Chapter 4 - A Deeper Understanding - a podcast by Sai Babas Devotee Speaks

Chapter 4 - Gautam Sachdeva's Commentary
Das Ganu & The Holy Rivers

Now when we look at chapter four, the focal point is the story where Das Ganu has a wish to take a dip in the holy rivers that meet at Prayag, and so goes to Baba to ask for His permission. Then Baba says that there's no need to go to Prayag when Shirdi itself is the Prayag, one only has to have faith. And as Baba said this, from both of Baba's toes, water trickles down. And that water represents the twin streams of the Ganges and the Yamuna, which meet at the Prayag. This is the story and of course Das Ganu was moved to tears.

Now, there's a very big lesson here. You see, one is of course Das Ganu, did the right thing by first asking for permission from the Guru, because the Guru knows best. So that shows his level of awareness as a disciple. Now what Baba was trying to show that when one has full faith in the Guru, when one is immersed in the Guru's teachings, when one is under the protective umbrella of the Guru, then there's no need to go elsewhere in order to gain favours, so to speak, or to please the Lord because the Guru is the Lord. And so, here we have Baba giving the spectacular demonstration of the Ganges and Yamuna flowing from
His toes. As we all know, the symbolism of the Ganges is to take a dip in there to wash away one's sins. So, what Baba is showing is that when you take refuge in the Guru, no matter what happens, You place it at the Guru's feet- this is the importance and the significance of the Guru.

Now, we may ask ourselves, does it mean that even if one has a Guru, one should not undertake pilgrimages, etc. So far, we can look at it objectively. If one is going with a sense of gratitude, joy, and feeling a natural pull, there's no harm in it. But what is the intent with which we go to these places- is it to gain favors?, to increase our storehouse of karmic points? and so on and so forth. This we have to ask ourselves, because all this actually comes to an end when one is sitting at the feet of the Master. So, it is a personal decision. People will feel differently about pilgrimages and so on. But we need to take the essence of what Baba says on the importance of the Guru. So, there may be people who have other Gurus today, not just Baba. For most of us here on this channel, Baba represents the Guru or the Sadguru which means that some of you may have Gurus in physical form, and that physical Guru leads to the Sadhguru, which is Baba. But either way, what Baba is showing to us is the importance of the Guru principle.

True faith is that whatever happens in one's life, good or bad, pleasure or pain, is ordained, and the Grace of the Guru is on our side, to take us through life's situations and life's challenges. This quotation was by my teacher Ramesh Balsekar, and it is so pertinent to the story of the two rivers. Rameshji says, just as the flow of a river seizes, once it reaches the sea, so also, all discipline and effort for liberation seize when one reaches the Guru. So, it is a most beautiful leela, which has been shown to us and hopefully we imbibe the deeper significances of these stories, rather than just being happy and saying what a great leela that Baba has done. We must try to understand, to imbibe and to see that this teaching percolates in the heart. That is the intent of these chapters in the Satcharita.

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