with the one undivided and in-divisible Universal Self’ and to enable others to realize the same truth. To do this, it is necessary to maintain the ‘idea of unity’ with others, to be 'purged from all forms of selfishness', to give up 'separative thinking', and enable people 'to tackle their own problems'.

He has made it clear our work is not to do as He does. We are not to practice silence, to stop writing, to fast, to feed the poor, unless He instructs us to do so. This does not mean that we should not help the sick and disabled or the poor or do other acts of mercy and love, but not suppose that we can do His work or that He needs any help in His work. He is most positive that His work is His own.

Neither is it part of our work for Him to offer Him gifts or to perform His arti, or to carry medallions, or exhibit pictures, or to erect statues, or put up buildings. He calls this 'waste'.

He said (1954):

I want love and honesty and clean hearts and sacrifice.

Do not expect appreciation; don't depend upon others.

I need no propaganda or publicity, no money; centers are not necessary

The way of My work is the way of effacement.

To be active and extremely busy in what we may call 'Baba's work' is clearly not the work for Him that He regards as essential. He does not encourage it in any way whatever. If we are moved to do it, certainly we should accordingly, but not over-value what we do, or think it to be a substitute for ‘real work'. The real work is 'love and honesty and clean hearts and sacrifice', that is to say our daily lives motivated by love, honesty and self-effacement. This indeed, is no easy job. It means a complete alteration in our lives. We must ask ourselves, therefore, if such an alteration has indeed taken place. If we are frank with ourselves we may have to admit that it has not: there is some change, some measure of tolerance of others, some diminution of selfishness, some better attention to honesty, hardly any more. What then can we do? Baba says 'Do not worry: I will help you.' It is indeed, His work that He should help us. How are we to get that help? Not by deserving it, for there is no desert, but by realizing that we cannot do it without His help.

Of course, the help is always available; but we are not always able to receive it even when we need it, even when we call for it most desperately. For to receive it we must be emptied - of 'desert', of everything — and be in the state of love and obedience. Oh yes, we are in that state! But are we? It is so easy to say that we love: we breathe a sigh of relief at its easiness; but it has well been said that instead we 'should be terrified', and he who does not know this terror does not know the seriousness of the demand. (Rudolf Bultmann: Existence and Faith (1967) p. 225.) Meher Baba himself says, 'To love Me as I want to be loved, is impossible.'

Let us realize where we have got to. Our work, reduced to its simplest necessary terms, is, to love God. And whatever else we do or aim to do, however busy we are, there is no alternative if we desire to do Baba's work. He says, however, to love God is impossible; but He goes on to say 'to obey is possible'. What that means is that with the tiny bit of will we possess we can will God's will. This is not merely doing what we are told by Baba. What are we told? To be honest, tolerant, to be clean in heart, to expect nothing, to carry out any orders we are given, but above all to accept the responsibility for our lives.