‘This was a true devotee of
mine’ – was what Sai Baba said about Megha, an ardent devotee who
considered Baba as Shiva incarnate.
In earlier days, Sai Baba was not allowing anyone
to worship Him. If somebody brought a garland, He did not accept it. His perfect purity, asceticism, general benevolence, harmlessness, non
attachment, and other virtues evoked the respect of the saints - Devadas,
Janakidas, Gangagir, Anandanath and Bidkar, that met Him, and also of serious
and noble minded men like Mahlsapathy and his friends Appa Bhil and Tukaram
Darji. Mahlsapathy and his friends regarded Baba as a saint, an Acharya or
Guru Deva as Baba was unattached and happily roaming about fearlessly
and was a help to those in suffering and misery. So far as the general mass was concerned, it was the
fact that He turned water into oil that provoked worship. And the worship took
the usual form of offering flowers, fruits and scents. Baba protested and tried
to dissuade these worshippers. He asked them to go to their customary objects
of worship such as the images they had in their temples and homes. But they
would not listen. They felt that He was a saint, a samartha saint. The
learned could quote Tukaram's ‘Sant toch dev. Dev toch sant’ that is,
Saints are God, God is saints. The Villagers told Him "You are a Bolte
Chalte Dev", that is, a talking and walking God. The persistence of
the mass idea that His siddhis were evidence of divine power, and
therefore, marked Him out as a Guru Deva for worship, could not be
combated or resisted. Sri Upasani Baba put it in these words,
Aneka Asruta Atarkya Leelavitasaih
Samavishkrita Isana BhasvatPrabhavam
Ahambhava Hinam,Prasanna Atmabhavam
Namami Iswaram Sadgurum Sainatham.
“I bow to Sainath, the
Sadguru, who reveals his divine nature through numerous unheard of and
inscrutable lilas, who is free from egotism and has attained
Self-Realisation".
So, like in the case of the
highly learned pandit, Sri Upasani Baba, as in the case of the
uneducated rustics, the ladies of Shirdi, the chamatkars or lilas were
the first prompters to worship Sai as a manifestation of divinity. That was how
individual worship began and grew. Due to
love of various devotees, Baba started permitting devotees to apply sandal paste
to His forehead, offer Him flowers and perform Arati (waving of burning lamps).
The iindividual worship itself was also neither systematic nor
organised. It was Jogeshwar Bhishma, a good Kirtankar and a great
adherent of Vittal worship at Pandharpur, drew up the ritual for Sai Baba
worship on practically the same lines as the Pandharpur worship, and brought a
set of artis that is ritualistic - verses for use by individuals at
Shirdi, and these were sent up by Baba to Nanasaheb Chandorkar at Jamner and
were approved by him. They were largely in use and tended to develop the
worship of Baba on the customary lines of worship in well known temples. The
next step was from individual worship to congregational worship. It was in 1908
that the change was started. Congregational worship implied that there would be
someone to officiate as the pujari and that he would be available at
various periods of worship namely morning, evening, noon and night artis. For
this purpose, Hari Vinayak Sathe, a Settlement Officer, who in 1905 was blessed
by Baba with the promise of a son in case he married, and who got married in
consequence, sent up one Meghashyam called Megha to Shirdi so that he might
officiate as the pujari and carry on congregational worship. But that
man was an extremely dull and rustic Brahmin having hardly any learning either
in Hindu sacred literature or in any other literature. It was
Tatyasaheb Noolkar, who had the privilege of first performing such Pooja on
Guru Pournima Day. Tatyasaheb describes this incident in his letter to
Nanasaheb Chandorkar thus :
"On Saturday just as I got up in bed, I
remembered it was GURU POOJA DAY and made preparations. After Bhikshu
(begging round of Sai Baba) we were permitted to perform Guru Pooja. Baba
allowed us to do upachar (particulars and points of worship) quickly. He
returned all Dakshina that was given at the time of Pooja. Then He sent word to
Radhakrishna (Radhakrishna Mayi) and Dadabhai (Dada Kelkar, father-in-law of
Rao Bahadur Sathe) that Pooja and Arati was being done and they should come. So
Radhakrishna sent her Pooja and Dada came with his Pooja articles."
