ChaptersChapter 35Page 4,576

Chapter 35: Guruprasad, 1960

1959Page 4,576 of 5,444
Becoming furious, Baba berated Bhau, "Oh, how hard the lid landed on my foot. The pain is terrible! Have you come here to serve me or to cause me pain? How careless you are."
Bhau felt frightened and realized his mistake.
Baba continued, "I will not be able to sleep now with so much pain. I cannot bear it!"
Baba did not take any chocolates and continued to scold Bhau for half an hour, using such choice epithets for him as: "ill-omened fellow ... madcap ... fool ... careless idiot ... stupid blockhead," ending with, "You are my enemy; you have come to kill me!"
Baba then said, "I don't think I will be able to sleep, but I will try."
He lay down to rest, but after five minutes sat up again, gesturing, "There is so much pain in my foot, I can't bear it. I can't sleep now. Why are you so careless? What sort of service are you rendering? You are really killing me!"
Bhau felt repentant and kept quiet.
Baba motioned, "I'll try again, but I don't think I'll be able to sleep," and he lay down.
But again, after five minutes Baba sat up and began complaining, "It is terrible, I tell you, terrible! My leg is aching so much, it is now unbearable. It is not possible for me to sleep!
"Have you come here to kill me? Don't you feel bad about my suffering? Don't you at least repent for your carelessness? Is your heart made of stone? Do you do nightwatch only to harass me? You are shameless!"
He went on in this vein for about an hour.
Bhau felt miserable, but the lid was so thin it could not possibly have hurt much. Bhau's mind began to work. He started thinking: "Baba says he bears the infinite burden of the world and suffers infinitely. How can he feel so much pain from such a small, practically insignificant injury? Even an ordinary man would hardly have felt it. It was nothing!"
Moments later, Baba sat up again.
"What do you gain by tormenting me?" he asked. "Just answer me. I suffer so much, and you don't feel it one iota. What a shameless man you are! Now I don't even feel like seeing your face! You have come to kill me!"
Baba laid down, and Bhau's mind continued thinking: "If he cannot bear this much, how is he able to endure universal suffering, as he says he does? It is all just words, mere philosophy!"
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