Chapter 44, Leela 1: Breaking of the Brick

Leela:

Some days before Baba's nirvan, there occurred an ominous sign foreboding the event. There was, in the Masjid, an old brick on which Baba rested His hand and sat. At night, He leaned against it for His yogasan (meditative posture). This went on for many years.

 

One day, during Baba's absence, a boy who was sweeping the floor, lifted it up, and unfortunately it slipped from his hand and fell, breaking into two pieces. When Baba came to know about this, He bemoaned its loss, crying, "It is not the brick but My karma^* which has broken. It was My life-long companion. With it, I always meditated on the Self. it was as dear to Me as My life. it has left Me today."  

 

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, 20^th Edition 2002), p227

Based on Shri Sai Satcharita, The Life and Teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba, G. R. Dhalbokar, Translated by Indira Kher (Slovenia: Bird Publisher, 2009), p376

 

NOTE: * Many English translations translate this to “fate”, but In the Original Marathi Pothi of the Sai Satcharitra, by G.R. Dhalbokar, the phrase Baba used to declare the broken brick is Karmachi Phutle, which directly translates to “karma broke”, page 607, chapter 44, verse 49, 2008 edition.

 

वीट ती किंचित उचलली ।। फुटावयाची वेळ आली । वीट पोराचे हातूनि निसटली । धाडकिनी ती खाली पडली । दुखंड झाली तात्काळ ।। ऐकतां हें बाबांनीं म्हटलें । वीट नाहीं कीं कर्मचि फुटलें । ऐसें वदूनि अति हळहळले । नेत्रीं आले दुःखाश्रु ।।

Teachings from Leela:

1)    As a jiva on your long journey over countless births, gaining a human birth is a rare opportunity to work towards gaining moksha, and you must not squander it

In this leela, Baba is using the brick as a metaphor for the human body and mind, and his lifetime of meditation practice using the brick as support, his lesson to us.

Baba is teaching us that this human body is temporary and could leave us at any time, but with the help of this same body, we can do spiritual practice and make spiritual advancement.

Just as Baba used his brick as a support during his meditation, so must we use our human body and mind to strive for moksha, by meditating upon the Self, performing karma yoga, studying jnana, or immersing ourselves in bhakti.

 

2)    Take full responsibility for everything that happens in your life as it is due to your own past karmas

BACKGROUND   The Law of Karma   The Law of Karma is the universal law which governs the results of all our karma, ensuring that we receive the result of each karma we do, whether good or bad. The word karma is generally used for both the actions and the fruits of actions. (For details, please see my previous blog, Chapter 14, Leela 1: Ratanji of Nanded )   Do we create bad karma just by thinking? Our mind produces all kinds of thoughts. Mind is the origin of action since every action begins with a thought. Bad thought results in bad action which leads to bad karma. Even if there is no action from the thought, the thought creates bad karma. Please visit my previous blog for more details.     Types of Karma   As described in Tattva Bodhah, there are three types of karma:   ·         Agami Karma: What you sow today, you reap tomorrow. The result of what you do today come as agami in the future. The result may come the next instant, after a few years or in a future life.   ·         Sanchita Karma: The results of actions performed in (all) previous births which are in seed form and giving rise to endless [millions] of births [in our future] are called sanchita (accumulated karma).   ·         Prarabdha Karma: From the total [collection] of karma (sanchita), those actions which have fructified to give us the present birth and the experience in it are prarabdha karma. Prarabdha decides the time and place of our birth, the environment in which we live, our lifespan etc. It is commonly called fate, destiny or luck.   From: Tattva Bodhah of Sri Adi Sankaracarya, Commentary by Swami Tejomayananda, Mumbai: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, 2008, p124-127     Jivanmukta   Presently for us, the knowledge that I am a human being, moreover a man or a woman, is natural and effortless. I do not have to meditate or repeat that ‘I am a man’ each morning. This knowledge is firmly rooted in me and despite being told and intellectually convinced that I am not the body, I still conduct my life with the knowledge that ‘I am a man’.   Similarly, when the knowledge that ‘I am not the body’ but the pure, infinite Awareness becomes firmly rooted and effortless, a person is called a Jivanmuktah. He need not meditate and remind himself about his true nature, which is Brahman, the One Consciousness, i.e. sat-chit-ananda. He may appear to be very ordinary, but His vision is quite the opposite of the ignorant man! The Jivanmukta knows himself to be the infinite Self and the world to be unreal.   From: Tattva Bodhah of Sri Adi Sankaracarya, Commentary by Swami Tejomayananda, Mumbai: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, 2008, p119     The Karmas of the Jivanmukta   As per Tattva Bodhah, for such souls, the Sanchita Karma and Agami Karma are destroyed the instant they realize their true nature is One Consciousness, i.e. sat-chit-anand.  After this, they no longer identify with their body or mind. They are beyond Maya.  The Prarabdha Karma for such souls is manifested into results at the time of their physical birth, and these results play out over the whole span of their physical lives, regardless of when they achieve moksha.

