Chapter 5 - A Deeper Understanding - a podcast by Sai Babas Devotee Speaks

Chapter 5 - Gautam Sachdeva's Commentary
True Poverty

Good afternoon everyone. In chapter five, let us specifically explore one sentence which Baba would always say. So here it is mentioned- poverty holds the highest sovereignity or thousand times greater than the grandeur of the noble man. Allah befriends the poor so what Sai say always. Now why would Sai Baba say this always- Poverty holds the highest sovereignty thousand times greater than the grandeur of the noble man. You see, He is not referring to only material poverty and physical poverty. That is one level of reading this chapter. What is Baba pointing to? That to be poor means to have fewer attachments.
Not to be attached to material things, not to invest material value to the things that surround us that we consider pleasures. Therefore, poverty holds the highest sovereignty.

Now, let's take charity which is connected with poverty. Charity means giving freely from the heart and many times this is spontaneous. When one feels compassion arising deep in the heart, one gives, and one doesn't even think sometimes- do I have enough for myself. So, in both cases, there is no extreme attachment to material objects. So Allah befriends the poor, means this. It means not to live like the noble man who has surrounded himself with material things. So, it gives him an identity, a sense of worth, a sense of self, this is who I am, I am a noble man, look at me. See, with these kinds of attributes of the inflated ego come pride and arrogance, which is the grandeur of the noble man. This is what Baba is pointing to. Therefore, rather not have that grandeur if one will derive one's sense of self from your fancy car or from the bank balance you have, the image that you have projected and created of who you think you are. It is better to be poor in those aspects and be the opposite of the noble man. That is what Baba is pointing to and this point tends to get mixed.

However, we are attached not only to material objects, but also to people. People who we derive a sense of self from. We like to surround ourselves with people who agree with us, who we feel good to be in company of because it enhances our self worth, and so on. We all wear masks in society. We sometimes want to project - Oh we have so many friends, we are so popular and so on and so forth. And once again, Sai says poverty holds the highest sovereignty. Be poor in all respects. That becomes your true worth. Don't go around collecting opinions. Don't go go around collecting friendships that make you feel special. It's actually a very deep lesson. In that sense, don't have all that to deal with. This whole psychological structure is a palace of sorts, the palace of illusions that the rich man has created for himself. Fortunately, the poor who's already dealing with the tough situations he is placed in, fortunately for him, he does not have this baggage of psychological suffering, which the rich man has. So we must understand that in our lives if we keep hearing this sentence of Baba again and again, we should try to see what is He pointing to? So this I think, is a beautiful part of chapter five.

Fakir Jawahar Ali & True Discipleship

And of course, the famous incident of the Fakir Jawahar Ali and Sai Baba is a big lesson in this chapter. I won't go into it in detail because that is already covered in another podcast and you will find the link on the page. But in a nutshell, there was this fakir , who was considered to be quite arrogant. His name was Jawahar Ali. And he decided that Sai Baba should be his disciple and this man was not liked. But you see, as I said in that podcast, Baba was the Master of seeing Runanubandha and the bondage of former relationships. He could see this with everyone He came across. In fact, I remember somewhere else it is written about the two sheep he saw in a flock of sheep. And He recalled that they had known Him in a prior life. So, Baba played along in this game. Now, could you imagine someone of Baba's stature agreeing to be the disciple of someone who was obviously not of that highest stature? That is Baba's greatness. That shows the full control Baba had over the ego and its mechanics because it did not get in the way. And in that game, in that Leela, which was not only played about for Jawahar Ali, but also for the people who are around both of them to witness. Baba did the perfect thing to do in a Guru disciple relationship. He played the role of the disciple 100%. So He lived by example, and He was actually trying to show everyone, especially His devotees who were so upset by this whole charade going on by this fakir called Jawahar Ali, that this is called true discipleship. Despite knowing what was going on, Baba served this man as His Master. Eventually Jawahar Ali succumbed and lay down at Baba's feet and apologized. So this was done so that everyone learned this lesson about how a devotee/ disciple ought to be. A true disciple considers the Master's words as God's words. But what happens is when we read the Satcharita from the mundane level of feeling, we say, Oh wow, look at Baba, how noble He is. He didn't let His ego come in the way and He allowed Jawahar Ali who was such a small man compared to Him to become His master. That is all fine. That is very well at one level of reading but the main takeaway is how a true disciple should be.

You see, it reminds me of when Nisargdutta Maharaj would sing Bhajans at the end of His Satsang and there were many Bhajans. Sometimes His voice would go high, very high pitched. Now the devotees who were singing the bhajans with him, even they would sing at a high picture those times. But once Maharaj told them that the reason He was raising His voice was to emphasize those verses so that the listeners delved deeper into those verses and not so that they raised their voice blindly because He was raising his voice. This is how the Masters work. You see, sometimes They will not tell us directly, They will tell us by example. And it is up to us to follow that example, to follow the lead. So do read this chapter keeping these two aspects in mind- one is the quotation on poverty and two is the Jawahar Ali's story. Thank you, everyone.

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