He then visited a bakery and there also the same thing happened. He picked up some cookies and put them into his mouth, and his disciples did the same.
Then he went to a blacksmith's shop where there were red-hot pieces of iron in the furnace. The Master picked up one of the pieces and ate it!
His disciples stared at him. The Sadguru then said, "Now eat this too!"
Not one dared move and the Master admonished, "Why did you do as I did? Are you parrots? Never do as I do, but do as I say."
After hearing this tale, Ghani burst out laughing, and Baba asked the reason. He replied, "I bow down to your knowledge. You have answered my question superbly!"
The poetry writing continued and sometimes Baba himself would dictate one line, or couplet, and ask the mandali to compose a poem from it. Once he gave the first two-line couplet to Ghani, who wrote the following ghazal in Urdu:
For the lover who dances to the Master's tune,
Where is the question of justice?
The breeze of Your lane is not found even in heaven;
The fragrance of the best of musk is unequal to it.
O Beloved! My trapped heart is now at Your feet;
It is up to You to manifest Your Godhood through it or not.
If He is said to be absolutely independent,
Does He care if the one at His door accepts Him or not?
My bowed head is not at His threshold for nothing!
But I don't know whether He will murder me today or not.
Why is Your attitude different than what it was before?
There is some secret behind it whether my heart understands it or not.
Ghani says he is so intoxicated by Your manner and bearing
He doesn't care whether it is like the sweet nightingale's or not.1
Ahmed Abbas was translating Baily's Gujarati manuscript of Upasni Maharaj's life into Urdu. He was fond of spiritual literature and also of Persian ghazals and qawaali songs. He was a poet of some repute, writing under the pseudonym of Khak , which means dust or ash . During this period, he acquired the nickname of Khak Saheb , and wrote the following ghazal dedicated to Meher Baba:
Footnotes
- 1.In mystical poetry, God is the Beloved and the poet is the devoted lover. In this poem, the Beloved's actions have charmed the devotee to such a degree that, whether he acts kindly or cruelly, the devotee does not mind. He accepts whatever the Beloved does as the highest benefit to all concerned.