Leela:
Sai Baba required no special place or time for giving instructions. Whenever the occasion demanded, He gave them freely. Once it so happened that a Bhakta began publicly reviling (criticizing in an abusive or angrily insulting manner) another behind his back. Leaving aside merits, he dwelt on the faults of his brother, speaking so sarcastically that listeners were disgusted. We often see that people tend to criticize others unnecessarily, breeding hatred and ill-will.
Sai Baba had his own method of correcting this type of behaviour. He knew by his omniscience what the slanderer had done, and when He met him at noon near the Lendi, Baba pointed out a pig who was eating filth near the fence. He said to him, "Behold how, with what relish it is gorging dung. Your conduct is similar. You go on reviling your own brothers to your heart's content. After performing many deeds of merit, you are born a man, and if you act like this, will Shirdi help you in any way?" Needless to say, the Bhakta took the lesson to his heart and went away.
Based on Shri Sai Satcharita, The wonderful life and teachings of Shri Sai Baba, Translated by Nagesh Vasudev Gunaji (Mumbai: Shri Sai Baba Sansthan, Shirdi, 20th Edition 2002), p102
Teachings from Leela:
1) Do not bad-mouth others as this not only brings hatred and ill-will, but also strays you away from the spiritual path
Bad-mouthing someone is abusing and criticizing someone behind their back. One who bad-mouths out of jealousy may do so hoping to influence others to think poorly of him or her. Someone who bad-mouths must understand that the injury he or she causes cannot be undone, as the damage is irrevocable.
According to Wikipedia, in Hindu tradition, the Arishadvarga are the six passions, the negative characteristics which manifest as the most dangerous obstacles to your spiritual path towards liberation. Let us examine each of these passions in detail:
1. Kama (pleasure-seeking):
Kama is the desire for sensory pleasures. An over-attachment to the seeking of sensory pleasures distracts us from working along our spiritual path.
2. Krodha (anger):
Anger is when people, faced with a situation which is not acceptable to their ego, are so frustrated that they push back against the world, using words or actions to try to violently change the situation to their ego’s liking.
From Bhagvad Gita (Chapter 2, verse 63):
Anger leads to clouding of judgment, which results in bewilderment of the memory. When the memory is bewildered, the intellect gets destroyed; and when the intellect is destroyed, one is ruined (note 1).
3. lobh (greed):
Greed is the selfish desire for material objects. It is a desire which is never going to be satisfied. The more you get, the more you want. Chasing after material possessions in this way does not leave much room in your life to pursue your spiritual development.
4. moha (attachment to people):
Moha is the emotional over-attachment to people around you. This is not to be confused with love, which is not an obstacle to your spiritual development, but a divine emotion.
When you love someone, for you it is all about them. You care deeply for them, are kind to them, wish the best for them, and help them when they need it. If you lose them, you accept the loss, and continue to love them.
Moha is when it is all about you. Under the guise of love, you treat someone as if you possess them. You wish them to be a certain way, and to always be available for your needs. You dread the thought of losing them, and are devastated if you lose them.
5. mada (pride):
Pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements and material possessions leads to an inflated ego and self-delusion. Each subject of our pride is ours only temporarily, and we leave them behind when we die.
An inflated ego proves to be an obstacle when trying to progress spiritually. Making progress on the spiritual path requires perfect humility, as all of us on this path are but novices, having much to learn to reach our ultimate goal, often from sources of knowledge we might otherwise overlook when burdened with a large ego.
6. matsarya (jealousy):
Jealousy is a state of intolerance born when we see someone else possessing qualities or material riches that we do not have. It is the desire for something that someone else possesses, and resenting that person for having it. It evokes strongly negative thoughts and actions from us, which are clearly opposite of what we need for our spiritual progress.
As we can see, pleasure-seeking, anger, greed, over-attachment to people, pride and jealousy are all passions which are barriers to our spiritual progress. They generate a desire to fulfill our passions, and we pay for them with our own degradation.
If we look at the underlying reasons for someone bad-mouthing another, we will always find one or more of these negative passions. Bad-mouthing someone is usually the result of selfish desires, such as jealousy, anger, pride or greed.
In the Bhagvad Gita (chapter 16, verse 12):
Every selfish desire carries a seed of anxiety within it, as we have
seen. Shri Krishna says that such desires harm us in another manner. We develop
attachment towards the desire, we are bound. It is as if a paasha, a lasso, a
rope is tied around us on one end, and the desire on the other. Just like a
cowboy puts a lasso around a horse and makes it obey his instructions, each
desire makes us into a slave, makes us dance to its tune.
If this is our plight, what to talk of highly
materialistic individuals. They have
not one but hundreds of such ropes to bind them. If one desire is fulfilled,
they have several others waiting in line. If a desire does not get fulfilled,
it generates anger and agitation, causing them to inflict harm and pain upon
themselves and upon others. They fall into a vicious cycle of desire, anger and
greed which, given that they subscribe only to a materialistic viewpoint, is
almost impossible to get out of (note 2).
