LOSS IS GAIN

 
During darshan tours I used to spend much time interpreting Meher Baba's gestures but quite often he would send me to deliver messages to certain individuals, and the circumstance of my being away from Baba prompted people on many occasions to ask me questions like, how many years had I spent in Baba's company and the one inevitable question, "What have you gained by being with Baba for so many years?"

I was deeply embarrassed that I could never answer this latter question.

However, one day Baba found me deeply troubled and when He enquired what was on my mind, I told Him about the question I was unable to answer.

Baba then replied, "The reason you cannot answer that question is that it is a bad question. The question should not be 'What have you gained by being with Me?' but rather, 'What have you lost?'"

It was then that I began to understand what Baba had said so often, "Remember, whosoever forms a friendship with Me, loses everything, even the self!"

He also used to put it this way, "You go, then I come."