Attachment, especially on material things, can be a burden to the spirit.

Author: Kritika V for SaibabaDaily.com

We are all born for a purpose, each one of us. However, most of us fail to know that purpose through out our lives. This happens because as we start to live our lives, we get attracted to material things. We make them the purpose of our life and thus, end up having a body without a peaceful soul and mind. The spirituality goes away with our attachment to all the material things.

You are here reading this because you are a believer of God. But, have you sincerely followed the lessons that God teaches us? We know what all our Baba did to teach us all about love, respect, life, spirituality and God. Have you ever wondered how we would have learnt about all this if our Sai had not given up on materialistic things? We would never have known about this beautiful opportunity, life we have, we have never known how good it feels to give a hand to someone who needs your help. 

Sai Baba contributed his entire life to his people, to his children, to the nature and to all the animals. He never cared to sleep on a soft comfortable bed, to eat delicious dishes, to wear glittering clothes with gold jewellery. Instead of this, He is always concerned about his devotees and give them enough to sleep with comfort, he gives them enough to have a good meal and to wear good clothes. Baba stayed away from materiel things and did not attach himself to any of it. He gave the message to be kind and content. That’s what He calls the secret to have a good spirit. 

Taking our few extracts from the Holy Book, Sai Satcharitra to explain how Baba tell us about non-attachment to material things and to walk on the path of spirituality. 

1. About UDI :

It is well-known that Baba took Dakshina from all, and out of the amount thus collected, He spent a lot on charity and purchased fuel with the balance left with Him. This fuel He threw in the Dhuni – the sacred fire, which he kept ever burning. The ash from this fire was called Udi and it was freely distributed to the devotees at the time of their departure from Shirdi.

What did Baba teach or hint by this Udi? Baba taught by His Udi that all the visible phenomena in the universe are as transient as the ash. Our bodies composed of wood or matter of the five elements, will fall down, after all their enjoyments are over, and be reduced to ashes. In order to remind the devotees of the fact that their bodies will be reduced to ashes, Baba distributed Udi to them. Baba also taught by the Udi that the Brahman is the only Reality and the universe is ephemeral and that no one in this world, be he a son, father or wife, is really ours. 

We come here (in this world) alone and we have to go out alone. It was found and is even now found out, that the Udi cured many physical and mental maladies, but Baba wanted to din into the devotee’s ears the principles of discrimination between the Unreal and the Real, non-attachment for the Unreal, by His Udi and Dakshina. The former (Udi) taught us discrimination and the latter (Dakshina) taught us non-attachment. Unless we have these two things, it is not possible for us to cross over the sea of the mundane existence. 

So Baba asked for and took Dakshina, and while the devotees took leave, He gave Udi as Prasad, besmeared some of it on the Bhaktas’ foreheads and placed His boon-conferring hand on their heads. When Baba was in a cheerful mood, He used to sing merrily. One such song was about Udi. The burden of the Udi song was this,”Oh, playful Rama, come, come, and bring with you sacks of Udi.” Baba used to sing in very clear and sweet tones.

So much about the spiritual implication of Udi. It had also its material significance. It conferred health, prosperity, freedom from anxiety, and many other worldly gains. So the Udi has helped us to gain both our ends – material as well as spirituaL.

2. About Baba’s simplicity :

Our country has seen great saints and sages, from generation to generation, who have achieved great spiritual levels and acquired extremely difficult knowledge, by leaving their families, houses, and going to secluded places. They have achieved these spiritual levels by undergoing great sacrifices and sufferings. 

Almost all of them strived for their own upliftment. Sai Baba is the only Sadguru who remained in the midst of this world, and strove for the betterment of His devotees. He had no wife, no progeny, no home, nor any relative – near or distant. In fact He did not have anything which could be called His own – except His devotees. He begged His food from four or five houses, lived underneath the Neem tree, carried on in this materialistic world and taught His devotees. 

His life story is the story of a totally selfless person who lived only for the sake of welfare of His devotees. He taught them the essence of the art of living and behaving in this world. He also took them, hand in hand and very affectionately, on to the difficult path to eternal bliss. Rare indeed are the saints and sages who after attaining God-vision, work for the welfare of the ordinary common ignorant people.

Therefore, we all need to separate ourselves from material things and we should get close to serving God and others.