Donkin had escorted her (Rano) in the tonga, and on the way back he bought some toffees for the mandali.
When they got back home, Rano went to her room and handed the sweets to Margaret. Baba almost never entered their room, but that day for some reason, he suddenly appeared right at that moment. Rano tried to hide the toffee, but Baba asked what was in her hand. “Toffee,” she said.
Rano handed it to Baba. Baba then ordered her, “If anyone ever gives you anything, first give it to me.”
“These people [meaning the mandali] are sitting on my chest,” Baba joked, “and if you continue giving them sweets, they will become fatter and really crush me. I want to make them as thin as air by beating and beating them.”
Baba then asked, “Do you know the story about Nilu and the box of sweets?” Donkin did not, so Baba narrated:
Nilu is very, very fond of sweets. He pines for them night and day. One day in Meherabad, I told Pilamai to fill a tin with cow dung and wrap it up like a gift. She did it quite well, and taking it, I went to the mandali.
Nilu’s mouth watered on seeing the parcel. I called him and told him how much I loved him, how dear and special he was to me. I said that he was to open the tin, keep half the sweets for himself and distribute the rest among the mandali. With a happy heart, he started to untie the package. But finding it full of cow dung, he was taken aback and his face went pale.
I told him: If you turn white on seeing the contents of this, remember the whole world is like cow dung. When you realize it, your attachment to the world will pale. Just as you threw away the cow dung, you will one day say goodbye to this world and its affairs.
-www.lordmeher.org, p2490
July, 1945; Hyderabad