Baba’s Incredible Powder
When I first went to see Sai Baba, I believed, and I think many, perhaps most, Sai Baba followers believed that the vibhuti [sacred ash]He materializes is the same as the grey, fragrantly scented ash that is distributed at Sai Baba centers and is purchasable outside and now inside Prasanthi Nilayam. In my very limited vibhuti experience, nothing could be further from the truth.
The three or four times Baba has made vibhuti for me, it was white and without any scent. Once it was moist, the lightest beige color, and smelling vaguely like both dough and cement.
I had heard tales of amazing events and of “interview-like” darshans [sight of a holy person] at Kodaikanal, a resort town near Chennai (formerly Madras) and longed to go there. Yet my employer would not let me go at that time of year (April).
One year, 1993 I believe, he allowed me to go. I purchased the ticket and was ready for the big event.
An unpleasant incident occurred with my now ex-wife and I couldn’t go. Perhaps my employer was convinced of the importance I placed on this trip, as I couldn’t restrain shedding tears openly in the retail store where I worked.
While I have no problem singing bhajans [spiritual songs] openly in public places, such as the New York City subway, sidewalks, etc, I have always felt self-conscious about putting vibhuti on my forehead, after Sai Baba Center meetings. It was shortly before or during the time I would be in Kodaikanal that I attended a Sai Center meeting and decided to put vibhuti on my brow between my eyes.
On entering the subway returning home, a well-dressed businessman stopped and stared at me. I thought it was due to my overly self-conscious reaction to the vibhuti on my forehead. I had to return to the retail store where I worked to pick up some items there and again I met amazed stares from fellow employees.
When I returned home my ex-wife said, “You have something on your forehead.” “I know, some vibhuti.” “No, it is like a growth.” I looked in a mirror and where I had placed a light touch of vibhuti, there was a mound of vibhuti perhaps a half inch deep. It would not stay there without glue or an adhesive of some kind. Yet there was no adhesive.
The most unique “vibhuti” experience was when I asked Sai Baba about my now ex-wife. She had said, “I will never divorce you.” In New York State, a contested divorce is difficult to win. I had consulted many divorce lawyers at $300 a consultation all agreeing I could not get divorced unless I lived in New Jersey or Connecticut for several years. This would cause grave employment problems for me.
Many followers of Sai Baba had said, “Don’t ask Baba about an important decision because you will get an answer you don’t like.” Yet I thought, “If you believe He is the most powerful, knowledgeable entity on earth, and you believe He loves you, you should ask His advice.”
I gave Sai Baba a note about my problem but I was so immobilized by His presence that I didn’t speak. After Baba walks by in darshan He virtually never walks back.
Yet He was several feet away from me when I loudly called out, “What advice do you have about my wife?”
Like a shot He was in front of me slowly waving His down turned palm. I raised both open palms.
He instantly put the most incredible and unique “vibhuti” materialization I had ever heard of in my left hand (Hindu symbol of the feminine). Baba had deposited a ball of very large grained sand, held together by the lightest most imperceptible “glue” plus a line of slightly finer grained sand across what palm readers call “the life line.” In my right hand (Hindu symbol for the masculine) was a fine grain sand evenly spread out over my palm, totally covered with gray vibhuti that was intensely fragrant of lilies and roses. Between my fourth and third fingers (ring finger & middle finger) was a small spot of the very finest texture, very black “powder.” Curious to discover what this bizarre “powder” could be, I tasted it first.
The black “powder” was beyond belief! Delicate, soft, incredibly velvety, exquisitely sensual, satisfying, and simultaneously causing intense craving for more. I tried to find more but there was no more.
I slowly (have you ever eaten a handful of sand?) ate the large grained ball of sand and slightly faster the line of sand.
I also slowly ate the fine-grained sand and the fragrant vibhuti in my right hand savoring a moment that would be given to few.
I instantly knew (through His grace) what this strange amalgamation of items meant.
As Baba directly has said, “Sand is the abrasive to erase the ego.”
The ball and line represented my ex-wife: a ball and chain. The sand of the ball being coarse and the line (chain) only slightly less coarse symbolized the degree of my ex-wife’s ego.
My right hand symbolized myself: finer sand, less ego but pervasive, covering my entire palm. However I am protected by Sai Baba, represented by the gray vibhuti and, in my interpretation, lovingly cared for by the scent of fragrant and intense flowers.
The small spot of extremely fine black powder represent my sensual cravings—very enticing, very alluring, very “satisfying” (but only instantaneously) and then there is no more.
How could anyone more accurately describe me and my ex-wife in a second without words? My Baba!
I thought, “ Baba has described my situation very exactly but He has not answered my question.” Every time I had a note and a desire to ask Him, He wouldn’t come anywhere close to me!
On returning to my room I told my roommate “You won’t believe what Sai Baba made for me.” He said, “I know, I was there, I saw it.” Since he was no where near me at darshan I asked him, “What did you see?”
“Every time Baba makes vibhuti the Indians instantly dive over your shoulder to grab some vibhuti. When Baba made vibhuti for you, no one moved.”
Now I remembered that during the many minutes I took to eat the “vibhuti” no one moved. I finished eating it at the same time Baba left “darshan” and went into his room.
Only at that time did everyone dive for the few sprinkles of vibhuti on the floor where Baba stood. He frequently flicks his fingers after creating vibhuti. Around the ground were tiny flecks of white vibhuti.
The answer to my question, “What advice do you have about my wife?” as well as a couple of additional instances of vibhuti will, with His grace, appear in subsequent issues of “Sai Sarathi”.
~Ed Loriot
New York, USA
