Spiritual Path is not straight or laid out before us - new choices have to be made, and rules have to be changed for that moment.

Neem Karoli Baba

(from "Near and the Dear") by Dada Mukherji):

During the days of the mela, Haridas came for a couple of days to meet Babaji. He stayed in the house, not in the camp. He was busy keeping silence at that time and wanted to continue it here also, but Babaji told him that as long as he was in the house he must talk if anyone wanted to talk to him. So his silence was broken, although he did not have to speak much. Almost all his time was spent sitting with Baba and replying to his queries.

One day he was sitting with Baba and several others. Maushi Ma brought a glass of milk for him, but he declined it, saying that he took milk only once in the daytime. He said that he had his rules for eating. He drank only milk for his food and did not eat cereals, and he drank the milk only once during the day and once at night. As he had already done so in the morning, he would not drink anymore now.

When Haridas had finished, Babaji burst out, "What is this rule? For what purpose is it made? You can follow your rule of drinking milk only once in the day when you are in your own house, but what rules can there be with the mother? Whenever your mother gives you anything to eat, then all your rules come to an end there. Take the milk and drink it. So long as one stays here, it is the rule of the mother that should be honored regarding the taking of our food, not our own." So Haridas had no option. He took the glass of milk from Maushi Ma and drank it. Everyone was thinking of how rules are made and how they are set aside.

....

While we were sitting in our satsang that night, Shukla referred to the incident (above mentioned) 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 in 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 strictly 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 have 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.