On 17 May, Baba came down from the hill at ten o'clock and convened a meeting of the mandali. A few days earlier, Pendu has stormed away from Meherabad over some dispute, and taken a long time to be persuaded to return. At the meeting, Baba "dwelt at great lengths, impressing upon all the sacredness of their cause, the need for steadfastness and vigilance in duty, and personal control over desires and emotions."1 Baba stated:
I am not going to leave Meherabad without making the circle realized. But do not compel me to do so earlier by inattention and lethargy towards my instructions. I request you all with folded hands and fall at your feet not to leave me and go away till I speak. Even if I scold you or show displeasure and disgust, don't stop doing your duties under any circumstances.
Beware of lustful thoughts and actions and impulses of temper and anger. Follow my advice; it is for your own good. The contact of a saint, the service of humanity, and the repetition of God's name, these three combined is the highest possible yoga and religious practice. If this much is done, every religion is observed completely. While serving the various sufferers and disabled people in the dharamshala and hospital, consider every one of them to be myself. Serve them with all your heart and you will be serving me.
One day Baba warned the young men mandali to be especially careful of lustful actions, telling them that if someone becomes too lustful, "his lustful sanskaras of this birth give him the form of a cock in his next birth. That form is full of lust. It is a fact. Be full of lust and you are sure to fall down and take the form of a cock!"2
In the afternoon Baba remarked, "Hafiz's Divan is the best book in the world, as its poetry produces a feeling which ultimately leads to inspiration!"
Baba returned to the hill at eight o'clock with a few of the mandali. At times, instead of walking, Baba rode around Meherabad in the small chhakda (bullock cart). Baba humorously christened it the Punjab Mail , after a train in India.
On 18 May, Baba instructed Vishnu to tell Chanji to tutor the hospital compounder's son for two hours. Vishnu did accordingly and thought he had fulfilled Baba's order.
Footnotes
- 1.The Combined Diary, 17 May 1926. (The Combined Diary, a 373-page handwritten manuscript in two parts, includes material from Padri, Ajoba, Pandoba, Nadirsha, and Chanji from August 1924 to August 1927. It was most likely written by Ramjoo sometime in late 1927–1928.)
- 2.In later years, Baba made it clear that once a human form is taken, there is never a return to the animal kingdom.