Guru of Saibaba

In Sai Satcharitra, we come across an account of babas words, which testify that our baba had a Guru too. I will help you with all the mandatory information in this context. Our baba is really great. In chapter XVIII and XIX, under the subheading of Mrs Radhabai of Sai satcharitra, baba gives complete account of Guru bhakti and his Guru. I would like to request all the readers to kindly close your eyes and remember shri Sainath maharaja before reading this story from Satcharitra.
P.S. The story added hasn't been re-written, but copied from the PDF edition of Shri Sai Samarth Satcharitra, by Rev Hemadpant.

"Mrs. Radhabai Deshmukh

There was an old woman by name Radhabai, She was the mother of one Khashaba Deshmukh. Hearing Baba's fame, she came to Shirdi with the people of Sangamner. She took Baba's darshan and was much satisfied. She loved Baba intimately and resolved in her mind, that She should accept Baba as her Guru, and take some Upadesh from Him. She knew nothing else. She determined to fast herself unto death, so long as Baba did not accept her, and give her any Upadesh or Mantra. She stayed in her lodging and left off taking any food or water for three days. I was frightened by this ordeal of the old woman, and interceded with Baba on her behalf. I said, "Deva, what is this You have started? You drag so many persons here. You know that old lady. She is very obstinate and depends on You entirely, She has resolved to fast unto death, if You don't accept and instruct her. If any thing worse happens, people will blame You, and say that Baba did not instruct her, and consequently she met her death. So take some mercy on her, bless her and instruct her." On seeing her determination, Baba sent for her, changed the turn of her mind by addressing her as follows:-

"Oh mother, why are you subjecting yourself to unnecessary tortures and hastening your death? You are really My Mother and I am your child. Take pity on Me and hear Me through. I tell you My own story, which if you listen carefully, will do you good. I had a Guru. He was a great Saint and most merciful. I served him long, very long; still he would not blow any Mantra into My ears. I had a keen desire, never to leave him but to stay with and serve him; and at all costs receive some instructions from him. But he had his own way. He first got my head shaved and asked Me two pice as Dakshina. I gave the same at once. If you say that as My Guru was perfect, why should he ask for money and how should he be called desireless? I replied plainly that he never cared for coins. What had he to do with them? His two pice were (1) Firm Faith and (2) Patience or perseverance. I gave these two pice or things to him, and he was pleased.

"I resorted to My Guru for 12 years. He brought Me up. There was no dearth of food and clothing. He was full of love nay, he was love incarnate. How can I describe it? He loved Me most. Rare is a Guru like him. When I looked at him, he seemed as if he was in deep meditation, and then we both were filled with Bliss. Night and day, I gazed at him with no thought of hunger and thirst. Without him, I felt restless. I had no other object to meditate, nor any other thing than My Guru to attend. He was My sole refuge. My mind was always fixed on him. This is one pice Dakshina. Saburi (Patience or perseverance) is the other pice. I waited patiently and very long on My Guru and served him. This Saburi will ferry you across the sea of this mundane existence. Saburi is manliness in man, it removes all sins and afflictions, gets rid of calamities in various ways, and casts aside all fear, and ultimately gives you success. Saburi is the mine of virtues, consort of good thought. Nishtha (Faith) and Saburi (Patience) are like twin sisters, loving each other very intimately."

"My Guru never expected any other thing from Me. He never neglected Me, but protected Me at all times. I lived with him, and was sometimes away from him; still I never felt the want or absence of his love. He always protected Me by his glance, just as the tortoise feeds her young ones, whether they are near her or away from her on the other side of the river bank, by her loving looks. Oh mother, My Guru never taught Me any Mantra, then how shall I blow any Mantra in your ears? Just remember that Guru's tortoise-like loving glance gives us happiness. Do not try to get Mantra or Upadesh from anybody. Make Me the sole object of your thoughts and actions; and you will, no doubt, attain Paramartha (the spiritual goal of life). Look at Me whole-heartedly, and I in turn look at you similarly. Sitting in this Masjid, I speak the truth, nothing but the truth. No Sadhanas, nor proficiency in the six Shastras, are necessary. Have faith and confidence in your Guru. Believe fully, that Guru is the sole Actor or Doer. Blessed is he who knows the greatness of his Guru and thinks him to be Hari, Hara and Brahma (Trimurti) Incarnate."

