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

264 THE GOD-MANmy head as if I knew'. Evidently he considers Persian, English, Hindi, Gujerati, Urdu and Marathi adequateto serve him. He then called another disciple from the ashram, Sidhu Kamble, to sing a devotional song,which Sidhu did with varied inflection and appropriate gestures, which Baba translated, at least in part,with occasional comments:"One who loves cannot talk about loving, and my Beloved seems not to care for me. When my heart wasdrawn by the locks of my Beloved, I thought the locks were very near, hut now I have walked all my life,until my feet are full of blisters, and they are still far from me."Here Baba interjected, 'Baba also is so near, and yet so far!' Then the song continued:"When the lips of separation tried to touch the cup of Union, hundreds and hundreds of lovers wereburned."At these words Baba applauded, and arose, and led the party to the dhuni nearby, where shavings ofsandalwood had been heaped and covered with ghee (clarified butter) and a crowd of Arangaon villagershad gathered, waiting for Baba to light the dhuni, and begin the ceremonies which they had planned as amark of their devotion to him. Following the lighting of the dhuni came the performance of arti by theheadman of Arangaon and several women, who also garlanded Baba and took the dust off his feet.The Call of Baba is God's Voice,The Order of Baba is God's Will,The Prasad of Baba is God's Presence,The Love of Baba is God's Grace,The Goal of Baba is God-Realization.Then an elderly native with an elephant horn mounted the platform on which the dhuni is situated, andwas embraced warmly by Baba who invited him to blow the ancient horn. This was the signal for aprocession to the village, led by men dancers from the village, who performed a harvest dance to theaccompaniment of drums, bells and chains, with an occasional blast from the elephant horn. All the wayalong the road from the dhuni to the village, which is about a quarter of a mile, men, women and childrenwho had been waiting at the edge of the road, pressed forward, trying to touch Baba and, if possible, totake up the dust at his feet to apply it to their foreheads.