THE HONEYMOON IS OVER

 
Don: So he gives you a tremendous challenge, but he sustains you to meet the challenge?

Mani: That's right. As I say, if with one hand Baba hits with a hammer, with the other hand he sustains you. He's not leaving you unsupported while he works on you. If the nut is to be cracked, he's holding the nut in his hand.

Don: You know, this comes as quite a shock to many young people, because after a certain period of just being wildly in love with Baba, an individual will suddenly start encountering not only some of the old problems in his life, but even some new and more complicated ones as well. At that point many feel, 'Oh, I must have lost my grip on Baba. How can this happen to me? Something must be wrong with my attitude.' They get terribly distressed.

Mani: No, Baba's only just begun working then. The 'honeymoon' is over and work begins in earnest.

Don: The real work is beginning and the important point, as you brought out, is that Baba is sustaining the individual if he'll only have faith and hold onto the daaman (trusting and obeying him implicitly).

Mani: There's no doubt about that. Do you think we could go through what we do and surrender to him by any merit of our own? It is our effort, yes, but it is not by any merit of our own that we can completely surrender to Baba. No, it is he who helps and sustains. It is his love — it all comes down to that — it is Baba's love and compassion which makes it all possible, makes even our love for him possible. He allows us to feel that we are giving, that we are serving, that we are loving. He will even appear weak so that we can feel we are supporting him.

An example: in that last month (January, '69) when Baba was sitting in that chair (in mandali hall at Meherazad), he was looking weary and weak. When he indicated it was time to go back to his room Eruch and Francis jumped up, each giving Baba a hand to help him up from the chair. I was there at the time. Baba was holding their hands, and they were ready to pull him up when he gave the slightest little tug, pulling them towards him. Instantly they started to tumble forward, doing all they could to keep from falling on Baba. And yet a second before Baba had looked so weak! Recovering, Francis exclaimed, 'Baba, you are strong!' With a twinkle in his eyes Baba nodded and said, 'But never mind, help me up,' again being weak.

That, as everything he did, is an expression of his compassion, giving us an opportunity to express our love in our little ways. All the time it is Baba who supports us and holds us to him, he who loves us, he who tolerates us. I can talk like this now, but to begin with we too have been raw and hard material. Now we wish we could have been more pliable. We have learned, we have grown — to some extent — but one can never grow enough to meet Baba's love, never.

Don: So the real challenge to the individual is to persist during the tough times. The real challenge is to look for and find that, in fact, Baba's love is there to sustain one, and to work through the necessary problems involved in dissolving one's sanskaras, with Baba's love.

Mani: There's no other way. Baba won't let you avoid experiencing that, once you're in his net. Some may feel afraid that they're lost, but we must remember that while we are holding onto Baba's daaman, he is holding our hand. Baba never makes it easy, but he always makes it possible. He makes it beautifully possible when we rely completely on him. It comes about at that point when you are no longer for your self, but are for Baba. His love equips you to meet life's challenges as you would want to in order to please him.