"He is blessed because he can make me happy." Baba embraced him after the program and gave him his handkerchief. Baba also had a photo taken of Sri Patwardhan with himself. After he left, Madhusudan sang a few ghazals. The day ended with each one going to Baba, kissing his hand, and then leaving the hall.

April 28:—A lady with her two children came to see Baba. Baba asked her, "Do these kids trouble you?" She replied, "Yes, Baba." Baba said, "If only two kids can make your life a living hell, can you imagine my plight, for I have billions of children!"

Some more women arrived and wanted to embrace Baba. Baba said, “You come here with big buckets to receive my Love, but unfortunately your buckets are closed tightly with lids and so you cannot take away my love in spite of trying your best. As a result you can never have enough of my Love and want to embrace me every time you come here."

I told Baba of a man in my town who had powers to drive out evil spirits from people who were possessed by them. I asked Baba how these powers could be developed and whether the people who had them were really advanced souls on the Path. This question led to a big discourse. Baba said, "It is possible to derive such powers if you gain Tantric knowledge. These powers may then be utilized for good or bad purposes. Good when they are utilized for removing bad spirits from people and bad when they are utilized for selfish sins and for self-aggrandizement. Such powers have nothing to do with the Spiritual Path. Miracles performed by people who possess such powers are very childish. Even Swami Vivekananda got himself in a fix when he began to crave such powers. His guru, Ramakrishna, saved him in the nick of time."

Baba then explained that a person who seeks to gain such powers sometimes resorts to sitting within the limits of a small circle for 40 days and nights repeating a mantra. If he succeeds in sitting there for 40 days without a break, he gains certain powers. Baba said that it is not easy to go through such an ordeal as the person often sees weird and frightful sights during the period and is practically forced to leave the boundaries of the circle due to fright. If he leaves the circle he gets no powers and would have to start the process again.

Regarding miracles Baba told us the story of Baba Farid of Shakarganj. He said, "Farid did a lot of penance in order to gain powers. He did not