Instructed in this way, the old lady was convinced; she bowed to Baba and gave up her fast. "


Author's Note : As we can see in this incidence of Satcharitra, how baba mentioned about his Guru and his traits. Many would then ask, baba being the supreme needed no Guru. Why he had a Guru? The answer of this query is given in the Satcharitra itself. Once Saibaba told that irrespective of any status, each one needs a Guru. Every one wants someone to show them the righteousness. No matter how spiritually advanced a seeker is. On the path of Spirituality, "Guru Sisya" tradition is must. Following the same tradition of the eternal dharma, Sanatan dharma, God himself when manifested as Rama and krishna, attended to the Guru Vashishta and Sandpani. One may then impose a query, "What about Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar then? They are the Trimurthis in Hindu deities; who'll be a Guru to them? As we all need a Guru, the three supreme deities are Guru to each other. Brahma is dependent on Vishnu, Vishnu on Shiva and Shiva on Brahma. As Lord Shiva is known as the destroyer; hadn't Lord Brahma created anything, what would have been there to be destroyed? Hadn't Vishnu preserved it, what would have been there to be created. As a matter of fact, they are interdependent and worship each other. And thus, even our baba being the supreme was generous enough to follow the pure tradition mentioned in the holy Scriptures. And he descended on this planet in the form of a human for the sake of his bhaktas (Devotees). And to comply with the laws of this Universe, our baba too had a guru.

Reverting to our topic, the biggest query that might be coming in head of our readers might be, "Who was then, the guru of our Sadhguru Saibaba?". I read a lot of stuff on the very same thread, and found these two names, associated with the Guru of our Sadhguru maharaj Sainath. The former name is Venkusa while the latter is  Zarzari Zar Baksh. Though Sai satcharitra gives no account on the name of Saibaba Guru, the name "Venkusa" is reported from the work of Dasganu, Shri Sai Gurucharitra (Dasganu was among the foremost devotees of baba, who composed some treaties on the Saints of Maharashtra with the grace of baba Sai). 

According to Sai Gurucharitra, Saibaba was handed over to Venkusha while he was 4. Venkusha (Also named Venkudas) was a devotee of Lord venkateshwar. Baba was considered to be an incarnate of Kabir. Venkusha had close relations with Saibaba. Other students of venkusha were jealous of it. Saibaba used to do all that venkusha asked for. Venkusa protected the boy by staying with him every moment. Since the village people found that it was very difficult to kidnap the boy, they decided to kill him. That night was Chaturdasi, a day prior to full moon. The conspirators (Jealous students and villagers) were discussing the methods of killing the boy. They had not brought knives or sticks with them. There were no big stones nearby . While this was the situation, Venkusa and the boy prepared to go to sleep.

Dasganu maharaj : Author of Guru charitra

The boy had peaceful sleep, whereas Venkusa could not sleep as he was preoccupied with thoughts of the boy. One of the conspirators, with a view not to delay their plan further, took a brick which was lying nearby and wanting to kill the boy at one stroke, proceeded towards him. Venkusa who was half asleep, suddenly opened his eyes and found the brick coming towards the boy’s head. He at once put his own head in the path of the brick which hit his forehead and caused bleeding. With blazing eyes, Venkusa cursed him, who fell dead the next moment. Hearing the commotion the boy woke up from his sleep and observed everything. The other two conspirators who were at a distance ran away, lest they would have also died by the curse of Venkusa.

The boy tore off a piece of cloth from his dress and cleaned the injury suffered by Venkusa. They were staring at each other with different thoughts in their minds. While Venkusa was thinking that even at the risk of losing his life, he would hand over the boy as Guru to posterity, the boy was thinking how to repay the debt to his Guru for having protected him. Thus the hearts of Guru and disciple became one, ideas became one, with love and affection in harmony. Such should be the binding force between Guru and disciple.

