Meanwhile, Baba called an inspector of police named K. S. Savant and his wife, Hemlata, to Satara, and they arrived on the morning of Sunday, December 18th. They were old lovers, experiencing a certain difficulty which Baba wished to clear up. At home, Hemlata would sit in her prayer room absorbed in Baba’s remembrance. She would neither cook nor care for her children, who would go hungry until Savant returned from work in the evening. He had to cook their food, feed and look after them. Savant had written about this to Baba, and so Baba sent for them.
Baba advised Hemlata, “I am very happy with your love. I know how you remember me day and night, and remain focussed on me. Your mind never wanders and this is good. I am God and so I am in everyone. But while I am happy in you, I am unhappy in Savant and the children. When I feel hungry in these children and do not get food, then I become unhappy with you. If, in these children, I do not get clean clothes to wear, I feel unhappy. When in Savant, after a hard day’s work, I return home and find the children miserable, I am unhappy with you.
“So in you, you keep me happy, but in Savant and the children, you keep me most unhappy! If you keep me happy in all, I will be so pleased with your love that I will even change your fortune!” Baba’s simple admonition affected Hemlata so much that she was totally transformed. On their way from Poona, she had not uttered a single word to Savant or the children, and was in a withdrawn mood. But after listening to Baba, she smiled and embraced Savant, and the couple left happily. Baba had shown her the true way to worship him. Sitting in meditation is not enough; one must fulfill one’s practical responsibilities.
–Date and place: Dec, 1955; Satara
Lord Meher (First Ed), p4860
www.lordmeher.org (Revised 2014), p3902
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“Suffering makes one remember God, but according to me, one can remember God when one is happy.” (LM online, p3775)