Upasani Baba

Among the apostles of Sai Baba the most prominent was Upasani Baba who at one time was thought to be the successor of Sai Baba and was groomed by him with that purpose to make him an ideal discipleand to bestow n him all his powers. he went to the xtent of asking his devotees to worship as they worshiopped Sai Baba. But sai baba's plan did not work and upasani left shirdi after three years while Sai Baba wanted to stay on four years to get the full benefit of his assosciation with Sai Baba.
Upsani Baba , whose full name is Kasinat Govind Upasani Maharaj, was born in 1870 in an orthodox Brahmin family in satana village in Maharashtra. His Grandfather , Gopal sastri was the court adviser on religious and literary matters to the Gaekwad of Baroda. Gopal sastri was also adviser to many other rules of petty states. Upasani's father , Govind Sastri was a copylist in the civil court of Dhulia. Upasani was one of five sons and he came from a family of village priests. He had little formal eduaction and was married when he was 14 to a girl of eight in 1883 who died a year later. He married again girl in 1885 and his second wife also passed away shortly thereafter.
Upasani ran away from home and lived away from his family for long intervals.He became interested in Yoga, went to cave and sat in meditation for long periods. He spent many days without food or drink. He went to sangli and learnt Ayurveda and later set up practice as an ayurvedic doctor in Amravati in 1986. He started a medical monthly in Marathi and advertised in it in the patent medicines he made. He bought land in Gwalior in 1907 but found that he had made mistake as the land was barren and there was no yield from it. He lost everything and his health failed: he returned home a broken man. Then he started on a pilgrimage in 1910 with his third wife and visited number of places. In 1911, a yogi,, kulkarni in Rahuri advised him to go to sai Baba. Thinking that sai Baba was a Muslim, Upasani said he would not go to see Sai Baba. Later he met Narayan Maharaj, a Dattareya devotee who was said to posses marvellous powers. When Upasani told him of his poor health Narayan Maharaj made him chew betel and nut and said he was " finely painted" inside and outside and asked him to go away.
Upasani Baba again met Yogi Kulkarni who again asked him to meet Sai Baba. Finally Upasani Baba decided to go to shirdi and he met Sai Baba in 1911. After staying for a day Upasani Baba asked Baba for permission to return to home. Baba said:" What! so soon ! when are you returning? Upasani replied it was not easy for him to return to shirdi . Baba said :" Then you had better stay. Do not go away ." Seeing him undecided Baba said: " well , go . I shall see what i can i do." Upasani thought permission had been given to leave and left shirdi. While he was at Kopargaon the priest at the Datta temple there told him to go back to shirdi and stay with sai Baba. Upasani said: " No" . As they were talking some visitors , who said they were going to shirdi arrived and the priest told them:" Take thsi person with you." But Upasani said : " No I have been there already ." The visitors said :That is the best reason. We have not been there wwe want some one to be with us to guide us." So inspite of his protest Upasani Was forced to accompany them to shirdi.
At shirdi Baba welcome and said ." So you have come back . You said you would not come back before eight days." Upasani Said: " Baba I cannot understand this. I was eager to go home and I wonder I did not. This must be your doing." Baba said :' Yes , I have been with you all these days, dogging your heels." Thereafter Upasani continued to stay in shirdi. He made efforts to leave and get Baba's permisssion through Shama. Baba said:'' Let him stay on." Shama wanted to know what Baba expected Upasani to do. Baba said:'' To do nothing." Upasani did not realise that " doing nothing" meant,according to Baba, being receptive and receiving everything from him.
The entire operation of moduling , remoduling, raising and reaching the top of the highest spiritual experience is the work of the guru and the guru alone. His great powers moulds everything , internal and external, and the result is that the disciple is turned into the likeness of the guru. This is what Baba meant when he said:'' Let him remain doing nothing." Baba asked upasani to go and live in solitude at the khandoba temple, not to mix with people but to remain alone doing nothing. Baba wanted him to be free from all shackles and independent of family or the other connections. He wanted to make him a feel he was entirely dependent on Baba andBaba alone , atleast during the period of probation. Therefore , he created a number of problems for upasani like getting food which became difficult. In this way Baba wanted him to feel that he had no earthly support except the guru. UNable to get proper meals Upasani starved for two or three days. He came to be called " Upavasani" He became a prey to diseases.
Baba expected Upasani to develop Nishta and Saburi and Upasani slowly developing them. However , he was not happy . He could not understand What Baba was doing to him. He told a friend that he was being tortured like a dumb brute. He told another friend that his life was miserable and wasted. He asked a aplmist if his future would be bad. Baba had told him he should remain in shirdi for four years and that he need not do anything at all. Upasani was not able to understabd the course sketched out for him by Baba and he had no ambition for God realisation at such cost. He was a total stranger to shirdi and appeared to many as unworthy of the high honour conferred on him by Baba. Some devotees were jealous and one of them asked Baba:" Baba, we have beeen attending on you for years and you seem to be conferring a copper plate grant of all your powers to this stranger. Are we all therefore to be neglected? Is it true that you are giving him all your powers?'' Baba replied :"Yes. I speak only the truth sitting as I do in this masjid. What i have spoken I have spoken . I have given everything to this person. Whether he be good or bad he is my own. I am fully responsible for him and as for a copper plate grant, why a copper plate grant? I have given him a gold plategrant." Turning to Upasani he said:'' Think which is better, copper or gold?'' Upasani said :'' I do not know Baba." Baba said:'' copper gets corded and tarnished. Gold does not. It remains pure always. You are pure Bhagawan.
However this did not make upasani Happy. Baba rarely spoke to him. There was no formal oral instruction and it was only later that what he got from Baba was his teachings. One of the methods adopted by Baba was to convey his teachings through his visions and pictures. Upasani underwent many hardships mental and physical but these were turned into gains subsequently. when he reported his condition to Baba, the latter said," I am always with you. You need not fear. The more you suffer now thw happier and more excellent will be your future. You are going to be an avadhata. Hundreds will rush to have your Darshan.

