After a few minutes of the short opening film, Yacht On the High Sea , Bill Le Page decided the picture was not very good, and he closed his eyes for a moment and reflected upon Baba's being.1
Suddenly there was a tap on his knee, and he saw that Baba had turned around and was looking at him, smiling and nodding as if to say, "Yes, I agree it is not even worth watching."
For some time, Baba covered his head during the film. But after only 20 minutes, when the main feature film had just begun (a World War II spy film titled The Man Who Never Was ), Baba walked out of the theater and sat in the foyer. He had permitted those who wanted to stay and watch the film to continue doing so, whilst he waited in the foyer. Naturally, many of the group preferred to follow Baba to the foyer and only a few stayed to watch. Baba sat for a while with the group and distributed chocolates to some. A cat appeared and approached Baba, and he stroked it. Soon all the others had joined Baba and he was driven by Bill through the city streets, making a wide circle back to Meher House.
After tea in the afternoon, Baba called everyone inside, told them to sit down and asked Francis to bring a translated volume of Hafiz's poetry. Baba opened the book at random and handed it to Francis to read the following ghazal:
O ignorant one! Strive to become a Master of Knowledge:
Until you have yourself traversed the road,
how can you become a guide to others?
O son! Strive to learn from the Instructor of Love
in the school of Divine Truth,
So that one day you may become one of the Fathers.
Sleeping and eating has kept you far
from attaining the ranks of Love;
You will reach the Friend when you become
foodless and sleepless.
If the Light of love of God falls on your heart and soul,
I swear by God you will become more beautiful
than the sun in the sky.
Like the men of the homeward path,
give away the copper of your own existence,
So that by the alchemy of love you may become gold.
God's Light shall shine on you from head to foot
When you become without head and feet
in the path of the Glorious One.
Footnotes
- 1.Others record the title as Lost at Sea.