SPIRITUAL ANECDOTES

"Veena is the daughter of a retired civil engineer. She is petite, gentle and graceful, with a sweet piquant face and a dark complexion. She and her sister (who had a tragic experience in life), both love Baba, as does their father. Veena met Baba in Andhra during His Mass Darshan Tour. Soon after, when we were in Dehra Dun, we heard that Veena was behaving strangely and had changed completely from her normal, active social self. She scarcely spoke or ate, kept to herself and would sit for hours with a rapt expression on her face. The only time she "came to life" was when they recited the Arti before Baba's picture. Then she would participate and stand before the picture with joined hands.

"Some days after we heard this, Baba had the father bring her to Dehra Dun. She would look at Baba with such a happy, lighted smile. Speaking little and only when pressed for an answer, she was reluctant to eat anything until Baba fed her and then told her to eat some more. At times, her face would suddenly light up; sometimes she would point vaguely at 'nothing' or make a gesture before her face as if she were removing a cobweb. The next day, Baba sent her away with her father, giving him special instructions about her.

"We heard nothing further until about a month ago. She had changed still more, going from house to house—anybody's house she felt like—making no distinction whatever about whose house it was. Some understood; others didn't. Friends, fearing someone would take advantage of the girl's state, told her father to have her put away in a mental home. He wrote to Eruch (one of Baba's disciples), telling him that he just couldn't do that, for he knew Veena's state of mind was not due to material causes. And he was convinced beyond a doubt since his experience one night. (He slept in the same room as his daughter, lovingly guarding her as much as he could, even in the daytime). On that night, he awoke from a deep sleep to find the room unnaturally bright. Looking toward Veena's bed, he found it empty. Then he saw, in the corner of the room, Baba standing before the kneeling figure of his daughter . . .When he recovered from his dazed stupor, the father, too, went forward to have