One day Upasani had a vision in which Baba came up to him in some mysterious place and sat infront of him. He asked Upasani to come near him saying.'' I am going to give you Upadesh.'' As Upasani was trying to approach Baba a dark and dirty person behind Upasani, exactly like him, pulled him back and said: '' Do not listen to guru but listen to me.'' This interruption took place twice. Then Baba got up , seized that dark person behind upasani and placed him on a pile of faggots and burnt him. All the time Upasani was shouting.'' Baba it is me you are burning.'' After completely burning the dark person Baba turned to upasani and said:'' yes. That was you no doubt. But you were in that sin form, namely papa rupa. I have destroyed him. You are now free from sin. By our united efforts there are many things to be achieved in the future. How can that be done if sin remains? '' Baba told Upasani at one time: '' I will take away half of your head and give you half of my own." Upasani then had a vision in which some ruffians cut off his head, scoped the brains and ate the contents and ran away.

DasGan

Among the apostles of Sai Baba the most prominent was Upasani Baba who at one time was thought to be the successor of Sai Baba and was groomed by him with that purpose to make him an ideal discipleand to bestow n him all his powers. he went to the xtent of asking his devotees to worship as they worshiopped Sai Baba. But sai baba's plan did not work and upasani left shirdi after three years while Sai Baba wanted to stay on four years to get the full benefit of his assosciation with Sai Baba.
Upsani Baba , whose full name is Kasinat Govind Upasani Maharaj, was born in 1870 in an orthodox Brahmin family in satana village in Maharashtra. His Grandfather , Gopal sastri was the court adviser on religious and literary matters to the Gaekwad of Baroda. Gopal sastri was also adviser to many other rules of petty states. Upasani's father , Govind Sastri was a copylist in the civil court of Dhulia. Upasani was one of five sons and he came from a family of village priests. He had little formal eduaction and was married when he was 14 to a girl of eight in 1883 who died a year later. He married again girl in 1885 and his second wife also passed away shortly thereafter.
Upasani ran away from home and lived away from his family for long intervals.He became interested in Yoga, went to cave and sat in meditation for long periods. He spent many days without food or drink. He went to sangli and learnt Ayurveda and later set up practice as an ayurvedic doctor in Amravati in 1986. He started a medical monthly in Marathi and advertised in it in the patent medicines he made. He bought land in Gwalior in 1907 but found that he had made mistake as the land was barren and there was no yield from it. He lost everything and his health failed: he returned home a broken man. Then he started on a pilgrimage in 1910 with his third wife and visited number of places. In 1911, a yogi,, kulkarni in Rahuri advised him to go to sai Baba. Thinking that sai Baba was a Muslim, Upasani said he would not go to see Sai Baba. Later he met Narayan Maharaj, a Dattareya devotee who was said to posses marvellous powers. When Upasani told him of his poor health Narayan Maharaj made him chew betel and nut and said he was " finely painted" inside and outside and asked him to go away.
Upasani Baba again met Yogi Kulkarni who again asked him to meet Sai Baba. Finally Upasani Baba decided to go to shirdi and he met Sai Baba in 1911. After staying for a day Upasani Baba asked Baba for permission to return to home. Baba said:" What! so soon ! when are you returning? Upasani replied it was not easy for him to return to shirdi . Baba said :" Then you had better stay. Do not go away ." Seeing him undecided Baba said: " well , go . I shall see what i can i do." Upasani thought permission had been given to leave and left shirdi. While he was at Kopargaon the priest at the Datta temple there told him to go back to shirdi and stay with sai Baba. Upasani said: " No" . As they were talking some visitors , who said they were going to shirdi arrived and the priest told them:" Take thsi person with you." But Upasani said : " No I have been there already ." The visitors said :That is the best reason. We have not been there wwe want some one to be with us to guide us." So inspite of his protest Upasani Was forced to accompany them to shirdi.