The sun began to rise in the east with the red rays spreading over the sky. Venkusa and the boy both took their bath in the river. Venkusa milked a nearby cow and puring the milk into the hands of the boy, imparted all the remaining powers he had and commanded the boy to bring to life one of the conspirators who lay dead due to the curse given by Venkusa. The boy washed the toe of the right foot of the Guru and sprinkled this water on the dead person who came alive, saying he regreted his attempt to kill the boy and sought his pardon.

Venkusa wanted to give the boy all the valuable ornaments he was wearing but the boy declined to have them. Instead he requested Venkusa to give him the brick which had hit him on his forehead while saving him (boy) from the murderous attack. Overwhelmed by his request and with tears rolling down from his eyes, Venkusa gave him the brick with his blessings. He wished that the brick always be the boy’s companion and life partner. The boy also requested Guru Venkusa to give him the piece of cloth drenched with blood while cleaning his injury. Moved emotionally by such a request Venkusa tied the cloth piece around the forehead of the boy and declared that it would protect the boy at all times. He told him to proceed along the banks of river Godavari and the place where he found complete peace would be abode. He also advised him to keep away from women and wealth . Afterwards Venkusa proceeded to Selu along with the revived person.

After walking for three days along the banks of River Godavari, the boy reached a place called Kopargaon in the year 1854, Margashira month on the third day after full moon. After taking rest for a day, he again proceeded and reached the village of Shirdi by evening. Not willing to approach anyone for shelter, he began to live under the shade of a big neem tree.

All the Baba devotees might know about this brick. All these incidents were an outcome of research done by Ganpatrao in nearby villages and then compiled in Guru charitra. My question being, Sai satcharitra is older compared with guru charitra, and the former being a work started with babas grace by the Hemadpant. Why then, it does not have any account of Venkusha? And moreover, the brick incidence ceases us to believe the story. None except Baba himself exactly knows about his Mysterious Life. Many claims are there, in which the Das ganu's work is more prominent than others. Let's now move on to another claim, about guru of Saibaba.

This claim was made by Revered Meher baba, one among the perfect saints of time. According to Meher Baba, Sai is the Qutub-e-Irshad, the head of the spiritual hierarchy, and the leading Perfect Master of his time. Meher Baba credited his advent to Sai, Upasni and three other Perfect Masters – Babajan, Tajuddin Baba and Narayan Maharaj.
'All five of these Perfect Masters have brought me down and my Avataric state comprises the five states of these five Perfect Masters', he said once. Every age has five such Masters, who possess simultaneously God-Consciousness and normal consciousness of man.
Readers of Sai Charita may recall that Sai would beg every day for bread in Shirdi. He continued begging up to his last days in 1918. Giving the secret behind Sai's begging, Meher Baba said: 'The houses represented the five Perfect Masters who are always living in the world, and at whose feet the whole universe begs for spiritual and material progress'.
Meher Baba met Sai only once, that too when the World War I was raging. Meher was still a young Zoroastrian, Merwan Sheriar Irani, the son of a first generation Iranian parents settled in Pune. He had just lost gross consciousness and was in a dazed state. That was all because of Hazarat Babajan. One day in May 1913, she kissed 'my beloved son' on the forehead to accomplish her 'mission' of 'unveiling' Merwan.

Meher baba.. Gave account of Zari zari baksh.

