The Test of a Master Disciple Relationship

What is Living the Teachings of Sai Baba?

In Living the Teachings of Sai Baba, we interview spiritual teacher Gautam Sachdeva where he gives insights on how one can Live Baba's teachings and begin to feel peace of mind in their daily living.

Namaste. We are with Gautamji once again for our next Podcast. Gautam, thank you for your time, as always. Namaste, Nik. Great to be back here. Thank you too, for inviting me.

It's all by Baba's grace. Absolutely. And Gautam, today I would like to discuss with you, if we could do a commentary, on one of our recent publications on the channel, a documentary film that we had published, on the life of this important devotee, Bade Baba.

And there were some incidents in that, that I felt are noteworthy, that we can discuss, so it can help devotees contemplate these important teachings through these films.

Sure, sure. So, as you watched the commentary by Pawar Kaka on the life of Bade Baba, for devotees who have not watched it, we'll put a link to the video in the description, so please watch it before hearing this Podcast.

And in a gist, he was someone Baba regarded very highly, and treated really, really well, but because of that, many people were not very happy with his conduct, and they were not happy about his presence in Shirdi.

The only exception was Kaka Dixit. Yes, if I remember, he was considered to be quite, perhaps, rude and obnoxious, and therefore people didn't get along with him at all.

They found him to be arrogant, and not worthy, actually, of being in Baba's company, although, as you said, Baba had such high regard for him. Absolutely. So, one thing, Gautam, that particularly stood out for me, which I felt is a very important thing we can take, is Kaka Dixit's conduct.

Yes. Because while everyone criticised him, some actually drew him out of the town, Kaka Dixit offered him a place to stay, and even other devotees quarrelled with Kaka over this matter, that "Why is it that you are treating him nicely, and why don't you also object?" But Kaka had a very beautiful outlook.

He said, "If Baba reveres him, then even I revere him, no questioning anything." Yes. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, Baba would even walk 2 kilometres to the edge of the town, where they had kind of asked him to stay.

Can you imagine that kind of reverence Baba is giving to someone? I think this is really an amazing story for us, Nik. Because, you see, we are those people who were against this Baba, this Bade Baba.

It's an aspect of us. Someone we don't like, someone we find arrogant, obnoxious... our first reaction is to keep that person away, and not want to deal with that person.

But as you so rightly said, Kaka could have also responded that way, but chose not to. This is Guru Bhakti, according to me. This is really... you see, everyone leads by example and lives by example, and this is a clear display of everyone's commitment to Baba.

Interestingly, Nik, I remember reading a book by talks of Siddharameshwar Maharaj, where he said that if the Guru has a dog in his house, even the dog must be accorded respect.

And Maharaj also went on to say that even the wind blowing through the Guru's house should be revered and acknowledged. Now why so, Nik? Why so? You see, if the Guru...

the Guru is a field of Presence. There is a word called Sannidhi. Being in a Guru's Presence is called Sannidhi. You partake of that Consciousness. So can you imagine the field of Presence around Sai Baba, what it must have been?

And within that, this person, who was not liked by most people, was accorded the highest respect, which clearly meant he had Baba's grace on him. So I think Kaka's reaction is most astute, because he has realised that the Master's grace is bestowed upon this man, no matter what his personality.

And so he refuses to toe the line of the other village folk, and he decides to accord a high degree of respect himself to the Baba. This is really the test, according to me, this is the test of a true Disciple-Master relationship.

Gautam, an important aspect of Faith is when we can't see or understand something in the present, but to have total faith that in the future, however it unfolds, we may not see or understand it now, but it may have a greater meaning.

Like for example, in this case, and as you always say, Faith and Patience are deeply interlinked, Kaka was the only one, to everyone else in the present moment, it seemed, "Oh, this person's behaviour is improper..." But Kaka was the only one who had that understanding and faith that there must be some deep Rinanubandha with Baba, for which Baba bestowed so much grace on him, and to trust...

Our intellect may not understand now, but this is when you see Baba's conduct, and to trust in that fully. Yes, and this brings us to a most important point. As far as Faith is concerned, we have to suspend our reasoning mind.

