THE TWO DRUNKS

 
Mani continued ... saying that as a child in Poona she was treated to a glimpse of the New Humanity to come.

Two drunks had wandered into their lane. One of them needed the support of a lamp-post. Mani's mother did not like drunks at all. Thieves and drunks she never liked, so Shirinmai closed the door. But Mani stayed on the steps of her house to watch them.

The two drunks looked at each other with great affection and respect, paying compliments to each other, the highest of which is calling someone your father. So one said, 'You are like my father, so noble, so good.'

'No, no,' the other protested, 'I am not fit to wipe your shoes. I am no good. You are the one who is my father!'

And so it went on and on, each one refusing to accept the other's compliment. At last one said, 'If you contradict me one more time, I'll beat you!'

Not surprisingly, a fist-fight soon broke out and the neighbours who had crowded around were laughing so hard that they had quite a job to pull them apart.

Mani imitated the drunks' way of talking all through the story, and it was very funny.

Then Mani went on: As we know from Baba, the world that is to come will be a world of love and brotherhood. It will be such a beautiful world. Man cannot change, the habits of thousands of lives cannot change. But what will change is the shape of our aspirations, actions and wants. Like those drunks, men will still fight, but for noble causes and high ideals.