Maharaj's passing away in 1941. It was as follows:

"Maharaj requested me, 'Now speak, anything, something; you can, you should, in my presence.' He knew I would not and should not speak, having arrived at the state of the Ancient One, the Original One. When I did not speak, Maharaj knew and I knew that he would drop his body shortly. He is listening now and that is why I am telling you this much."

As if these cryptic remarks were not enough to keep his men guessing, BABA also said something that morning which was entirely new to his oldest of disciples, viz.: "I am still in search of one who would love me as GOD loves me." Later, at Elluru in Andhra, BABA closed an interesting discourse on the Avatar with the following remarks:

"Sai Baba made me what I am; Babajan made me feel what I am; Maharaj made me know what I am, and I Am what I Am; so let us bow down to the three of them."

The Avatar . . . A Discourse

ONSCIOUSLY OR UNCONSCIOUSLY, every living creature seeks one thing. In the lower forms of life and in less advanced human beings, the quest is unconscious; in advanced human beings, it is conscious. The object of the quest is called by many names: happiness, peace, freedom, truth, love, perfection, self-realization, God-realization, Union with GOD. Essentially it is a search for all of these, but in a special way. Everyone has moments of happiness, glimpses of truth, fleeting experiences of union with GOD; what they want is to make them permanent. They want to establish an abiding reality in the midst of constant change.

It is a natural desire, based fundamentally on a memory, dim or clear as the individual's evolution may be low or high, of his essential unity with GOD; for every living thing is partial manifestation of GOD, conditioned only by its lack of knowledge of its own true nature. The whole of evolution, in fact, is an evolution from unconscious divinity to conscious divinity, in

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— Reprinted by special permission from the MEHER BABA JOURNAL