 

We possess (or are deprived of) things in our lives based on our karmas. Our prarabdha karma decides the time and place of our birth, our lifespan, the type of family we were born to. Prarabdh karma is that portion of our entire bundle of past karma over many lives, which has been released for working out in this lifetime (Tattva Bodha 3.1). Even our appearance and physical characteristics are all consequences of karma in our past lives, as are many of the episodes of suffering we are experiencing in this life. Do not blame God, Guru or others for them.

You might not have a choice with what you get in life, but you do have a choice on what attitude you receive it with. Take full responsibility for what happens in your life with the attitude of prashad buddhi. Just as we accept prasad in the temple, graciously and without complaining, we should accept all situations, pleasant or unpleasant, that come into our lives, as prasad from Baba. Be grateful for whatever is received and accept it with an attitude of prashad, without complaint.

Jivanmukta

Baba reacted to the accidental breaking of the brick by saying, “it is not the brick, but my karma which has broken”. He was referring to the Prarabdha Karma. As we all know, Baba was a self realized soul (Jivanmukta). Baba’s Sanchita Karma and Agami Karma were destroyed the instant He realized His true nature to be the One Consciousness. His Prarabda Karma was not destroyed upon achieving moksha since it had already expressed itself at time of His birth. At that time, among other things, it determined the life span of His physical body. When Baba spoke of His karma breaking, it was another way of saying that His physical body had reached the end of its lifespan.

Via this leela, Baba is conveying to us that the loss of the brick signified that His karma no longer allowed Him to have support of His physical form.  Baba left His physical body just a few days after this incident with the brick.

3)    It is okay to express sorrow and bemoan your loss, but not okay to accuse and blame others for the loss 

Via this leela, Baba is teaching us that it is natural to grieve for the loss of someone or something precious in you. It is natural and acceptable to express pain and grief by shedding tears, as Baba Himself did upon the breaking of the brick.

It is important to note what He did not do. He did not get angry, nor did He accuse, yell at, or act out violently at the person involved with the accident. Here Baba is teaching us that when an unfortunate loss happens, we must not react with anger or blame others, but act with circumspection and accept the loss as consequence of our past karma.

Another possible explanation for His sorrow at the breaking of the brick could be His recognition that, at the loss of His physical body, His beloved devotees would be distraught and devastated. Baba cried, not due to any attachment to His own physical body, but for the plight of His devotees at their feeling of loss.

 

Putting into Practice

Here are some suggestions on how we could use this leela in our daily lives.

1)    As a jiva on your long journey over countless births, gaining a human birth is a rare opportunity to work towards gaining moksha, and you must not squander it

In order to make best use of our human birth, to achieve the ultimate goal of human life, which is moksha, we must strive in our spiritual practice to realize our true nature. This concept is very well explained by Swami Sarvapriyanandaji below:

Ocean and Wave parable:

Imagine in the Pacific Ocean, a new wave is born. It gets bigger and bigger and feels good about itself. When it compares itself to other, smaller waves, it starts having a superiority complex. When it starts looking at waves, bigger in size to itself, it starts feeling jealous of the bigger waves and starts having an inferiority complex. I am this much, and all these waves are so different than me.

