ASK AND IT WILL BE GIVEN YOU, INSTANTLY!

 
On the fourteenth of September [1928] the Master seemed to be very indisposed. One of the new candidates, a Hindu lad named Tukaram, insisted upon the Master transferring his suffering to him. It was only when the Master gave a solemn promise to get well in two days that Tukaram got pacified! It was due to this promise, as well as to the great insistence of the other boys, that the Master took a little milk on the sixteenth of September after remaining five days on tea without milk.

While passing along the Master's seat — the Meher Manzil — one morning during this time of outburst of spirituality amongst the boys, I chanced to find him seated there surrounded by the boys, and so I went in to pay my usual respect. The first question that the Master put to me was, "How does my face look?"

"Quite as usual," I replied.

"Still," he conveyed, "last night was a terrible one for me. Throughout the night my temperature was about 105 degrees. My limbs have gone limp, the back is all sore, I could not rest even for a second last night. Had you been in my place, you would have dropped your physical coat (body) through the suffering and pain!"

Then abruptly changing the subject, the Master turned to one of the youngest boys there, named Pundit, and conveyed, "Tell me what you want: God, freedom, paradise, motor car, toys or anything else that you would like the best. This is the right moment. Ask and it will be given you, instantly!"

Much as I have become used to hearing lofty sentiments from little lips, I was not prepared for the startling reply that this boy on the right side of eight gave: "I want your sufferings to cease!" was all that the little Pundit could speak very modestly.