His latest threat was too much for the mandali, and Ghani, in Bangalore, wrote a befitting reply with Baba's full approval. An excerpt is as follows:
Who could have imagined that the author of the epithet "His Divine Majesty" could stoop so low as to resort to blackmail? Your desperate story and plight of bankruptcy, indebtedness and threat of suicide to escape, as well as your frantic appeals to the Master for monetary help, invariably accorded, in spite of your calling him a cheat and charlatan — all these factors present to a sincere student of human nature very illuminating studies in man's transcendental heights and bottomless falls ... It seems a case of perverse neurosis for specialists like Sigmund Freud and Havelock Ellis!1
Baba's magnanimous gesture of monetary help, given to you frequently in answer to your frantic appeals, as evidenced by your numerous letters, you unfortunately look upon as "hush-money." But in this, you have miserably failed to appraise Baba's true nobility and innate greatness ...
The whole world has scriptural knowledge of God, millions desire Him, thousands long for Him, hundreds die for Him and only a few attain Him. The spiritual grace of Divine Personalities such as Meher Baba is to be begged for and induced by service and self-effacement. It surely cannot be attained by flattery or threats!
You have no case or claim against Meher Baba, legal or technical ... It is the chicken-hearted, unmindful of their own worthiness in the spiritual domain, who deem the promises of saints as legal tender to be cashed on demand, without fulfilling the sine qua non of the situation.
Dastur's actions were all part of Meher Baba's perfect game. Even though Dastur had left Meherabad, by his writing to Baba for money, he was remembering Baba. Such was Baba's work to keep him in his contact for the past nine years.
Upasni Maharaj had repeatedly asked Meher Baba to take over the managing of his ashram in Sakori, and at this time he again sent a messenger with the same plea. On 17 May 1940, Baba sent Adi Sr. to Maharaj at Sakori with the following message:
First: Stop all the Hindu rituals and ceremonies at Sakori;
Second: The value of Upasni Nagar [his ashram] at Sakori is less than Rs.500,000. It will be paid to you by Baba in installments;
Footnotes
- 1.Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) was an Austrian psychiatrist who led the field of psychoanalysis; Havelock Ellis (1859–1939) was an influential English physician and psychologist.