Once, Baba granted an interview
to the Marxist editor of an Indian Newspaper. He spent two and a half
hours with him and persuaded him of his error. The Marxist questioned
Him about the methodology of His kind of ‘revolution’ and Baba replied
that He had none in the accepted organisational sense. His method is the
simple one of transforming the inner individual through love, and the
machinery used is co-operation and brotherhood induced by this kind of
love.
The
editor then asked why He did not cure the ills of the world by His
sankalpa to which Swami, as one would expect, replied that this kind of
instant solution - without a prior spiritual transformation - would not
work; the world would quickly revert to the present chaos. He also
explained that the whole drama of creation with its karmic law (of cause
and effect) would collapse.
Pressed
by the editor about the difficulties in persuading the rich of such a
life of philosophy, Swami replied, “The rich can only come to Me on the
basis of absolute equality. This is why at the ashram rich and the poor
work together, eat, worship and sleep together, do menial tasks
together, and share the common austerities of the ashram. There is
absolutely no distinction. Yet, despite this, the wealthy come to Me in
order to secure that peace of mind which physical comfort and power
cannot give. I convert their minds and hearts to spiritual values and
truths.”
The rich
cannot secure Swami’s grace without surrendering their materialistic
outlook and self-serving attachments. He tells them, “Ego lives by
getting and forgetting, love lives by giving and forgiving.” He changes
their mental attitudes. He emphasises the need to live a life without
desire, a desirelessness based on high thinking and frugal living,
rather than a high material standard. He shows them that riches provide a
fatal temptation, which is the source and the cause of human bondage.
“Shed
your luggage, ” He says, using one of His parables, “you will travel
lighter.” It is not material but spiritual satisfaction that ultimately
makes life worth living. And He points to the poor who are often
spiriutally rich, and to the rich who are often spiritually paupers.
During
hisshort stay at Puttaparthi, the Marxist editor discovered to his
amazement that the woman who swept the courtyard was a maharani, his
personal attendant was an ex-magistrate and the interpreter during His
interview was formerly India’s leading scientist, Dr S Bhagavantham!”
