was much more advanced spiritually than the rest of us—that we should really take her advice, do what she said, and so forth. And then, what did we find? The very one held up to us as being completely detached, would, the moment a Chinese salesman arrived at the front door, buy up all he had. Though I must agree, when a Chinaman starts bargaining, he is hard to resist! However, even to criticize shows attachment, says Baba.

Nothing is lost on Baba, however. Listen to his "Straight Discourse” given a few months later, August, 1938, Meherabad Hill:

"I am in all, in both big and petty things. All are nothing, so why give importance to anything. I take as much enjoyment in looking after the mad, being with the mandali, ordering my agents, looking after the great universal work, as in bringing eggs to Hedi and mail for you all. You cannot escape petty things, because everything except God is petty.

"What you can do is to be detached. Use the petty things, but know they are petty and so remain unattached to them.

"For example, false teeth are for eating, they are attached in your mouth. You know they are false and you can take them out, attached and detached, you make use of them.

"The dirty body, which I call the walking latrine, is made use of for the soul to realize itself. Can you escape from it? You cannot escape its perspiration, so what you do is wash away the perspiration. But if all day you go brooding, 'Why do I perspire? I must not perspire,' it is of no use. You cannot escape but you can become detached."

During our first week, Baba took us to Rahuri to visit his "primitive" ashram. The following is Elizabeth's beautiful and inspiring account of this visit:

"We left by car for Rahuri at five in the morning, 29th, with two of Baba's disciples. It was completely dark and later when the sun rose on the horizon directly ahead of us, it flashed in our eyes with tropical brightness, almost blotting out the road with its fire. From Nasik the drive was three hours, yet the vegetation became noticeably more southern in character. We passed several small villages which looked very old and,