You can also listen to the free audiobook version of this Chapter on Youtube: Chapter 51
The Epilogue
Having completed Chapter 51, treated as chapter 50, we will proceed with the last chapter (no.52 in the original text). It is here that Hemadpant wrote his concluding remarks and promised to provide an index giving the contents of all the chapters in verse, as is given in Marathi sacred books. Unfortunately, the index was not found in Hemadpant’s papers. It was therefore composed and supplied by an able and worthy devotee of Sai Baba, Mr. B.V. Deo (retired mamlatdar of Thana). As English books provide an index in the beginning with contents of each chapter, we will not consider the last index chapter here. Thus, the final chapter shall be regarded as the epilogue.
Unfortunately, Hemadpant did not survive to revise the last chapter’s manuscript to prepare it for press. When it was sent to the press, Mr. Deo found it to be incomplete and unintelligible in certain places, but it had to be published as it was found. The main topics dealt with therein are given below.
The Greatness of the Sadhguru Sai
We prostrate ourselves before Sai and take refuge in His grace, for it is He who besets all animate and inanimate things in the universe. It is He who pervades all creatures equally without differentiation. It is He for whom all devotees are equal and who knows not honor or dishonor, like nor dislike. If we remember Him and surrender to Him, He fulfills all our desires and leads us to the goal of life, Self-realization. The ocean of mundane existence is very hard to cross; Waves of infatuation beat high against the banks of bad thoughts, causing trees of fortitude to fall. The breeze of egoism blows forcibly and makes the ocean rough and agitated. Crocodiles in the form of anger and hatred roam fearlessly and eddies in the form of the ideas “I and mine” whirl incessantly. Innumerable fish in the form of censure, hatred and jealousy swim about. Although this ocean is so fierce and terrible, Sadhguru Sai is its agasti (destroyer) and the devotees of Sai have no fear of it. Our Sadhguru is the boat which will safely take us across this ocean.
Prayer
Let us worship Sai Baba, bow to His lotus feet, and say the following prayer: Let our mind not wander and wish for anything but Thee. Let this work, Shri Sai Satcharita, be in every house and let it be studied daily. Ward off the calamities of those who study it regularly. Om Shri Sai Ram.
Fala Shruti (reward of study)
Now a few words about the reward you get from a study of this work. After bathing in the sacred Godavari, and after taking the darshan of the samadhi in the samadhi mandir in Shirdi, you should read, or listen to the reading, of the Shri Sai Satcharitra. If you do this, all your threefold afflictions will vanish. Casually thinking about the stories of Sai, you will become interested in spiritual life and if you continue to read and study this work with love, all your sins will be destroyed. If you wish to be free from the cycle of births and deaths, read Sai’s stories and always remember Him. If you dive into the sea of Sai’s stories and then tell them to others, you will receive an ever new flavor of them and save the listeners from perdition.
If you go on meditating on Sai’s form, it will, in the course of time, disappear and lead you to Self-realization. It is very hard to realize the nature of the Self or Brahma, but if you approach the sagun form (physical form) of Brahma through the form of Sai, your progress will be easy. If the devotee completely surrenders himself to Him, he will lose his individuality and become merged in Him in all of the three states: when awake, sleeping and dreaming. Thus, he will be rid of the bond of samsar (worldly existence). If anyone, after bathing, reads Shri Sai Satcharita with love and faith, and completes it within a week (completes a saptaha), his calamities will disappear. If he hears or reads it daily and regularly, all his dangers will be warded off. By its study, a man striving for success in his life will achieve it, and the devotee striving for Self-realization, shall attain his goal. The reward will be according to the faith and devotion of the individual.
If the Shri Sai Satcharita is read respectfully, Sai will be pleased, and will remove your ignorance and poverty; blessing you with knowledge, serenity and prosperity. If you read a chapter daily with a concentrated mind, it will give you unbounded happiness. One, who has his welfare at heart should study it carefully and then he will ever remember Sai gratefully and joyfully, in birth after birth.
This work should be read at home, especially on Guru Pournima (the Ashada full moon day), Gokul Ashtami, Rama Navami and Dasara (Baba’s death anniversary). If you study this one book carefully, all your desires will be satisfied, and if, in your heart and mind, you always remember Sai’s holy feet, you will easily cross the bhava sagar or samsar. By its study, the diseased and sick will receive health; the poor, wealth; the mean and afflicted, peace, and the mind will be rid of all ideas and will gain steadiness.
Dear good and devoted readers and listeners, we bow to you all and make a special request. Never forget Him whose stories you have read day by day and month by month. The more fervently you read or listen to these stories, the more encouragement and blessings Sai bestows on you.
Prasad Yachana
We close this book with a prayer to the Almighty for the following prasad or favor: May the readers and devotees develop complete and wholehearted devotion to Sai’s feet. May His form always be fixed in their eyes and may they see Sai (the Lord) in all beings. Amen!
Arati
Oh, Sai Baba, we wave lights before You, the bestower of happiness to the jivas. Give us, Your servants and devotees, rest under the dust of Your feet. Burning or destroying desire, You remain absorbed in the Self and show the Lord (God) to aspirants. As one feels intently, You give them experiences or realizations accordingly. Oh kind hearted, Your power is such! Meditation on Your name removes our fear of samsar. Your method of work is really unfathomable, as You always help the poor and helpless. In this Kali age, You, the all-pervasive Datta, have really incarnated as Sagun Brahma. Ward off the fear of samsar of the devotees who come to You, so as to enable them to see the holy feet of the Lord. Oh beloved Sai, may our treasure be the service of Your holy feet. Bless us who sing Your praise. Amen!
Bow to Shri Sai – Peace be to all