"How can spirituality be attained?" she inquired.
"It can be attained, not by intellect, but by heart and feeling and inner experience. I could explain for hours, but that would be nothing compared to one second of my internal help. Do one thing: Every night, just before retiring, think for one minute, 'The Infinite God is within me, and I am part of the Infinite.' This will put you more and more in contact with me internally."
Norina introduced a woman saying, "She is a law student."
"Law is good," Baba remarked. "This whole universe is based on the divine law of love which covers all existence."
The woman asked, "How can I strive both to achieve things in life materially and also to that which is permanently lasting?"
Baba explained: "It can be done. What does perfection mean if it does not include the material life? It is easy and practical. Lead a worldly life, attend to all your worldly duties, but for some moments in the day, long for knowing something that is beyond life. And this longing will increase gradually and will make you free and detached from material results."
One person told Baba, "I have seen you face to face, but I don't remember where."
"I've known you for a very, very long time," Baba said.
"I have the feeling I know you, also. Is a link already established?" Baba told him that it was, and the man very cordially shook Baba's hand and then kissed it lovingly.
Another asked, "Will the world conditions take a better turn?
"Yes, it has to."
"Will there be an understanding between the East and the West?"
"Yes, it is to be. It is inevitable. Soon it will be such a spiritual worldwide revolution that all will have to unite."
"Do you know about the Oxford movement? "1
"Yes, it is one of the channels that leads to me."
"Will [yours] be a new religion or union of all religions into one."
"All [religions] will be one. It will be a movement of Eternal Love, and so it will be a religion of Love."
"The same as Christ's?"
"Yes. This change will happen soon, in this generation, and will last a very long time. The spiritual revolution will take place very soon."
"Will it expresses itself through war?"
"It might or it might not. But it will express itself just after an economic war all over the world. I am trying to avert [a violent, bloodshed-filled] war."
"How can we help to avoid the war, how can we be useful?"
"By thinking that there won't be a war. Millions of my agents are working towards that. Your love messages can reach anyone, anywhere, because in all these is the One Infinite God."
"Why not bring salvation now ?"
"The world needs it very badly; but still, there is a need for some of its greater evils to be eradicated, and then it will be very soon. I know it because I have worked it out."
"Will salvation be felt by anybody and everybody?"
"Mostly by all, but in degrees. To some more, to others less. But it will be a universal spiritual push."
"Why doesn't everybody find or feel God within?"
"It is nobody's fault. Every soul, sooner or later, has to realize the God within."
"Why do only a few Realize It and many do not?"
"It is because these many have yet to pass through the experience of duality, because to reach Unity one has to pass through duality."
At 3:00 P.M. Otto Billo met Baba. Norina's Swiss uncle, Heinrich Wölfflin, a prominent professor and art historian, was another visitor. When the professor met Baba, he asked, "When is salvation coming for the world? When will all this nonsense end?"
"Soon," Baba assured him.
"Oh, please let it be soon," the professor said with a smile, "I'm already 70 and I want to see it!"
"You will," Baba promised him. "Just wait a little while longer."
The professor's housekeeper adored Baba. She came more than once and simply wanted to sit by Baba and hold his arm for a few minutes. At one point she asked innocently, "Why am I naughty?"
"Why think like that?" Baba chided her. "And why worry about it. It is good to think of how to improve our defects, but don't always be worried about them."
At 4 P.M. two clergymen, Mr. Meister and Mr. Wegmann came. One of them said, "From the Christian standpoint, Christ is the only one and unique of the Prophets. Do you believe that?"
Baba commented, "Unique indeed from the standpoint of his state and consciousness. The Mohammedans claim that Muhammad is the only Prophet; the Buddhists claim the same for Buddha; the Parsis for Zoroaster, and the Christians for Christ. Each says that his perfect ideal [of the Prophet] is unique. But why bother about that? What do 'names' matter? What is important is the life that Jesus lived. To understand Christ, to know him, one has to live his life. Mere ceremonies and talks, discussions and criticisms, don't help one towards knowing Christ. Christ taught one simple thing: Love, but so few of his followers have that love developed!"
"Is this standpoint of love consistent with Christian dogma?"
