Living with Baba

When we fall sick and go to a doctor, he has to look for the cause of the illness before he can prescribe any treatment. The common wisdom up to the 20th century was that a physical ailment had a physical cause. Towards the latter part of the century, it was established that most diseases had a psychosomatic cause. This means there is a direct correlation between a person's state of mind and his health. This new understanding has sparked research in the exciting, new field of body-mind science. There is, however, another far deeper aspect of disease which is not well-understood by medical science - samskara, which is the potential reaction of our past actions. The samskaric cause of disease has its origins in our past lives and can only be removed by the Guru. This story relates how Baba removed the negative samskara of a devotee through His infinite grace.

This incident took place in Muzaffapur, Bihar. Baba wanted to go for His field walk. The Margiis waited on both sides of the driveway for Baba to emerge from His residence. Many devotees waited with garlands and bouquets of brightly-colored flowers. Others held single stalks of the lotus flower, with petals pulled open as if to welcome Baba. And everyone was singing Prabhat Samgiit. Among the crowd, I noticed a strange man standing eagerly, holding a garland for Baba. I had not seen him before.

In the meantime, Baba arrived. We welcomed Him with a namaskar. And in return, He gave us a big namaskar, smiling sweetly. As He was about to leave, He asked PA Dada, "Who is that man standing there and from where has he come?" The PA Dada did not know and went to the man to inquire. The man explained that he suffered from a very strong case of asthma. He would get the asthma attacks almost every night. Sometimes, he would suffer from the attacks in the daytime. He clarified that he had already spent a small fortune on various doctors, but to no avail. He was so desperate that he seriously thought of committing suicide. He expressed this intention to a friend, who happened to be a Margii. The friend advised him, "Why don't you go and see Baba. Maybe Baba can help you."
Hence, on the advice of his friend, the man had come all the way to Muzaffarpur to see Baba, hoping that he would be cured. He, however, felt very embarrassed to request any dada for permission to meet Baba. Indeed, the man had given up all hope of meeting Baba personally and finding a cure for his ailment. The PA Dada quietly took note of everything the man said.

After sometime, Baba returned from the field walk. He noticed that the man was still standing there, holding a garland. He went to His room and asked for His PA. At Baba's query, the PA Dada told Him everything the man had said. Baba then requested for the man to be brought to His room. When he entered, Baba instructed him to take out a piece of paper and a pen, and subsequently dictated the name and address of a man. Baba told him, "You are to go to this man and stay with him for one month, and you should serve him just like a servant."

The man was eager to follow Baba's instructions. After all, he had already spent a lot of money visiting many doctors and trying different treatments, which came to nothing. There would certainly be no harm in doing what Baba instructed. He thought that the man Baba was sending him to must be a doctor. But, on his arrival there, he found that the man was not at all a doctor. Rather, he was a primary school teacher. He explained to the teacher his reason for coming. Initially, the teacher was reluctant to accept this stranger in his house. But the man insisted, "It is my Guru's order to stay with you for one month. So please accept me. I will give you whatever amount of money you want." Then, in the name of the Guru, the teacher agreed to the man's request and accepted him into his house.

The house was a very simple, rustic house and was sparsely furnished. The teacher gave him a room to stay in. However, he was not willing to take any service from the man. He would have been a bad host if he did, and this was contrary to Indian custom. But the man would not listen and started to clean the house, water the plants, and feed the animals. He just wanted to follow Baba's instructions precisely. He remained in the teacher's house for one month, serving him daily in every way possible. During that month, he had not had even a single attack of asthma.

After one month, he returned to Muzaffarpur, with the intention of meeting Baba. He waited in the jagrti. He felt that Baba would call him. Actually, he did meet Baba after His field walk. Baba requested for him to come to His room and asked, "Are you all right?" The man was overwhelmed with emotion and began to weep. He could only reply, "Yes, Baba". Then, Baba said, "All right, you can go now." But the man did not go, and instead he said, "Baba, I want to know....", when Baba interrupted him angrily, saying, "Stupid! What do you want to know? I gave so much grace to you. You are the most irresponsible man. It is the papa of your previous life." Baba then said, "All right, come and sit properly in front of Me. I will show you just one day of your past life." Baba touched his Ajina cakra and took the man's mind back to his past life. Baba asked him, "What are you seeing?" The man replied that he saw an old man dying. Simultaneously, he said, "He is my father."

After that, Baba ordered his mind to return to its normal state. When he became normal, Baba related to him his past life. He explained that he was the only son of his father. His mother had died in his childhood. His father took upon himself the responsibility of taking care of him and gave him both fatherly and motherly love. His father was a very poor and illiterate person. It was his greatest wish that his son would be literate, so that he could enjoy a better life. He wanted to give his son the best education possible.

The father worked as a laborer earning a daily wage. He had to sell his small house in order to raise enough money to support the cost of sending his son to a school hostel. Meanwhile, the boy's father continued to work hard for the additional money needed for his son's education. As he had already sold off his house, he had to stay with a friend.

As the boy settled in the hostel, he was rather embarrassed to tell his friends that his father was a laborer, someone earning a meager daily wage. He thought to himself that he would certainly lose face if anyone were to find out that he came from a poor background.

The boy did well in his studies, and after completing his education, secured a good job. Soon after, he decided to get married and stayed in a nice, rented apartment with his wife.

The boy intentionally forgot his father all this while. Neither did he support his ageing father in any way, nor did he bother to visit him. As long as the father had the capacity to work, it was all right. He could support himself. But after some time, he developed health problems and could no longer continue to work. The father used to cry for the son who never ever came to visit him. Sometimes he would dream that his son was telling him, "Father, I am here, I have come for you." But, alas, it was only a dream! After some time, the father became completely impoverished. He had no food, and no money to buy any. Under the cruel pangs of hunger, he was forced into the streets to beg for food. One day, while begging, he collapsed and died.

Baba told him that the primary school teacher he had just served was his own father in his previous life. As he had caused so much suffering to his father that led to his miserable death, he had inherited a lot of negative samskaras in this life. These samskaras took the form of asthma. Baba then told the man, "What your father did for you in your previous life, you cannot repay even in hundreds or thousands of lives. You will not be able to compensate him for his great sacrifice even in many, many lives."

Disease can be cured by medicine. But there is no medicine for removing our accumulated samskaras. Only the Guru has the capacity to remove our samskaras, if He so desires. Because of ego and ignorance, human beings generally fail to grasp the loving touch of the Guru that destroys samskaras, both good and bad, paving the way to liberation.