EXTINGUISHING THE EGO

 
Of course, the difficulty in "working for Baba" while living as a resident is that the choice was never made so explicitly clear. Still, over time, I found that I did begin to occasionally get explicit hints from the Mandali about what they were doing and why they were doing it which helped my poor mind relax its torturous grip on its own logic.

For example, it was fascinating to watch Bhauji in action. Not only was the work load on him immense, but the manner with which he handled it was amazing. People would pour into his office, one after another, with some problem. Bhauji would reprimand someone and in the very next instant he would shower love on another. Over years of working with him I began to realize that Bhauji's response was according to the spiritual need of the soul. If a particular resident's ego was inflated by his successful work, then his work would be criticized.

All Mandali, including Eruch, followed the same pattern. At such times it appeared that the Mandali were harsh or obstructive to the work one was doing, but spiritual training is all about slimming down one's ego. When a resident would be down in the dumps, feeling low, the Mandali would shower lots of love regardless of his behavior.

Once in a while, a resident living at Meherabad, would be such a strong and hard-headed personality that almost every resident would complain about him or her and would want the person removed or placed somewhere out of everyone's way. We who worked around Bhauji knew, that no matter how bad the resident was, Bhauji would refuse to remove him.

On one occasion a particular resident was always creating troublesome situations. Complaints were pouring in and eventually it reached such levels that complaints went to the Meherazad Mandali. When the Meherazad Mandali phoned Bhauji to inquire about the situation, Bhauji explained the problem, but the moment it was suggested that the resident be removed, Bhauji very calmly replied, "The problem will not be solved by removing the resident. The root cause of the problem will be solved only when the ego is removed."

After Bhauji finished his talk on the phone, he turned to us and said, "Only when you throw out the ego, then He will manifest in you and then you will have real poise. Nothing will disturb you then. Right now one is easily affected by praise or blame and also by other people's behavior. Why? Because it is all within you, lust, greed, anger, jealousy and all this is because of the ego which separates you from one another and creates within you likes and dislikes for different people. If someone pleases your ego you like him, but if your ego is hurt you dislike him. So what is the source of your problem? Is it outside you?

"A person does something, but why do you react with anger? It is because of the ego. So work hard to remove the ego. Removing resident would not make a difference. Baba always had someone like that around Him who would always create lots of problem for the Mandali. And Baba would encourage such a person to create more problems. There were the boys Ismail and Isaac. Then there was Krishnaji and many, many others.

"Why did Baba do this? To wipe out the ego. Baba would treat such people as royalty giving them good food and the best treatment and the Mandali had to serve them. The Mandali did it without complaint. So no matter what work you do, or what situation you are placed in, do it wholeheartedly for Him. When you do it for Him there is no room for complaints and that is the only way to get rid of the ego."