BECOME LIKE A STONE

 
March 21st was the Parsi New Year of Jamshed-e-Navroz. On this festival, it is customary to have a sweet, cool drink made with milk called falooda. When Baba came to Rosewood, he told Bhau to go back to Grafton to bring the drink. Bhau thought some servant would be there to carry the large pot of liquid, but as soon as he arrived, two women servants lifted the pot onto his head. It was so heavy they had trouble lifting it.

Grafton was about two hundred yards from Rosewood, and in between was the house of the property manager, Sohrabji Damania. He knew Bhau and was friendly with him. Bhau was embarrassed by doing such menial labor, and fervently hoped he would not come across Sohrabji just now. Although his neck was bent, and his shoulders ached under the weight, he was glad that today Baba was kind, in that Sohrabji was not seen on the road.

But, just as he was thinking this, Sohrabji appeared from a side lane and offered his namaskar (greeting) to Bhau. Bhau felt ashamed, but Sohrabji did not linger and went on his way. Bhau began thinking that Baba had not only made him labor much, but had also made him face this awkward situation.

He arrived at Rosewood, where Pendu and Eruch lifted the burden from his head. "Was the pot heavy?" Baba asked him.

Before Bhau could reply, Eruch interposed, "It is very heavy."

Pendu opined, "One would break his back were one to carry such a load for long."

Baba asked Bhau, "Did anyone see you on the way?"

"Only Sohrabji," Bhau lamented.

Seeing the expression on Bhau's face, the men burst out laughing, and Baba asked, "Did you feel ashamed?"

"Very much so."

"How will you obey me if you feel ashamed by being seen by others? You will act according to the ways of the world and not according to me. He who has thought for me does not care for the world! I will see to your sense of shame in Khuldabad."

Baba then ladled out a portion of the falooda into a small pot and told Bhau to take it to Sohrabji. He did so and Sohrabji asked him, "Don't you have any servants to carry such a heavy load?"

"We are all servants of Baba," said Bhau. "It is our good fortune that Baba assigns us such work."

When he returned, Baba asked what Sohrabji had said, and Bhau reported it. Baba advised him, "Learn to live like a stone. People trample on it, and in the form of an idol also worship it, but is the stone affected thereby? Not in the least. Whether it is kicked, spit upon or worshiped, it remains unaffected.

All of you should consciously be like the stone. You will attain the goal of life if you become like a stone."