Hello and Namaste, A warm welcome to Neem Karoli Baba's miracles of love and compassion. In this episode, we will share with you another story of Baba's incredible leela and his unique way of reminding us of leaving our ego out when helping others. Baba believed if you do good unto others, then you shouldn't be talking about it, dont even expect any rewards or recognition or any kind of praises being showered at you. Otherwise the help is not unconditional and just a feel good loop for your self Baba used to say in Hindi, Sab Ek ek hain aur sabka maalik Ram hain, which means we are all one and everybody's saviour is Lord Rama. He said, The person who is helping and the person who is being helped are not different from each other. In fact, there are no others. We are all one. Often, we forget this simple message from Baba and our ego tricks us. We start thinking I did this great charitable act or because of me, the sufferings of the poor were diminished. But in reality, we are just small actors playing our roles in the grand leela of life, and maybe sometimes not realising that we forgot to remain humble and succumbed to our pride and self-importance. However, for an exalted saint and mystic master like Neem Karoli Baba, nothing is hidden. He has his own system of checks and balances and performs unimaginable leelas at the right time to separate the wheat from the chaff. Here's a story on how Baba reminded an arrogant follower that there is no place for an egotistical and narcissistic 'I am the doer' feeling when one performs an act of charity. Once when Neem Karoli Baba was spending time in the beautiful Indian hill station of Nainital, a few followers gathered around him and started asking him questions on divinity and the material nature of the world. Baba was answering them patiently when suddenly a devotee entered the room and almost immediately announced that he had brought with him a good amount of money to hand it over to Baba. Baba looked at him and turned down his offer. He told him in Hindi, Nahi Chahiye, yeh paisa kis kaam ka, which means I don't want it. Take it away. This money is of no use to me. But the man insisted and said in Hindi, Kisi bhi kaam mein laga lena baba. Gareebon ko khila dena, which meant, Use this money for any purpose. Feed the poor with this. Baba remained silent for a while, then refused one more time ,telling him in Hindi, Le jaa issey tu, Kya gareebon ke naam se chadah raha hain. Ja tera dikhawa nahin chahiye, which meant Just take it away from here and dont make the poverty of the downtrodden an excuse to feel important. Go away, no one needs your misplaced sense of show off. The man became even more adamant and told Baba that he shouldn't be refusing the money which could feed many poor people. He said it had taken him a lot of effort to raise that money Baba, the eternal magician and master craftsman of mystic leelas, then told him, fine if you think that the money which you have brought is that powerful, then go buy me Sev. with all this money. Sev is an inexpensive Indian snack made of chickpea paste and turmeric. The man replied but its so late at night, where will I find sev now? Baba said, Really, I thought you said this money is magical and it will solve problems for me and help me in feeding people.. You said I could use it anywhere? But if it cant even get me some inexpensive sev now then of what use is it to me or anybody? Baba did not accept even a penny from the man and instructed him to keep the money back in his pocket. The above story was recalled by a devotee named Kishan Tiwari and the story has been documented by Vinod Shukla from Mainpuri village for Dastak Media channel in India. As you can see, Baba's refusal to accept the money was his way of humbling the arrogant follower, sending him a clear message that if you do something good for anyone then do it with your heart and not for any show. Keep your self or ego out of it. A compassionate cause or purpose doesn't need publicity or applause. It just needs Baba's blessings. And when we start looking for reasons to justify why we have to show off or draw attention to our charitable cause then we are gibing more credence to external factors than our faith in Baba and his blessing. And Baba's message in Hindi is very clear. Charity is not an activity. It is a mentality. An inner disposition that expresses itself humbly and not with a loud bang. Those who consider charity to be merely an activity, focus not on the inner spirit but the other show. They obsess over how big and noticeable is the charity they give, and how much recognition and glorification they get. Such charity is nothing but a gift to one’s own ego and a characteristic of the ungodly. That was another glorious tale of Neem Karoli Baba's miracles of love and compassion. We will return soon with more stories from Baba's life. Until then, feel free to email any queries, suggestions, experiences or stories, to loveneemkaroli@gmail.com....