Sai was returning from the lendi procession, when he spotted the Zoroastrian. The eyes of the young man and the eyes of the old man steadily gazed at each other. And according to Lord Meher, the great word came out of the old fakir's mouth, ''Parvardigar! When the youngman fell at his feet also, Sai uttered the word 'Parvardigar'!
Parvardigar is an Islamic term for the Protector or Preserver of creation. The daily prayer, Meher Baba gave, also begins with the words, 'O Parvardigar'.
There was a crowd of devotees when the 'meeting' took place in December 1915. In other words there were witnesses to the 'extraordinarily' significant event.
A devotee of meher baba and eye witness says..
'There is no mention of the meeting (Sai and Meher) in Sai Charita. I have not come across Sai devotees speaking about the meeting either. But I met one person who was a witness to the incident', the Professor told me when I met him at Meherabad last fortnight.
And that witness is no ordinary person either. Because he went on to become a great person in his own right and was accepted at home and abroad as an authority on Vedanta and Yoga. He met Meher Baba and sat at His feet as He gave darshan to people from the East and the West in Pune. I recorded his name only phonetically. So I will give his name in my next column after checking the spelling with Prof Rathore. Also after getting some more details.
To go back to that December morning at Shirdi, it is interesting to hear from Bhau Kalchuri, who wrote Lord Meher and devoted ( on the directions of Meher Baba himself) the opening pages of the book to the five Perfect Masters of our time.
Says Bhau, 'The crowd surrounded Sai and pushed the young Meher aside. Sai returned to his seat. And Meher, who was still Merwan, picked himself up and continued wandering along the dusty road'.
From Sai, Meher wandered into the Khandoba temple, where Upasni had been fasting. He was naked, sitting outside on the steps of the temple as the youngman slowly walked forward with folded hands. 'Looking directly at Meher, Upasni picked up a stone, stood up and threw it at the youngman striking him on the forehead with such force that the wound bled'. The stone hit at the very spot Babajan had kissed. Afterwards, Meher and Upasini went inside the temple and stayed alone for two days.
From all accounts, it was with Upasni that Meher Baba was closely associated in the early days of His Avataric life. The two met off and on for seven years. And at one time, Meher Baba lived at Sakori continuously for six months in 1921.
On the day Meher left, Maharaj said, 'You are Adi Shakti' and declared, 'I am handing over my keys to you'.
On his directions, some of his closest disciples became Meher Baba devotees. One of them was Gulmai of Ahmednagar, in whose house, the Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Trust is located today. Her son Adi became Meher Baba's secretary. And her husband, Sarosh, bought from the British army the land at nearby Arangaon village, which has since become the Meherabad.
A facet of Sai Baba, many of his devotees may not know is that he had controlled World War I. Meher Baba himself disclosed the nugget. According to Lord Meher, 'at that time (during the war) when he was walking between the mosque and the temple, a strange light would be seen on his (Sai) face. It was also noticed that he would make strange signs in the air with his fingers. This behavior continued daily for four years, from the start of World War I to its conclusion'.
Interestingly, Meher Baba took recourse to this very strange sign language to speak through his silence.
There is a phase in Sai Baba's life about which nothing much is known even according to Sai Charita. It relates to the period before he settled down in Shirdi.
Meher Baba disclosed the 'missing' details on June 5, 1927, when he took a few of his close disciples to Khuldabad, near Aurangabad. "The tomb of Sai Baba's Master is here (Khuldabad)", he told them and gave the name of the Master as Zarzari Zar Baksh.
Baksh lived some 700 years before Sai. So, how was it possible for the two meet even?
Replied Meher Baba, 'You have no idea of how great is the grace of the Perfect Master. While Zarzari Zar Baksh was alive, Sai, in a previous incarnation, was his disciple. The Master's grace descended upon him at that time; however, it carried over and made him perfect after 700 years. Zarzari Zar Baksh means Giver of the Wealth. This he gave to Sai'.
Sai was inwardly drawn to be near his former Master. He entered a cave overlooking the tomb of Zarzari Zar Baksh, and stayed inside for several years without leaving for food or water. He became God-realized during this period. He was fully conscious of himself as God, 'Anal Haq'; but he was completely oblivious of his own human body and the world around him. Sai remained in this 'dazed' state of an emaciated fakir for over four years."

(Credits for story of Meher baba and baba Sai : Asiantribune)

Having read both of these stories, two are the different claims about Gurus of our Sainath. The latter being claimed by Meher baba (Prominent in chain of greatest saints of the Maharashtra), while former by Das Ganu (One of the closest devotee of Saibaba). It is said that Saibaba must have spent am equal amount of time with a Mahomedan and with a Hindu. His outfit was like a fakir; an Islamic personality. He always uttered, "Allah malik" (One is the Master). One cannot appropriately claim him a Mahomedan as he's well versed in the Vedas and other scriptures. He had an exceptional command over the Sanskrit language. He's an Ocean, where the gems of all the religions were found. Such was our baba, our very own Saibaba! Who ever may be the guru of Saibaba, they might have been sure, that how great were they, as they were chosen to be the Guru of the Sadguru of the Universe. Let's prostrate to that master of our very own Saibaba, and to our baba Sai.
Hari Om tat Sat
Om Shri Sai Nathaye Namah