Holy
Tiratha". In 'Guru Gita' in 'Skanda Puranam' is delineated a
phenomenon called the 'Sati Akaraka'. This is enumerated as one of
the attributes of a real Guru and is said to be his ability to
provide solace at the moment when the soul of a devotee departs.
Shirdi Sai is documented to have provided this to many. In the
above mentioned instance and on many other occasions, Sathya Sai
has drawn a parallel clearly discernible.
Sometime ago
during the period of His (Sathya Sai) Leelas and Mahimas, He used
to go on a transcorporeal journey, coinciding with the moment of
death of a devotee. Whilst His gross body lay at the spot,
sometime 'vibhuti' and at others earth used to emanate from Him,
depending on the cremation or burial that was he mortal remains.
Invariably on Hls return, Baba used to narrate the escapade to
those present there and confirmatory communications were always
received from the relatives of the deceased within a few days.
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