law, and were selflessly and willingly subject to it. But, in spite of subjecting themselves to this law, they stood above the law. They could, in a second, have cured themselves or rid themselves from reactions. What then would be the meaning and purpose of action and reaction?

"Perfect Masters absorb the dual effect of the universal illusion by taking humanity out of the illusion, through liberating mankind from the bonds of action and reaction. The Perfect Master absorbs duality in His True Existence in order to sublimate it.

"Ramakrishna had cancer, and He could, in one instant, have cured it with His Infinite Powers. Jesus, several times, fainted on the Cross which He could have avoided; but it was a necessary demonstration for the good of humanity."

In other words, the Perfect Ones do not abrogate the Law which they themselves establish, but humbly submit to it and bear the limitations and sufferings of ordinary human life. They also make use of the Law of action and reaction by inviting the suffering upon themselves that would otherwise have fallen upon humanity as its just due.

As His unbounded act of mercy, the Christ-Conscious One takes our suffering upon Him. He is literally crucified every moment of His mission on earth. His outward physical suffering, whatever form it may take, is only an outward token and sign of His enormous inner burden. Feeling Himself as One with all and in all, He must of necessity be aware of all our limitations, ignorance and suffering, physical, mental and spiritual. As He has said, "Everything comes to Me. I know all. If I did not know all, I would not be Baba."

One can only imagine the additive power of the suffering of the billions of human minds in existence; one can only gauge the depth of His Divine Bliss by the fact that it can balance and sustain such suffering. As He said just recently, "The suffering of the whole Universe is concentrated on this little spot (of the fracture). This is a tangible expression of the Universal Suffering I bear."

His physical suffering is that mysterious, divine, redemptive exchange for our human suffering. "So it was, so it is, so it will always be," He seems to say. His words about the recent accident are significant: "I am happy. It is as I wanted it;" and, "What the Divine Will has decreed must and will happen; and if I am the Divine Personification you believe Me to be, then the last thing I would do is to avert or avoid it."