journey at Amraoti, from where a friend of mine persuaded me to go to a disciple of Dada Maharaj, who is a great saint in Berar. While I had entered upon a close spiritual discussion with this man, he delivered to me a special message which he felt he had inwardly received from Meher Baba himself, to give me.

Through the contents of this unexpected message, which however came at the right time, I received the explanation of what had happened at Sakori; and I saw clearly how Maharaj had really wanted not only to test my faith in Meher Baba, but to take me through the intense pain of doubt for some time, so that I could no more be a victim of the cheap desire to go on seeking unnecessary corroboration for what was based upon personal experience. The tendency to seek endless corroboration even after personal experience, is definitely a hindrance in the ripening of that unshakable faith, which is the supreme condition of benefiting by the help of the Master; and this tendency can sometimes be permanently cured only by taking a disciple through a state of intense doubt and making him realize the pain thereof, so that he learns through contrast the real value of faith in personal experience, and faith in the Master. After these explanations I could correctly interpret to myself the happenings at Sakori, and realize how the working of the Masters is not only different from the ordinary ways of the world but is utterly beyond the grasp of the limited intellect of man.

Among other things, Maharaj had uttered at Sakori a cryptic sentence: "First bitter and then sweet." The full meaning of this became clear to me when later I received the expected corroboration about the divinity and spiritual perfection of Meher Baba not only from Maharaj himself, but from other well-known saints like Dada Maharaj (who is otherwise known in Berar as Ukeerda Maharaj, since in his Videhi state of God-intoxication, he spent years on dung-heaps, entirely indifferent to his body or surroundings) and Babaji Maharaj of Lodhikhera (who is a great Bhakta and who out of his esteem for Meher Baba even came with me to Nasik to participate in Meher Baba’s Birthday celebrations, in 1937).

When I saw Meher Baba for the first time after my visit to Sakori, I found that he had known all that had happened at Sakori and subsequently; and when I referred to my visit to Maharaj, he asked me to go to Maharaj again and note how he would receive me with love. The next occasion of having the darshan of Maharaj came to me at Nagpur, where he had come for a short visit in 1936. This time, Maharaj received me