Perfect Masters) their work is limited, sectional; but the Avatar’s work is universal. And in the time of the Avatar when He comes every 700 to 1400 years, He gives everybody a chance, but you have to avail yourself of it. You must not let go the opportunity! There is a small story in India. There is a place called Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra state. Previous to this regime there was the Moslem regime called the Nizam who ruled the entire state. And those people were much given over to the pleasures of life. They had a lot of outward manners, but no real relationship with others. So there were two persons who had met on a train which stopped at one railway station, they got off, thinking that the train was going to stop for quite a few minutes more. But the train started leaving; they were not very conscious of the time so one of these Hyderabadis says, "You get in the car." The other says, "You get in the car." You see they were both so absorbed in their own manners that both of them were left behind and the train went away. And they lost the opportunity. So we should not become men of lost opportunities.

I do not understand why Meher Baba should go out of His way and call Himself the Avatar and take so much trouble to publicize it, to creating His disciples and His lovers, to talk about His love and His Avatarhood, and so on. Do you think it was very comfortable for Him to do so? I think He would have been more comfortable if He had not done this at all. If He said that He was just an ordinary saint, today we would have ten times or hundred times more followers. Once a man came and said to Meher Baba, "Why do you call yourself the Avatar? This word Avatar and its meaning don't go down the throats of these people at all; they are not prepared to believe it. If you don't call yourself the Avatar I can get you thousands of followers right now." "Oh" so Meher Baba says, "you believe that I am a saint?" "Yes, Baba, I do believe that you are a saint, but don't call yourself the Avatar; say that you are a saint." "All right, I am a saint. You believe Me as a saint?" "Yes." "Now are you prepared to say that a saint is capable of telling a lie?" He said, "No, no, a saint tells the truth always." "Then that same saint says that am the Avatar."

All the declarations of Meher Baba, I tried to put to a test of a pure logic, although I loved Him right from the beginning; but I did not spare myself. Either Meher Baba must be a mad man or not, but a mad man doesn't attract other men. Mad man is always shunned; we do not run after the mad men at all; we keep aloof. So evidently He was not mad at all. I knew that if He had led a life of an ordinary saint or even not that of a saint, He would be far happier in His life, not taking all this responsibility of calling Himself Avatar. So that is not the thing at all. What else can I argue? Inevitably I had to come to the conclusion that what He says He is must be the truth.

He always said "Anybody who does not believe in Me and thinks that I'm a fraud, a charlatan, should go out and shout at the top of his voice and say the Meher Baba is such- and-such and such-and-such and do not hesitate to do it at all. And if you really think that I am the Avatar, if you can have that faith and conviction about Me, then come to Me, listen to me, and obey Me." Here are the two things He always said to people. He never hesitated for a moment. "It is not absolutely necessary for you to come to Me at all; it is for your own good. If you want to accept it, well and good, otherwise you go your way." But there are many persons who delight to call themselves Meher Baba lovers and yet they may or may not be. Meher Baba is not an ordinary man. He is indeed very, very powerful and the power is so great that He doesn't make a demonstration of that power; He stands on His own truth. His spirituality is not demonstrative at all, and however few followers we may find today, they are there for all times. Although His work is slow, it is always sure.

There are many, many new movements coming up like mushrooms every day. There are even people who call themselves the Avatar, a Perfect Master, and so forth. But I have seen many coming up and going down; they do not stand the test of time at all. Meher Baba is very unique. One cannot expect to find a diamond easily. A diamond is not as cheap or as available as pebbles. There are few, very, very few. But He's a diamond, a unique one by Himself. He’s the same Avatar who was Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, and Meher Baba. This is the concept explained in only one book, the Gita and yet it is not very elaborately explained; so Baba has so beautifully regenerated the meaning of the word Avatar and placed it at His own level. He is what He says Himself to be and here we are very near Him. If we miss the opportunity then I do not know — I'm not prepared to say God help you or Meher Baba