Baba, in explaining selfless service, pointed out that: “As an object lesson to others to render service to humanity, I, myself, serve others. In the ashram at Meherabad, I wanted my Brahmin devotees to serve the untouchables. For that purpose I personally served the untouchable boys, bathing them and washing their clothes. When I asked my Brahmin devotees to assist me, they did—for they loved me. In true service, there must be no lingering idea that one is free to yield service or refuse it. One must feel that one is not master of one's own body but that it is the Guru's and exists merely to render him service. I would like some of you to nurse and wash the lepers, some of you to be merged in meditation on me; and some, be mendicants, some gay, some thin as skeletons, some big and fat, but all to work for me."

The Group

The two Western groups called by Baba to Nasik from England and America represented various types of basic nationalities; people of varying ages, following various careers, and saddled with difficult moods and temperaments. All possessed pronounced ego-minds, leaning slightly towards the intellectual and analytical attitude, rather than the emotional, and thus lacking in the balance Baba wants to give us, between head and heart. One thing we had in common—our love for Baba.

Once Baba had us all safely in his "net," he started right in to mold us as he wanted us to be. Many were his talks during this period, emphasizing the need of letting go of our individual selves in order to make room within for himself, the Christ-Spirit in all.

Paradoxical as it may sound, to bring about this change, the very reverse of what you might expect usually happened, causing our stay in Nasik to be one of the most turbulent periods of our entire sojourn with Baba. To come face to face with the illusory ego-mind and the breaking down of it, proved to be a far more agonizing and disrupting process than the building up which followed. Baba, with love and kindness and infinite patience, brought to the surface fears and phobias that had lain in the unexplored recesses of the mind since aeons.

Each day brought to light someone's "sore spots," and Baba, foremost through his example, and by his talks given through the alphabet board, gave us the necessary salient and practical suggestions, not without a touch of his ever-spontaneous wit and humor—for example: