At this point in the interview I was bewildered, albeit happily bewildered. Nothing which I had expected to happen had happened. I had expected a serious and "spiritual" Master; I met a loving, almost informal, very human man, one who was genuinely and deeply concerned about small, everyday things and about people. In addition to Baba-the-man, there was Baba-the-God, whose presence permeated the room.
Despite the fact that Baba carried on a full and responsive conversation with me, there was a deep, nonverbal communication going on between him and the mandali in the back of the room. Love flowed from Baba like a waterfall. It went to all corners of the room, irrespective of people to receive it. The reason that the mandali could receive more of Baba's love than I, was simply that they were more empty of the world than I was.
Baba had Jim stand up and he introduced him to his brother Jalbhai.
Baba explained, "Jal will show you around Poona." He quipped, "The townspeople will be much amused at the sight of a tall American and a short Indian."
Francis piped up, "That's the long and the short of it, Baba."
Baba joked, "Jal's growth has been stunted!"
In the end Baba told Jim: "What you are looking for is God, but God is not this physical form [of Baba] that you see before you. God is inside yourself. Remember that God is inside everyone and everything. God is in Richard Alpert — I'm God and I love him; God is in Robert Dreyfuss — I'm God and I love him; God is in Diana — I'm God and I love her. And God is in your schedule, your train and in your going back to school."
Baba then said, "Remember me above all human beings in creation. Love and service — I've given you an example of, and now I want you to focus on them. If you remain true to the last line of your poem, you will one day see me as I really am."
Says Jim:
I had never in all my born days ever thought of being able to see God as he really was — I wasn't even in the ball game! I thought that was beyond me. And I wasn't even striving for that. Yet there he was, focusing my attention on the Goal. I had gone in with so many misunderstandings of who he was and what the Goal was, and in those short minutes Baba gave me an example and helped me to know so many things.