Sri Sai Baba`S:Charters And Sayings

562 TALKS ON (< AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER "

them better, it is just one of t^e things we must drop.
To change the habit of thousands of years is hard ; still
its time is past, so let us go ahead and do it. The
Master is quite right in saying tfmt we must watch
ceaselessly. The line along which our race has
developed is very strongly stamped upon us. You
se^ here how our Master has devoted several pages
to this question of gossip, to explaining its evil very
clearly and fully. There is very little we may add to
these pages; comment seems to be superfluous. The
whole thing is said for you there.

I will give you a little instance of gossip, connected
with this very book. -I remember, I was very much
impressed when I first heard these teachings given
to Alcyone, long before this book w^s published, by
the immense importance the Master attached to this
question of gossip. I repeated it; I quoted what He
had said in various meetings in India, so that all this
information was in the minds of numbers of people
before this book was published. Now many of the
members rather objected to the book; they rather
objected to the whole theory, to the idea of the Star,
and the Coming Teacher, and to the precision with
which we were able to say that He would soon come ;

that He would take this or that body. Many felt
doubtful about all that, and one thing that they im-
mediately pounced upon was that these statements
had been made months before this book was publish*
ed; therefore they said that part of it must have been