Then one day the wave exclaims, “Oh, my God what’s that?”. The wave next to it says, “buddy that’s the shore. That’s death, that’s doom”. The wave thinks, Oh, my God, I am going to die.

Now a Vedantic wave, comes along and says, “there is something called water, well, this water is immortal, it does not die like us waves, and this water is all pervading. It’s in all waves.  There is nothing greater than this water. So, the water does not have the problem of superiority complex but is also in all waves so it does not have a problem of inferiority complex and it is one with everything”. So the wave says, “good for water, but what about me? I am going to die”. And the Vedantic wave tells him, “You are water”. Look at yourself, “The top of you is water, the middle of you is water, the bottom and all sides are water. In fact, look around you. All you see is water”. A wave is the name and form and action given to water.

The moment the wave realises this it becomes one with the Ocean. The little form will dash against the shore and disappear into surf, but it doesn’t care anymore. For it, it becomes the infinite. From that point of view all are same to it. We are one infinite existence. Now limited to our particular body and mind, but if we analyse, we will realise that we are not the body and mind. We are Existence-Consciousness-Bliss shining through this body and mind. Our true nature is Sat-chit-ananda. When we realise our true nature, we will realise that we are eternal. We are not born with the birth of the body. We do not die with the death of the body. It is the same in the President of the United States and same in the homeless person.

Set aside a few minutes everyday to practice meditation. Not only will it help you with your spiritual progress, but studies have proven that meditation has tremendous health benefits, as well, more than just temporary stress relief.

Meditating upon the Self

The knowledge that, “I am the body and mind”, is natural and ingrained in us. We do not have to meditate or remind ourselves of it.  What we must do is to unlearn this knowledge via meditation on our true self, by constantly reminding ourselves that “I am not the body or the mind, but the One Consciousness”, i.e. sat-chit-anand.  When this knowledge becomes firmly rooted and ingrained in us, we would become one with our true self and reach moksha, freedom from the cycle of birth and death.

Different ways to meditate on our true Self

As my Vedanta teacher, Rita Nayar, used to say, that there is no right and wrong way to meditate. Do what works for you, but do it consistently, on a regular basis.

Meditation does not only mean sitting with eyes closed. It can also be done via contemplation and introspection while busy with monotonous tasks which do not need our complete attention. Contemplate on your true nature.

There are several meditation practices, pick one that suits you from the following types:

·         Loving-kindness meditation

·         Mindfulness meditation

·         Breath awareness meditation

·         Transcendental Meditation

2)    Take full responsibility for everything that happens in your life as it is due to your own past karmas

Accept all that comes to you in your life, pleasant as well as unpleasant as it is due to your own past karmas. You should no longer ask “why me?” Or “why is this happening to me?”. In this way, you develop the attitude of prasād buddhi.

This awareness has to be maintained constantly so that it becomes a permanent part of your attitude. This attitude will help you deal with any difficult situation in your life. At such times, remember this leela, and Baba will give you the strength to deal with your difficult situation. 

How could ordinary individuals like us, avoid creating new karmas?

Not only do we exhaust our past karmas in this life, we create new karmas. We must be careful not to create new karmas in our present lives.  

As per Bhagvad Gita, chapter 3, verse 9:

Work must be done as a yajña (sacrifice) to the Supreme Lord; otherwise, work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties, without being attached to the results, for the satisfaction of God.

If we do not perform actions as a sacrifice to God, we will be forced to work to gratify our mind and senses. Instead, when we perform work as a sacrifice, we then look upon the whole world and everything in it as belonging to God, and therefore, meant for utilization in his service. 

3)    It is okay to express sorrow and bemoan your loss, but not okay to accuse and blame others for the loss 

Remember this leela if you face loss of someone or something precious in your life. Coping with loss is not going to be easy but accept it as your fate and remind yourself that you are burning your karmas in this process.

At such times, it is best to turn your minds to your Sadguru.  Surrender to Baba and He will help you in your difficult times. 

 

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.