fine and noble it might be, when you have already once dedicated your whole life to Me and My cause." You cannot dedicate the same life twice. If it is genuine dedication, it must be deep-rooted in one's own unflinching faith in only one master, and that must be unalterable, unshakable and undaunted. Under no circumstances should one break the first pledge of dedication.

Again in a broad context, Baba gave a unique discourse on "Blissful Agony." He began saying,"Love for the Beloved must be as natural as breathing.” In fact, longing for the Beloved must be the very life-breath of existence. When this finest flower of Love blossoms in the garden of God, the pain of separation from the Divine Beloved engenders a rare experience of "blissful agony." It is like this. We know that when a scorpion stings a person, he instantaneously begins to roll in pain and the burning sensation is circulated throughout his body. Under the torture of pain, he cannot concentrate on anything else. To him, at that time, there is only one reality and that is the sting of the scorpion. When such is the effect of only one sting of a scorpion, how much more would be the unbearable burning sensation if the person were bitten by billions of scorpions at the same time! Then all consciousness would be submerged in this maximum intensity of pain and agony. But the agony of longing for the Divine Beloved in the pangs of separation is still even greater than this. Yet. this agony of intense longing for the Beloved is known as "blissful agony." Drowned in this state of "blissful agony," one becomes completely indifferent to all illusions of the world and free from all mundane attractions. All his attention gets inwardly drawn and centered at one fixed point—the Divine Beloved.

As Baba was explaining all this, a lover of His was noticed by Him to be repeatedly looking behind. The matter was taken up, in all gravity, and it was impressed upon him that Baba does not tolerate the least distraction during the giving of spiritual discourses, because the attention of others is shattered by splitting their interest and so defeats the very object and purpose of the discourse. In this regard, Baba does not spare even His nearest disciple, if he becomes the cause of the slightest distraction. This act of disturbance, therefore, is termed a "Tragedy of Love." Baba recalled a similar incident that occurred once while He was discoursing on a serious subject; some one came in the middle to remind Baba about grains for a pet bird, thus bringing Him down to the lowest level of earth, from the highest peak of spiritual explanation. Such was the "tragedy."