Viloo and Sarosh came to see Baba at Meherabad on July 27th. Although Sarosh was devoted to Baba from the early 1920s, his wife Viloo still harbored doubts about Baba and was openly cynical. During their meeting, Baba remarked, “Whatever I say, I say from my Unlimited ‘I’. You have a limited ‘I’. I can read what you are thinking now, and I also know what you will think tomorrow. One day, I will demonstrate it to you!”
The “demonstration” came and went in these moments, as this had been the very answer to Viloo’s questions! She kept quiet, but Sarosh said, “Baba, Viloo says that instead of freeing the women mandali from Maya, you are merging them deeper in it! The English pigs and calf I brought caused Viloo to think that it is all making the women more entangled in illusion. She also points out that you take them here and there, sightseeing and to the movies, and she doubts whether such activities are bringing the women to God.”
Baba corrected him, “I use Maya to pull them out of Maya. But I use it in such a way that it cannot touch them!”
To clarify his point, Baba revealed to Sarosh and Viloo an incident from the time of Ram, regarding King Janak’s life (Janak was Sita’s father, Ram’s father-in-law):
King Janak was a Videh Mukta, a Sadguru who was physically without sensation or feeling, and beyond Maya. But, because he was a king, he lived like a king in royal fashion, and his palace contained all the comforts and riches befitting a king.
An aspirant of the path came to him one day, sent to Janak by his Guru. The pilgrim had undergone all sorts of severe austerities, had wandered for years and years, and had fasted long without food and even without water.
When he came to the court of Janak, seeing the pomp and grandeur of the palace, he thought: “How could one living so regal a life give me knowledge? When the king himself is enmeshed in Maya, how could he ever free others from it?”
King Janak asked the pilgrim to rest for the night and said he would talk with him after a few days. He was given a fine room in the palace with all luxuries. A servant was placed at his disposal, and he was fed the best of food. But at night when he went to sleep, as he lay on his bed, he saw a large boulder suspended over the bed, and it seemed to be slowly descending. He was frightened and lay awake the whole night looking up at the stone, afraid it would fall and crush him. For two days, he had no sleep and suffered in health.
On the third day, Janak sent for him and inquired about him. The man recounted his sleepless nights, and the king said, “Despite all the conveniences and comforts, you could not sleep and were restless. Compared to the hardships you have suffered in your past penance, this experience seems to have been much more tormenting, as your mind was all the time concentrated on the stone. Outwardly, though you found all splendor and glory, your life is just the same as that which you have led for years!”
Although you see me surrounded by the comforts of the palace, inwardly, I am all the time rooted in God. I am beyond all this and take others beyond it!
The pilgrim then understood King Janak’s state and surrendered to him.
Baba continued dictating, particularly for Viloo:
Here at Meherabad, the women and men mandali are in the same situation. Outsiders cannot see this, but my mandali are experiencing this state. Only brave men and women can stay with me, because this life is quite different, and at every step thorns pierce the feet.
I am more a servant than a Master to humanity, and I descend to serve it! Worldly people talk a lot and give advice to others, but their conduct is quite the contrary. I suffer infinitely because of the ignorance of mankind and people’s disdain for the higher values of life. I want to make people free from Maya’s bindings, but they want to remain entangled in Maya.
www.lordmeher.org, p2440-41