WHAT COULD MANSARI REPLY?

 
It happened that in October, 1949, before Baba set out for His New Life, He visited Upper Meherabad. During the few hours that He was there, He conveyed to Mansari, "Wherever I may go (physically) I am definitely here (on the Hill) always. Remember this well." He also gave her some staves and told her that she should use them to break the head of "anyone" who came at night. Mansari replied, "When you are here, who would dare to come?" Baba did not answer, but simply repeated the instruction.

Ten months later Mansari was staying in the outer part of the "cage room" on Meherabad Hill. One day in August, 1950, when she was going into her room she had a strange feeling that someone was inside. After entering she checked the inner and outer rooms with her small lantern. Finding nothing she went to bed. About midnight, however, she was disturbed in her sleep by the feeling that something was at the base of her neck — something cold and soft like a piece of rubber. Half awake she brushed it aside and went back to sleep.

A little later she woke up with the same feeling. She got out of bed thinking that there was a gecko (a small lizard) in her blanket. When she shook it out something dropped to the floor. She lit the lantern and found that it was a small cobra!

Frightened, she went inside and got a short stick from the firewood and started beating the cobra, but the snake eluded her attack and began to climb up her cot. Mansari had totally forgotten about the long staves Baba had given her, and with that short stick her frantic chase continued. At last she killed the cobra and threw it outside in the grass that had grown around.

Exhausted she lay down on her bed and fell asleep. But about 2:00 a.m. she woke to see Baba sitting at the end of her bed. He was intently looking at her throat, but not at her face. She wanted to speak to Him but found that she could not. From then until 5:00 a.m., she saw Baba at the foot of her bed each time she woke up. She even rubbed her eyes to make sure that she wasn't dreaming, but Baba's expression and position did not change. In the end she saw His figure slowly fade away.

For the next eleven nights a strange thing happened: each night she would come across another cobra of the same size, perhaps the mate of the one that was killed. It seemed to Mansari that the snake was seeking revenge. This frightened her to such an extent that on the twelfth day she stood before Baba's picture and sincerely prayed to Him, "Baba, it is too much for me to bear any longer. Either the cobra should kill me or I should beat it to death." To Mansari's surprise, from that day onward the mate did not appear again.

Mansari told Baba the entire story in detail after the completion of His New life when He asked her if anything special had happened to her during that time. When she finished, Baba gestured, "Are you convinced now of what I told you earlier about my being here always?" What could Mansari reply? Her facial expression portrayed that she was more than convinced.