A story from Shri Sai Satcharitra -

A story from Shri Sai Satcharitra -
We should be content with what
God gave us


This is another story taken from the Shri Sai Satcharitra
which teaches us that we should be content with what
God gave us. Once Lord Shri Shirdi Saibaba made his
devotee to learn on his own, this fact. For knowing how
He did it and how the devotee learnt the lesson, let us
start the story.
Once Shri Dasuganu Maharaj, a devotee of Lord Shri
Saibaba, started to write a commentary on
Eeshavasyopanishad. This Eeshavasyopanishad,
according to Prof. Ranade, contains many details
about inner knowledge, beautiful description on Athma
(soul) and invaluable description on yogi (spiritual man).
Dasuganu wrote a commentary on it in marathi language
in Ovi Chandassu (a form of decorative grammar). But
he could not get the gist on it. He was not contented
with what he wrote. He consulted other well-read people
who knew shastras. But he could not get what he wanted.
When no one could give proper explanation to him on this
upanishad, he decided to consult Lord Shri Shirdi Sai
Baba. When he got chance, he came to Shirdi, met
Lord Shri Saibaba, prayed to his Holy feet, explained his
difficulty in understanding Eeshavasyopanishad and
pleaded Him to give proper explanation for it.
Lord Shri Saibaba blessed him and said, "don't be in a
hurry. There is no difficulty in this matter. The maid-girl at
Kakasaheb Dixit's house in Viliparle will clarify your doubt
on your return journey.". Everyone around there thought
that Lord Shri Saibaba is joking. They said how can a
complete illeterate maid-girl explain this thing.
Having full faith on Lord Shri Saibaba, Dasuganu left Shirdi
for Kakasaheb Dixit's house at Viliparle. The next day
morning as soon as he woke up from his sleep he heard
a song being sung by a poor little girl. The song is all
about describing a red saree. He liked the song and so
he came out and listened to the song. That little girl is
the sister of Kakasaheb Dixit's servant, Namya. She
is a small girl. She wore torn out clothes and was
cleaning all the dishes. Seeing her poverty and her
happiness, Dasuganu felt pity on her. The next day
while Rao Bahadur M.V. Pradhan was giving Dhoti
and other clothes to Dasuganu, he recommended Rao
Bahadur to give a small saree to that girl. Rao Bahadur
bought a nice small saree and gifted it to her. Akin to a
hungry man getting delicious food, the little girl's
happiness knew no bounds. The next day she wore
the new saree. Happily she danced and played with
other children. She played and danced better than any
other child there. The next day she kept the saree in
her suitcase and came with her usual torn out clothes
with same happiness on her face as it was there when
she wore the new saree. Before the girl was poor, so
she wore torn out clothes. Now she got new clothes,
but she stored them in her suitcase. Even then without
any things like sadness or discontent on her face, she
played and danced heartfully. So, by this, Dasuganu
realised that the feelings of happiness and sadness
depend upon the behaviour of our heart and its thoughts.
He thought very deeply about this thing. We should be
contented with what God gave us. God will give us
whatever we want, by protecting us from all sides. So,
he realised that what all God gave us is for our good.
In this particular thing, the little girl, her poverty, her
torn out clothes, the new saree, the one who granted
it, the one who took it, the feeling of granting are all
just various forms of God. God is present among all
these things. Here Dasuganu learnt the moral of the
upanishad; that we should be happy with what we
have, whatever we get is by the order of Him and it
is for the good-being of us.
Om Jai Sai Ram

This story is taken from Shri Saibaba Jeevitacharitam
originally written in marathi by one of Baba's devotee
Hemadpant and translated into telugu by Pratti
Narayana Rao.