MEHER BABA'S MANDALI

 
During a mass Darshan programme in 1954 through the district around Hamirpur, Meher Baba remarked that He would complete a certain piece of work with the help of the mandali. I then asked Baba who constituted the mandali and He replied, "Those who have been with Me for many years but ask for nothing. They are the intimate ones who all along and even now are prepared to sacrifice their all for Me."

Adding a still clearer definition, Baba said, "One who gives his life to Me, who listens to Me, who does not ask for any kind of reward, who does not care about the result, whether he is ruined or prospers, who takes Baba's khushi (happiness) as his khushi, but at the same time whose intimacy I also feel, is in the mandali."

I had another question. "Can one call himself Baba's mandali if he feels he is a mandali, regardless of the number of years of connection with You, be it thirty years or only one year?"

Baba answered, "If you find Me intimate with you. For example, take Elcha (Eruch D. Mistry) at Dehra Dun. I feel absolutely free with him, but if he is not prepared to sacrifice all, then he is not in the mandali."

"Can a person declare that he is a member of the mandali?" I continued.

"Those who I feel to be in the mandali, are My mandali," said Baba, "and no one can assert that he is in the mandali."