Rano tried to hide the toffee, but Baba asked what was in her hand. "Toffee," she said.
"Why did you bring it?"
"To give to Margaret."
"For Margaret, and not for me?" Baba asked with a pained expression on his face.
"I didn't buy it!" Rano explained. "Don gave it to me."
"How much has he bought, and for whom?"
"One tin for the mandali."
"Go and bring it from Don, and give it to me."
Rano brought the tin and handed it to Baba.
Baba then ordered her, "If anyone ever gives you anything, first give it to me."
Baba went to the mandali and asked Don, "Do you bring something for the mandali off and on?"
"No, not really. Only today, I bought some toffee. Vishnu, however, did not accept it without your permission. The tin was kept by your chair, until Rano took it away."
Baba joked, using an idiomatic expression, "These people [the mandali] are sitting on my chest [bothering me], and if you continue giving them sweets, they will become fatter and really crush me! I want to make them as thin as air by beating and beating them!"
Baba then asked, "Do you know the story about Nilu and the box of sweets?"
Don did not, so Baba narrated:
Nilu is very, very fond of sweets. He pines for them day and night. One day in Meherabad [on April Fools' day], I told Pilamai to fill a tin with cowdung and wrap it up like a gift. She did it quite well and, taking it, I went to the mandali.
Nilu's mouth watered on seeing the parcel. I called him and told him how much I loved him, how dear and special he was to me. I said that he was to open the tin, keep half the sweets for himself and distribute the rest among the mandali. With a happy heart, he started to untie the package. But finding it full of cowdung, he was taken aback and his face went pale!
I told him: If you turn white on seeing the contents of this, remember the whole world is like cowdung. When you realize it, your attachment to the world will pale! Just as you threw away the cowdung, you will one day say goodbye to this world and its affairs.1
Baba narrated another incident about Nilu to Don:
Footnotes
- 1.Afterwards another basket full of sweets was brought and distributed.