STORIES OF LIVES LEFT BEHIND

 
Baba did everything possible to make us comfortable during our stay. He had thoughtfully invited Dr. Abdul Ghani to be with us much of the time, since Ghani was head of a Sufi group in India. He was an engaging man, and we so enjoyed our conversations with him that we often spent hours dawdling over breakfast. Dr. Ghani's story, well known to many Baba followers, is typical of how one is drawn to and "snared" by the Master.

He had known Baba since they were boys, when they attended school together. Years later, when Ghani had become a doctor and director of a small clinic, Baba came to him dressed in the white robes of a spiritual teacher.

Shocked, Dr. Ghani asked, "Can't you find any other way to make a living than that?" Baba responded by simply inviting Ghani to join him on a trip around India. Ghani raised all sorts of objections, but when Baba promised that on their return he would give him whatever was required to make him happy, he finally acquiesced. "I agreed to go and stay with him for one year, and then I planned to return to my clinic," he said. "I just walked out and locked the door and went along."

Mother and I asked, "Did you ever go back to the clinic?"

"Oh no," he said. "We finished our travels six years later and I'm still with Baba." Baba had kept his promise, Ghani added. He had made him happy.

There were more stories like these from other members of Baba's mandali, each more fascinating than the last — stories of lives left behind, worldly goals and ambitions abandoned, prejudices and passions that evaporated with the glance, the beckoning, the word of Meher Baba.

The stories were never told with regret but always with joy and gratitude. It occurred to me as I listened that none of these people were the sort I had associated with religious groups or fanatics. They were sincere people, humble, content to be with Baba and serve him, drawn and held by his radiant light. I believed and trusted every one of them.