Baba did something similar the next day, Sunday, 13 June, when they went to see a play. The Bombay Parsi Theatrical Company had come to Ahmednagar to perform the play Bhakta Surdas .1 Baba went with everyone from Meherabad, a group of 150 people, including the schoolchildren, to see a special performance of the play. Baba's maternal uncle, Rustom Mama, was an actor in the company. After the first act, however, Baba left his seat and went outside. Throughout the rest of the play, he paced back and forth outside and in the wings of the theater, talking through signs and on the slate with different ones. At 5:30, all returned to Meherabad in batches. Baba later asked about the story of the play, which Chanji narrated to him in detail in Gujarati. Baba remarked that the drama was good in that it conveyed the truth that when lust disappears, God appears.
He rhymed, "When lust has left, God is met."
At the play, someone offered the mandali paan which they ate.
When Baba found out, he was displeased and reprimanded them, "As long as you are with me, do not eat any food or anything else offered to you outside. Those who consume such edibles take in from the giver many sanskaras which add to their own sanskaras."
Zoroaster's death anniversary was observed on 16 June.
Baba stated, "I will fast until the end of February 1927, because I want to breathe conversely to give the finishing touches to the preparation of the circle. This 'contrary' breathing is necessary to wipe out the remaining sanskaras of the circle, which become prarabdha sanskaras."
The next day, a sadhu came to Baba expressing his desire to see God. Baba asked him to observe silence for one year and to take food once every 24 hours. The sadhu agreed to this, but on the very first day he started complaining about the fast.
Baba admonished him, "God is not some cheap fruit to be had for the asking! Superhuman patience and suffering are required to attain Him."
The sadhu was then fed at Shahane's house and sent to meet Narayan Maharaj at his ashram in Kedgaon.
Satya Mang, a notorious criminal of Ahmednagar District, happened to come to Meherabad with his gang for Baba's darshan. He had come hoping that with the Master's blessing, his chosen profession would continue to be lucrative and that he would not be apprehended.
Footnotes
- 1.Surdas (1478–1563) was the noted blind bard and devotee of Krishna. Surdas often saw Krishna sitting before him as a cowherd boy, listening to Surdas' hymns of praise. Once Krishna appeared and told him, "Surdas, if you are keen to see the world, I shall restore your sight this very moment." Surdas replied, "Those who are endowed with eyes are really blind when they do not gaze upon your beautiful form. Having ears, they are nevertheless deaf when they do not choose to listen to the music of your melodious song. Having in their hands the power to attain the Divine, they drown themselves in the ocean of sanskaras. Hence, I have no need for such hearts, such eyes or ears. Give me the ears, O Lord, that will listen to your song, eyes that will see your beautiful form, and a heart in which you alone are installed."