“”Baba added: "Service is supreme! Aloba has so many ways to serve me. Still, why does he insist on being in my presence? If I permit him to sit here, unlike you, he would go on breaking my orders, thereby causing me pain. If he is not dear to me, why do I keep him so near? I can keep him away from me at a distance within five minutes. Although he causes me such distress, I do not keep him apart. In that case, I know, he would not be able to live without me."
Thereafter, Baba allowed Aloba to spend some time every day with him, and with Baba's permission he started reading the Master's Prayer to him. After a few days, however, Aloba also began singing a prayer in praise of Baba.
“”Stopping him, Baba stated: "Don't bring up something new. Why I did not like calling you to me was that you always bring up something or other and prove a burden to me. The members of my mandali sitting here are no more dear to me than you whom I permit to sit before me. They do as I tell them, which is a help to me in my work, and thereby my load is lessened. As for you — you increase my burden!
"Is Eruch less dear to me than you? Would you ever be able to love me as he does? See how I have kept him aloof from me for so long [in Meherabad], and he did not and does not utter a word of protest. He would not complain were I not to call him for a number of years, and would willingly remain in Meherabad as per my order."
Baba turned to Pukar and Kumar and ordered them to explain obedience to Aloba. They were also asked to give Kaka similar "lessons" about it, which they commenced doing daily.
This was Baba's peculiar humiliating method, which the resident mandali had to pass through. Age explained it this way: "To prepare the Garden, the Owner was taking the fallow land, preparing the soil, plowing it, planting seeds, arranging to have it irrigated, and laboring day and night to make it beautiful and productive. To help in this, some were made to stay in the Garden permanently, and the permanent residents were assigned different duties which each would carry out honestly and faithfully. One, who was outwardly strict and stern [Kaka], was appointed as their supervisor. To avoid laxity creeping in, the Owner would not allow any friendships to develop among the residents and would sometimes purposely create strife among them so that each would keep an eye on the other's work and all would remain alert.
