"I leave it to you. What I mean is that I work internally for the world and if you, while meditating, forget your body and concentrate on me, you share in the work.
"My work and I are inseparable, like the rose and its fragrance. Both are inseparable. But the rose is not the smell, and the smell is not the rose. The thorn and its pricking are inseparable, but the pricking is not the thorn, nor the thorn the pricking."
Baba expounded on creation and its ultimate purpose and ended by stating, "God has power, bliss, light and peace, but He wants to express Himself. But to express Himself, consciousness must be gained. Therefore, to gain consciousness, all this fun has started. I love the fun, yet in this fun I suffer infinitely."
Someone asked, "Why is there suffering?"
Baba gave this succinct reply: "Suffering is essential for the elimination of the ego, just as it was necessary for you to scrub and scrub to wash the stain from my coat."
Pappa Jessawala's heart had bowed at Baba's feet upon witnessing the glorious spectacle of the Master's birthday celebrations. He returned to Nagpur and sent his family to Nasik for two months during the summer — his wife Gaimai, eldest son Eruch, 20, daughters Manu, 19 and Meheru, 17, and a younger son Meherwan, 7. They arrived in Nasik around 15 April 1937 and resided at the Pechey-Phipson Sanatorium near the retreat.1
Eruch was studying in college and would visit Meher Retreat with his family. On one occasion, Baba introduced him to his Western lovers.
Baba asked him, "What do you want to become?"
Eruch replied that he wanted to study engineering at a college in Benares.
"What will you do by becoming an engineer?" Baba asked. He sent for Kaka and spelled out to Eruch, "Kaka was quite a big engineer in the Tata Company. Ask him what he did after becoming an engineer."
The mandali were expert at catching Baba's hints and would say anything to please him in a ruse. Taking the hint, Kaka said, "Engineering is totally useless! One may follow any vocation in the world, but to become an engineer is a sin! I was faced with so many difficulties in my job I wanted to die. There is no worse profession on Earth than engineering!"
Footnotes
- 1.The sanatorium was a series of guest houses where people came to rest, as Nasik has a salubrious climate.