Vividhananda's Disciples

Swami Vividhananda's disciples such as Shyama,Reheman,Sudipta and Bob were engaged in a hot debate. The discussion revolved round the fact how Vividhananda's master and he himself were able to hear and respond to the call of their devotees. Now Reheman was the most rigid of all. His parents had disowned him and had left nothing for him. He was debarred from entering their village Salamatpur. All the elderly Muslims were angry with him since he didn't perform the usual Islamic prayers. The people in his village strongly denounced Sai Baba and couldn't bear to see a member of their community deviating from the beaten track of virtue.  

Most of the time Reheman asked his friends very funny yet intriguing questions. How was Sai able to hear everybody's prayer? Sai lived in Shirdi. But he was able to know the thoughts and feelings of each and every human being or for that matter each and every living being? How is it possible?"he would ask like an innocent baby. Reheman was an extremist by nature. He couldn't help flying to the extreme points of an issue. If he became angry it would be extremely difficult to contain his anger. If he became kind to someone he would offer everything at his disposal to them. He was well- known for his incapacity to exercise moderation in whatever he did. The disciples other than his three close friends made a game of him.

It was a very cold Saturday morning. Reheman had been meditating all night but he was troubled by the thought all night as to how it was possible for master to know every creature inside out.

When Shyama was dozing at a corner of the ashram,Reheman went to him and asked pretty seriously:"Brother,what enables the master to know every person's thoughts at the same time and listen to people's prayers individually?Also at the same time?"

There were some naughty boys in the ashram who ran errands and were beloved of the master Vividhananda. Kedu,Gaja and Dinu were the worst of them all. Gaja loved to tease Reheman. Now when Reheman was dead serious,Gaja wailed like an old woman;"Rehemanua? Rehehemani?Where is your nanny? Why are you so funny? Can you give us some money?" 

Reheman flew into a rage and let out a scream savagely. Dinu came to Reheman with a smiling face and tea and asked,"Reheman Bhai,why does man get angry?" Reheman thought for a while and said,"It is human nature to get angry and anger can cause irreparable damage to the man concerned. " But then Reheman himself didn't like his own answer to the question. He thought a more convincing or hundred percent correct answer was there beyond his grasp. Next he kept worrying about the perfect answer. After some time,he went to Bob who was secretly smoking a cigarette behind a tree. He said in a sugary voice,"Dear friend,why does man get angry?" Bob said to him:"We become angry when we see something  wrong is being done to an innocent person. We say something to a friend for example which causes a wound in his heart and that wound never heals. " But Reheman was not satisfied and kept worrying about the right answer. He didn't have the confidence to approach Shyama again with another question. Shyama was a cross-grained Brahmin boy who didn't like Reheman's 'silly' questions and often cursed him for asking him annoyingly bad questions.

Vividhananda was in his room and there were many people inside it. He called to Reheman who was going past his room. As Reheman sat at the master's feet expecting some blessings,

Vividhananda said to him,"Reheman your bad days have come to an end. Henceforth, you will ask yourself questions and find their answers on your own. Sudipta has already reached that stage. "

Reheman touched his master's feet and left the room. Since he was very tired he dozed off to a short sleep. He was half awake when he heard the following:"When you get angry it only indicates that you are still in the grip of the mind and the senses. You have not been able to acquire the detachment and freedom that make man command and regulate his mind and the senses. You are not capable to direct your senses and your mind. When you are absolutely free and without any limits,your mind can't respond to any external provocation without your consent. Anger only shows that you are still a slave of your mind. Only slaves get angry;kings are completely in full command over the mind and the senses. A bird flaps its wings hard only when it  is caught in a trap. Here the trap  is the trap of ignorance and hatred."

When Reheman got up,he was ecstatic recollecting the dream. Next he got the answer to his previous question. He found out that Sai or God was ever present in every living being's soul. When someone prays to Him thinking that He is far far away in Shirdi,he is hundred percent mistaken because Sai lives in his own soul and in every other soul at the same time. So He can know every creature's thoughts personally and at the same time. This  was the secret that enabled a yogi to make multiple appearances at the same time.Reheman wept big tears out of an unprecedented ecstasy.

Reheman realised the futility of the so-called worldly knowledge and scholarship and the undue significance the masses and ignorant religious leaders attributed to their sacred texts. Holy texts were absolutely worthless unless one was equipped with the knowledge of Truth to understand their message correctly. He clearly realised that he was not at all attached to anything good or bad. . . !He genuinely felt that he had attained salvation or emancipation and that man didn't attain emancipation after death but while still living in this world. Anyone who hoped to reach heaven after death was like a rudderless ship and for him death was going to be a leap into the dark unknown.