"Let's say," Baba began, "that a mother has been feeding her son with Quaker Oats. She has been doing this for years and is quite convinced that the oats are beneficial for her son. Well, one day, as she pours some out for her son's breakfast, she notices that she only has enough left for one more serving. It is just after the war and there is a scarcity of consumer goods, there is rationing. So the woman is very concerned. She doesn't know whether she will be able to find any more tins of Quaker Oats in the stores.

"After breakfast, she rushes down to the store, and to her great relief, she notices that there is one tin left on the shelves. Immediately she goes over to get that precious last tin when the storekeeper appears and says, 'Don't take that tin.' The woman is startled and says, 'But I have to have this tin. I am almost out of Quaker Oats at home, so I need to get more.'

"'I understand that,' the storekeeper replied, 'but please don't take that tin.'

"'But I'm your old customer,' the woman pleads, 'I have been shopping here for years. Surely you can sell that to me.'

"'I know you are my old customer, that is why I am asking you not to take that tin. I can sell it to you but...'

"'I will pay extra,' the woman suggests, thinking that this is what the storekeeper has been leading up to. 'I don't care what you charge; I have to have that tin.'

"'No, no, you don't understand. It is not a question of paying extra at all. You see, I have just received a new shipment of Quaker Oats. That is the last tin from my old stock. Let me get you a tin from the fresh stock.'"

Baba then asked us, "What mother is there who would insist on buying the old stock when she could purchase a tin of the fresh new stock? I am the fresh stock," Baba added. "It is all Quaker Oats, the ingredients are the same, but I am the fresh stock."