DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA

BEING  ACCUSTOMED  TO  LUXURY

5th October, 1922

Baba then asked Ghani to name those who were reclining on the sofas. He reported the culprits to be Rustom and Sadashiv. Baba immediately called the men and rebuked them at length:

In spite of my wretched condition, I have brought you all to this place to give you a refreshing change. It is for you that I am undergoing all this suffering; but while I suffer, you enjoy. What difference would it have made to me whether I had stayed on in the Manzil ( house)? Hence it grieves me to find that you have no consideration for my sufferings. Here I am, lying on the ground, undergoing excruciating pain in the stomach, having had four bowel movements since morning, while you are comfortably sprawling on sofas and chairs.

I know you come from well-to-do families and are accustomed to all kinds of luxuries and conveniences and are used to lounging on comfortable furniture. But now that you have discarded, on my asking, all comforts for the time being, you should have your mind under control and at once remember the line you have adopted and the spiritual goal you have fixed as your ideal.

At this juncture, you should consider yourselves in jail! Forget about everything else. Don't let your minds wander to those things which you have given up. Even if an occasion arises, and a chance is offered to you, don't get enmeshed in things of maya again. You have, however, not to pass through the dreadful sufferings or undergo the hardships entailed in this Path when with me. You are simply required to go against your own will and wish. You have not to do certain things which you have been doing up to now, and to do certain things you have no liking for.

For example, on feeling hungry you used to eat, and now you are asked to eat when you have no liking to take food — and not to touch it when you have a craving appetite for it. You used to take a nap in the daytime and now you are forbidden to do so. Similarly, you have never done physical labor, but while here at times you are asked to work in the blazing sun.

These are instances of your going against your own mind, and in this way you will gradually learn to control it.

Look at the famous Indian leaders like Gandhi and the Ali brothers.  Out of a sense of patriotism and for the sake of the nation, they have left all comforts of life, undergoing imprisonment for long periods of time. For the sake of the country and the welfare of the world — which is all a mere dream — these leaders are suffering so much. So imagine how much more you should do for God — the very source of all that is! This term of so-called imprisonment with me is only for ten months, wherein you are required to go against the dictates of your mind. It is the least you can do to reach the highest.

Hafiz has said it well:

"You must leave the abode of your nature, temperament and thoughts,

Unless you do so, you cannot reach the lane of Truth!"

Lord Meher On-line page 343-4

Lord Meher Vol.2 p.430

        Dr. Ghani Munsiff                  Rustom K. Irani                           Sadashiv Patel