YOU SHOULD LEARN HOW TO DIVE!

 
Harry Dedolchow and Mr. Amiya Kanti Das, an attorney from Calcutta, arrived. Dedolchow brought a suitcase full of gifts for Baba and the mandali. Baba remarked, "This is unnecessary. All I want is your love."

Dedolchow said that Amiya Das also brought some presents. Baba frowned and continued, "Baba does not need anything, only love from his lovers. I appreciate what you do; I know that it is the love in you that compels your actions. But all these things brought to me are illusory. Only love is real."

Baba embraced them and asked Dedolchow about his difficulties, and he described the rigors of life at sea as a merchant marine. He also spoke about the division he felt in himself between his impure thoughts and actions on the one hand, and his urge to go toward his "Father" (Baba) on the other, which he said he lacked the courage to do.

Baba explained to Dedolchow: "Why are you afraid to come to me with all your impurities? Where else are you going to dispose of your dirt except in this Ocean? Throw all your impurities in this Ocean! Give them to me and be free. By surrendering to me both his good and bad, anyone can be free. But it is very difficult. Out of millions, only one can do it!

"Don't be afraid of low thoughts. They do no harm if they come, but don't put them into action. Don't entertain them willfully either. Nothing will happen to a man if he thinks of taking poison occasionally, but if he constantly thinks of it, a time might come when he gets the poison and swallows it."

Baba then explained to Dedolchow about this imaginary creation: "Close your eyes and imagine a ten-headed elephant. [Dedolchow did so.] Now when you open your eyes the image ceases to exist. By imagining, you created a ten-headed elephant, and by your imagining you got rid of it. Thus, you are the creator in imagination of the ten-headed elephant. As long as you imagined it, the elephant lasted. As long as you go on imagining, you maintain imagination. Similarly, this whole creation is the outcome of the mind. Creator, preserver and dissolver is a play of the mind!"

Explaining about love, Baba asked Dedolchow, "Do you know how to swim?"

Dedolchow said, "I can swim but I can float better."

"You are in the navy, a sailor, and you don't know how to swim? What if your ship sinks?"

Dedolchow said, "I will keep floating and you are there to guide me to the shore."

Baba replied, "You should learn how to dive! If you don't know how to dive in the Ocean of Love, how will you reach the bottom and find the Pearl? Be a diver in the Ocean of Love and you will find the Pearl of Baba!"