SAI BABA AND SPEECH
(SHRI SAI LEELA NOVEMBER DECEMBER 1993)
I shall
consider you blessed, when you will renounce all attachments, conquer lust and
palate; and getting rid of all impediments, serve God wholeheartedly and
resort to the begging bowl (accept sannyas)." (Ch. 44, P.
239)
The above
is the reply given by Sai Baba to Bapusaheb Jog, who asked Him as to why
even after serving Baba so many years, his mind was not calm and
composed and why was he not succeeding in his efforts for self-realisation. Sai
Baba in His teachings, always laid stress on controlling pleasures of senses,
especially those of sexual organ and the tongue. About pleasures of sexual
organ, we will discuss the subject in a later article. The tongue, however, has
two functions - to taste the food and to speak. About tasting the food we have
already discussed it in the previous article and now in this article let us see
what Baba's teaching was about speech.
In our
scriptures great stress is laid on 'Non-violence', which means not to hurt
anybody, physically, mentally or by speech. Sai Baba had realised that of all
the above, harsh and scornful words hurt a person much more than physical or
mental violence. Such cutting words are not easily forgotten and cannot be
withdrawn also. Consequently they cause ever-lasting enmity. Sai Baba,
therefore, not only advised His devotees "not to speak cuttingly to
anyone so as to hurt him to the quick" (Ch. 19, P. 104), but on
the contrary, off and on, said :
"Let
anybody speak hundreds of things against you, do not resent by giving any
bitter reply. If you always tolerate such things, you will certainly be
happy" (Ch. 19, P. 101-102) and in addition to make sure that they
did follow His advice, used to say :
"He who carps and cavils at
others, pierces Me in the heart and injures Me, but he that suffers and
endures, pleases Me most." (Ch. 44, P. 237)
ARGUMENTS AND DISPUTATION
Regarding
tongue another advice of Sai Baba was lo avoid arguments or hot discussions on any
subject with others. Arguments spring from egoism. Arguments lead to quarrels
and spread enmity. We remember, how in Ch. 2, Annasaheb Dabholkar on the very
first day of his visit to Shirdi, had hot discussion with Balasaheb Bhata
regarding the necessity of a Guru (a spiritual teacher or preceptor) and how
Baba checked Dabholkar's this argumentative habit permanently by addressing him
as 'Hemadpant' (corrupted form of Hemadripant, a well-known and learned
minister of the Yadav kings Mahadev and Ramdev in 13th century).
NOT TO INDULGE IN SLANDER-MONGERING NOR IN DISCUSSING OTHERS' AFFAIRS UNNECESSARILY
Sai Baba
advised His devotees not to indulge in scandal or slander of others. For
this, He had His own methods of correcting the defaulters. He, being omniscient,
knew, when and where the devotees had committed the fault, and so, he could
correct them effectively by taunting them also. In Ch. 19, Sai Baba pointed out to such a defaulter, a pig that was eating
filth near a fence and said to him,
"Behold how with what relish it is gorging dung. Your conduct is similar. You go on reviling own
brethren to your heart's content."
Needless
to say that the devotee was ashamed and took the lesson to his heart forever.
Similarly,
in Ch. 21, having known that a pleader from Pandharpur, had unnecessarily taken
part in a discussion in the bar room regarding the sub-judge Noolkar's coming
and staying at Shirdi for cure of his ill-health, Sai Baba, when the pleader
himself arrived at Shirdi, started saying,
"How
cunning people are! They fall
at the feet, offer Dakshina, but inwardly give abuses behind the back.
Is not this wonderful?"
The
pleader understood that the remark was aimed at himself and being convinced,
later said to Kakasaheb Dixit,
"This
is not a rebuke to me, but a favour and advice, that I should not indulge in
any scandal or slander of others and not to interfere unnecessarily in others'
affairs."
In our
scriptures, repeated stress is laid on speaking the truth always. Our national
motto is Satyameva Jayate (Truth only succeeds). In Mahabharata, we have
heard of Dharmaraj, the eldest amongst Pandavas, who always spoke the truth,
but, once in life he told a lie and, therefore, had to spend few hours in hell.
