Inner Progress
The following story is narrated by Bhagavan Baba to illustrate to His students the importance of eating satwic food prepared in satwic conditions.
I shall tell you now of an incident that happened eighty years ago. At Badrinath there was a great Yogi, Hamsaraj by name, who was always immersed in singing the glory of the Lord. Hamsaraj had a disciple who was equally earnest and sincere. That young man was pestered for a few days by a dream that gave him no peace. He saw a fair young girl of sixteen weeping in great agony and calling out pathetically, “Can no one save me?” The disciple was amazed at this strange dream; he could not shake off that doleful figure and that desperate cry from his mind. He recited his woes to the master. Hamsaraj, I can assure you, was a true Hamsa [celestial swan], the bird of paradise. That bird can separate water from milk. Hamsaraj, by viveka (the power of discrimination), analyzed the situation and discovered the cause of that horrid experience.
The master prodded the young man with such questions as “What did you do the first day? Where did you go? What did you eat?” The disciple revealed that he had gone with a friend to a feast and eaten some pooris and chapattis. It was discovered that a poor Brahmin had prepared the feast. Well, Hamsaraj sent the disciple to find out why, and with what resources, that Brahmin had arranged the feast for the recluses of Badrinath. The young man cursed the day when the dream started haunting him, for he was now being sent by his master on purposeless errands to investigate irrelevant issues; he wondered how his sadhana (spiritual discipline) could be helped by all this.
Nevertheless, he went and pursued the inquiry about the feast and its origins and the wherewithal out of which it was prepared. It came to light that the funds were supplied by a 60-year-old moneylender to whom a Brahmin had given his daughter in marriage and received in return a sum of ten thousand rupees. She was now appealing to the holy man for a bit of human kindness.
Hamsaraj thus demonstrated to the disciple that you should examine the source of the food, the motives for giving it, and the passions that surge and sway the giver before accepting such an intimate gift as food.
You may say that sadhakas alone have to bear such rules in mind, but tell Me, who is not a sadhaka? All are pilgrims on the road, some going fast, some going slow, that is all. The goal is the same for all, though the roads may be many.
Source: Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. II
