Chapter 9 - A Deeper Understanding - a podcast by Sai Babas Devotee Speaks

Chapter 9 is primarily about two incidents - rather, many incidents - but pertaining to two topics. One is taking permission from Sai Baba before leaving His presence. This is more important than it seems. You see, as one reads the Satcharita, there are many accounts where we see people who take leave from Baba without asking His permission, and He tells them not to leave at that particular time, and yet they leave, and so on. And when they leave, an accident happens, or some other calamity takes place. And this is emphasised throughout the Satcharita, actually.

So, why is it so important to ask permission? It is because of this: the Guru is considered to be God in human form. Now, if you were before God, then most definitely, you would seek permission before an action is performed: "I would like to do this." You see, and if we don't do that before someone like Sai Baba, then we assume we know best, we know when we should leave, and so we just say, "Okay, I'm leaving now." This is a very important point that shows that the surrender of the ego has not happened. And Baba repeatedly proves this by delaying departures and various other means, and then the devotees realise that, thankfully, because they listen to Baba, their lives were saved. So, this point cannot be emphasised enough. Here, of course, the act is taking permission from the Master, and it is not to do with just physical leaving and physical arriving. This has to be one's total relationship with the Master, because then, one has surrendered one's individual will to the Divine Will.

The other important aspect covered in Chapter 9, with a very beautiful incident, which I won't go into in detail, but the incident is about how a father, who is not as ritualistic as his son, promises his son to offer food to Baba's statue because the son takes the mother to Shirdi, and the father is in Bandra, Mumbai, and he tells his son, "Don't worry, I will follow this ritual of yours diligently."

And one day the father forgets. But, by then, the son is already with Baba, and Baba mentions to everyone: "I went to Bandra, but there was no food for me." And, of course, by then, the father had also realised his folly. Now, why is this incident so important? It is again this: If our priority is the Master and the Master's Teaching, then it has to be followed - not as a matter of convenience, but as one's priority. Yes, we all live in busy lives, and sometimes events happen. Work overtakes us, some relationships become priority, and then we forget. We forget that is what happens. But what this incident is showing us is that Baba, being all-pervading, registers everything - God being all-pervading, Consciousness being all-pervading, registers everything. So, it is not so much about making this mistake, committing a sin, and being punished for it, and all that stuff. No! It is about - if you have a spiritual Sadhana or spiritual discipline, then that needs to come first. So, whether you allocate a fixed time for it, or whatever it may be, then one has to be diligent and not compromise in that manner.

So, these are two very important points raised in Chapter 9, which I will emphasise again. One is, most importantly, if you have a living Guru, or if not, and your belief is total in Sai, present yourself before Him. It does not have to be physically, of course. It can be even mentally. Before the day begins, for example, offer the day to the Master, offer it to the Divine. And secondly, any discipline, for example, if you are following the ritual with Baba of praying before His photograph, offering incense before it, and so on and so forth, that is something which has to be adhered to, not something which can be replaced because something else happened and you got busy with that. Of course, sometimes circumstances are inevitable. Let's say, there is an emergency, but if one has been diligent in one's practice, then even at that time, the thought will at least arise that: "this is the time I have made the Pooja, or the offering, to the Lord." So, do remember that this all these stories not only pervade the Satcharita, but our own Consciousness, as we read and absorb them.

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