When an American woman came with some friends to meet Baba for the first
time, she was greatly impressed by him and regretted that her husband
was not with her. She returned to America to bring him to Kainchi to
meet Baba. When they came to the ashram, he was put off by seeing the
westerners so crazy about Baba and that they were not shy of putting
their heads to his feet. He was especially upset with his wife for
doing so.
All the westerners used to stay at hotels in Nainital and come to
Kainchi for Baba's darshan
every morning and return to Nainital in the evening. The American
followed the same routine with his wife, and after seven days he felt
bored. Baba completely ignored him. The man was so upset that he
thought of going back to America and leaving his wife in India. On the
eighth day he decided not to go to Kainchi with his wife and instead
sat alone all day with his painful thoughts by the side of the lake in
Nainital. Though he was not a believer in religion, he remembered God
that day. He asked himself, What am I doing here? Who is
this man Maharaj? Why are all these people crazy about him?
At that moment he remembered hearing the phrase, "If ye had but faith,
ye would not need a miracle." He felt bad and prayed to God, "Well I do
not have faith, and I need a miracle."
He decided to return to
America the next day, but at the insistence of his wife, they both went
to bid farewell to Baba. He also decided that he would say what he felt
that day. Both of them arrived in Kainchi early in the morning, before
the other western devotees, and sat before Baba's takhat
on the veranda. Baba was inside Radha kuti. It
was Baba's lila that an apple from the top of the
takhat rolled down onto the floor. As the man bent
to pick it up, Baba speedily came out and sat on the takhat
in such a way that his feet pressed down on the man's hand. Baba then
pressed his already bent head with his hand, and the man found himself
on his knees in a prone position, as if he were touching Baba's feet.
It was the situation he had always detested watching.
Looking at him, Baba asked a few questions, "What were
you doing at the lake? Were you boating? Did you go to swim?"
In the end he said, "You were remembering God?"
When Baba said this, the man started crying like a child. Baba pulled
him to himself and caressing his beard, asked him again and again, "Tell
me, what did you ask God?"
Baba's voice and touch brought a change in him. Reverence and love for
Baba surged in his heart. He realised that everyone must have had a
similar experience, and that was why people did not wish to leave him.
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