GOD-REALIZATION IS NOT FOR WEAKLINGS

 
In her previous incarnation Babajan was the Sufi Saint, Rabia. In the days when I was still Merwan, I used to visit Babajan daily, along with Gustadji. Although she would not allow anyone to touch her person, she would ask me to scratch her head and her back...... and I would do so for hours.

At the time, none could persuade her to have some shelter built overhead where she used to sit under the Neem tree nor would she consent to have some sort of a seat made for her...... so she would not have to sit on the bare ground. But when I requested her, she allowed me to have a low wooden platform made for her with a cotton mattress placed on it for her comfort.

The mattress had an amusing sequel for Gustadji, because one day when it rained heavily and the mattress got soaked, she had Gustadji carry it on his head...... so it could dry. Babajan explained the reason to Gustadji, saying, "It is a very precious mattress, because my son (Merwan) has given it to me."

Although Babajan would talk with others always in mysterious and cryptic sentences, when alone with me her speech would be quite normal and clear, and once she related to me at length the story of her early life.

Babajan had come all the way from her birth place in Baluchistan and settled down in Poona because of the Avatar's advent...... she had come to Poona solely for me. I have often referred to her as "Emperor", in the spiritual sense; and indeed she herself was very averse to being called 'Amma' (mother), and hence was called 'Baba' (father) Jan. She would flare up if anyone called her Mother, for women are considered to be the weaker sex, and she would state that God-realization was not for weaklings.