PAY NO ATTENTION TO THEM

 
Another custom of Baba's which puzzled many people was the fact that when someone brought a seeker to him he would always ask that the seeker be introduced by the person who brought him or her. Many times I heard the question, "But Baba knows everything and everyone so why do we have to be introduced to him?"

There were several reasons for it. Baba felt that it put the person at ease, and he always favored normal, everyday ways of doing things. Sometimes people were so awestruck or overcome that it gave them a minute to regain their poise. Also it cut out any effort on their part to make themselves known to him, because the minute he gazed at one it was apparent that he had always known one.

Sometimes the very introduction or a sudden phrase from Baba would raise a whole flock of thoughts to the surface which Baba could clear away instantly. We do not realize that we do not lose past impressions (sanskaras) by repressing them. It is only as they reach the surface that they can be dispersed.

In the same vein, Baba has always said that it was useless to try to control disturbing thoughts by repressing them mechanically. It is much better to let them pass through or from the mind and pay no attention to them. We quite often cannot control our thoughts, but we can control putting any of them into action and this is the main thing in right living. Handled this way, disturbing thoughts die of attrition.