In a previous incarnation, Babajan was the Sufi saint Rabia of Basra [Iraq]. I often used to refer to her as the Emperor. Indeed, she herself was very averse to being called Amma [Mother], and hence was called Baba [Father] Jan [Oneness].1 She would flare up if anyone called her mother, for women are considered to be the weaker sex, and she would state that God-realization was not for weaklings!
Sai Baba's favorite expression was, " Allah malik hai! " — "God is the owner (or boss)!" And then he would ask for money from everyone who came to him at Shirdi. Every evening, he would distribute it among those around him. He would smoke a chillum [pipe] all the time, and pass it around to all who were close to him in his love. He would have a little opium in the paan that he chewed. Every evening, there would be a qawaali program during which he would sometimes snore.
Gustadji went to Sai Baba, who asked him for all his money. Since he had no money, Gustadji ate no food for days on end. He had a shawl and when he decided to sell it, Sai Baba asked him for it at once. When Sai Baba passed away, Gustadji joined Upasni Maharaj. Years later, Upasni Maharaj then transferred him to me, and he stayed with me until the end of his life.
When Sai Baba used to go to answer calls of nature (in an open space some distance away), a grand procession with a musical band would accompany him. The same procedure when returning. Considering Sai Baba's peculiar habits, who would say that he was a Perfect Master? But he was incomparable, and he had the most lustrous and powerful eyes I have ever seen!
For several months [in 1921], Upasni Maharaj used to sit with me daily from midnight until morning. I used to eat a lot of paan and chew tobacco then. I used to drink a lot of tea also. Maharaj had ordered Yeshwant Rao to cater to all my needs. Maharaj once said that he had given the "key" to me. Later, he himself started speaking out against me. Then just before he died [in 1941], he wanted to see me. We met at Dahigaon, a village near Sakori. He told me to keep my nazar on Sakori.
Tajuddin Baba allowed himself to be imprisoned in a mental hospital in Nagpur for many years. Narayan Maharaj always wore a shirt of fine silk with diamond-studded buttons and rings gleaming with precious stones.
These Perfect Masters never gave out the secrets about the Path. I am all five Perfect Masters put together! My body may drop at any time, but remember me constantly with love. God-realization takes only a split second; but, remember, Hafiz broke his head at his Master's feet for 40 long years!
Maulana Rumi was so intelligent that he had more brains than all the present-day pandits [religious scholars] put together! [As a scholar], he wrote a lot of books on spirituality. Once, Shams-e-Tabriz, a Perfect Master of the time, confronted Rumi and flung some of his books into a nearby well. Rumi and the people sitting around him were enraged. Shams pulled the books out of the well again, and they were found to be dry! Rumi, on seeing this, realized that his books were nothing compared to the knowledge of the Perfect Master, and so he himself flung all his books into the well and followed Shams.
Footnotes
- 1.Jan is a Sufi term for "One with God."