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| Neem Karoli Baba |
(from "The near and the dear" by Dada Mukherji):
While we were sitting in our satsang that night, Shukla referred to the incident with Haridas, saying that he himself had the same difficulty when he was with Babaji in the beginning. Being born in an orthodox Brahmin family, he had so many restrictions and rules guiding every act of his life—japa, puja, food and many others. He wanted to stick to his rules no matter what situation faced him, even when he was with Babaji. There would be occasions when Babaji would ask him to do something which was opposed to his rules, and a conflict would come to his mind. He would have to disobey one in order to obey another. When he failed to choose or hesitated, Babaji made the choice made for him. Then he had to break his rules.
The interesting thing was that Babaji was always in favour of obeying the rules that you had set for yourself. He said that it was necessary for a disciplined and successful life, and he would emphasize this all the time. For himself, he obeyed his rules with strict adherence. But his rules were never meaningless and mechanical. All his rules were for the highest good and one must respect them.
It is like going on a journey. Before we start, we know the goal we have to reach and also have ideas about the path. But we do not have full knowledge about the road we must travel; it must be learned while we are actually on our journey. The path is not straight or laid out before us and there are turns and twists, zigzagging up and gliding down, that has to be faced. New choices have to be made, and rules have to be changed for that moment. Shukla felt that this was what Babaji was teaching us.
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