It was about 2:00 a.m. [Friday, 15th June], when I went to the bathroom. When I returned to bed, I remembered that I had forgotten certain parts of the message Beloved Baba had given to me the previous day. I prayed to Him, "Please, remind me about that message, because I have forgotten it."

I felt Baba appear. I could not see Him. But I heard His voice, and He said, "You forgot My message, and I also forgot. Once I give it, I don't remember it afterwards. So you must be very, very attentive and must not forget what I tell you. If I give you any order, and you forget, then how can you obey Me? Be careful.

"Now I tell you. When I went to Andhra in 1954 to give a mass darshan program, what happened in Vijaywada? The priest class had come. They were telling the people, 'Meher Baba says that He is the Avatar. Just see, the Avatar will come and go on the stage, beneath the pandal. He will sit there in the chair, and you people will be sitting in the sun. He has no care for you, and still He calls Himself the Avatar!'

"They were lecturing the people who had come for Baba's darshan and expecting thousands of them to revolt against the Avatar. But when I came there, I did not go onstage. I stood on the ground, and I said to the crowd, 'My experience is that I am in you all, and therefore, why should I trouble you to salute Me? Instead, I salute Myself in you, to save you from this trouble. I saluted them thrice as I bowed down.

"Then I went onstage, and I sat there. Five people from the priest class came to Me. They received prasad first. How did it happen? Do you think that because I bowed down to the people, that is why people from the priest class came first? No.

"It happened because I wiped out the sanskaras which were making them perform such actions. Who can understand this? Those priests then followed Me all the time. They came for My darshan so many times. Therefore, it is difficult for people to understand My work. No one can understand what I do. I sit in one place, but work for the whole universe continuously, without a break. When I take rest, at that time also, My work continues.

"Do you remember the incident which took place when I was sleeping, and you were on watch?

"Yes, I remember." I said to Baba.

"All right, describe the incident."

"Before the second accident," I recalled, "you'd ask me to sit outside of your room. You gave me an order not to make any movement, not to sleep, and not to make any noise.

"'I'm very, very tired,' You informed me. Thrice You repeated this, emphasizing that You were very tired, that I should not make any noise, that I should not make any movement, and that I should not sleep.

"When You went into your room, I closed all the ventilators, windows and doors, and sat outside on the chair. There were plenty of mosquitoes who were biting me, but according to Your instruction, I just sat like a statue. I did not make any movement.

One morning, a thought came in my mind as I was coming back from nightwatch. "When we sleep, we forget the world. We forget everything. We don't remember anything. So when Baba is sleeping, He must also be forgetting everything. So when Baba sleeps, if I make a little movement to kill the mosquitoes, He will not know."

The next night, when I went for watch and was sitting outside Baba's room, I was waiting to hear Him snore. I was waiting and waiting, and mosquitoes were biting and biting. Then Baba started snoring. I thought, "Now it is time for me to make some movement in order to kill the mosquitoes.'

Still, I waited for some time. When I felt convinced Baba was sleeping, very slowly I rubbed my forearm, where the mosquitoes were biting. As soon as I did, Baba clapped, and I went inside.

Baba asked me, "Why did you move?"

I was wonderstruck. Everything was closed, and I was sitting outside. I did not make any noise. How could Baba possibly know that I made such a tiny movement? I could not say anything.

"'When you think I am sleeping, I see the whole universe," Baba said to me. 'Can I not see you who are sitting so close to Me?'

And that was Baba's sleep.

After I described the incident to Him, Baba said to me, "I am always awake. I work continuously for my Universal Work. It does not stop. Even when I drop My body, I continue my work. Therefore, how can you think that when I sleep, I stop the work and forget everything? I can see everything in the universe when you think I'm sleeping. I'll give you another example.

"During this mass darshan program, I was in Masuli Patlam. Until evening, I was continuously giving darshan and distributing prasad. When it was over, I wanted to go to my residence. As soon as I approached the car, I started walking here and there. You all followed Me. I went to the seashore, where there was a hut. It was dark, but there was no lamp in the hut. One old man was standing there. I went to his hut, and sat down in front of it. I called the old man, and asked him to sit near Me.

"And he sat beside Me. His joy knew no bounds. He could not speak because he was so overjoyed. Then I left.

"You all were very curious to find out, 'Who was that man?' Nobody was allowed to be with Me for five minutes when I was giving darshan. I would just give the person a banana, and they would be shoved away. But I sat with that old man for five minutes.

"Because of the caste system, he belonged to the lowest class, the sweeper class. People would avoid even the shadow of such a person. If his shadow accidentally fell on anyone, that person would beat him. That man was so miserable, thinking, 'How unfortunate am I, that I could not go and take the darshan of the Avatar? If I go, and my shadow crosses anyone, I will be beaten.' Nobody would touch such a person of the lowest class.

"So the whole day, he was thinking and thinking. I knew what he was thinking. I went to him and asked him to sit near Me. All the upper caste people would not get even one second in My presence, and he received five minutes. For Me, he was not from the lowest class, because I am him. For Me, there is no distinction. I alone exist. Whatever appears to exist, it exists in non-existence. I'll give another example to you.

"After I had completed My program in Hamirpur, I was on My way to another place. Suddenly, I asked the driver to stop the car. I got out of the car, and sat under a tree. You all were standing there. Nobody could understand why I stepped out of the car to sit under a tree. After 15 minutes, what happened?

"One man was coming from ten miles away, prostrating himself full length on the ground the entire distance. Each time he would rise to his knees, He would salute Me. He was on his way to Hamirpur, but he would have missed Me. I had already left and was heading towards another place. When he came, I went to him and embraced him. I had been waiting and waiting for him. How much joy he felt, you have no idea, nor what I gave to him. When I am pleased with anyone, I can give him ANYTHING at My pleasure. You will not understand. Therefore, seek My pleasure. It is a great thing.

"How will you seek My pleasure? Just do what I want. Remember Me, thinking that this is My order. If you think of me wholeheartedly, know well, that you are seeking My pleasure. It is not mechanical, because you do it thinking that this is My order. You are following My order. Do it. Put your heart into it, and Remember Me."

All this happened, and then the voice stopped. I looked around. Nobody was there. Still I felt, someone was in my heart, telling me this. It was Beloved Baba.

Ps. Coming soon: Two new "Awakenings" from Bhau: Suffocation with a Seven-Color Curtain followed by Sahavas Humor, Part I

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