At shirdi Baba welcome and said ." So you have come back . You said you would not come back before eight days." Upasani Said: " Baba I cannot understand this. I was eager to go home and I wonder I did not. This must be your doing." Baba said :' Yes , I have been with you all these days, dogging your heels." Thereafter Upasani continued to stay in shirdi. He made efforts to leave and get Baba's permisssion through Shama. Baba said:'' Let him stay on." Shama wanted to know what Baba expected Upasani to do. Baba said:'' To do nothing." Upasani did not realise that " doing nothing" meant,according to Baba, being receptive and receiving everything from him.
The entire operation of moduling , remoduling, raising and reaching the top of the highest spiritual experience is the work of the guru and the guru alone. His great powers moulds everything , internal and external, and the result is that the disciple is turned into the likeness of the guru. This is what Baba meant when he said:'' Let him remain doing nothing." Baba asked upasani to go and live in solitude at the khandoba temple, not to mix with people but to remain alone doing nothing. Baba wanted him to be free from all shackles and independent of family or the other connections. He wanted to make him a feel he was entirely dependent on Baba andBaba alone , atleast during the period of probation. Therefore , he created a number of problems for upasani like getting food which became difficult. In this way Baba wanted him to feel that he had no earthly support except the guru. UNable to get proper meals Upasani starved for two or three days. He came to be called " Upavasani" He became a prey to diseases.
Baba expected Upasani to develop Nishta and Saburi and Upasani slowly developing them. However , he was not happy . He could not understand What Baba was doing to him. He told a friend that he was being tortured like a dumb brute. He told another friend that his life was miserable and wasted. He asked a aplmist if his future would be bad. Baba had told him he should remain in shirdi for four years and that he need not do anything at all. Upasani was not able to understabd the course sketched out for him by Baba and he had no ambition for God realisation at such cost. He was a total stranger to shirdi and appeared to many as unworthy of the high honour conferred on him by Baba. Some devotees were jealous and one of them asked Baba:" Baba, we have beeen attending on you for years and you seem to be conferring a copper plate grant of all your powers to this stranger. Are we all therefore to be neglected? Is it true that you are giving him all your powers?'' Baba replied :"Yes. I speak only the truth sitting as I do in this masjid. What i have spoken I have spoken . I have given everything to this person. Whether he be good or bad he is my own. I am fully responsible for him and as for a copper plate grant, why a copper plate grant? I have given him a gold plategrant." Turning to Upasani he said:'' Think which is better, copper or gold?'' Upasani said :'' I do not know Baba." Baba said:'' copper gets corded and tarnished. Gold does not. It remains pure always. You are pure Bhagawan.
However this did not make upasani Happy. Baba rarely spoke to him. There was no formal oral instruction and it was only later that what he got from Baba was his teachings. One of the methods adopted by Baba was to convey his teachings through his visions and pictures. Upasani underwent many hardships mental and physical but these were turned into gains subsequently. when he reported his condition to Baba, the latter said," I am always with you. You need not fear. The more you suffer now thw happier and more excellent will be your future. You are going to be an avadhata. Hundreds will rush to have your Darshan.

