Chapter 3 - A Deeper Understanding - a podcast by Sai Babas Devotee Speaks

Chapter 3 - Gautam Sachdeva's Commentary
Story of the Rohilla and Baba

We come to the third chapter. Now, this chapter actually proves to us that the Satcharita works on various levels. It may appear to be a simple story. But some readers, if they read the story of the Rohilla and Baba, might have gotten confused and rightly so. So, we will explore the story a bit because this will set the tone for other stories to unfold.

Now as you might have read, there was this Rohilla, this Pathan, who came to Baba and he would shriek on top of his voice, chanting verses from the Quran 'Allah Ho Akbar' and so on. He would do this day and night. Now this got too much for the villagers to bear because the poor things were toiling all day, and it was disturbing their sleep at night. So they went and complained to Baba, but Baba said nothing doing. I'm not going to stop him and no one should stop him from doing this because if I am happy, what is your problem? So of course they were even more confused. You see. Now what gets interesting in the story if you read it carefully, which I would suggest you do, is that Baba starts talking about the Rohilla's wife. How troublesome she is, troublesome being a mild word. You see if you read those passages, Baba says things like the Rohilla's wife cannot stay with him. The wretched woman has no modesty, is without shame and so on. And the moment Rohilla stops his shouting, it is the opportunity for this one to enter.

Now, we will clearly see that this is not a physical wife. What Baba is pointing to is the mind, the ego mind, the thinking mind, which deceives all of us, and we know this is not a physical wife that the Rohilla is talking about is because later on Hemadpant himself says, "We never saw him with a wife. He didn't have money to support himself where would he have a wife". So what was Baba talking about? You see, so that questioning is there in the story already. So what Baba was showing was that as long as the person was chanting God's name, nothing else mattered. Because if he stopped doing that, his wicked, devious and mischievious mind, which was the source of troubles would come back. And Baba says she would come back and harass me, so please don't stop him from chanting.

Now, Baba does not mean that the form of Baba will be harassed. If Baba represents God, consciousness, the source- What is He trying to say? He's trying to say that a mind which chants the name of God is occupied by chanting God's name. That means that the working mind of the person is engaged in chanting God's name. Doing that, it prevents the mind from going into the dead past or an imaginary future and creating monstrous stories. That is the thinking mind. No wonder it is said- an idle mind is the devil's workshop. So it's better that the mind chants the name of God loud and clear than it be left to create its mischief. You see, so when Baba says that leave him alone otherwise the wife will harass me, He meant Me as consciousness. When the consciousness is engaged in the waking state, we say it is in the working mind mode, and nothing like chanting God's name after all to keep it engaged. It's a great gift because it keeps the thinking mind away. This is the lesson of the story you see. It's a very important lesson.

Now, some of you might have read this book called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. And he said something so nice. He said when we walk on the road, and we all have experienced this in India, we'll see who we classify as madman, you know, mumbling to himself, screaming and shouting. So Eckhart says that, at least he is open and transparent in doing that, most of us have this internal chatter, which is going on in our minds while we are walking on the road, which is far worse than this simple man who was just babbling away any nonsense, loud and clear. Imagine if all the dialogue in our minds, all the hatred, malice, jealousy, envy, pride, arrogance, guilt, shame, and all those thoughts came out of us in words, we would truly defile the environment, isn't it? So, chanting the name of God is given as an antidote to the thinking mind. Baba is telling us that this has got nothing to do with the Rohilla individually. Baba is telling this to us all indirectly so that we pick this up. What He is telling us is that if we find that our mind is just performing cartwheels upon cartwheels upon cartwheels, start chanting God's name so then He as Baba as consciousness will not be harassed.

Now, I would like to add something here which has just come to my mind. The Advaita sage Nisargdatta Maharaj used to end His Satsangs with bhajans. Now He himself would participate and sing very animatedly while the cymbals and drums and what have you were playing in the background. Now at certain spots in the singing, suddenly Maharaj would raise his voice far beyond what was the normal tempo. So the people in the satsang thought if Maharaj is raising His voice at these specific junctures, even we will start raising our voice. So they did that. But then Maharaj told them that please think a bit. I only raised my voice because I wanted to emphasize those verses to you, I want to tell you to pay attention to those verses, and you're just parroting me and raising your voice because I raise my voice for those verses. So you see, there is a reason why Masters say things. It is our good fortune that this chapter three comes right in front of the book. Because now we know we have to pay attention. Satcharita cannot be just a bedtime story book lying on your bedside, please understand that. This is a powerhouse of 'Knowledge' with the capital K, 'Wisdom' with a capital W and 'Grace' with a capital G.

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