Nana: Baba, I am fed up with this Samsara. Please help me cut the bonds which bind me to it. What appears as pleasant in the beginning ends in misery. Fate tosses us hither and thither. I don’t see an iota of happiness in this Samsara.
Baba: What you say is only partially true. You have misunderstood the truth. The Samsara will exist as long as the body exists. No one can escape from it. How can you? Even I am under its clutches. The Samsara is varied and different. It is the work of Desire and Anger. All the vagaries of the mind and the body constitute Samsara.
By running away and hiding yourself in a forest you cannot escape it. What you are now has been brought on you by yourself. You are only experiencing the fruits of your actions done by you in your previous lives. It is by that cause the effect of the appearance of this body has taken place. The soul gets a body just to experience the consequences of actions of its own previous lives.
Without experiencing the consequences of Prarabdha karma one cannot leave this world. Why do people look different? Why, in fact, do various living beings look different? It is all because of the karma of previous lives. A rich man’s dog rolls in joy on a cushioned sofa. A poor man’s dog rots at the street corner. The difference is because of Prarabdha.
Nana: Since pleasure and pain any way alternate in this Samsara, one feels like hating it and renouncing it. Is it not good to renounce?
Baba: Pleasure and pain are both Maya. What appears as pleasant is not really a pleasure. People in the clutches of Samsara take the appearance of pleasure as real and are drawn towards it. As a result of Prarabdha karma one fellow gets tasty, dainty and rich food while another fellow has only stale bread to eat.
The former thinks that he has no wants and the latter thinks he is a failure. Think well. Whatever you may eat, the result is the same. Appeasement of one’s hunger. One fellow covers his body with costly cloth with zari and all.
Another does the same with a torn old rag. Both serve the same purpose. Pleasure and pain depend on the attitude of your mind. This is the effect of Maya. Do not give place in your mind to thoughts of pleasure and pain.
Maya manifests itself as the six enemies of man: Lust, Anger, Greed, Delusion, Pride and Envy. They make non-real things appear as real. A poor man, seeing the rich man wearing a gold ornament, wishes to have one like that for himself. This is greed. The others are similar to this. Conquer all six of these foes of man. No desire will then rise in the mind.
Otherwise you will become a slave of these six rogues. Use your discretion and kill them. You will notbe affected by pleasure and pain caused by Maya. Let me tell you how you should go about in this Samsara. A wise person will be content with whatever he has, knowing full well that it is his Prarabdha. If you have riches, be humble. A tree with more fruits in it will bend. But do not bend before all. One should certainly be firm and stern with wicked people. But with Sadhus and the devout, you should show humility and modesty.
Spend your wealth in charity and dharma. Observe happily all the goings-on in the world. Do not forget God. Remember always: ‘This Samsara is not mine, it is God’s.’ Keep a constant mental analysis of the question: ‘Who am I?’
Excerpted from Sai Baba’s conversation with devotee Nana Govind Chandorkar translated by V. Krishnamurthy from Tamil book Shirdi Sai Baba
Sai Baba
