Inspirational Story: Sons and Grandsons Born in Dreams…
Daydreams can never fill an empty stomach. Yet, they keep taking shape in the human mind. Avoiding such daydreams is very difficult. The lure of these daydreams disturbs the mind. A person loses his/her sense of direction completely. It reaches its height when a person ends up losing everything he has because he fails to understand reality. The only way to save oneself from this is through the spiritual congregation (Satsang) of saints. True understanding comes through Satsang.
Revered Param Pita Shah Satnam Singh Ji Maharaj, while narrating the story of Sheikh Chilli, explains that there was a Sheikh Chilli who was extremely lazy at work, but he used to dream a lot. Once, a merchant asked him to deliver a tin canister of oil to his house and agreed to pay him eight annas as wages. Sheikh Chilli placed the canister on his head and set off.
He began to dream: “I will buy an egg with these eight annas. A chick will hatch from it. The chick will grow into a hen. That hen will lay eggs. From those eggs, I will have many chicks, hens and roosters. Then I will sell them and buy cows and buffaloes. I will sell their milk. In this way, I will accumulate a lot of money. With this money, I will build a very large house. I will become very rich.”
He remained lost in these pleasant dreams as he walked along. He did not even realise that he had a canister of oil on his head. He started thinking even further ahead. “One day, my palace will be built. Then I will get married into a very respectable family. I will have children, and they will call me ‘father, father’.” Thinking about this made him feel delighted.
Then suddenly, he thought that a person should assert a little authority. As soon as this thought came to his mind, he began to walk proudly, puffing out his chest. Then he thought, “The authority should begin right from home. When my wife comes to serve me bread, I will show her my authority and say that I will not eat. Why did you make this vegetable dish? Why did you not add clarified butter (ghee) to it? Why is there so much salt? Why did you add fewer chillies?” and so on.
Saying this in anger, “I will kick the plate so hard that it will fly away and fall far from me!” At that very moment, he actually kicked out with his foot. As he kicked, he himself fell flat on the ground with a loud thud. The canister on his head also fell, and all the oil spilled onto the ground.
In this way, all the dreams he had built up until then were shattered. Seeing his loss, the merchant felt very sorry and angrily said, “You have spilled my canister of oil. You have caused me a great loss!”
Sheikh Chilli, who until then had been lost in thoughts of his home, family and business, said, “Seth Ji! You are crying over a single canister of oil; I have lost everything! My self-built house, children, cows and buffaloes, and such a big business—everything is ruined! And you are crying over a single canister of oil.”
Param Pita Shah Satnam Ji Maharaj explains this example even more beautifully, stating, “Supne de put pote, kade dekhe nahi hal bahunde” (“Sons and grandsons born in a dream are never seen ploughing the fields”).
Only a person who attends the spiritual congegation of saints is able to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Saints explain things to human beings through examples. In the light of spiritual discourses (Satsang), the incident presented here makes one reflect upon the problems that arise from mere daydreams. This is the humorous tale of Sheikh Chilli. Param Pita Shah Satnam Ji Maharaj often narrated this story during spiritual discourses so that a person might know and understand the truth. His purpose in explaining this is that a person should not waste his life living in mere daydreams.
