At Baba's request Elizabeth narrated the story: "Cobras are known to enjoy inhaling human breath. Years ago, Baba gave Mansari a stick for protection against robbers, but she said, 'Baba, the whole village reveres you; they would not dare to step into the ashram.' "
Baba continued: "Mansari is not the nervous type. She is afraid of absolutely nothing except one thing. Only snakes, the very sight of snakes! One night she awoke and there was a cobra on her chest. Her eyes met those of the cobra! I had always warned her that when in difficulties or emergencies to repeat my name with all her heart. But she was frozen with fear and for about five minutes could not say anything. Then she took the stick, crying out my name, and knocked the cobra off the bed. Then she saw it crawling up on the bed again! Repeating my name she killed it with the stick. She was trembling for two days afterwards. She cried the next time she saw me, saying how I had saved her life."
Baba humorously imitated Mansari's fear, her trembling, her looking into the eyes of the snake and so on throughout the story.
Baba then asked, "What do you suggest we should do until 11:45 A.M.? What do you want?"
"Whatever makes you happy, Baba!" all responded.
"Everything makes me happy! I am very happy. Yesterday's performance made me happy, not because it made me laugh, but because you all love me."
Zarouhi Bahjejian rose and asked for Baba's guidance and help.
He replied, "I am very happy to hear this from you, but was it necessary to tell me?
"She resembles my aunt Dowla Masi," he added.
My name was on [Dowla Masi's] lips when she died. When we were boys of nine and ten, my brother Jamshed and I used to quarrel and fight. I was always the leader in school and college. Everyone used to call me, "Merwan, come here," because I used to settle disputes and separate those who fought. I was very energetic. As he grew older, Jamshed began to love me. Later on, in Meherabad, he could not even sleep because he thought about me all the time. When he went to Poona, he suddenly fell ill with a splitting headache and his heart felt heavy, and just before an attack of apoplexy, he felt very blissful. He shouted my name and then fell into a coma. And the wonderful part of it is that during those three hours in a coma, his lips were moving with the rhythm, "Baba, Baba, Baba!"