One day, as Mehera, Mani, Meheru and Goher were preoccupied with picking up sticks and twigs as they walked, a bullock cart came alongside them. Awestruck at the scene before him, the cartman asked where they were going. They replied that they were proceeding to Hardwar. Respectfully, the driver invited them to sit in his cart, but Meheru solemnly answered, “We are on a pilgrimage to Hardwar, so we must go on foot. I’m sorry, but we cannot ride on the cart.”
Humbly, the cartman said, “But please, sit for a while, sister. The sacred purpose of your journey will not be affected by your occupying seats in my cart.”
Mani replied, “A pilgrimage should be undertaken on foot. What sort of pilgrimage would it be if it were made in comfort?”
So the cartman drove off, but after traveling some distance, he came to a halt. Meanwhile, Baba came back from the men, and directed the women to sit in the caravan. They took their seats, and Mani and Meheru pulled back the curtains to peer outside. After a little while, the caravan passed the cartman resting. When he saw the women sitting comfortably inside, he threw such a contemptuous look at Mani and Meheru that they could only slump down and hide their embarrassed faces. Only then did they realize why Baba had made them sit in the caravan! Baba returned and directed the women to resume their walk. It was a lesson for both women that, as usual, nothing was hidden from him.
-www.LordMeher.org, p2845
December, 1949; Shivapur to Babatpur (Gypsy period)
Photo source: “Meher Baba’s New Life”, Bhau Kalchuri