"Shortly thereafter, on the first of September, Baba left India on his first journey to Europe and America. On September 21st, while he was in Eng­land, Babajan was released."

The young Mohammedan disciple told another significant story.

One day, after he himself had been in regular contact with Baba for a year or two, Baba said that it was time for him to come to live with him constantly, and it was arranged for him to come to Arangaon, where Baba was then staying, with his wife and children. They were given a house on the outskirts of the village—a very primitive place, according to his description, and infested with various kinds of insects, including dangerous scorpions, numbers of which were discovered and disposed of nightly.

After a while, the constant threat of danger to her children unnerved the wife and she persuaded her husband to go to Baba to tell him of her fears. Baba listened to the report.

" Have any of the scorpions bitten you?" he inquired.

"No," the Mohammedan replied.

"Well, when they do, you come and tell me," said Baba, and dismissed him. But they never did.

Following Baba's orders is not always as easy as it may seem when the orders are given, as each of his disciples usually discovers for himself. The young Mohammedan disciple had one amusing story to relate regarding this.

Before he moved to Arangaon with his family to live with Baba, he was told to dispose of his business, a cloth shop in one of the small towns of the Bombay Presidency. After a week or two of effort which proved fruitless, he reported to Baba.

"I will help you, " Baba said to him, "Do just one thing. Until the shop is sold, say to everybody you meet, before you say anything else, 'I have not yet sold my shop.'"

That seemed very simple. The young Mohammedan promised to carry out the instructions faithfully, feeling sure that in a few days the shop would be out of his hands. But things didn't work out as he expected, and the simple formula of repeating "I have not yet sold my shop" grew very burdensome, not only for R., but for his family and his friends.

Every morning, when he first greeted his wife or his father-in-law, he had to say, "I have not yet sold my shop," which of course they knew.