Matra Dutta Shastri also could not sleep. He recited a Sanskrit shloka praising the advent of the Avatar Krishna, and then in a paroxysm of weeping sought Baba’s forgiveness for his sins. Baba called him and held him in a loving embrace.
As Baba was consoling him, someone remarked about Matra Shastri, “He was feeling something within which made him restless, and so he couldn’t sleep.”
Baba thereupon explained to Matra Shastri:
… When I tell you I forgive you, what happens? Then your bindings in duality become loose, and it does not take time to forgive.
Suppose there is a stack of hay. A single lighted match can set it aflame in no time at all. What is this pile? Mere scraps of straw – sanskaras! So for me, whatever your accumulated dirt and refuse of sins, it takes me no time to burn them. Divine forgiveness burns them away in no time.
So, I forgive you, Shastri. Don’t worry about thoughts. Always take my name. Let any thought come; don’t worry, but continue repeating my name.
I have explained this to the mandali two or three times before; I tell it to you today. It is a good example. When mosquitoes bite you, you come down with malaria. As a preventative, you use a mosquito net. Despite it, the mosquitoes buzz outside and are ready to bite you. But, the mosquito net saves you from being bitten, and consequently, you do not suffer from malaria. Now, mosquitoes are your thoughts, and the mosquito net, either old or new, good or bad, is my name, contact and company. When you are within the mosquito net – Meher Baba’s name – even hoards of mosquitoes buzzing outside – that is, your thoughts, good or bad – will not touch you and you will be saved from malaria – bindings. So always think of Baba’s name, and whatever thoughts you might have, don’t worry about them.
-www.lordmeher.org, p3833
Nov, 1955; Meherabad
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“Although it takes a lot of time to build a big stack of hay, a single lighted match can burn all of it in no time at all. Similarly, regardless of the accumulated dirt and refuse of sins, divine forgiveness burns them away in no time.”
(Listen Humanity, p68)