Puja Pillar
Puja pillar
Just in front of the dhuni, on the
right as you face it with your back to the portrait, you will see a painted
wooden supporting pillar; the silver padukas are at the bottom of it. This
pillar played a small but significant part in the history of Sai worship. H. V.
Sathe has described how there were no Gurupoornima celebrations until the day
that Baba sent for Dada Kelkar and said, "Don't you remember that today is
Gurupoornima?" Pointing to the pillar in the mosque, Baba told him,
"Go and bring puja material and worship that post!" From then on,
according to Sathe, the practice of celebrating Gurupoornima by worshipping
Baba was continued.
The correlation of the pillar, which
is essential to the construction's stability, and the guru, is a pertinent one
for devotees. Today when we look at this post it appears so ordinary and
unremarkable, yet it stands in Baba's mosque, and is a reminder of the early
days of a most extraordinary and remarkable movement. From our own experience,
we can imagine the keen emotions of those early devotees, eager to offer
worship to their beloved gurudeva, yet at the same time, uncertain of how Baba
would receive it and whether he would allow it. Remembering this, looking at
the pillar today may evoke a feeling of affinity with and appreciation for
those early pioneers along the path of Sai.
The kolamba and the waterpot
Waterpot
In the southwest corner of the
mosque by the dhuni is a waterpot on a stand, and below it, an earthenware dish
known as a kolamba. Baba used to beg for his food at least twice a day. He
generally visited only five houses - those of Vaman Gondkar, Vaman Sakharam
Shelke, Bayajabai and Ganapat Kote Patil (Tatya's parents), Bayaji Appa Kote
Patil and Nandaram Marwari - and stood outside them calling for alms. Baba
would collect the solid food in a cloth bag and any liquid offerings in a small
tin pot. When he returned to the mosque he would offer some at the dhuni, then
empty it all into a kolamba and leave it available for any person or creature
to take from, before eating a small quantity himself. In continuance of this
tradition, a kolamba is still kept here beside the water pot. People leave
naivedya (food offerings) here as a gesture of offering bhiksha to Baba, and
take it as his prasad. Baba used to keep one or two water pots by the dhuni
(for drinking and performing ablutions) and this tradition is also maintained.
Devotees like to take the water as a symbol of Baba's teerth (holy water).
The nimbar
Nimbar
On the western wall of the mosque -
in the direction of Mecca - is a nimbar or niche, with a set of lamps in front
of it. The nimbar is a standard feature of all mosques, but the lamps were put
there by Baba. In Dwarkamai this spot, which is near where Baba used to sit, is
decorated with a garland of flowers.
The Sri Sai Satcharitra relates that
it was here that Baba used to have his midday meal, sitting behind a curtain
with his back to the nimbar, and a row of devotees on either side of him. This
is also the place where Baba would sleep with his head pointing towards the
nimbar, with Mhalsapati on one side of him and Tatya Kote Patil on the other.
Baba occasionally did namaz (ritual
prayers) here and Muslims would sometimes come for this purpose. A group of
elders once came from the local Muslim headquarters of Sangamner, a town about
fifty kms away, to investigate Baba following complaints of his heterodoxy from
local Muslims. When they arrived they found Baba smearing fresh cowdung paste
on the floor (a common practice in rural India). After answering their
questions Baba suggested they do namaz together as it was already noon. Seeing
the wet floor and their own clean clothes, they hesitated. "If you do
namaz with a clean heart, no dirt will stick to you," counselled Baba.
"Let's start...Allah Malik." The men had no choice but to kneel down.
Afterwards they were astonished to see their clothes still in pristine
condition. They concluded that Baba was a great saint and therefore no formal procedures
were necessary for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment