The priest asked, "Do you, as a Master, impose any penance as a penalty for sins committed, as is done in our religion when people go to church and the priest and ask forgiveness for their sins?"
“”Baba answered, "The mere thought and act of admission of one's own sins, if sincerely done and a promise to try never to do it again, is enough, even if no penance is made. Besides, the Masters have their own ways of exacting penances!"
"But is an actual act of penance considered necessary as required by Christianity?"
“”Baba explained, "It depends on the Master's will and instructions. Sometimes he does impose very strict penance, say of a fast or of an act of humility or of service to others in a lower position, or sometimes he might 'forgive' it outright and ask the accused to forget all about it, after he has made an honest confession and clean breast of it."
When Baba had boarded the Circassia , he had glanced at the other passengers and remarked to Norina, "One sincere soul will be found among the many."
But he also cautioned her not to reveal his identity to anyone on board. On 18 November, however, Baba gave Norina permission to give an interview about him to a group of interested passengers whose curiosity she could not suppress. (Chanji attended also to answer questions.) More than a dozen persons gathered in a quiet corner of the deck to hear of Baba.
Baba gave this message for that small group of passengers (which he had dictated two days before):
“”Truth is infinitely simple. So is its realization naturally simple too. Complications are not natural to Unity because duality is based on complications. Books, philosophies and [different] terms all lead to confusion and contradiction if not applicable to one's spiritual tendency. God-realization means living in and with God in every thought and action with such oneness as to render it automatic — divinely and consciously automatic.
When you are asleep or awake, conscious or unconscious, eating or not eating, with people or alone, amidst activities or in seclusion, your breathing is automatically in and with you. So must God be in and with you, automatically but consciously so, in every phase of your life. It is to be simple, practical and livable in the ordinary run of life.
