One must always remember that there are laws of ones own being and Gods plan for all creatures

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One must always remember that there are laws of ones own being and Gods plan for

all creatures. Anyone who wishes sincerely to achieve his own souls welfare

would pause to study what his duties are and seek the help of great ones and

Gurus to guide him in his path, then by surrendering himself to great ones,

allow his evil vasanas to be crushed out and good vasanas to be developed, and

ultimately to get both sets of vasanas which are part of ones personality to be

drowned in the contemplation of the Guru-God. This is the teaching about Karma

by Sadhakas to Baba. The law of Karma is decried by people who do not understand

it. Some say that Karma can never be got rid off. There is an element of truth

in that statement. But the way in which it is put as above is misleading and

wrong. The law of Karma is merely the law of cause and effect. To say that an

effect cannot be rectified or modified is absurd. If cause A produces the effect

B,

it is absurd to say that B must always continue to be B and nothing can change

it. Just as cause A produces effect B, cause C impinging upon B may make changes

in the effect. The fact is that most acts done with a purpose are producing

certain tendencies and certain other results. One should not confuse the actual

result or reward earned by an act with the tendency. The tendency can and should

always be met if it is an evil tendency. To say that karma is inexorable, and

nothing can change it, is positively absurd. Generally people think of

tendencies when putting forward that proposition and one can be positive that

all tendencies may change by stimuli pro¬ducing opposite tendencies. Sinfulness

is a tendency and it can always and should always be met by virtuous actions,

virtuous contacts, holy readings and Satsang. As for the rewards, it is often

said,

 

Avascyam Anubhoktavyam

Kritam karma scubha Ascubham.

 

that is, what one has earned as a reward or punishment for ones act, good or

evil must of necessity be endured. This is generally speaking true. But it is

not true in the way in which it is baldly put. A person who commits murder is

liable to be hanged. But he may also have other forms of punishment either

immediately or later on. The sentences may be altered, reduced, and even

completely condoned on such occasions as the King's Birthday pardons. Therefore,

it is not correct to say that the reward or punishment earned by conduct is

unalterable. Everything on earth is liable to change or mitigate and if we

remember this, we shall be able to meet the objections sometimes raised to Sai

Babas statement about karma. In the very opening Charters of Babas Charters and

Sayings, we find Babas statement. " If one puts his foot on Shirdi soil his karma

is abolished " . Many a man wonders whether that is possible especially in view of

the dictum quoted above, Avascyam Anubhoktavyam. Baba also told Chandorkar that

certain broad decisions arrived at as to the birth and death of people are

treated as facts resulting from previous acts of individuals. Regarding birth of

a child, death of a son¬-in-law, about which Chandorkar was anxious to make

Baba work on his behalf, Baba declared that they were the result of previous

karma and could not be altered. In a sense that is true. Certain births and

certain deaths are all fixed by series of antecedent events, but yet Baba is

able to mould these and shape these, at certain stages and modify these for the

benefit of the concerned devotees. When talking to Dr. Chidambaram Pillai, Baba

explained the correct doctrine. Dr. Pillai had been suffering intensely from

guinea worm. He told a friend to go and report to Baba that his sufferings were

intolerable and to request Baba to transfer these sufferings to some ten later

births of his and leave him free from the sufferings in this janma. When this

was reported to Baba, the latter sent for Pillai and told him, What, you want

ten janmas? What has to be endured in ten janmas can be crushed into ten days by

the power of Satpurusha. So, Baba ordered him to remain with his legs

outstretched at Dwarakamayee and he told him that a crow would come and peck at

his wound and cure him. In a few days, Abdul, Babas permanent attendant,

carelessly put his foot down upon Pillais wound and crushed all the guinea worms

out of it, merely by accident as, he Pillai, would have thought. But nothing

done at the Mosque to Pillai could be considered as an accident, and Baba said

that Abdul was the crow, and that no further crow was wanted to peck at Pillais

wound. Pillai was then asked to go home, and in ten days, the entire suffering

from guinea worm was cured.

 

In another case, that of Bhimaji, who had serious chest diseases such as asthma

and tuberculosis, Baba first told Shama, ‘In bringing this thief to me what a

load of responsibility you are placing on me. Baba meant that the tuberculosis

and asthma from which Bhimaji suffered were the result of Bhimajis karma in a

previous janma consisting of theft. Bhimaji felt Baba’s declaration a blow. At

once he surrendered himself to Baba and said, Helper of the helpless! I am

helpless. Pray show pity and grace to me. Then Babas tone changed, Baba told

him, The Fakir is merciful, and your disease will be cured. He was suffering

from the results of karma, but that could be mitigated, and so the man was sent

to live and sleep in a wet verandah. Bhimaji did so. There, he had two very

dreadful dreams: In one dream, he was mercilessly birched by a school master.

For, in the dream he fancied he was a boy and the master was birching him. So,

he felt the pain in the dream and roared out. In the second dream, it was even

worse. He felt that some one was placing a stone roller and rolling it over his

breast. He suffered all the horror of instant death approaching him. All the

pain of a hanging sentence and whipping sentence were endured by this man in the

course of one night. Baba thus changed the punishment which he had earned by his

previous karma, and told him that he was thus free from karmic effects. He then

recovered his health. The above instances go to show that most of our

conceptions about karma are nebulous and ungrounded, and that the safest course

for us to follow would be to be guided by the dicta of Satpurushas like Sai

Baba.