money, we all have our lives. Meher Baba does not ask us to give up anything physically. He asks us to lead a most practical life, honest, straight-forward, being in the world as we are. Gone are the days when a man, even for the purpose of getting intellectual knowledge, would take upon himself a life of renunciation, a life of sannyas,* would exclude himself from all the activities of the world to go to a distant place and do sadhanas** for a number of years. These difficulties have been removed now. They do not exist anymore. Just as I have said, when a man had to walk long distances, when there were no railway trains, no motor-cars, no airplanes, it took him a number of days to travel from one town to another. Now that God has endowed us with scientific knowledge we can fly, we can motor from one place to another, we can go by train, in a far shorter time than we could before. Distances and obstacles are removed. Baba said, "I have created a most practical, most simple path, if you really make up your mind."

It is to our advantage when we determine our resolve to love God. Everything else will work out and eventually we will come to know who we are. He doesn't want anything from us. He doesn't want our money, He doesn't want our services. He does not desire anything from us. Baba said, "I only want your pure unadulterated, unselfish love and nothing else." Why does He ask us to give our love? He Himself is the ocean of love. I have been with Meher Baba for fifty years and I know that He is the very symbol, the very embodiment of love. Why does that ocean of love desire small loves from every individual? It is not for Himself at all. But by drawing love from every individual, He is able to reach out and give His grace and blessings to everyone.

We should establish a link with Him. It may be just a small tube or a small pipeline running right from our hearts to the ocean. Should we be rich or poor, educated or uneducated, talented or untalented or the worst booby in the world, He doesn't bother about it. High birth, low birth, any nationality, man, woman or child, it makes no difference whatsoever. With Meher Baba, there is one God. With Meher Baba, there is one love. With Meher Baba, there is one man. All the differences are on the surface. Meher Baba says, "Life is One." Differences are only born out of ignorance, and nothing else. He has made it very easy. He says to lead our own life, follow our own religion. He says He has not come to displace anything, He has not come to take anything away from us, He does not want anything from us, but if we establish a link with Him we will see the results of what happens.

Our life is really a tamasha. What is tamasha? Tamasha is a concept, a drama, like a film we see on the screen. Why do the poets call life a tamasha, because a tamasha does not last at all. It comes and goes; it flies away. It is a passing show. Our life is a passing show. Yesterday I was, today I am, tomorrow I am not going to be. Man is born, man lives, man dies. You see, life is not permanent at all. It is all moving. It is all shifting. Our life is built on shifting sand. Can anyone show me a single instance where anything is permanent? Saints are born, sinners are born, paupers are born. Avatars are born, even Meher Baba, who we look upon as Avatar, has dropped his body, so everything is just a passing show and nothing at all.

Meher Baba says, "You experience this as a passing show." Why? Because we do not know who we are. We only know ourselves as body. Thoughts come to us. We do not know the source of the thoughts. They come and pass through our mind and we think. There are certain feelings that we feel, certain impressions we get, but we do not know the source. We identify ourselves with our body, thoughts, feelings, and nothing beyond. God has endowed us with a human life. It is only meant for this. Is it worthwhile living for things that exist for today? Tomorrow they are not. Supposing a man builds a house and collects a lot of wealth in the house, knowing all along that tomorrow it will be stolen or destroyed. Of what avail is his interest in it? What is it going to get him after all? It won't stay with him. The very body with which we live twenty-four hours a day is going to go away; we are sure of it, and yet we cling to it and look upon it as though it were going to live forever.

*renunciation

**spiritual disciplines