GRACE FROM THE MASTER

 
Vividly I remember the beautiful late spring morning of May 24 when Norina and Anita and I motored 35 miles from New York to join Baba's party for a day in the country at [Harmon-on-Hudson] ... Baba greeted us with a warm embrace and we found a number had gathered there already.

After a repast was served by Jean and others, Baba led us outside to the stone terrace and then along a path to a field with wild flowers. Some went here and there picking the flowers but I stayed close to Baba. He quietly picked a small pink flower and handed it to me. He motioned to Kaka Baria who was ever near with Baba's alphabet board and Baba spelled out slowly that I should always keep the flower and should write down the date, that some day I would know the meaning.

When I got home in the evening, I pasted it inside the cover of my New Testament and wrote down "Baba — May 24, 1932." Not until many years after, when I was unpacking a steamer trunk that had been with me on two long trips to India, then been put in New York storage and finally sent to me in Myrtle Beach, did I discover again the New Testament among my effects.

Opening the cover, there were the words, "Baba — May 24, 1932." In a flash another date, May 24, 1952, came to my mind, the date the accident had occurred in Oklahoma when I was driving Baba and four of His close disciples. It had been a catastrophic occurrence, yet, despite serious injuries, all eventually recovered.

I do not know fully the meaning and deeper significance of the accident which happened twenty years later to the day, May 24, but I do know that Baba knew then and now. Through the experience of sharing Baba's suffering to a degree, I feel my life, instead of being nearly cut off, was extended for a purpose. The gift of the little flower was grace from the Master to be treasured in the heart.