Thus, with Tatyasaheb Noolkar, started
the congregational worship of Baba with singing of Arati and playing of
musical instruments, which was continued further, first by Megha and then later,
by Bapusaheb Jog. Who was this Megha?
Let us see what Rao Bahadur Hari Vinayak
Sathe has to say:
“Megha was a very simple yet very devout Brahmin whom I
found living at Viramgaon, when I was Deputy Collector there. He would simply
repeat Namashivaya always.
But he did not know Gayatri, much less the whole Sandhya mantra. I got
interested in his welfare, and got him taught Sandhya and Gayatri. I sent him
to Broach to worship Siva there, and paid him Rs. 8 for his fare and expenses.
He would worship Siva standing on one leg only all the time. Then I told him
that Shirdi Sai Baba was in realty the embodied form of God Siva and made him
start for Shirdi. At the Broach Railway Station he learnt that Sai Baba was a
Muslim and his extremely orthodox and simple mind was highly perturbed at the
prospect of bowing to a Moslem and he prayed to me at the station not to send
him to Shirdi. I however insisted and gave him a letter to my father-in-law at
Shirdi to introduce him to Baba. When he went to Shirdi mosque, Baba was
indignant and would not allow him to go into the mosque. ‘Kick out that
rascal’, He cried at the very sight of him and He was also angry that I should
have sent him a man with such hopelessly crude ideas. Megha then went to
Trimbak and worshipped at 'Gangadhwar’ for a year or a year and a half”. He suffered there from severe pains in his abdomen.
During that time he got faith in Baba and came back to Shirdi. Dada Kelkar
interceded on his behalf and Baba allowed him to stay at Shirdi and worship him
at the Mosque.
Sai Baba's help to Megha was not through any oral instruction.
He worked upon Megha internally, that is, mentally. Megha was
considerably changed and benefited. When even the very orthodox Megha thus
became an ardent devotee of Baba, others followed suit and sooner or later gave
up their prejudices against Baba and joined in the congregational worship. All
this required time, and obstacles like Megha's sentiments, had to be overcome
and made stepping stones for further progress.
Megha began to look upon Sai Baba as
an incarnation of Shiva. It is said that Shiva is very fond of being worshipped
with Bilvapatri (Bela leaves). Megha used to go miles and miles to
collect these leaves for worshipping his Shiva, namely Sai Baba. He followed a
procedure of worshipping all the gods in the village first and then come to the
masjid. There he worshipped Baba’s seat (gadi). After that, he caressingly
massaged Baba’s legs. Then he washed Baba’s feet and took the water which
passed through Baba’s feet as Teertha. In short, he worshipped Sai Baba
as though he was worshipping Shiva Linga.
Baba noting his peculiar
idiosyncrasy to worship all the gods in the temples of the village, that is,
Devi, Sani, Siva, Maruti and Khandoba, told him, “After worshipping all these,
come and worship Me”. Megha did so regularly. Megha was impressed with Baba’s
omnipresence, by his directions on some occasions. One day when he went to
Khandoba’s, Upasani Maharaj, who lived there, had bolted the door from within,
and he could not enter into the temple and worship Khandoba. So he returned to
Baba. Khandoba’s temple is very long way off from Baba’s Mosque and is not
visible from there. When Megha went to worship Baba on that day, Baba told him,
“You have not yet done worship at Khandoba’s. If you go there now you will find
the door open. Do the puja of Khandoba and then come here”. Megha then went to
Khandoba and saw the door open as stated by Baba. After doing that puja, he went to Sai Baba for puja.
There is a saying that Shiva is abhisheka
priya and Vishnu is alankara priya. The Shiva Bhaktas perform Rudra
abhishekam regularly. Megha being a staunch Shiva Bhakta, wanted to perform
Gangaabhishekam to Baba. The procedure was to initially apply sandal
paste to the body and then do the abhishekam. Baba was reluctant, but on
repeated requests from Megha, agreed to his request. Happy with this, Megha
traveled 8 koss (24 miles) to Godavari River and brought water. He made all the
preparations and requested Baba to come to the abhishekam place. Sri R.
