‘A tree never eats its fruits; a river never drinks its water. The saints exist to do good others.’ As a tree never eats its fruits and a river never drinks her water, likewise the saints live not for their own selfish ends but for the welfare of other. Though people maybe envious of the saints’ fame and reputation and try all sorts of tricks to blemish them, yet unmindful of all this, the saints spend their whole life in altruistic endeavours. Their life is spent only in delivering mankind from sorrows and filling people’s hearts with peace and bliss.
There lived one such great saint in the province of Sindh – Sai Teunram. People experienced great joy in his company. He had the hypnotic power of love and benevolence which can be found in Bapuji as well. He had the power of infusing peace and bliss into people through a mere glance. Not old men and woman but the many young people too came to his satsanga. His rising popularity and people’s love for him caused animosity in the minds of some so-called social reformers. Social reformers are two types. One kind is that of noble men, and the there are people who are envious of other people’s fame. They want to become famous by hook or by crook. Some such people of malicious minds started vicious propaganda against Sai Teunram. The malicious campaign gained momentum and become so powerful that some good but credulous people stopped going to see Sai Teunram.
The good people of that time committed a grave mistake. They thought, ‘What does it matter to me? Those who sow, shall reap the result!’ But why should the evil slanderers be allowed to sow sins and thus reap the harvest of misery? Before that they should be put wise so that they are saved from sinning and suffering, and the society too is saved from being misinformed. Anyhow the slandering and vicious propaganda against Sai Teunram became so strong that a resolution was passed by the municipality that the parents of the boys and girls who went to Sai Teurnam Ashram had to pay a fine of five rupees was a big sum of money, as gold was priced at 60 rupees a tola (13 grams). Some people with weaker minds told their sons and daughters not to go to Sai Teunram’s ashram. Some boys and girls stopped, but those who recognized the worth of the saint’s ambrosial words, were not to be held back. Their souls cried out:
‘The world has not the power to hold us back.
The world depends on us;
We are not dependent on the world.’
A smoker doesn’t abstain from smoking; a drunkard does not abstain from alcohol; a gambler doesn’t stop gambling; then how could those wise, satsang-loving boys and girls stop going to their Guru’s Ashram? Though the resolution of a fine of 5 rupees was passed, true devotees didn’t stop going to Sai Teunram’s Ashram.
We have a desire in our minds to please anybody who is worthy of our reverence. Whether it is Lord Rama’s devotee, Shabari or Lord Krishna’s devotee, Meera, they both had a desire to please their revered lords. Sai Teunram’s devotees were always eager to please their Guru. They offered flowers, sacred leaves etc. to their guru according to their capacity to express their gratitude towards him. This aroused malicious feelings in the hearts of the wicked. That is why they had passed the fine of five rupees in addition to maligning the saint. Some fickle minded people stopped coming. But there were others, lovers of Sai Teunram, who continued to come to Ashram. Those who tread the path of god-realization are truly brave. Thousands of obstructions and impediments cannot deter them from pursuing their goals. All rumors and slandering fails to distract their hearts from their devotion to their Guru, because they recognize in full the glory of the Guru and the significance of His grace.
Shri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa had unwavering faith in his Guru, Shri Totapuri. Once somebody came to him and said, “Totapuri is eating at the house of such and such a woman and you have made him your Guru?”
Shri Ramakrishna said, “Shut up! If you utter even a single derogatory world about my Guru, you will have to repent for it.”
“But I only wish for your own good. You used to converse with Ma Kali. In spite of being so great, you accepted Totapuri as your guru! Think again. He is just an ordinary man.”
Shri Ramakrishna retorted, “Even if my Guru goes to a wine shop, he is Lord Krishna for me.”
This is true faith! Such people find liberation. The rest are drowned midstream. So the lovers of Sai Teunram found ways and means to reach their Guru. If the parents had to go out for some work, they would tie their children to the legs of the beds, and keeping them in veranda would lock the house from outside to stop them from running away to the Ashram. However, the satsanga-loving boys and girls would break the beds and go to Sai Teunram’s Ashram with the bed-legs tied to their hands and then Sai Teunram and the other sadhakas would untie them. The detractors were nonplussed when they saw people going with cot-legs tied around their hands.
Sai Teunram also used to grow food-grains in his Ashram. When the detractors found that their plan has failed they got another order passed that no shopkeeper should buy anything from Sai Teunram’s Ashram, otherwise the offender would be fined. When this failed to dent Sai Teunram’s equanimity and forbearance, and the faith of his devotees remained unwavering, the wretched sinners poured kerosene into the well that the Ashram people drew water from. What a height of wretchedness! What terrible tyranny! But Sai Teunram was very firm.
Saints are made no weak stuff. They have the potency of playing on the Lord’s chest. Many a time, God has gone back on His vow to keep the word of His devotees and His saints. To get Bhishma Pitamah’s resolve fulfilled, Lord Krishna broke his own vow of not wielding a weapon in the battle of Mahabharata.
The vicious propaganda against Sai Teunram shook the faith of weak minds, but the love and affection of his devotees went on increasing day by day. Sai Teunram used to deliver satsanga sitting on a platform in his Ashram. Other saints used to visit him too, and the platform turned out to be inadequate. His devotees therefore made the platform bigger and this made his opponents burn with even more envy, and so they called tehsildar. He said that the platform had been built in an unauthorized manner and had narrowed the road resulting in hardship to users of the road, and therefore the platform should be demolished. He registered a case against Sai Teunram and told him to present himself in the court the next day. But Sai Teunram didn’t appear in the court at the appointed time. The next day when Sai Teunram came back after taking a bath, he found that the platform had been demolished! The saints may tolerate, but nature will not tolerate affront to a saint. After some time that tehsildar was transferred. The new tehsildar was a devotee of the lord. He got the platform re-erected.
Those who wanted to malign or insult Sai Teunram did not succeed. Some of the people who tried to defame him and tarnish his reputation, repent and begged forgiveness. While nobody, knows which hell the others might have fallen into! However, the fragrance of Sai Teunram’s pious fame is still spreading in all quarters sanctifying countless hearts even to this day.
The words of the Guru, who is a jivanmukta, are verily the sacred scriptures. When put into practice they become religion. The manorajya of a jivanmukta is the divine play of God. His very Self is Brahman.
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