Sai Baba was always practical and realistic in His teachings. He never told His
devotees by words not to tell a lie and speak the truth always. But, the
devotees knew that Sai Baba was Antardnyani (knew the secrets of every
being's heart) and would certainly catch them, if they told a lie, hence, they
dared not to speak untruth in His presence. Hemadpant in his original Marathi
Shri Sai Satcharita rightly says:
Asatya chalena Sainprati /
Asatyen nahin Sainchi prapti /
Asatyen janen adhogati /
Antin durgati asatye //
Adhyay 38, 138
(Untruth
does not work before Sai and Sai cannot be procured with untruth. Untruth means
downfall. Untruth in the end takes you to hell.)
Khote
sanguni bhagena kaj /
Sai Maharaj
sarvasakshi //
Adhyay 51, 159
(Success is not possible by telling
a lie. Sai Baba is omniscient.)
However,
there are some instances in Sai Baba's life, where Sai Baba Himself has told
lies. In Ch. 27, Sai Baba wanted to give one Ramdasi's Vishnu-Sahasra-Nama (a
book, giving a thousand names of Vishnu and held second in importance to Bhagwat
Geeta) to His devotee Shama for initiating him in its recitation. So, He called
Ramdasi and told him a lie, that He was suffering from intense stomach-pain and
asked him to go to the bazaar and bring some sonamukhi (a mild purgative drug).
When Ramdasi went to bazaar, Sai Baba got up from His seat, picked up the copy
of Vishnu-Sahasra-Nama and gave it to Shama-although he was not willing to take
it.
Similarly,
in Ch. 33 for reaching Udi and Arati urgently for the safe
delivery of Nanasaheb Chandorkar's daughter at Jamner, Sai Baba Himself look
the form of tonga-driver and told a lie to Bapugir, that the tonga and the
refreshments also was sent by Nanasaheb Chandorkar himself from Jamner.
Now, how
do we interpret such acts? Firstly, the saints do not have to bear the
consequences of their acts - whether good or bad, since the saints do not claim
the doership of these acts to themselves. Secondly, even if such acts are
sinful, the saints are prepared to bear their consequences for the sake of
their devotees. In the first instance, Sai Baba wanted to favour His devotee
Shama with some religious practice and hence, He enacted this drama. Normal
advice by words would not have been that effective. In the second instance, Sai
Baba wanted to respond to Nanasaheb Chandorkar's fervent prayers to save the
life of his pregnant daughter Mainatai, who was having severe labour pains and
not delivering at Jamner. In this case, there was urgency to reach Udi and
Arati more than 100 miles away and that too in the night. Hence, not
only Baba prompted Bapugir to go to his native place at that odd hour but
helped him to reach Jamner from Jalgaon Railway station in a tonga by even
speaking all sorts of lies to convince Bapugir. Thus, saints would do anything
to favour their devotees or to help them in their calamities. Haven't we heard
a number of instances, where saints have taken on themselves serious and
painful diseases of their devotees and suffered them willingly!
Sai Baba
Himself in Ch. 7 had taken on Himself four fully-developed bubos of Dadasaheb
Khaparde's young son and suffered them. How then saints would ever hesitate to
perform sinful acts for the sake of their devotees and suffer the consequences
if any?
Telling
the truth - nothing but the truth - sometimes becomes problematic in everyday
life. Now-a-days there is a shortage of change, while travelling in a bus or
rickshaw. The conductor or the rickshaw-driver always demands the exact amount
saying he has no change. Now, even if we have the change, we would need it for
the return journey. So, we are tempted to tell a lie, since telling the
conductor or rickshaw-driver, that we need the change for return journey will
not work, and thus telling the truth will end in serious difficulties on our
return journey. Actually, the conductor or the rickshaw-driver himself, many a
times, bluffs, that he has no change. So, what should we do? Follow the
principle of 'Satyam Vad' (Tell the truth always) or not?
