THE GIFT OF MUSIC

 
While the meetings were occurring in Meherabad, Jagannath Keshav Rangole, Laxman and Kisan Thade, Madhusudan Yellapa Pund, Ramchandra Gadekar, Krishna Bundellu and one other man came to Ahmednagar from Poona. Adi Sr. informed Baba, but Baba did not permit darshan.

Rangole, age twenty-six, and Madhusudan, age sixteen, had found out about Baba through Gadekar and were coming for the first time. Rangole had recently undergone surgery and was forbidden by the doctor to walk. But he did not take rest and, out of his longing for Baba, came to Ahmednagar to kiss the Master's feet. Baba, however did not allow the men to see him. Although they had no heart to go against his wish, they longed to meet him, if only for a moment.

During the appointed meeting days, early in the morning Baba would be driven to Meherabad by Adi Sr. in the blue Chevrolet, and in the evening he returned to Meherazad. The Poona group thought that after coming all this way, it would not be wrong if they stood on the side of the road and waited to have a glimpse of Baba as he passed in the car.

On the evening of August 21st, [1949] at 7:15 P.M., while Baba was returning to Meherazad, he saw the group standing by the road. He asked Adi about them, and Adi told him who they were. Baba had Adi stop the car. He called the lucky group and they came running. In his joy, Rangole totally forgot the doctor's orders and stood up and pushed past the others toward Baba.

Madhusudan had had a vivid dream the night before. In it he saw a woman and asked her, "Do you know where God is?"

"Do you want to see God?" she asked.

"Yes, I want to see Him," he replied.

"Do you want to see God in human form?"

"Is it possible?"

"Yes, but there is one condition. Once you visit Him you will not be able to go back. So, go and take permission from your mother and father, and then come."

The dream continued, and he saw a form surrounded by a tremendous light. As soon as Baba's car drove up, Madhusudan saw the same beautiful light enveloping the exact form he had seen in his dream. He fainted. His friends brought him to Baba, who put his hand on Madhusudan's head and gestured, "I know you. I love you."

After expressing his pleasure at meeting all of them, within two minutes Baba left for Meherazad. Although it was a brief meeting, each returned to Poona completely satisfied.

Madhusudan, in that short time, gained a remarkable gift from Baba — the gift of music. He became a composer and singer of devotional songs in Baba's praise, though prior to his meeting with Baba he had been a skeptic.