We all must work towards reducing and eradicating these negative passions within us, so that we do not react with these tendencies towards others.
Being omniscient, Baba knew what was going on amongst his devotees. He did not lose any opportunity to instruct his devotees when they did something wrong. As soon as he noticed that one of his devotees was bad-mouthing someone, he pulled him aside and pointed out that his conduct was like that of a pig relishing dung. By comparing this conduct to that of a pig eating dung, Baba emphasised the disgust he felt for the bad-mouther’s actions, and conveyed how this conduct deeply offended Him. This should be sufficient indication for devotees to stay away from bad-mouthing others.
Via this leela, Baba wants us to beware of these negative passions, stating that even Shirdi will not be able to help us if we continue with these negative passions. Let us work hard to remove them from our lives.
Putting into Practice
Here are some suggestions on how we could use this leela in our daily lives.
2) Do not bad-mouth others as this not only brings hatred and ill-will, but also strays you away from the spiritual path
Remember this leela, when you catch yourself bad-mouthing others. Baba is omniscient and knows all that is going on in your mind, so focus on positive thoughts and activities in life.
“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself.” ―Marcus Aurelius
There are three situations you need to prepare yourself for:
a) When you bad-mouth others
We are not perfect beings and we all make mistakes. We have come to this world to learn, and this is why we are put into testing situations, so that we may absorb the learnings and move on to the next one.
As soon as you catch yourself bad-mouthing others,
STOP IMMEDIATELY. Remember this leela and ask Baba for forgiveness. The sooner you catch yourself the better. You will realise over time, with Shraddha and Saburi, the time it takes to catch yourself in this act will get shorter and shorter to the point where you will be able to remove this tendency altogether from your life.
As described in the minimalist website (note 3):
An old proverb tells the story of a person who repeated a rumor about a neighbor. Soon, the whole community had heard the rumor. Later, the person who spread the gossip learned that the rumor was untrue. He was very sorry and went to an elder in the community who had a reputation for great wisdom to seek advice. The elder told him, “Go to your home and take a feather pillow outside. Rip it open and scatter the feathers, then return to me tomorrow.” The man did as the elder had instructed.
The following day, he visited the elder. The elder said, “Go collect the feathers you scattered yesterday and bring them back to me.” The man went home and searched for the feathers, but the wind had carried them all away. Returning to the elder, he admitted, “I could find none of the feathers I scattered yesterday.” “You see,” said the elder, “it‘s easy to scatter the feathers but impossible to get them back.” So it is with gossip; it doesn’t take much to spread hurtful words, but once you do, you can never completely undo the damage.
b) When you are in the presence of someone bad-mouthing others
If you think that by passively listening to someone’s bad-mouthing, it ends after you hear it and not spread it, you are sadly mistaken. Simply listening to someone bad-mouthing, without objecting, is an act of approval. In this situation, you must immediately stop the person and refuse to hear any further. Say to that person that it is between the two of them, so to please deal with it themselves, and not make others a part of it. Say that you are willing to hear good things about others, but not negative things behind their back. Then change the topic and move on to other things. If they refuse to stop, you must walk out of the situation.
Another way to deal with this situation is to challenge them directly by asking why they are bad-mouthing this person to you. This will be their first alert that you’re not happy to be an audience for their hateful speech.
c) When you are the victim of bad-mouthing
When you learn that someone has bad-mouthed you, you must realize that they are voicing opinions about you for which you have no basis to understand their true motivations.
Any damage to your reputation has already been done, and it is impossible for you to stop this person from slandering you in the future. You must further realize that this action by them really has no relevance to you beyond what you choose to give it.
If you decide to confront them be prepared to hear outright denial. Do not fall into the trap of doing the same to them. The wisest response for you is to ignore it. Consider it as a test of your own ahamkara (ego), and use this provocation to go even deeper into your own spiritual practice.
Remember this leela, and focus on your own spiritual journey towards moksha. As Baba mentioned above, it is a rare opportunity that you are born human, after having performed many deeds of merit. He advised us to stay away from negative desires and their resulting negative actions, as even Shirdi will not be able to help us if we do.
Mantra:
Om, Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ
Sarve santu nirāmayāḥ
Sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu
Mā kashchit duḥkha bhāgbhavet
Oṁ Shāntiḥ, Shāntiḥ, Shāntiḥ
Meaning:
May all be prosperous and happy
May all be free from illness
May all see what is spiritually uplifting
May no one suffer
Om peace, peace, peace
This above mantra is from the Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/seekingshanti/2015/09/hinduprayerforeveryone_globalgoals/
I would encourage all of you to please share your interpretations, learnings and experiences on how you have put this leela into practice.
Om Sai Ram.
Notes:
1. http://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/2/verse/63
2. https://gitajourney.com/category/krodha/
3. https://www.becomingminimalist.com/there-are-better-things-to-talk-about-than-others/
