The impotance of sai udi

The Importance of Udi

My childhood days had lot of wonderful memories....My grandpa his Monday noon pooja to lord Muruga and the sandal paste he use to keep on his forehead....If asked for reasons he would grin and put a dot on my forehead.. and affectionately tap my cheeks.Then someday he use to put udi all over his forehead and a spot of chandana (sandal)in the centre onto it the kumkum...amazing to watch.....But again when I question him why? He would grin and say for god....We do all these stuff for god....I believed my grandpa and did apply the udi sandal and kumkum all over my forehead of course not that artistically as my grandpa...and I was feeling that I am doing something great to god whenever I apply udi.

Once I had a terrible fever and head ache....my eyes were burning and I was not able to move. Though my grandpa himself was a vaidya he brought a doctor home. Usually my grandpa will give tartaricum, magnesium phos and some homeopath medicine and say I will be alright in some days. But this time he did not want to give the treatment himself. On investigation the doctor found out I had a viral infection may be I may get measles.

He gave some antibiotic and some cough syrup. The neighbors said that the goddess mariamman has come on me and I should not be treated with medication. However my grandpa behaved scientific and administered medicine...That night my temperature sore high and my grandpa went to the pooja room prayed and brought some udi and applied it on my forehead...I was conscious and watching him...i held his hand and asked why grandpa why should we do this stuff to god. That day my grandpa answered dear this udi is very precious and protects us from so many evils.... A new answer all these days I was thinking I am doing good to god by applying udi but today the concept turned topsy-turvy and my grandpa says that god would help us...confusing but I could not think more my head was aching.....

Children ask thousand and one questions and if only we could take time, and be empathetic to answer them,we would learn many things ourselves....In my later days many interpreted the act of applying udi in many ways and I got the full essence of the greatness of udi while going through the 33^rd chapter of Sai satcharita in my later years... What did Saibaba teach from his udi?

Baba taught by His Udi that all the visible phenomena in the universe are as transient as the ash. Our bodies composed of wood or matter of the five elements, will fall down, after all their enjoyments are over, and be reduced to ashes. In order to remind the devotees of the fact that their bodies will be reduced to ashes, Baba distributed Udi to them. Baba also taught by the Udi that the Brahman is the only Reality and the universe is ephemeral and that no one in this world, be he a son, father or wife, is really ours. We come here (in this world) alone and we have to go out alone. It was found and is even now found out, that the Udi cured many physical and mental maladies, but Baba wanted to din into the devotee's ears the principles of discrimination between the Unreal and the Real, non-attachment for the Unreal, by His Udi and Dakshina. The former (Udi) taught us discrimination and the latter (Dakshina) taught us non-attachment. Unless we have these two things, it is not possible for us to cross over the sea of the mundane existence. So Baba asked for and took Dakshina, and while the devotees took leave, He gave Udi as Prasad, besmeared some of it on the Bhaktas' foreheads and placed His boon-conferring hand on their heads. When Baba was in a cheerful mood, He used to sing merrily. One such song was about Udi. The burden of the Udi song was this,"Oh, playful Rama, come, come, and bring with you sacks of Udi." Baba used to sing in very clear and sweet tones.

So much about the spiritual implication of Udi. It had also its material significance. It conferred health, prosperity, freedom from anxiety, and many other worldly gains. So the Udi has helped us to gain both our ends - material as well as spiritual.