THE FORGOTTEN TOY

 
How about telling you of my first meeting with Mehera? It was at Baba-House, Poona, when I was about five years old. Baba was on a visit home to our parents and had brought Mehera along.

Mehera told me later — many years later — that Baba gave her a toy and told her to give it to His little sister, whom she would meet for the first time. Mehera remembered doing so but could not recall what the toy was. She asked me, "Mani, do you remember what that toy was which Baba gave me to give to you as a child?" No doubt she felt that my love for toys would surely make me remember that first gift.

"No, Mehera," I replied, "I don't remember the toy. And I don't remember anyone else who had come along with Baba and you. All I remember is you, as you stood by the well one morning, combing your hair. I could not take my eyes away from your beautiful hair."

Mehera blushed happily as I said that. She knew her hair was beautiful. Falling below her waist in gentle waves, full and soft, her brown hair shone with glints of honey. She loved beauty for beauty's sake and was proud of her hair.

Early in her life with Baba, while still in her teens, she and the other women mandali had to wear white bandannas on their heads, which totally covered their hair. Here was a vanity happily given up by Mehera for Baba's sake. She who loved beauty had already gained the most beautiful One as her Beloved!