Baba left the same day for Nasik with Jalbhai, Raosaheb and Ali Akbar (whom Baba had recently nicknamed Majnun), and picked up Nusserwan Satha on the way in Ahmednagar after a meal at Akbar Press.1 (Chhota Baba would have been taken, also, but the car was too small.) In Nasik the next day, Baba visited the scenic Gangapur River area and on the way back pointed out a small village called Gavalwadi.
"This is the village where Upasni Maharaj often used to go," Baba remarked. "Maharaj would collect cowdung here and take it on his head to Nasik to sell. On top of the adjoining mountain is Bhorgad Hill where Maharaj as a young man passed one full year alone in a cave, living only on water."
Baba also pointed out a cave at a distance where he and Maharaj sometimes met.
On the 5 th Baba visited the Dastur Parsi High School, which was located in a beautiful setting. After being garlanded cordially, Baba was given a tour. He liked the school, but the dastur who was running it did not like his suggestions of how to give the boys spiritual as well as religious instruction, along with five to ten minutes or half an hour of daily meditation. The priest insisted that he was giving religious instruction according to Zoroastrian custom and was indignant when he confronted Baba.
Baba was piqued by his attitude and later commented to the mandali, "Intellectual training in itself is not sufficient. I know what sort of instruction these priests give, as I myself studied in a Catholic school, where Christian doctrines were emphasized. Priests and dasturs are truly hardheaded! These days there is too much stress everywhere on religion. Religion is the root cause of all strife, both internal and external, and is the cause of all wars in the world."
On the way to Nasik on the 3rd, the car was stopped briefly near the tomb of Bapu Saheb in Ahmednagar.
Many of the local people believed Bapu Saheb to be a saint; however, Baba revealed, "Bapu Saheb was Perfect (God-realized), but he was a majzoob and not a salik."
(In other words, he was absorbed in his state and had no duties in the gross world.) Within a few minutes, on their way to Akbar Press to have lunch before proceeding to Nasik, another car passed them from the opposite direction, noticeably slowing down for a few moments before continuing. To the amazement of the mandali, seated in the car was none other than Hazrat Babajan.
Footnotes
- 1.Majnun is a famous Persian character who fell in love with a woman, but because of tribal circumstances could not be united with her. The suffering of not being with her eventually drove him mad. In the end, however, he encountered a Perfect Master who gave him Realization. Majnun was a befitting nickname for Ali Akbar, because his love for Baba was very near divine madness, and the boy was perhaps the most intense and restless of those in the Prem Ashram.