Frightened, he tried to escape, but they grabbed him. One giant took his head and broke open his skull, while the other pulled out his brain and flung it away! Then the other poured light into his skull. This light was of sat-chit-ananda — infinite knowledge, power and bliss! That was the final death of Kashinath and the Realization of Upasni as the Eternal All.
Upasni Maharaj himself vividly described his condition at this time:
For many a month when I was sitting in a mountain-niche or when I was sitting in the temple at Shirdi, I was without any food or water. My body was reduced to mere skin and bones, but my inner strength had increased. I was doing hard, laborious menial work such as breaking stones, plowing the fields, drawing water, milling sugarcane, etc. alone, all by myself. For hours on end, I used to do such work without any rest. I was able to walk very fast. This has been seen by many.1
I used to feel the day devoid of pain as a very tiresome one. I constantly used to try to have pain; pain had become a source of enjoyment for me. While sitting in the Khandoba Temple, many a time the scorpions used to sting me, but I had got used to enjoy that pain. I used to hate pleasure. If somebody brought food, I used to throw it away. I felt pleasure in fasting. I did not take any baths for years, as I felt tired of having one. A thick layer of dirt formed over my body. I felt pleasure in lying — in wallowing in dirt and night-soil [feces]. Menial labor and hard work in the sun I used to enjoy. I felt pleasure in tasting urine night-soil, etc.2
One day while staying in Khandoba Temple at Shirdi, I took a pot of water with me and went out to answer nature's call. I went in the fields in the direction of the well. I was walking with my head bent low. I had no thought in my mind, but something was being forced on me — worked on me — from within. Suddenly, I felt that something had given way in my head, as if the water from within was spouting out forcibly in a stream, as through a garden-hose, through the center of my head.
Footnotes
- 1.In a talk on 18 June 1924. Rigopoulos, The Life and Teachings of Sai Baba, p. 193.
- 2.Ibid, p. 193, from a talk on 7 February 1924.