Sheriar found a rock and fearlessly crushed the head of the large snake.
Even when the head of a snake is crushed, its body continues to coil. Likewise when the boy approached the three men, their pride had not subdued and they said, "Don't think we were afraid of the python — to kill it was so insignificant, we left it to you, since you are the youngest." The boy did not rebuke them.
Besides wandering through such wildernesses while searching for the Truth, Sheriar visited many shrines, including the tombs of the great mystical poets Hafiz and Saadi in Shiraz, and contacted many advanced souls. He learned palmistry and astrology, which provided him with an honorable means of livelihood during the latter part of his travels.
Although Sheriar had had no formal education as a child, he appeared to gain knowledge of reading and writing Persian, Arabic and Hebrew so suddenly, it was as if a veil had been torn away, revealing this past knowledge to him.1 (Sheriar even wrote two books in Persian before he left his home country, but nothing further is known about them.)
After all sorts of penance, experiences and suffering, Sheriar was as dissatisfied and discontented as when he had left his home. Eight years of the harshest type of austerity and the most impoverished type of existence had not fulfilled his aim — to gain one ray of the Sun!
Frustrated and disappointed in Persia, the young man of 20, instead of despairing and abandoning his search for God, resolved to leave for India to carry on his search. In 1873 or 1874, with his elder brother Khodadad, Sheriar boarded a steamer headed for the port of Bombay.
In India, Khodadad found employment in a shop and prevailed upon Sheriar to do the same. Sheriar agreed and his brother arranged a position for him in the same shop. But in spite of accepting a job for the first time in his life, Sheriar did not change his ascetic ways. He strictly maintained his vegetarian diet, as well as denying himself alcohol and tobacco. He was virtuous and endowed with a natural goodness. When not working, he spent most of his time meditating or reciting the name of God. Even while doing his job, Sheriar's inner attention was directed toward remembering God. He made no show, but he also made no secret of his devout nature.
Footnotes
- 1.Baba once confirmed that this was indeed the case, explaining that this knowledge is always there within us from previous births, hidden and waiting to be tapped.