“The less you think of yourself and the more you think of Baba, the sooner the ego goes and Baba remains. When you—'ego'—go away entirely, I am one with you. So bit by bit, you have to go. Today your nose, tomorrow your ear, then your eyes, your hands, everything! So better think of me when you eat, sleep, see or hear. Enjoy all, don't discard anything, but think it is Baba—Baba who enjoys, Baba who is eating. It is Baba sleeping soundly and when you wake up, remember it is Baba getting up! Keep this one thought constantly with you.

"If you do wrong, then think Baba is doing wrong. If you get a pain, think it is Baba having a pain. If you do all this sincerely, you will know something. Try to forget yourself and do all for Baba."

Baba warned us that continually thinking of how to get rid of the ego and how to merge into the Infinite is a hindrance rather than a help. "Better than this and safer is to merge in my orders, do as I say. Obey instantly. Try even if you cannot. It is not disobedience if you cannot, but you must try. Do not say 'I cannot.' Say 'I'll try.' If I say fly—well, try! Do not say 'I cannot'."

"Obedience is more important than devotion, even if it is done unwillingly, because gradually, in the process, duality vanishes. When you do what the Master says, the responsibility falls on him, the one you obey, even when you obey unwillingly."

Baba ends, invariably, with the emphasis on love. "Love is even higher than obedience. In real love, not ordinary love, love, obedience and devotion are inherent; so love—more love—more and more love."

Call it what you will, search out excuses and psychological terms to explain the many failures: our intolerance, our impatience, our lack of understanding and the like . . . we are brought back to the one cause for everything that went wrong. We did not love each other and we had not yet learned to love Baba as he wanted to be loved.

Baba's great mission to each one of us has been to show us how to love. Our great privilege has been to live with the One Who IS Love Itself.

When we failed to learn through his example, then Baba used the drastic method of rebuke and humiliation to guide us to the truth; calling the group to him and letting them be seated, he would take his board and begin: