Om Sri Sainathaya Namaha
Om Sri Sainathaya Namaha
Om Sri Sainathaya Namaha
Baba's way of teachings were really unique ! Many scriptures, discourses from the wise persons and self help books impart knowledge "how to live happily", help ourselves and most of these give various examples and anecdotes to drive a point. But our Lord Sai used a practical approach to this. The Holy Sri Sai Satcharitra is full of such incidents. Many scriptures are beyond the understanding of the common man who needs the help of the learned ones to interpret. But our Lord Baba used simple language and means to teach us.
There is a relatively easy way to be happy in life. The Chapter XX of Sri Sai Satcharitra (extract below) teaches the concept beautifully. Happiness and sorrow is just a state of mind and depend on how we see things.
On fully believing in Baba's words, he left Shirdi and came to Vile Parle (a suburb of Bombay), and stayed with Kakasaheb Dixit. There the next day, when Das Ganu was enjoying his morning nap (some say when he was engaged in worship), he heard a poor girl singing a beautiful song in clear and melodious tones. The subject matter of the song was a crimson coloured Sari, how nice it was, how fine was its embroidery, how beautiful were its ends and borders etc. He liked the song so much that he came out, and saw that it was being sung by a young girl, the sister of Namya, who was a servant of Kakasaheb. The girl was cleaning vessels, and had only a torn rag on her person. On seeing her impoverished condition, and her jovial temperament, Das Ganu felt pity for her and when Rao Bahadur M.V.Pradhan next day gave him a pair of dhotars, he requested him to give a sari to the poor little girl also. Rao Bahadur bought a good Chirdi (small Sari) and presented it to her. Like a starving person getting luckily good dishes to eat, her joy knew to bounds. Next day she wore the new Sari, and out of great joy and merriment, whirled, danced round and played `Fugadi' with other girls and excelled them all. The Day following, she kept the new Sari in her box at home and came with the old and torn rags, but she looked as merry as she did the previous day. On seeing this, Das Ganu's pity was transferred into admiration. He thought that the girl being poor had to wear a torn rag, but now she had a new Sari which she kept in reserve and putting on the old rag, strutted herself, showing no trace of sorrow or dejection. Thus he realized that all our feelings of pain and pleasure depend upon the attitude of our mind. On thinking deeply over this incident, he realized that a man ought to enjoy whatever God has bestowed on him in the firm conviction that He besets every thing, from behind and before, and on all sides and that whatever is bestowed on him by God must be for his good. In this particular case, the impoverished condition of the poor girl, her torn rag and the new Sari, the donor, the dance and the acceptance were all parts of the Lord and pervaded by Him. Hence, Das Ganu got a practical demonstration of the lesson of the Upanishad - the lesson of contentment with one's own lot in the belief that whatever happens, is ordained by God, and is ultimately good for us.
This lesson of contentment should not be misunderstood as " I leave to the Lord to take care of me ! I shall sit at home and do nothing ! The Lord shall take care of me as destined " Rather it should be " I shall put my efforts, carry out actions with involvement and righteousness. I leave it to the Lord to decide on the fruits of my labor". The most important thing to note is that we need to carry out our duties with commitment and righteousness. Being detached about the result shall help us in overcoming disappointments or accept success with gratitude to our Lord and not let pride blind us. By adopting this method, one will not be sad nor happy knowing well that whatever he gets is from our Lord and therefore shall remain ever thankful to HIM.
In contrast to our everlasting worldly struggle, this is an easier approach once adapted to our life style. But first of all, we need to master the art of really "letting go" and truly surrender at our Lord's Lotus feet
Om Sairam
Topic: A comparatively easy way of living in Bliss (Read 823 times)