DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA

WHEN PROMINENT PEOPLE COME TO BABA

14 June, 1927

When one of the mandali eagerly referred to the possible arrival at Meherabad of some well-known and affluent Poona Zoroastrians, Baba did not show much interest in drawing such persons to him, and commented:

Wait and see what happens. Many prominent people, leaders, and celebrities will come to me in the course of time. It will happen at the right moment, without their being specially invited or promised this and that [benefit]. Why worry about it now? Anybody — whether a somebody or a nobody — who comes of his or her own accord is welcome here.

Publicity and fame are not the true standards to judge those who are really great. Mere political and social workers generally become so famous as to be looked upon by the world as great men and celebrities. But there are thousands and thousands of real workers and silent sufferers more wonderful and greater than a thousand [Mahatma] Gandhis and [Vallabhbhai] Patels put together, who remain comparatively unknown to the world. 

These silent workers are real jewels, who can fast for ten times longer than Gandhi without any fuss and more cheerfully, too. Yet, it is the way of the world that if a Patel or a Gandhi were to observe a fast for just five days, a sensation is caused all over the country and screaming headlines appear in the papers, simply because they are famous politicians and in the public eye.

Lord Meher On-line page 824-5

Lord Meher Vol.3 p.947