THE TWO COINS

SAI BABA OF SHIRDI

This is the story, as told by my Murshid and transcribed by Om for all to read.

Some of you may have heard this story. I would like to share it with you again.

Just before Sai Baba of Shirdi approached his Guru, but before he had gone to see him, a certain drama occurred at the ashram. A lady showed up who had renounced everything to walk the path. She had heard about Sai Baba’s Guru from the Bigam of the ashram.

When she showed up, he asked, “What do you want?” She had heard that if a person wants to attain God-realization, he must be given the Guru Mantra by a Sadguru. Therefore, she said, “I want a mantra.” He said: “No.” This flipped her out because she had heard from other people that followed holy men, that it was impossible to attain God-realization without receiving a mantra directly from the lips of the Guru aimed at you.

At this, she said, “If you will not give me a mantra, then I will have no other cause to live, and I will fast until either I die or you give me the Guru mantra.” He didn’t say anything. He just looked at her and then went into his room.

She checked into a local hotel and started to fast. She fasted for days and days and days. She got very weak by not drinking water, so consequently she became dehydrated. The woman who was the mataji in the ashram began to freak out. This was her friend and she had come to her after being involved in worldly life for many years, with the dream of finding and serving at the feet of the Sadguru and obtaining realization. Now she was about to die of starvation, having not received anything. She was very upset and started bugging the Guru.

She said: “Look, my friend has come all this way and she is about to fast away, and you must do something!” He didn’t say anything. Mataji bugged him more and more. “Please do something! The reputation of the ashram is at stake! Your reputation as a Guru! How can the Guru mantra be denied? The only thing she wants is realization!” He looked at her and said, “She doesn’t want realization. She wants a mantra. I don’t give mantra. I give realization.”

She immediately understood and raced off to her friend and asked her, “Why did you come to my Guru?” The near dead friend said, “To experience God-realization.” Mataji said, “Then why did you ask him for a mantra when he said ‘what do you want?’ She repllied, “I thought that was the only was to achieve God-realization.” Mataji said, “I didn’t even get it. I also had an idea about the path, so I never understood your error until today, when I realized that the Guru himself is the means to God-realization.”

Her friend also got the point, so they got a stretcher and carried her to the feet of the Guru. The Guru looked at her and said, “Oh, its you again. What do you want now?”

She said, “Sir, I want YOU!” He said, “Okay then have something to eat.” Afterwards she became very healthy and robust and a very powerful figure in spiritual work. She wandered all over India and Ceylon and part of Tibet, preaching this one message. It is the message of the means to God-realization – through imbibing the Guru. She became very famous. In fact, she became more famous than her Guru. She became one of the women to perfectly master this understanding.

Sai Baba was a young boy of 12 years of age, who had wandered away from home and had witnessed all of this. He also witnessed the last part of this woman’s drama. As she progressed and started to grow in the Guru’s love, she came to the Guru and bowed at his feet and asked, “Sir, is there anything I can give you?” He said, “Yes, two rupees.” She went and brought back two rupees and gave them to him. He said, “Thank you. They are just what I needed. This one rupee is called Trust. The other rupee is called Patience. In giving me these two coins, you are making it possible to receive my being. It is the key to the front door and the key to the back door—where you can walk right through. Either way, this house is yours.”

Trust means that whatever happens, whether it is strange, joyous, glorious, lowest of the low, dirtiest of the dirty, or however it is perceived, you will never judge it. Just experience it as it is, and understand it in relation to what is, without any interpretation. Just experience. That is called Trust.

The second coin was for patience. It means that you will never judge your progress. You will never judge whether you are doing well on the path or poorly. You will not judge whether you are getting to a certain points of a stage, or if you are ready to go and preach to others or judge experiences of seeing the blue light, or tongues of flame shooting from the head, etc. Patience means that you will give up the sense of time and space, the sense of progression, and you will let your evolution unfold without your interpretation or projection.

Sai Baba was a young boy when he was watching this whole drama. Some people later said that this drama occurred for him. Not long after this, he was sitting in the ashram and the Guru said to him, “I have seen you around. What do you want? Sai Baba said, “Sir, what you are is what I am. I want to be perfect in that.” The Guru told him to go sit by the door and just be helpful. “If someone gets out of hand, throw them out. And if someone is longing, bring them in. Just do what needs to be done. This is a chair. Go watch the space. I need a little help.”

Sai Baba understood that the only thing that happens in a school is the drama of unfoldment and the interaction between the Guru and the disciple. Sai Baba realized that there were no books to study, there was nothing to learn, nothing to memorize other than the Guru himself. He watched, studied, listened, as things arose in the moment. In five years he walked out of the ashram at his Guru’s command and wandered around until he felt a nice spot and sat down in a place called Shirdi. The rest of the story you can read. No greater story has ever been told than that one.

Everyone should know how much it costs to obtain the True experience. A person who comes and dines at the Wedding Feast, where the bride is preparing to meet her Beloved, for that person the feast itself is stimulation enough, with the joy that comes from being prepared to meet the inevitable.

Again, I want to commend everyone who has the intelligence and greatness of understanding to really be here. What difference will it make in eternity whether we paid or didn’t pay a fine, whether the jury agreed or didn’t agree, or whether some fine was yours or not. The only thing that will make any difference in eternity is whether or not we were here together, whether or not it all happened. Only in eternity will we know if it is Real. None of the rest will matter, coming or going.

If anyone who has been here from their heart and has experienced some Reality, you receive the greatest commendation and respect. I want to commend everyone who comes to these intensives. The only thing we do, through having all these activities, fines, and juries, is to alleviate the pain of being asleep.

Our whole school is based on this story of Sai Baba and his Guru. It is a perfect example of how to approach spiritual training. If one wants the most efficient result in the shortest time, with the least effort and the greatest joy, efface your Guru as a student, and you will have no problem.

The two coins are TRUST and PATIENCE. 

To enter the path of initiation and discipleship you must offer two things: give up asking or thinking or wondering how long it’s going to take and give up judging what arises on the path as being too difficult or unreasonable or any other questioning like this. 

If you cannot give these two coins you will not be successful no matter how many mantras you chant, how many sound healings that you receive, how many prostrations you do, how much service you perform or how many good deeds you make.