Another
instance is our grandsons asking for blank papers for drawing pictures.
Normally, once or twice we can always spare. But, when our stock is coming to
an end, what do we tell them? If we give away every paper from our stock, there
would be a problem of getting it from the market in this our old age. If we
tell the grandson that there is no paper left with us, we transgress the
principle of truth. Then, how
should we add?
From the above discussion,
personally my views are as follows. One must always speak the truth. Never tell
a lie - at least not for one's own self-interest. However, sometimes for the
benefit of others. There is no harm in sometimes telling a little lie. For
example, if telling some sad news is likely to shock a person, there is no harm
in telling a lie that such a thing has not happened or that we do not know
about it. Similarly, if somebody has offered with love and care some food and
even if it is not relished by us, will it not be wiser to praise the food
smilingly rather than bluntly telling the truth and hurting the feelings of
that person! Such acts are even supported by our scriptures:
Satyasya vachanam shreyaha
satyadapi hitam vadeta!
Yadbhutahitmatyamanta
metatsatyam
matam mama//
- Mahabharata,
Shanti Parva
(Telling the truth is good, but
telling what is beneficial to others is better. In my opinion, what results in
the ultimate welfare of all beings, is the real truth.)
Satyam bruyat priyam bruyat na
bruyat satyampriyam !!34!!
- Manusmruli,
Adhyay 4
(One should speak the truth and
speak what is pleasing and agreeable to others. Never speak the truth, which is
not pleasing and agreeable to others.)
KEEP YOUR PROMISE ALWAYS
Sai Baba
preached that, if you promise anything to anybody, you, must fulfil it. Never
give a false promise. Devotees normally pray and make a vow to their diety or
Guru to do some act or offer something, on condition, that certain
desire of theirs is fulfilled, but, once their desire is fulfilled they forget
to fulfil their vow. There are many instances, where Sai Baba prompted such
devotees to fulfil their pending vows. For instance, in Ch. 33, Appasaheb
Kulkarni wished to pay Rs. 10 to the Fakir, who had visited his
residence during his absence and Baba got it fulfilled by approaching him again
and demanding the full amount. Similarly, in Ch. 30, we have read how Sai Baba
manoeuvred to get Shama's long-pending offering to Sapla-shringi Goddess
fulfilled. In Ch. 15 also Sai Baba is seen highly pleased to note His devotee
Cholkar giving up sugar in his dietary and drinking tea also without sugar
until his vow to offer sugar-candy to Sai Baba by visiting Shirdi is fulfilled.
TALK LESS
Sai Baba
Himself followed this principle. He never gave long lectures, but preached His
devotees by giving them suitable experiences or by narrating suitable stories.
For spiritual advancement, observing silence for sometime everyday is good.
Baba Himself practised this by spending sometime twice a day in Lendi Baug till
the end of His life regularly. Talking too much consumes lot of energy, hence,
even in day-to-day business, it is
advisable to avoid unnecessary talk.
In
speech, Sai Baba's most important advice was about repeating God's name. He
Himself used to repeat Allah Malik (God
is Lord) constantly. He was fond of making others sing God's name continuously
by day and night for a whole week. This is known as Nama-saptaha.
Hemadpant also adds in Ch.27 :
"The
efficacy of God's name is well-known. It saves us from all sins and bad
tendencies, frees us from the cycle of births and deaths. There is no easier
sadhana than this. It is the best purifier of our mind. It requires no
paraphernalia and no restrictions. It is so easy and effective." (P. 145)
SUMMARY
In short, Sai Baba's advice on
speech was as under:
(a) Not to speak cuttingly to
anyone, so as to hurt-him to the quick. On the contrary one should bear the
other person's outburst calmly!
(b) Avoid argumentation and
disputation!
(c) Never indulge in
slander-mongering or ridiculing others!
(d) Speak the truth always!
(e) Speak soft and sweet words!
(f) Keep your promise!
(g) Talk less and observe silence
frequently!
(h) Repeat God’s name as often as possible!