"Love has in it selfless service and renunciation of low desires. Pure love includes everything. If one loves, all other low qualities automatically dissolve themselves. And by love, I mean pure love, not the sexual love as it is meant today in the world of matter."
Someone else asked, "Is there any great difference between Christ and organized religion?"
"A world of difference. Christ is to be lived and not 'ceremonied' [found in ceremonies]."
Dr. Kohlberg asked how she could be a better physician. Baba answered, "It is very simple — through love. Anything that is done with love has perfect results. To be a good doctor, always have in mind that, to you, all patients — good or bad, big or small — are equal. Treat a beggar with as much care and interest as you would a millionaire. Only if a doctor can realize that one infinite God is in all can she work like a saint! It is simple, yet very difficult to practice. So many things interfere — reputation, name, money, society, circumstances, and so on."
Baba concluded, "I am a doctor of souls. I help each according to his need."
Another day, Baba showed the chart of evolution to a small private group. One person in attendance opined that the "missing link" as he understood it was erroneous. Baba agreed, "Yes, it is a great mistake. In fact, there is nothing like a 'missing link' in evolution."
"How is selfishness caused and why?"
Baba explained: "At the root of all is selfishness, self-interest, want and desire. If two dogs see a bone, they fight because they both want it. Both have a desire to possess it. Even if they do not see it and do not fight, all the same, the desire is latent there."
"Why do people fear?"
"Because they are afraid of losing the thing they want to possess. "
"What are the means to become fearless?"
"The only possible means is a spiritual change [of heart]. Only that will make people satisfied. They want to be satisfied. They themselves do not know what they want ... For all material satisfaction [created through desire and want], spiritual upliftment is needed."
"But how can spiritual upliftment come when selfishness and desire are there, deep-rooted?"
Baba said, "It will be done by universal love. Love has such powers as to unite all hearts. So the first spiritual universal push will be though love."
A few more interviews were granted the next day, 14 July 1934. To Moor Mazzeazzaeni, a well-known dancer, Baba directed this remark: "Dancing is a very good art if expressed rightly. It has divine qualities, and if expressed properly, it will have a wonderful effect; if expressed wrongly, it has the opposite effect."
On one occasion, Baba mentioned the making of the film and commented to his close ones, "When the film is produced in America, I will take you all there with me." Delia's name, however, was somehow omitted from subsequent discussions. Delia's mind began being troubled by this, because she felt excluded. After some time she could not hide her pain and wept. Then a horsefly stung her on the eye, causing even more swelling. Norina tried to comfort her, but to no avail. Baba finally asked her what was wrong. After the usual evasive "Nothing, Baba," he tapped his pocket and declared, "Even if I have to keep you in my pocket, I will take you with me to America!" This made Delia laugh, and all her anxieties vanished.
After further discussions with Gabriel Pascal, a contract about the film work was drawn up, typed and signed by him on the 14th. Baba went to see a movie that afternoon at 5:00 P.M. But just before he left, he became annoyed with Adi Jr. Harsh words were exchanged, creating a gloomy atmosphere. According to Chanji, Baba created the "storm" on purpose to allow the Mertens and others to experience "the other side" of the Master's mood and sometimes "warm [heated] atmosphere" of his sahavas.
After ten days in Zurich, on Monday, 16 July 1934, Baba departed for Marseilles by train. Accompanying him were the three mandali, Norina, Elizabeth, Rano, Nonny, Ruano, Delia and Quentin. Baba dressed in European clothing, but during this trip he always wore his sadra underneath. He turned to Rano during the train ride to ask, "I feel very uncomfortable in this outfit. Would it be all right if I took off my coat and pants?"
Looking around the compartment at the stern faces of the Swiss, Rano replied that it did not matter to her but it might be embarrassing in the presence of the other passengers.
Baba smiled, gestured a bit sadly, "Yes, I guess I had better not," and stayed dressed in his suit.
Even the Avatar has to put up with convention, Age observed.
Footnotes
- 1.The Oxford Group was a Christian organization, founded by an American missionary, that gained wide popularity in the 1930s. The group stressed "living Christianity" as an alternative to traditional institutionalized Christianity.