EINSTEIN TAKES A VACATION

 
I was reading the paper one day to Baba and this one headline said, "Einstein takes a vacation." And this intrigued Baba, so He gestured to read on and I did. It seems one day Einstein went to the ocean with his grandchildren. And they played on the sand and had a good time, and at the end of the day the children called to Einstein to come and watch the sunset with them. So Einstein went and admired the sunset.

And that was the story. It was just a little filler, you may say. The idea of Einstein, this great intellect, playing on the beach with his grandchildren struck someone as amusing and they wrote the article. But when I finished Baba looked at me and gestured. "What do you think? Einstein knows very well that the sun does not rise and set. This is merely an illusion caused by the earth's rotation around the sun. He knows this, yet still he can admire the 'sunset' with his grandchildren. He does not try to explain to them about astronomy and physics. He plays with them and joins in the game and admires the sunset just as they do.

"It is the same with the Avatar," Baba continued. "Whenever I come, I come down to your level. I am omniscient, but I come down to the level of humanity, and on your level I admire the creation, although I know fully well that it is just illusion."

So those are the only two incidents I know of which connect Baba with Einstein. But I often think of the figure Baba gave, that just as the great intellect can play with his grandchildren on the beach, so too the Avatar, the one who knows all, comes down to our level.

And speaking of sunsets, this reminds me of another figure Baba gave one time when I was walking with Him. It was noon and we were walking and it was very hot and Baba gestured like this, "Do you feel the heat? It is very hot, isn't it?"

And I said, "Yes, Baba. I feel it."

Then Baba suddenly asked me, "Which is more glorious, the sunrise or the sunset?"

And I said, "The sunset, Baba."

Baba said, "Yes, it is so." Then He asked, "Do people ever come out to admire the sun when it is at its zenith?"

I said, "No, Baba."

Baba said, "People do not even see the sun then, they are not aware of it. They feel the heat, but they do not even look at the sun. It is only at sunrise and sunset that people glorify the sun."

And then He continued and said, "It is the same with My advent. When I am about to come, there is great anticipation. It is the sunrise. But then, when I come, now that I am in your midst, it is like the midday sun. But when I drop My body, that will be the glorious sunset and then all the world will become aware of my advent."

That is what Baba told me.