HIS NATURALNESS

 
I was coming home from school on my bicycle and I saw Baba waiting for me at the front gate of the house. This was the first time Baba came to visit us in Nagpur. We had already seen Baba in Ahmednagar, but at the time we were living in Nagpur and Baba came to visit us.

I jumped off my cycle and prostrated at Baba's feet and said, "Forgive me." Why I said that I don't know. I have no idea what put that into my head, other than the fact that I was a young boy and boys always have something they've done that needs forgiving. So perhaps it was just that, I had some guilty secret and when I saw Baba I spontaneously felt prompted to ask His forgiveness.

Anyway, I went inside and Baba proceeded to play with me. But the games He played were all games for children. Find the middle finger, games like that. I wasn't at all happy. I was no baby to play games like that. I had my friends at school, I wanted to go join them to play cricket and football, not stay inside and play baby games with this man.

I was too polite to say anything, so I had to stay there and endure it, but I didn't like it and I made up my mind that I was not going to do this again. So the next day when I came home from school and saw, from quite a distance, Baba waiting for me at the front gate, I changed my route and went in by the back way. I parked my bike at the back entrance and quietly went in, had my bath, changed my clothes, and came out the back way again so I could rejoin my schoolmates.

When I returned that evening my mother was furious with me, "Where were you?" she demanded. "Didn't you know Baba was waiting for you all afternoon? Why didn't you come home after school?"

"But I did come home. I came home and changed my clothes and went out again."

"How did you come? Baba was waiting for you at the front gate."

"I know, so I came in the back gate."

My mother got furious at this time. Some of you know what my mother is like, she is completely for Baba. So when she heard that I had deliberately avoided Baba, she became very upset with me. "Don't you know who He is?" she demanded. "He is Zoroaster come again!"

"So what?" I thought. You see, at that time I loved Jesus the Christ. I was even shedding tears, wondering when Jesus would come again, and in answer to my tears, Jesus, in the form of Meher Baba, did come. He came right to my door, but I didn't know this.

And my mother didn't tell me that Meher Baba was the Christ come again. She only said, "Don't you know who He is? He is Zoroaster come again!"

So I thought, "So what if He is Zoroaster? I am not interested in Zoroaster, I only want Jesus the Christ."

Baba overheard the argument from the next room and came in and asked my mother what it was all about. She explained that I had sneaked off to play with my schoolmates instead of staying home with Him. Baba immediately took my side.

He asked me about my friends, and I told Him that we had football matches or cricket matches after school and my team was counting on me. Baba told my mother that I was right, that I must never let my side down, but should go to school and take part in the games. And Baba used to take an active interest in them.

When I would come home in the evening, He would always ask how my team had done. He never made me feel that I was doing anything wrong by not coming home right after school to be with Him. On the contrary, He made me feel that it was my duty to join my school friends and play in the outdoor games we used to indulge in.

And after that, Baba started a new game with me. When I came home after the match was over, He would sit with me and tell me stories on His board. Now this was a game I could enjoy. It was not a baby game like the others, it gave me an opportunity to utilize my intelligence. For it was a challenge, a puzzle to learn how to read Baba's board.

It intrigued me and I used to enjoy trying to read it. For as soon as I learned how to read the board, Baba would speed up. In addition to hearing the stories which were interesting, there was the added factor of competition, for I would always try to keep up with Baba as He went faster and faster, trying to out do Him as it were in this game. This was more like it, this was an indoor game which I felt was more suited to my age.

But the end result was that I became adept at reading Baba's board. When I joined Him many years later to live with Him, I already knew how to read the board. Recently, when I was telling this story one of you said, "See, Baba was training you for later on. He knew you would be reading His board so much, He made you an expert when you were still young."

At the time I said, "Could be," but, to tell you the truth, I had never thought about it. It never occurred to me that Baba had taught me to read His board as a youngster because He knew I would need to know this later on. And when the boy said it, my first reaction was that it seemed too far-fetched.

But as I thought about it, I had to agree, it could be. At any rate, it had that effect, but even now, it seems so natural, the way it was done, that I just accept it. Baba is omniscient, so He certainly knew when I was a boy that I would be with Him in later years, but thinking about it in that way seems to add an unnatural element, at least for me.

It makes what was very natural seem unnatural. And what I am trying to say is that everything Baba did, always seemed completely natural. That is the hallmark of the Avatar, His naturalness.