NOBODY SUFFERS IN VAIN

 
Baba's silence is rarely felt in His abstention from vocal speech which He has observed these last 31 years, but the deep silence in His suffering is a profoundly felt experience. The morning after the accident [at Satara on December 2, 1956], in the midst of tremendous pain He was undergoing from His injuries, Baba said something that revealed a fresh glimpse of the depth of His compassion. He said (with gestures of course), purely from the point of man's suffering and irrespective of political or world situations:

"The Hungarians suffered much in their recent struggle. Many were lying wounded and helpless on the roads, away from their loved ones and from care or relief from pain; at least I am lying on a bed, with the care of good doctors and the love of all my lovers present and absent."

A few days before He said, "Nobody suffers in vain, for true freedom is spiritual freedom and suffering is a ladder towards it. Men unknowingly suffer for God, and God [God as the God-Man] knowingly suffers for man."

We cannot need a better explanation of why the Avatar allows suffering to His human body that He assumes, from time to time, for our truth-blinded sakes. He loves us as He ought to be loved by us — our only question is are we worthy of it? — and may our only prayer be that we too may love Him as He ought to be loved.