Who is wise? Is it one who has read many books and knows every answer to every question?
In Baba’s words, the ‘proof of wisdom is freedom.’ If an animal can be deceived by a bait and trapped, then it is not wise. A bird or an animal will be considered wise if it can remain safe, i.e. remain free.
So, if a human creates new bondages, new attachments in this web of the physical world, then he is not very wise. If he is trapped in addictions and lust, he may have lots of knowledge, information and many wise answers, but he will be considered ignorant.
There was a seagull in a park in Cambridge who was playing with a dog. The seagull was flying in a circle and the dog was chasing it. The seagull was gliding round and round and the dog, though exhausted, could not stop but kept running behind the bird. The cleverness of the bird was that it maintained enough distance from the dog. When there was distance, the seagull could play with the sky and also play with the dog. If the bird were to come too close to the dog, then it would definitely lose the sky and also lose the earth. The whole notion of life for that bird would be either more pain or less pain, all depending on the dog.
This is a message for us on the planet. Keep a distance. This World Wide Web is immensely beautiful but, remain free from it. What distance? The distance of a guest. Soul maintains an attitude of a guest with everything here on earth. In Baba’s words, remain “mehman” (guest) and you become “mahan” (great).