So remember, there will be no reason for you to ask my forgiveness as today I have completely forgiven you. It is now a matter between yourself and God.1
On Thursday, 28 January 1926, Hazrat Babajan's birthday was celebrated. Plans were already being made to celebrate Baba's birthday in a few weeks.
Most of the mandali at this time were young men, and Baba spent two hours that day explaining to them about the enormous increase in sanskaras acquired through immoral acts. Someone asked about nocturnal emissions, and Baba explained that such binding sanskaras were not acquired while dreaming. But even that was the result of impure thoughts during the day, Baba stated. He continued:
Hence, bad thoughts should not be entertained. The mind must be kept engaged in service to others done with love and devotion. The spending of sanskaras in this way is beneficial, not by indulging in impure actions. Rain does a lot of good, but it should rain in the right way. Otherwise, untimely showers (like what we had earlier today), instead of bringing about prosperity, cause damage to crops and even to human life through floods.
On 3 February, a mechanical pump was installed on the well so that water would be provided more easily. Baba had instructed Ajoba and the mason that it must be completed that day under any circumstances. "Either fix it today or throw it away!" Baba said. The old hand pump was to be repositioned, but the mason did not want to work extra hours and left for Ahmednagar. When Baba came to know of this, he completed the work himself with the help of the men, and the new pump was installed by nine o'clock that night.
Chanji had been a frequent visitor to Meherabad, commuting from his home in Bombay during the process of selling his cinema. From 9 February, Chanji began living at Meherabad as a permanent member of the mandali and continued working as a teacher in the school. Under Chanji's direction, Vishnu rehearsed the mandali for a play about Shivaji for Baba's birthday.
"The Master had said that he had once been Shivaji and led his followers in war," Age observed. "Now he was fighting another war, but it was a battle against ignorance and the forces of maya prevalent in the world."
The next day Memo, with her sons Beheram and Adi, and small daughter Mani, arrived in advance for Baba's birthday celebration.
Footnotes
- 1.More than 30 years later, near the end of his life in 1960, Mulog repented for defrauding Baba's father, and sent his wife to Guruprasad to beg Baba's forgiveness.