Sai Baba on crookedness

The litany of complaints that reach my door every day is staggering. Frankly, I don't know how to respond to them. It's really difficult to encounter a truly happy person, momentarily happy, yes, but consistently happy - that's so rare. Why?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba is direct. He said, "The snake moves in a curve, not in a straight line; man too, when he follows the senses, has to move in a crooked path. Man has greater poison in him than the snake; his venom is to be found in his eyes, his tongue, his hands, his mind, his heart, his thoughts, whereas the cobra has it only in its fangs."

Oh, dear, am I guilty of following my senses? Yes. Shortly after sunrise this morning I opened my front door. There was a woman standing by the gate ready to tell me all her physical problems. Her arm. Her heel. Does she think I am her doctor? I was immediately frustrated that I had to listen to her moaning.

I am so attached to my peace that I did not want to be engaged even by this suffering woman. What about the compassion I profess to have? Is that by appointment only?

Puttaparthi Swami warned, "With the poison of attachment and hate inside you, how can you be pronounced healthy?"

And here I stood, looking at the soft-spoken woman with impatience boiling up in me. I quickly changed my heart and listened to her. She only wanted a drop of attention. Like me, she lives alone and sometimes when you're not well, life definitely feels heavy. I finally squeezed out some loving words from my self-absorbed heart and they had such good effect that she left my house smiling. I also felt much better.

"It is the sense of attachment which causes pain and sorrow, agony and agitation," the Embodiment of Love taught. "You are so much attached to things that you lodge a complaint in the court of law against the man who has pasted a poster on your house. It is your attachment to your house which makes you go to that extent, but once you sell away your house, you remain unconcerned even when a bomb is dropped on it. It is the feeling of attachment which is the cause for your concern and indifference. Once you develop faith in the existence of the Atma (Soul) in you, you are freed of hatred and attachment. The secret of greatness is man's faith in himself."

Obviously spiritual practice is required on a daily basis - for me. I recognise that in this lifetime, it's unlikely that I'll reach a place where I can just fly into bliss unattached to everything. But I can have long interludes of joy; I can avoid crookedness.

Our Revered Guru pointed out, "Although Sai says love everyone, do not develop too much attachment to them. Say 'Hello, hello; good-bye.' This is spirituality; it is discipline."