DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA

 

THE  NECESSITY  TO  STUDY

 

 

 

10 October, 1928

 

Summoning the boys, Baba had them sit down around him. He then explained:

 

Listen carefully to what I have to say. It is for you that I am sitting inside [in seclusion] and working. Therefore, while I am working, there should be no disturbance at all. If I am disturbed, you will not progress; if I am not disturbed, I will see that you advance on the Path.

 

Nowadays your education and study have been stopped. This is a problem as there is opposition against me in the newspapers and elsewhere. If one of your fathers comes here and finds that you are not studying, he will think otherwise and take you away. The village headman is also keeping his eyes on us to satisfy the public outcries, and if the police come they will discover that you are not studying

 

Therefore, a shed has been erected near the Manzil where only English will be taught from two to five o'clock.

 

I do not like all this scholastic education, but for various reasons you have to learn English so that you may be able to read Rama Tirtha, Shams, Hafiz, and Vivekananda without any difficulty. But really speaking, education does not have the least connection with this Path. You have no idea what work I do and will do. But this is to show people that you are studying and it will also help you in later years in reading the spiritual literature of the Great Ones. I am telling you this in case any of your parents turn up.

 

But you should not think about all this. Just continually think of me and do as I said in yesterday's discourse, and I will look to everything. Today I am leaving everyone and sitting inside [in seclusion]. What for? For you alone!

 

It is not necessary that you think of anything else but me. Just do as I say. I will assuredly put you on the Path. I may awaken some of you at night for meditation. It will be cold, but never mind. If you do not listen to what I say, you will be at a disadvantage.

 

Leave love aside for the time being and I will see that you benefit the most. But if love is given, you will be like fish out of water and your "thirst" will take time to quench. I do not wish to harass you and "thirst" is a terrible distress, indescribable. You do not have the slightest notion of it. Swami Ramakrishna's thirst was so intense he would sit in the river for days! Chaitanya Swami Baba had such great thirst that blood would flow out of his hair! But I will see that you are not put to the least trouble. It is my responsibility!

 

 

Lord Meher On-line page 980-1

Lord Meher Vol.3 p.1107-9