One day Upasani had a vision in which Baba came up to him in some mysterious place and sat infront of him. He asked Upasani to come near him saying.'' I am going to give you Upadesh.'' As Upasani was trying to approach Baba a dark and dirty person behind Upasani, exactly like him, pulled him back and said: '' Do not listen to guru but listen to me.'' This interruption took place twice. Then Baba got up , seized that dark person behind upasani and placed him on a pile of faggots and burnt him. All the time Upasani was shouting.'' Baba it is me you are burning.'' After completely burning the dark person Baba turned to upasani and said:'' yes. That was you no doubt. But you were in that sin form, namely papa rupa. I have destroyed him. You are now free from sin. By our united efforts there are many things to be achieved in the future. How can that be done if sin remains? '' Baba told Upasani at one time: '' I will take away half of your head and give you half of my own." Upasani then had a vision in which some ruffians cut off his head, scoped the brains and ate the contents and ran away.

Mahlsapathy

Among Sai Baba's earliest disciples and the most intimate and one who stayed with him longest was Mahlsapathy , a goldsmith by caste and priest of the Khandoba temple in Shirdi. He was a poor and uncultured villager who, thinking Baba was a muslim, objected to his entering the temple and staying there but soon became his most Zealous admirer and ardent worshipper. Baba found his devotion, dedication and attachment irresistable and accepted the flowers, sandal and other offerings placed at his feet in worship by Mahlsapathy, who was the only person allowed to worship Baba in this way for a long time. In the goldsmith community to which he belonged mahlsapathy was known for his fervent devotion to his tutelary deity , Khandoba( also Known as Mahlsapathy ). The Mahlsapathy Purana was his bible and he read it daily as a ritual.
Every year Mahlsapathy made a pilgrimage to jejoori, 150 miles from shirdi , carrying a Kavadi on his shoulders to worshipthe diety in the temple there. On many ocassions he went into a trance and at such times it was thought that Khandoba spoke through him. HIs family consisted of his wife, three daughters and a son who was born very late in his life through the grace of Baba. He was very poor and lived in a mud house and owned some acres of barren land. His assosciation with Baba lasted 50 years. After his first encounter with Baba he developed respect and reverence for him although he was perplexed by his behaviour sometimes which made the rustic folk call him a " mad fakir ".
Long after Mahlsapathy started worshipping Baba another devotee, Nana saheb Engle, was allowed that privilege. Afterwards more people joineed in the worship of Baba. As days passed by Mahlsapathy came closer and closer to Baba and became a part of Baba's daily life. He kept Baba companyday and night slept in the mosque with him. He spread his own cloth and on this he and Baba slept, he occupying one half and Baba the other half of the cloth. However Mahlsapathy rarely slept for Baba gave him a task. Baba told him : " You better sit up. Do not go to sleep. Place your hand on my heart. I will be going on with rememberamce of Allah nama smaranam, that is half conscious trance and during that nama smaranam, the heart beat will clearly show you that I am still having nama smaranam. If that suddenly goes away and natural sleep supervenes wake me up." The idea was that the heart beat during natural sleep would be different from the heart beat during meditation. This meant that neither Baba nor Mahlsapathy slept during the night. That also showed that Baba was in mediation to protect his devotees spread far and wide.

Bala Ganpat Shimpi

Baba helped his devotees in hundred of ways to remove anxiety , fears, ward off disease and misfortune and to bring hope and cheer into their lives. He granted their prayers readily and was ever at their beck and call to attend to their needs and inspiration.
A devotee by name Bala Ganpat Shimpi suffered from a Malignant type of Malaria. He tried all sorts of cured but without effect. The fever did not abate a bit. He went to shirdi and fell at Baba's feet. Baba told him:" Give a black dog some morsels of rice mixed with curds in front of the Lakshmi temple." After shimpi returned home he mixed rice and curds and brought it ti the Lakshmi temple infront of which he found a black dog wagging its tai. He gave it curd rice which it ate greedily. The devotee was cured of his malaria.

Deekshas

Baba used to give deeksha to the devotees who came to him. The deekshas were prescribed by Baba depending on the stages of the devotees, and during this period he moulded them. Baba prescribed Brahmmacharya Deeksha(celibacy) to Tatya. Hari seetharam Dixit and Kaka Dixit were given nine months period of Vanaprastha (away from wife and children ) at shirdi . Baba prescribed four years deeksha period to Upasani Baba who left shirdi without completing the deeksha period. Similarly, Baba used to prescribe deeksha periods for some to do parayana of holy Books, and to some to do Nama Sankeertan ( Chanting of Names ). The devotees were very much benefited by the deeksha periods prescribed by Baba.