What a pity that he must shake the earth to make it happen. It is because we are all so blinded by the dazzling illusion that is Maya. So dazzled are we, that we have no time for God. And no place in our hearts for love to burn. There in that chair of humility sits suffering the One who will ignite that flame of love everywhere and at once. Is that now what is meant when it is prophesied that this time the world will be destroyed by fire? It is not the fire of divine love that we all await?

I said, "Baba, I think a lot about your suffering but while I am here with you I cannot believe that you suffer." He said nothing, for there in my presence sat the Lord, Master of all the ages and cycles of man, the one who suffered on the cross, the one who always comes to lead us forward towards the light.

This was the day, this day of darshan, when Lord Krishna in ages past is said to have triumphed as Avatar over the forces of destruction in the world. But Baba was not, at this moment, Lord Krishna, nor the Avatar, he was simply my own intimate personal Master of Love and Compassion and Truth. There was Baba the man-guru; and God made me love him in his humble and unadorned perfection.

I had been totally unprepared for the love that my Master poured upon me. He came down to me and that was his love, patting my back, caressing my face and smiling that unfathomable smile of knowledge and bliss. Then Baba said, You have already been here a half an hour. All of that had passed and more, in half an hour, "Normally I give only 5 minutes ' darshan these days "Thinking it was over, I began to prepare myself to leave, putting on my glasses which Baba had told me to remove when I first embraced him.

But Baba put his hand on me and said that it was not time for us to go yet. With that, Baba began to shower us with gifts. First he gave us new photos of himself—Baba praying to Baba, God praying to God. Baba prays for us because we do not know how to pray. Then Babu gave me a lovely golden scarf which he had worn when last visiting the United States. Then he gave me a very beautiful embroidered shawl which he had worn over his knees in winter. It was given folded up so that I did not realize its tremendous size nor the extreme variety and beauty of its workmanship. I could smell the camphor on it fresh and clean. Baba had been keeping it for me for a long time.

Baba's voice of intuition told me that I must receive these gifts in silence and mental passivity. I felt no thanks, for I had come, though not knowing it, to receive those gifts which were always mine in Baba's love. I felt that eventually I would learn the deeper significance of these gifts.