Two days later, while being introduced to Khare,
a Hindu pandit (religious scholar) from Andhra, Baba asked him,
"Are you a true pandit in all respects? Are you a pandit in my
love?"
After someone recited several poems, Baba
remarked, "This is not poetry, it is your views. Where there is an
experience of love, that is poetry!"
On the 18th, a Hindu priest named Pandurang Shastri Goswami bowed to
Baba and then sat down near his chair. Goswami had also come the previous day
when Baba was with the Hamirpur lovers. At that time, while the Shastri
was present, Vishnu Sharma of Dhagwan entertained Baba by reciting his
story, Chai Puran (a humorous "Tale of Tea"). Goswami had left in the middle of the recital.
On this day, Baba asked him, "Why did you
leave the hall yesterday so abruptly?"
Goswami replied that he
had an errand to do.
"Did you feel disturbed by the Chai
Puran ? Whatever the disturbance may be, you must try to remain
calm."
"No disturbance; nothing of the kind.
Yesterday, I went early because I had to bid goodbye to some of my houseguests."
"Did you feel hurt while listening to the Chai Puran because it was composed in Sanskrit verses? Did you
take it as an insult to Sanskrit?"
"Perhaps so, but that was not the reason for
my leaving early," Goswami said defensively.
"You should not be affected even when
insulted. I am Paramatma; I am insulted every moment, but I respond with
love. Had you remained seated until the end, you would have felt
differently, as if having participated in a love-feast. It was a good
pastime too, as the prasad packets for distribution to the lovers of
Hamirpur were not ready as yet."
"I am trying to tolerate things and
surroundings which are not to my taste," Goswami said. "As for
verses on tea, I have come across one Chai Gita that imitates the Bhagavad Gita in having eighteen cantos on tea and its merits."
This episode prompted Baba to discourse on the
ego's tricky nature:
Our ego keeps us aloof from our own Real Self. Ego is so mighty that it makes us deceive our own self. It has been
attached to one's self from the very beginning. It appears to be so natural a part of our own
self that, under the pretext of our understanding, this ego gets tickled
instantaneously and the very next moment gets depressed.