it has already been done, - there are so many war-blind." In Switzerland the rich blind could study, and the poor blind could only make baskets or brushes. It's terrible that a blind person has to do such a work which doesn't even sustain him. They asked me to start to train the blind to become telephone operators, to help with a school in another town. I hadn't been a teacher. I'd never seen blind people except in India and there were no blind people in our family, but I said Yes. I thought perhaps Baba had sent this opportunity. The first girl I got was so nice, she made it easy for me, but then I went to Germany to the Siemens factory where they had developed gadgets for blind people to be able to work at the switchboards. There the switchboards could be adjusted for them. So, I didn't have to go into a new profession. I could start with this work. Even if I got better offers elsewhere, I had to stay there because I couldn't leave the blind alone. I talked with those at the school and said we would train the blind to be better operators; if they were not really good, no one will employ them. Today, it is much better, handicapped people are taken as human beings.

The schooling went on. I was accepted there. I even was appointed as a proper teacher for the blind and other handicapped.(I even got accepted as a teacher for invalid (disability) insurance which started in Switzerland.) I could train while working because we had enough switchboards, and also because it was a good advertisement for our firm to say we had the gadgets to employ these people and train them. At that time there was a shortage of operators so it was a good start for them, also the special gadgets had to be ordered from our firm.

The girls and boys who came also got that invalid insurance because they accepted me as their teacher. Although I never learned to be an operator, I never learned to be a teacher, I never understood anything about the psychology of the blind, Baba gave me this training. I didn't go to any school - I just went to Baba school. That was my recognition and it also gave me satisfaction. You see, if you are married you can have children and give them a good start in life. But now I had so many children; I had to give them all a good start in life. You see I am telling all this not to boast about myself, but to show how Baba helped me to find a work which gave me satisfaction.

The other companies also started to ask me to keep other handicapped or paraplegic people. Siemens did not want only blind ones. They told me they could work at home. I said, "Look here, I don't like that. If something happens to you tomorrow, you are the same human being you are today, you need contact with other human beings." So they allowed me to take some with disabled hands or those who were lame on one side etc., together with my blind boys and girls. With different gadgets, one could also work with one hand. One lame girl said "I can't rub out something wrong I have written down." I said, "Yes you can, you just take your lame hand on the paper and rub it like this." There are many ways you can do things if you try. So that was very happy work which Baba gave me. When I was asking to learn something more, to have something to do which satisfied me, he helped me find it.

Question: For what reason did Baba tell you and the others to keep silent?

The order for each of us was different and was written down. For instance Rano was not allowed to read anything; that was very hard. It's easier to keep silence than not to read anything because wherever you walk your eyes are open and you read -- for example you see the word 'Exit' and read it. People used to say very laughingly, "Baba gave you silence because you like to talk a lot and sing." I don't think that was the reason at all. You see, silence means you also silence your desires. The way I felt, if you are silent, you save energy. You might have noticed it if you kept silence on Baba's Silence Day, or if you keep silence for yourself. Also, you hear yourself thinking. All the religions in the West don't put the stress on keeping your mind clean. We think, nobody can see what we think, we can think what we like, and if we talk nicely and smile, people will think we're nice. But if you keep silence you hear your own thoughts. You are conscious of what you are thinking. Then you have to start controlling because your conscience keeps bothering you, you feel bad things coming up from your subconscious or