A very touching story by Ac. Svarupananda Avt.


Baba has always said that all the lessons of sadhana – be they pranavik yoga, sadharana yoga, sahaja yoga or vishesha yoga – all the lessons are made for only one purpose: to make our minds simple, innocent and childlike. If our mind becomes very simple, very childlike, and with that mind, with that heart, we call Parama Purus’a, He will have to come. Baba would say sometimes that a small baby crawling on his feet and hands cries for mama, mama. If she’s very busy in the kitchen or wherever she is, the moment she hears the words of the baby, she runs, because there is innocence in his or her call. Baba would say that “if innocently someone calls me, I cannot stop myself. I have to come there.”




Now I’ll tell you one very touching story.




One very small boy was by nature very naughty. He would not listen to his mother or his father and therefore always received some punishments – sometimes a few slaps, sometimes no food, sometimes something else. However, they were very good margiis. The parents were very good margiis. Sometimes they would tell the boy that if he acted naughtily, Baba would come from the photo, from His photograph, and punish him. So he knew in his mind that it might be possible that Baba would come from the photograph. That was his conviction in the mind. 




So one day he did some naughty things. The mother slapped him and said: “No food tonight.” He was very sad. He slept close to his mother but when he was very hungry, he came out and he knew that in that room where they do sadhana, Baba’s very big portrait was there, Pratikriti was there. He went there and said very innocently: “Baba, my mama has beaten me. Baba, come out from the photograph and beat her!” And he sobbed and wept there but nothing happened. Again, he went back and slept close to his mother. 




So a few days later she told him: “Today, you have to do two things: you have to read books and at the same time, you have to memorise one Prabha’t Sam’giit.” He was so naughty that he did not do either of the two. So his mother was very angry. Again she slapped him and told “Go away, no food!” So he was not given any food. And they also did not eat. Both the parents did not eat anything. They also slept. 




When he was very hungry, at the dead of night, he went to the same room and said “Baba, is it true that You come from the photo? And can You punish my mother? But at the same time, today I’m very hungry, so, can You give me some sweets?” He was just sobbing and weeping and crying, sometimes sleeping, sometimes waking up. In the meantime, when he was neither sleeping nor awake, Baba appeared and asked him “Are you very hungry?” He said, “Yes, Baba, I am very hungry.” So Baba, from His pocket, brought out some sweets for him. He ate them and at the same time said “Well Baba, my mother may sometimes be very hard to me, sometimes she punishes me but she’s very good. Can You give one sweet for her? And one sweet for my dad?” So Baba gave him two sweets for the parents. And he ate to his heart’s content. From both pockets Baba would bring out sweets and say “You want more?” and he would say “Yes, Baba.” 




Then Baba said “Well, your mama was trying to teach you one Prabha’t Sam’giit. Why didn’t you learn it?” He said “Baba, I don’t know.” So Baba asked him to sit in His lap and taught him a very beautiful Prabha’t Sam’giit, a very beautiful Prabha’t Sam’giit. And he memorised the Prabha’t Sam’giit very nicely. Then he repeated the Prabha’t Sam’giit and sang it very perfectly, by the Grace of Baba. “So, from now onwards, you will not do naughty things? Whenever you do naughty things, I will not give you any sweets.” He said “No, Baba. I will never do anything bad.” “And you will touch the feet of your mother and father?” “Yes.” So the boy was given sweets. He was very happy. He slept.




Early in the morning, the mother got up. She searched “Where is Santanu?” His name was Santanu. She knew that normally he would go to Baba’s room and sleep there. She went there and found Santanu sleeping. The moment the mother entered the room, he got up and touched her feet. She became very happy “Today, my son is touching my feet.” So they hugged each other. The boy said “Mama, mama, I have a sweet for you.” “Wherefrom you got the sweets? You must be very hungry. Let me cook some food for you.” “No mama, nothing to worry. Last night Baba appeared and He came from the photo. He gave me sweets and out of them, you look, one is for you and one is for daddy.“ She said “Ok, perhaps.” And she enjoyed the sweets.” Then he said “Mama! Baba also taught me a very good Prabha’t Sam’giit. Should I sing for you?” She said “You have learned Prabha’t Sam’giit? How is it possible?” Then, in the meantime, his father also arrived and he sang the Prabha’t Sam’giit so nicely and so perfectly that they were very deeply impressed. Then she asked “How could you learn this Prabha’t Sam’giit?” “Baba taught me last night.” So they were thinking “How is it possible? He never knows any Prabha’t Sam’giit and now he is singing so perfectly?” They decided “Let us go to see Baba and know what is the matter.” 




They came to Tiljala and contacted the Dadas who were noting Prabha’t Sam’giit. The mother said “Dada, Santanu has learned a Prabha’t Sam’giit. I don’t know where from. But I understand that this is certainly Prabha’t Sam’giit.” So the Dada asked “Can you sing the Prabha’t Sam’giit?” He sang the Prabha’t Sam’giit so perfectly that they thought “How is it possible? This particular Prabha’t Sam’giit was given to us last night at about 11:30. And the same song he has learned. How is it possible? Santani, how did you learn?” “Baba came out from the photo. He taught me this Prabha’t Sam’giit so nicely.” 




Then, they reported it to Baba. Baba said “Oh, Santanu has come. I have taught him Prabha’t Sam’giit. I have taught him.” So the boy, the mother and father, all came to see Baba.” The moment Santanu saw Baba, he ran and just held Baba, and said “Baba, again You have appeared from the photo?” Baba simply smiled. And he said “Photo Baba! Photo Baba!” Then the Dada told Baba “Baba, he is singing the same Prabha’t Sam’giit that You taught us last night so nicely.” So the boy said “Baba, should I sing for You?” He sat in Baba’s lap and sang the Prabha’t Sam’giit so perfectly, so nicely that they were amazed “How is it possible?” Then Baba asked them (the other Dadas) to sing. They also started singing. The boy said “No, no, no, no, no. At this place you have committed this mistake.” And thereafter, he memorised so many Prabha’t Sam’giits. 




Then, later on, Baba said that “There was no way out for me. When he was crying and weeping, and he was so hungry, I had to appear, feed him, and appease him. And I also taught the Prabha’t Sam’giit.” He said that day that Parama Purus’a responds very quickly and very promptly to the innocent hearts. 




The entire process of our sadhana is nothing but to make our hearts so simple, so innocent that each and every word may impress upon Parama Purus’a and Parama Purus’a will have to come running on this earth as He came to Santanu.