We have to suspend the rational, linear, reasoning mind, because Faith is not from the mind, Nik, Faith is from the heart. So you can see in this instance that Kaka did not think his way through this, about, "What should I do?

How should I behave with this man who the village folk don't like, but Baba reveres?" There was no question of the mind going through this whole 'weighing the pros and cons' kind of thing.

The Faith, as we have seen, was unconditional. That Faith is from the heart, and that can only come if there is the deepest love between the disciple and the Master. So then, you are not trying to make sense of a situation.

In this case, we are talking of this particular episode, but when it comes to all us who are devotees of Baba, when things go wrong in our life, we are trying to reason it out, rationalise it, and then our Faith goes.

But if the Faith is established in the heart, then all this mental process is not going to affect it. And to me, this is the point of this story. You see, otherwise, we are so embroiled in a cause-effect relationship - "He did this to me, so I hate him, I'll throw him out of Shirdi, I'll make him stay two kilometres away..." That is how the mind works - the people we love, the people we hate, the ones we love we keep closest to us, the ones we hate, we kind of banish them from our kingdom...

that is what happens. So really, see, as we have said, Nik, over the last few years, these stories, all stories, whether in the Satcharita, wherever, Baba's stories are lessons for us.

They may have happened as events, but the fact that they were recorded is because Baba wants us to delve deep into these stories and take what we have to take for our own lives.

I keep mentioning this.

And Gautam, I would also want to add the fact that these commentaries are happening... like say, for example, Babar Kaka has very kindly spoken on the life of Bade Baba, which otherwise was not very easy to come to know.

There are little instances in the Satcharita, but here he's gone into great detail. Yes. Even these are matters of serious study and contemplation. Many people ask, "Oh, post videos, post videos...

put more things..." but I feel when you watch the series with Vinny Ma, Pawar Kaka, and the commentaries, they are things to repeatedly hear and watch, and contemplate.

In today's age, the medium may be video or audio, but in the yesteryear, it was the written word, and Baba was very particular about the practice of reading. He would hold devotees accountable if they were distracted, and they abruptly moved away from their reading practice.

So similarly, with the videos, hopefully, through this little Podcast we are doing, if it can inspire people to hear these with a very serious intent to contemplate what is it for us within these stories.

Yes, Nik, that has been our endeavour, and you see, this is a traditional tool used across India, across centuries - Story as a form to communicate teachings. Our holy scriptures are all story-based.

So I think it's a beautiful way to deliver teachings, because the Ego does not like to directly hear something. But when it is told in a story, it absorbs all those aspects of the story.

I think what we have been attempting to do is tell our brothers and sisters, "Don't read it just as a story of something happening to someone in Baba's time." Because each person around Baba, each Leela, is something we can relate to in our own lives, and therefore apply it.

That is what, as we commonly say across our Podcast, that is what is called "Living the Teachings", so that the teachings are not just lying by our bedside and we say very happily, "Oh, I read one chapter every day of the Charita." You may be reading it, which is good, better than nothing, but contemplating, reflecting on it, as we did in one Podcast maybe more than a year ago, and bringing it into our daily living, that is what it is about.

In the subsequent Podcast, I would like to speak with you on Patience, and one aspect and a practice I would like to discuss with you is even of journaling. At the end of the day, having certain pointers, which are linked to, say, the Satcharita or the Teachings, where you can begin to see your life through that filter.

So taking 20 minutes out, or 15 minutes out, this I would like to discuss with you in the subsequent episode. Sure, I'd be happy to do that, Nik. And as you said at the starting, I think it would be really nice if everyone listens to this particular episode, because it was new for me as well, I had never heard of this before, and anything new on Baba and interactions with people, for me is as valuable, if not more valuable, than gold.

So thank you, Gautam, for your time, as always, and we hope to continue this series of many episodes, following the serious videos and documentaries we post on the channel.

Thank you, Nik. Om Sairam. Thank you, Gautam. Om Sairam. Om Sairam.