…“Usually Masters like Baba do not force disciples to follow their advice.

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…“Usually Masters like Baba do not force disciples to follow their advice.

They suggest the prescriptions directly (through words, actions and direct

experiences etc.) and/or indirectly (through dreams, anecdotes, hints and

mediums etc.) to each disciple or some times to a group of disciples. Baba at

times used to speak cryptic or broken sentences or utter a certain

un-intelligible language. The devotees could understand its meaning only after a

protracted mental deliberation over the issue. Baba could have given a direct

solution but His method was to lead the devotee through a self-finding mental

process. Many a times He would enquire from some devotees as to what they were

talking about when they were together. He would then advise them on how to

handle the compulsive negative thoughts of mind and to inculcate a habit of

generating positive thoughts. The omniscient Sadguru used to keep a watch on the

negative and positive thoughts of His disciples

and there are hundreds of such examples. Baba used to create thought waves in

the minds of devotees by His subtle powers thereby leading them to find a

solution to their own problems. To many, He used to give direction in dreams as

well. He used to render such help with a view to create a clearer and purer

state of mind in the devotees, which is essentially required to tread along the

path of spiritual evolution as per His (the Master’s) scheme. The Sadgurus do

not wish to keep Their disciples dependent on Them for all times to come with a

view to get their service. What they desire is to evolve the disciples to the

state of perfect human beings (Satpurush), with perfect noble qualities so that

they can further carry on certain subtle and difficult tasks on this earth or

elsewhere in accordance with the Divine Plan. The Sadgurus not only give

emancipation to the human-souls under Their care but also create a few spiritual

workers from among the

evolved devotees to assist Them in Their universal and subtle activities. The

basic principle They follow is to light a number of candles from a single candle

and They expect the process to continue for all times to come.

 

If we analyse the different methods that Shri Sai adopted while dealing with

different devotees, one of his prescriptions stands out prominently i.e. the

qualitative evolution of mind. In whatever He did towards the training of His

devotees, the moot idea of Baba was to evolve not only the mental qualities but

also the thought process itself. For example, when Nana Saheb Chandorkar sitting

near Baba at Dwarakamayee Masjid was attracted by the beauty of a woman, Baba

never advised him not to look at women. What He advised was that while looking

at any beautiful woman or beautiful object, one should think of 'beauty' as an

aspect of God’s creation. He further emphasized on the internal beauty of the

soul and not on the external beauty of the body. The lesson that Baba gave was

that when the mind is attracted to anything, it is better to attach a higher

value to the thought itself rather than to struggle with mind to avoid the

object of attraction. No one

can struggle with his own mind, as it is the most powerful force in human

beings as ordained by nature. The moment one tries to struggle with mind in

order to erase an evil thought or enforce a good thought sheerly by one's will,

it is bound to create certain reactions and such reactions lead to further

problems. This is the most difficult task for any human being to perform, living

as he does in a complex world. Therefore, Baba used to keep a constant watch on

the thoughts arising in the minds of His devotees and guide them promptly.

 

For example He asked Kaka Saheb Dixit to stay quietly (Uge-muge) in Dixit-Wada

at Shirdi and not to mix with others. He told Dixit that he should be wary of

thieves in the Wada lest they would take away everything, meaning thereby loss

of his positive quality of mind and peace. Similarly Upasani Baba was asked to

stay at Khandoba temple and not to meet any one. He was not even allowed to meet

Baba sitting a few hundred yards away for a long time. By separating the genuine

seekers from the rest of the world, Baba wanted them to maintain a purer and

positive state of mind and not to get contaminated by the negative thoughts of

others as usually happens in social interactions. Baba used to render advice in

the same or similar line to different devotees e. g. to keep one’s promise

always, to make adequate payment for the services received from any person, to

tolerate and not to quarrel even if provoked, to avoid speaking ill of others,

to avoid

differentiating among human beings on the grounds of material or social

differentiation etc. and finally to visualise the presence of God in every

object, every thought and every feeling.

 

All religious rituals including Poojas, Aartis and Parayanas, etc. are methods

of human evolution at the first stage. Evolution of the thought process of mind

in itself is the intermediary stage and emancipation of the soul through

realization of God is the third and final stage in the spiritual journey of the

soul. Since the omniscient Baba could easily read through the thoughts of all

His devotees, He could prescribe the methods of thought control and spiritual

evolution to each devotee, specific to him.

 

History shows that it is the positive forces of human minds that had created

mighty civilizations and it is the negative forces of human minds that had

brought about the total destruction of their own civilization as had happened in

Rome, Egypt, Peru etc. We see the world as our mind visualises it and our

visualisation is limited and often distorted. We see the world with a fixed

kaleidoscope from a certain angle. If the kaleidoscope is rotated, then

different forms and patterns of life would appear. Since each individual sees

life from a certain fixed angle, each experiences a specific pattern, the

pattern of life experienced by him seems to be the only truth. Let alone the

people with a predominantly evil nature, even people with the best of qualities

suffer from this limitation of mental fixity. It is seen that at times the best

qualities of an individual, become the greatest block in his evolution in

certain situations. For example, there was a kind

person who used to help every one. He had the expectation, as is usually the

case with human beings that others would be equally kind to him and reciprocate,

in his bad times. But when he was in distress every one did not render the

required help in the manner and to the extent he had rendered to them. As a

result, he started questioning the very plinth of kindness and decided not to

help others as he used to do earlier. Now his proactive kindness turned to

reactive narrow-mindedness. His evolved quality of natural benevolence was

blocked and the evolution process of mind slowed down. No doubt as a

worldly-wise person he went a step forward but in his spiritual evolution he had

gone a step backward. If he had the flexibility of mind to accept the

imperfection in others without passing value judgement over the imperfect

conduct of others, he would have been happier and more evolved. The lesson to

learn is that howsoever perfect one claims to be, the

universal nature (containing both so called perfect and imperfect aspects),

does not give a license to any one condemn others, howsoever, imperfect.

Therefore, the wise ones have proclaimed that one may hate sin but not the

sinner. Baba unequivocally declared that when any one condemned any one else,

his feelings were hurt.

 

Some psycho-analysts hold the view that inflexible perfectionists suffer

psychological stress the most as they find it difficult to adjust with the

imperfect traits in the character of others with whom they interact. Such

persons are, sometimes, highly creative because of their sense of perfection but

nevertheless they suffer the most due to social maladjustment. This problem of

human beings is not limited to this category alone. It is more or less with

every one to some extent. The fundamental problem with the magnificent human

being is that each person considers himself to be the centre of the Universe –

the little Universe he has created for himself. Therefore, he desires that every

thing around him should fall in line with the requirements of that little

Universe. They are not prepared to visualise themselves as an infinitesimally

small particle in the vast Universe with millions and millions of ever changing

patterns. These millions of little

Universes juxtaposed in the social fabric of our complex world try to clash

with each other and to pull each other apart by the gravitational force of their

atomic individualism or ego. The Sadgurus have always tried to give simple

solutions to this complex problem.

 

If we follow the prescriptions of Baba, as contained in Shri Sai Satcharitra our

thought process can go through a qualitative change and we can have a clearer

picture of the world around us. It will not only do good to us but also to

others around us. Therefore, when reading Shri Sai Satcharitra or other

literature on Baba, our thoughts should always be focused on this aspect of

conscious mental evolution that Baba repeatedly taught and exemplified through

his own conduct..â€â€¦â€¦.