THE TOUCH OF LOVE

 
Meher Baba arrived by car at Eluru (Andhra Pradesh, India) on February 22nd, 1954, at 11 p.m. His host in that town had made all arrangements for the accommodation of Baba and his disciples, and the people had been informed (through the press and the distribution of handbills containing a photo of Baba) of his presence and of his willingness to see visitors.

One of the handbills was seen by a 4-year-old boy whilst returning home from school on the afternoon of the 23rd, and he asked his parents to please take him to see Baba. However, they were a strictly orthodox Brahmin family, and the parents were not at all interested in visiting one whom they thought to be a Parsi saint. They tried at first to distract the child, but he persisted, and the father then caned him in exasperation. The child continued in his quest and next refused to have dinner unless the father relented and took him to see Baba. So of course the boy then went to bed hungry, crying his heart out with his handbill tucked under his pillow.

The next morning, still heartbroken, he went to school. He now despaired of seeing Baba but continued longing to do so. On that day, the 24th, Meher Baba's programme was to visit certain schools and organizations, and the homes of Baba followers. As he was thus travelling, Baba suddenly altered the arranged schedule and ordered the car to stop at the boy's school.

Baba walked from the car straight into the classroom where the boy was sitting. The child looked for a moment in wonder at Baba standing there — and then rushed to fling himself into Baba's waiting arms. Before the teacher and the other students realized what was happening, Meher Baba had picked up the little boy and folded him in his warm embrace. The boy dissolved in tears of joy and Baba then left the school.

When the boy returned home that afternoon and told with wide-eyed joy what had happened, the father was touched with Baba's love for the child. That evening the whole family went to the house where Baba was staying, had Baba's darshan, and the father asked that Baba forgive him.