"Go on, relax at Meherabad," Baba taunted, "this time, you won't be given any work! You are most selfish. I don't want to see your face! Get out of here!"
Pendu burst out weeping, but it did not stop Baba's onslaught, and he castigated him further. Distraught, Pendu returned to Meherabad with the others. When he began weeping, Jim also had tears in his eyes over Pendu's pitiable condition.
But after Pendu left, Baba told Jim with a smile, "In order to become infinitely compassionate, I have to become infinitely cruel."
In fact, this was Baba's normal, everyday attitude toward the mandali, and they endured it out of their love for him. Baba's stinging taunts and reproaches were like fodder for the mandali. The paradox was that, although his teasing and abuses were not welcome, had they been absent, it would not have pleased them, either. Sometimes, Baba would outwardly be indifferent to some of the mandali — not scolding them about anything, not giving them instructions — and this was much worse! It was like a death for them. They could not bear his indifference and were restless, unable to eat, sleep or think straight. How can I describe this life with the Master? The pain was not pleasant, but without it life was not worth living. The arrows stung, but to live without them would have been unthinkable. The Beloved's cruelty at times was intolerable, but to live without it would have been impossible.
"Marvelous is this life with the Beloved!" Age declared. "To bestow the greatest mercy, he had to act in the cruelest way; he had to be cruel to be kind. It cannot be understood by the mind. It requires the complete surrenderance of the heart."
Jim Mistry returned to Bombay on 21 July 1957.
To give another example of how Baba treated the mandali: One day when he came to the hall, he asked Aloba, "Why do you keep staring at me? Don't stare at me! Whenever I come here, you always stare at me."
So, although Aloba was sitting opposite Baba, he had to look in another direction. In the course of the conversation, he would try to glance at Baba, but Baba would always catch him, point at him and repeat his instructions.
At last, Baba said, "Don't come before me! From tomorrow, don't come inside the hall unless I call you."
So from the next day onward, Aloba stopped coming into mandali hall.