On another occasion, when the men wounded a snake at lower Meherabad, Padri brought it to Baba who crushed its head.
Baba had explained, "In evolution, the snake form is like an entangled rope which you cannot undo or unwind. However, if it is killed by a human being the 'knot' untangles itself and the soul is free to continue on its way through evolution."
On 29 March 1938, Baba explained to the Westerners about his work of creating a circle of true workers around him whose renunciation of worldly possessions and whose selfless service under his guidance in various spheres of his activities were remarkable, though it was quiet, unpublicized and unknown:
Public figures, who in spite of all their loud cries and sermons of "service" on public platforms, at eulogies and at tributes paid to them by the press and public, all or most all of them have their weaknesses and vices which are buried underneath their public name and image. Compared to these loud-speakers, my mandali are jewels, many of them suffering not only physically, but mentally all the time. And mental torture is worse.
They are human, after all. They have a mind and with it, so long as they are human and imperfect, all its weaknesses. They too have many thoughts of lust, for these always react with vengeance when checked. And not being independently free to act as they please, being under orders not to put these into action, it is a regular torture. Yet they all try to do so — to obey me — even during the prime of life when these are at full force and when life is truly to be enjoyed.
And having spent previous years of life in my service and sahavas under strict orders of abstinence and austerities, they still have nothing but a blank wall to face for their future, which they have left entirely in the Master's hands for years and know nothing except his word and assurance that it is all for their good. And there is nothing but abject disappointment as far as material or worldly gains are concerned. Yet they still hold on to the bargain and promise made by me since the beginning, for some great spiritual benefit of which they at the moment have not the slightest glimpse.