THE GOD-MAN The Life, Journeys and Work of Meher Baba with an ...

140 THE GOD MANeither Baidul, Kaka or Eruch were employed, either alone or together, but many of the mandalihave participated in this work in one way or another.That this was arduous work for all involved need hardly be said. It meant long journeys,sometimes by train, more often on foot, over sand, through jungle, over mountains, riding oncamels, mules, and asses, in bullock carts and tongas, without wasting a moment. Every instructionby Baba had to be complied with to the last detail. When the disciple returned the journey had to bemade again with Baba. Dr Donkin says:After two or three days of work from dawn to dusk with little or no food, and after two or threenights with little or no sleep, the world simply becomes unreal, and one lives a kind of reflex life inwhich the parts of one's body move and work; but the zest of living, and the sense of well-being,dependent, one supposes, upon a nervous system refreshed by sleep, and upon tissues nourished byadequate food, are simply no longer there ... and this tempo of work goes on and on, Baba everspurring those with him to the very limits of their powers.(The Wayfarers, p.162.)This strenuous effort and hardship in which Baba shared to the full, demanding nothing of hismandali that he did not surpass, went on month after month, year after year, with periods ofrecuperation at Meherabad, and intervals of more or less prolonged fast and seclusion for Baba.We are intended to understand that masts are important to Baba, not only because only he canhelp them, but, because of their spiritual state, by helping them in their own development he ishelping mankind in general through them. They are channels of spiritual impulse of the greatestvalue. Sympathetic response from these men demands very careful handling and full respect fortheir whims and vagaries. If it meant only that Baba should touch them physically the work wouldhave been far less exacting, but much more had to be done. As a mast is in a state of emotionalupheaval, he swerves and swings mentally and often physically. His fervour of God-love raises himin feverish protest: he disapproves of the very existence of God hidden in humanity and strugglesfor redemption from his own self-created misery. If he is naive, he reacts in passive resistance byevading contact with anyone, so that actual contact by Baba is carried out in hurried and speedymovements; the process is rather like drawing out the entire being of