B. Purandhare, an Ankita Bhakta of
Baba, mentions here one chamatkar of
Baba. In his anxiety to pour Ganga water on Baba, Megha had brought a whole
pot. Baba told him, “Arre, the head is the chief thing,” (sarvasya gatrasya sirah pradhanam), “so put a few drops on the
head and that will suffice”. Baba once again requested him to leave him alone,
as He was a fakir and had nothing to do with Ganga water. Megha was firm. Baba
sat down, and amidst chanting of slokas, Megha began to pour water on Baba’s
head. During that process, he was so overcome with love that he shouted ‘Har
Har Gange’ and poured the water over the entire body. After emptying the pot,
he kept the pot aside and looked at Baba. His mind which was till now full of
joy at the abhishekam was suddenly surprised. Strangely, not a drop of
water fell on the body of Baba. The whole pot of water had fallen on the head
without touching Baba’s body. Only Baba’s head was wet and the rest of the body
was completely dry. So, just as Siva had
tied up Ganga in his own tuft, Baba also used his head for retaining and
throwing away the water so as not to touch his body or cloths.
Megha was treated by Baba very
kindly and Baba suited himself to Megha’s taste. As he specialized in Siva
worship, Baba gave him a Shiva lingam which is worshipped as
Siva.
Megha worshipped Baba at two places.
He worshipped Him in person at the masjid and His photo at the Wada. This big
picture of Baba was given to him by Nanasaheb Chandorkar. He continued Baba’s
worship for twelve months. Happy with his devotion, Baba decided to show His
appreciation. Early in the morning, one day, when Megha was still in his bed
with his eyes closed, he saw Baba’s form. Baba knew that he was awake. He
sprinkled akshata on the bed and said, “Megha, draw a trishul”, and
disappeared. Hearing Baba’s voice, Megha got up and searched for Baba but did
not find Him. To confirm that Baba had come, there were the rice grains of akshata.
He then went to Baba, told Him about the vision and asked His permission to
draw the trishul. Baba said, “Did you not hear My words, asking you to draw the
trishul? It was not a vision but a direct order. My words are always pregnant
with meaning and never hollow.” Megha told about his predicament. He said, “I
thought you woke me up, but found that all the doors were closed. So I thought
that it was a vision.” Baba said, “I require no doors to open. I have no form.
I live everywhere. Like a sutradhar,
I carry out all the actions of the one who trusts Me and becomes one with Me.”
Megha went back to Wada and drew a
trishul on the wall near Baba’s picture. Next day, a Ramdasi bhakta came from Poona,
prostrated at the feet of Baba and offered Him a Shiva Linga. At the same time,
Megha also came to the masjid. Baba told him, “See, Shankara has come. Take
care of Him now,” and gave the Shiva Linga to him. Megha was surprised to see
the Shiva Linga so immediately after he drew the trishul.
Here in the Wada, Kakasaheb had
finished taking bath and was having a towel over his head. He was chanting Sai
Nama. Then he saw a vision of a Shiva Linga. He began to wonder how a Shiva
Linga could come in his mind when he was thinking only of Sai. A few minutes
later, Megha showed him the Shiva Linga presented by Baba. Kakasaheb was taken
aback to see that it resembled the Linga he had seen in his vision. After a few
days, Baba installed the Shiva Linga near the big picture which Megha was
worshipping. Worship of Shiva was very dear to Megha. By arranging the drawing
of the trishul and the installation of the Shiva Linga, Baba confirmed His
faith in Megha’s mode of worship.
When Megha died (in 1912) at Shirdi,
after continuous service of Baba doing regular daily Arati service, (noon and
evening) Baba passed His hands over his corpse and said ‘This was a true
devotee of mine’. The entire village followed the funeral procession.
Baba also accompanied the procession. He placed flowers on the body. After the
obsequies were performed, Baba wept like any other mortal. Tears rolled down
his eyes. It was one of those rare occasions when Baba was overcome with grief
and sorrow. He cried as though He had lost a near relative. With a very heavy
heart, He returned to the masjid. Baba ordered that,
at His own expense, the usual funeral dinner to Brahmins should be given and Kaka
Saheb Dixit carried out this order.
Baba had given sadgati to so
many of the devotees. Megha was a devotee par excellence, and would be
remembered, for ages to come, symbolizing the purest form of devotion to the God
he worshipped.