WORRY IS THE MASTER OF ALL

 
Throughout this holiday Baba was in a fine mood. We enjoyed going for walks with Him in the bracing mountain air and had great fun playing games with Him. In one game Baba would show us His alphabet board and ask us to guess a number. He would then take something off the dining table, like a sugar bowl, and give it as a prize to the person who had guessed correctly.

Dr. Alu had bought a new tea-set for Baba, and when we played this game on the last day of our stay, it was these items that Baba gave us as prizes. I received a lovely blue nut bowl and a white butter pot, each piece precious because Baba had given it with His own hands.

These days were certainly a treat, but they were also a time for serious training. Baba often quoted from the Perfect Masters Kabir and Tukaram. I particularly remember that Kabir said, "Worry eats everyone. Worry is the master of all. But those who swallow worry, they are the ones who become fakirs."

He also said, "When the Master gives on His own, it is like His giving milk. When you ask the Master to give, it is like His giving water. But when you force the Master to give, it is like extracting blood from Him."

Baba also commented on the importance of obedience and surrender, quoting Tukaram: "The inherent nature with which you are born remains with you; it does not change." Even after Tukaram became a Perfect Master, He went on singing bhajans because that was His inherent nature. Baba said, "The nature you are born with remains with you, but you can modify and change through obedience and surrendrance to God."