Chapter 29, Leela 4: Captain Hate

Leela:

Captain Hate (pronounced Ha-tey), from Bikaner (a city 1100 km north of Shirdi), was a great devotee of Baba. Once Baba appeared to him in his dream and said, "Did you forget Me?" Hate immediately held Baba's Feet and replied, "If a child forgets his mother, how could it be saved?" Then Hate plucked fresh walpapadi (a variety of green bean) from his vegetable garden, and collected ingredients to make shidha (ghee, wheat-flour, dal, etc.) and dakshina (an honorarium given to one’s guru), and was about to offer all this to Baba when he was awakened and came to know that the whole thing was a dream.

 

He decided to send these things to Baba at Shirdi. Some days later he sent Rs.12 by money order to a friend, Kakasaheb Dikshit, in Mumbai, with instructions that Rs. 2 should be spent in buying ingredients for shidha and fresh walpapadi, and these should be offered to Baba with Rs. 10 as dakshina.

 

Kakasaheb went to Shirdi and purchased the things mentioned, but walpapadi was not available. Soon, a woman turned up with a basket on her head, which curiously enough contained the vegetable. It was purchased and then all the things were offered to Baba on behalf of Captain Hate.

 

The next day, Mr. Nimonkar prepared the naivedya (the offering you make to God) of rice and walpapadi) and offered them to Baba. Everyone was surprised to see that Baba while dining, took only walpapadi and did not touch anything else.

 

When he heard of this from Kakasaheb, Hate's joy knew no bounds.

 

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), p157

Based on Shri Sai Satcharita, The Life and Teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba, G. R. Dhalbokar, Translated by Indira Kher (Slovenia: Bird Publisher, 2009), p250

 

Teachings from Leela:

1)    When you have any thought about doing something good, whether it is in your waking state or in a dream, make a prompt attempt to put it into action immediately without any delay

Captain Hate did not ignore his dream of intending to offer something to his Sadguru, and acted on it immediately. Since it was not possible to personally go to Shirdi to offer the items of his dream to Baba, he sent money to his friend, Kakasaheb Dikshit, in Mumbai, narrating the incident of his dream and requesting him to personally go to Shirdi to make the offering.

Via this leela, Baba is teaching us to act on any thought or intention of doing something good, even if it comes to us in our dream. Do not ignore them. Instead consider them a divine blessing as they prompt us to do good, which in turn helps us grow spiritually. Remember if we do good, we will always get good results. 

 

2)    Your Sadguru reciprocates the love expressed by His devotees

Baba is always longing for His devotee’s love. The love that His devotees express does not go unnoticed by Baba. He makes sure to reciprocate the love of His devotees. We too must learn from this leela and reciprocate the love expressed to us.  

Baba obtained His food daily by asking for bhiksha (food obtained by asking for alms) from certain households in the village. Liquid or semi-liquid things such as soup, vegetables, milk or butter-milk were received in the tinpot, while cooked rice, bread, and such solid things were collected in the jholi (cloth bag). Baba's tongue knew no taste, as He had mastered control over it. Whatever He got in His jholi and in the tinpot was mixed together and partaken by Baba to His heart's content. Whether particular things were tasty or otherwise was never noticed by Baba. It was as if His tongue was totally devoid of the sense of taste. Yet He did not spare any opportunity to reciprocate the love that was expressed by His devotees.

In chapter 9 of the Sai Satcharitra, here is an additional leela that demonstrates how Baba reciprocates the loving devotion of His devotees.

When Mrs. Tarkhad came to know that Mr. Purandare was planning to go to Shirdi with his wife and children, she requested Mrs. Purandare to offer three things on her behalf to Baba: bharit (roasted eggplant, mixed with curds and spice) and kacharya (deep-fried slices of eggplant). Let us see how Baba expressed His appreciation of His devotee’s expression of love below:

After reaching Shirdi, Mrs. Purandare went with her dish of bharit to the Masjid when Baba was just about to start his meals. Baba found the bharit very tasty. He distributed it to all and said that He wanted kacharyas next. A word was sent to Radha Krishna-Mai, that Baba wanted kacharyas. She was in a fix, as it was not the season for eggplant. How to get eggplant was the question? When an enquiry was made as to who brought the bharit, it was discovered that Mrs. Purandare was also entrusted with the duty of serving kacharyas. Everybody then came to know the significance of Baba's enquiry regarding kacharyas and was wonderstruck at Baba's all-pervasive knowledge. Does Baba have a longing for any of these things? No, but to express His appreciation of His devotee’s expression of love, He expresses His gratitude towards them in this way.

Putting into Practice

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

1)    When you have any thought about doing something good, whether it is in your waking state or in a dream, make a prompt attempt to put it into action immediately without any delay   

Whenever we have any thought which prompts action, we must first make a conscious effort to analyse it. If the thought is good, then we must be adamant about following through with it by acting on it immediately without any delay.

I would like to share my personal experience regarding this:

Last year on July 16, 2019 we were attending the Guru Poornima celebration at our friend’s (Neera and Pardeep Kaushal) home. Their residence, named Sai Niwas, is a center for a dedicated group of devotees who come together once a month for Sai Bhajans & Sai Teachings. They had organized the Sai Satcharitra parayan (reading a scripture from beginning to end) for that auspicious day.

During the reading of chapter 4, a leela came up where Baba asked Das Ganu Maharaj to do the Namasaptah, (a weeklong chanting of God’s name) in front of Him, which would go on day and night, continuously for a week.

On hearing this, a thought occurred in my mind that we too should perform such a Naamsaptah. This is a herculean task to organize, as everyone in Canada has a remarkably busy lifestyle, working, and taking care of their family along with daily routine chores for the household.  

I spoke with Pardeep about it and asked him if we could perform this Naamsaptah at Sai Niwas, for the next Guru Poornima celebration, i.e. July 5, 2020. This would give us enough time to make preparations for this weeklong event and bring everyone together to accomplish it. He immediately gave his consent but said, why wait until the next Guru Poornima, and used the expression शुभस्य शीघ्रम, meaning start any auspicious work as soon as possible. He proposed to do the Naamsaptah on October 7, 2019 for Baba’s 101 Maha-samadhi (whereby a saint consciously makes the decision to transcend their body) occasion coming soon.

That gave us less than 3 months, 83 days to be exact, to start planning and having devotees come together for this task. I was not sure how it was possible to accomplish this on such a short notice, but then I thought if Baba has inspired me with this good thought then He will make all the necessary arrangements to fulfill it as well. So, my husband, who is very detail oriented, starting preparing excel spreadsheets and detailed word documents for the Naamsaptah.

I was surprised that within a short period of time, we got tremendous response from all the devotees that came forward to make this event a success. Most devotees even agreed to stay up all night and go to work the next day if we were unable to find enough people for the night shift.

Now, when I think back about the good thought that triggered this event, I appreciate Pardeep’s prompt action to start good work as soon as possible. Had we waited for the next Guru Poornima celebration i.e July 5, 2020, we would not be able to do so due to covid-19, as we would all be quarantined.

2)    Your Sadguru reciprocates the love expressed by His devotees

Remember this leela and express your love towards your Sadguru often. He always acknowledges the love expressed by you. Feel blessed to have such a Sadguru, who never lets anything go unnoticed.

As per the Bhagvad Gita, chapter 4, verse 11:

In whatever way people surrender unto me, I reciprocate with them accordingly. Everyone follows my path, knowingly or unknowingly, O son of Pritha.

 

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.