PECULIAR TRAITS OF SAINTS AND MASTS

 
One of the oldest inhabitants of the Master's mast-ashram, Mohammed, has a strange habit of gazing fixedly at an object, not for minutes but at times for hours; then picking it up to bring it into his room. He is so lost in it that the slightest disturbance from anyone annoys him. When asked what he is doing, he will say, even without lifting his eyes from the object in view, "Deesh pahato," meaning "I am looking at something I like or want." It may be anything — a blade of grass, a piece of paper, stone or even mud — anything lying on the ground that attracts his attention, where he fixes his gaze and seems to look for something. He is so much absorbed, rather lost in it, that he wouldn't mind being exposed to such elements as the hot sun, cold drafts or heavy showers.

Those who look after him have at these times the rather awkward duty of bringing him in under a roof for the sake of his health. It is awkward because any effort at diverting his attention literally hurts him and he naturally resents it. Force cannot be used, under orders from the Master, but if left alone he might catch cold or get sunstroke or suffer from anything that may affect his health. It is at such moments that one has to be very tactful in handling and persuading him, lovingly or with mild threats like those we give to little children; and it is in this that the greatest test of those serving the masts is made.

Those who have worked under a Master know that so long as things go on smoothly and as desired by the Master, His visits may be less vigilant. But the moment there is something amiss, before we have time to think of it or correct it, we see Him in our midst, asking questions about the very thing that has gone wrong. And then He straightens it out in His own way, at times sternly and with strictures, at times mildly and with love, as the exigencies demand; but always impressing upon all the necessity of obeying His orders literally to avoid pitfalls and dangers that the slightest divergence might bring. Here is a typical instance:

In Ranchi, Mohammed was once in his usual mood, standing in the open looking at what he calls his "deesh." It suddenly began to rain. He was called in, but he wouldn't move. When repeated calls had no effect, B., who was in charge of the masts, annoyed at Mohammed's resistance lest it affect his health, went out personally and, rebuking him for his refusal to listen and to come in, tried to pull him inside with his hands. This brought tears to Mohammed's eyes. The shower by this time had become heavier and even under the umbrella they were drenched.

To the surprise of all, Meher Baba, who had been on the other side of the bungalow, appeared instantaneously on the scene and demanded an explanation. Mohammed, in his childlike way and with tears still in his eyes, pleaded that he was looking at his deesh and B. forcibly pulled him out. B. argued that it was for Mohammed's health that he felt concerned and tried to bring him in, even forcibly. Both were right yet both were wrong. Mohammed could not be blamed, for reasons Baba knew best; and, as He explained clearly later, B. cannot be blamed for the rather harsh manner in which he tried to pull Mohammed, motivated as it was for his health.

We mandali welcome these incidents since they give us opportunities to learn something new from Baba, from the unique way in which He tackles these situations and at times gives us such splendid explanations. In this case He saw the necessity once and for all to explain clearly why these masts behave in the peculiar manner they do and why they should be tolerated rather than disturbed, even at the cost of other inconveniences, and the patience which their peculiar behavior demands.

"All the care you bestow and the food and clothing, etc., you give them is no obligation for them at all; for they do not need these. Rather they resent all these, and in allowing you an opportunity to serve them, they are obliging you. They are no ordinary mortals but true lovers of God who have lost themselves in His Love and attained the state of walis (saints). They have no other desire but of God, whose Divinity they have seen on the different stages of their progress. And they are dazed.

They need a spiritual push from a Perfect Master. That is why I have them here, serving them Myself and giving you an opportunity to serve them. But being used to living freely and happily at their will and according to their peculiar whims and methods, it is a binding on them to live here; and, but for Me, they would not stay for a moment. To distract them from the particular thing in which they are interested and finding happiness is a torture to them.

They find a sort of relief or happiness in staying in or even in playing with dust and dirt. They do not see in these their external form or appearance; but they see God's Divinity in these. Mohammed is always going out to find something on which to fix his gaze because he sees in that particular thing something which pleases him. That is his method and that is his trait.

"If you try to stop masts from doing certain things, even with the best intentions, to keep them clean and out of dust and dirt, they feel disturbed in the ecstasy they are enjoying through that medium and are naturally enraged. If in a fit of excitement they were to say something, you would be doomed for life. The wrath of some of these highly advanced masts who are saints is very dangerous.

"Saint Tukaram has explained this very clearly in one of his abhangas (sacred hymns): that you should beware of close contact with saints, as there is always the risk of one of their typical traits (characteristics), good or bad, sticking to you, and if this happens, there is no escape. These can even wipe off your best sanskaras of previous births. It is therefore better that you keep yourselves away from them. Even if you have a desire for their darshan and want to offer your prostrations, do that from a distance.

"One of the well-known Mohammedan saints had a peculiar trait. While passing along the road, even in a big city like Bombay, in one of his ecstatic moods he would all of a sudden stop in the middle of the road between the tram-lines and obstruct all traffic for minutes. People knew it and tolerated it and didn't disturb him until he walked out by himself.

"Mohammed's trait of finding and looking at his deesh is a sort of relief to him, to be thus occupied. You think that he is playing with dirt and exposed to the elements. With the best of motives of safeguarding his health you try to bring him in. When he resists, you forcibly try to pull him out and break his link of what he has seen in that particular object through the higher consciousness of the spiritual plane in which he is. And what happens? The moment he finds you trying to dissuade him, he feels disturbed and is indecisive whether to be there or here, i.e., where his consciousness has taken him on the higher planes through the thing he is looking at, or where he is called on by you to go, leaving his deesh on this earthly plane. And this is no joke.

It is a regular torture to him to reconcile the two different and conflicting states of the higher and lower planes of consciousness. If in the torments of these tortures or excitement he were to abuse or curse anyone for thus disturbing him in the enjoyment of his ecstasy, the cursed one would be doomed for life. It is simply because of Me (Baba) that he cannot do this and you are saved.

"That is why I have been asking you constantly to be very tolerant and lenient with them and never to disturb them if they are persistent, even with the best of motives to protect them from the elements, etc., which is also one of your duties to look after. The best way to handle them is the way of love and mild persuasions. If these do not succeed, nothing else will.

Compulsion or force would be worse, even if they cannot hurt you for My sake. It reacts on them and hurts them to suffer, which I do not want. For I know what a torture it is to them and how they suffer. It is a torture both ways.

First of all, they suffer for being deprived of their own environment and freedom in the spots where they used to live, and to be thus kept confined, even with all the other liberties we give them and the best care we take of them.

Secondly, they suffer when thus disturbed and pulled out of their ecstatic enjoyments. It is because they feel happy in My presence that they stay. They see Me and know Me as none of you do. That is why they are quiet. Otherwise they would be impossible to manage.

"If efforts made with love are effective with worldly people, they would be all the more effective and essential in dealing with these saintly beings who are lost in the love of God. You love to enjoy one phase of some of their peculiar traits when they are quiet and pleasing. You should equally enjoy the phase in which they insist on having the experience of the bliss they find in certain things which your eyes cannot penetrate nor your minds understand."