FOUR CHAPTERS ON BABA BY DASGANU MAHARAJ

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Chapter 32 The

animals are different because of their previous karma, their innate characteristics depending on the species they belong to. Thus, tigers eat flesh and pigs eat excreta while hyenas dig out buried bodies and devour them. Kites and vultures feed on rotten bodies while swans eat the tender leaves of lotus plants. Karma, determines not only the species - specific characteristics of animals but also what happens to some members of the species as distinct from some others of the species in their life-span. Thus, some tigers are lucky to roam free in the forest whereas others are destined to move from door to door at the bidding of their gypsy masters, chained and shackled. The dogs kept by the rich sit on soft mattresses while others roam about in the streets, lingering around houses for a piece of bread. Some cows are treated to good grains, oil cakes and special fodder; some do not get even a straw to nibble and some others have to hang around refuse dumps for food. Coming to men, some are rich, some poor, some lucky and some mere restitutes reduced to begging. Some have vehicles and horses and some have large houses or palaces to live in while some have to sleep naked in the open. Some have children, some

remain childless, some are unlucky to see their children die young and some get heartily sick of their children." Nana folded his hands and said, "I understand that but what puzzles me is this: why should there be pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow? There cannot be these if one gets rid of worldly affairs." To this Baba said, "Pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow are illusions. They are not real, although people think them to be real. Thanks to his previous karma, one man feeds on delicacies; another feeds on dry bread; a third gets only stale food or worthless left-overs. Those who feed on stale food or worthless left-overs consider themselves unhappy, while those eating good food say that they have everything they need. The purpose of eating is to quench the fire in the stomach, no matter what one eats delicacies or left-overs. Similarly, the purpose of covering one's body, whether with delicate fabrics woven with gold thread or with rough garments made from the inner bark of trees, is to protect the body; nothing more. Thus, joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure are simply ways of looking at things. They are, as I said, illusions and you should not be deceived by them. Illusory as they are, these feelings cannot exist without a cause just as waves cannot exist without water or light without a lamp. The six enemies like desire, avarice etc. are the underlying causes. These make one believe that the unreal is the real. When a poor man sees a gold bracelet on the wrist of a rich man, he feels angry. The anger in turn gives rise to envy, the desire to own something belonging to another. One must therefore defeat the six enemies. Once they are subdued they cannot disturb you with joy or sorrow. You need not destroy these enemies completely; you need only to learn to employ them as your slaves, keeping them in check through knowledge or rational thinking. "There is, however, one real joy and one real sorrow. Being caught up in the cycle of births and deaths is the real sorrow; getting liberated from the cycle is the real joy. All the rest is illusion. Sairam baba guide us all Manisha

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