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

380 THE GOD-MANpuzzled about this, trying to explain away the elements of chance, but I do not think they need to do so. Babais subject to chance as are all men, for chance is an element in human life, though what chance means to himis another matter. An obvious difference is that he does not react in the normal way, for he does not appear tobe taken by surprise, and does not resist, or complain: on the contrary he accepts, takes responsibility, andacts as though he had chosen what had taken place. The two car accidents illustrate this fully; both were veryserious and had in the obvious sense gravely ill effects. He did not allow them to be so treated. Everypossible help and attention were given to those involved with him, and his personal sufferings were severe,but all was regarded as part of a plan. Thus the factor of chance disappeared, transformed by his will. WhenDr Nilu was killed in the second accident, Baba's comment was, 'He is blessed; for he has come to me'.As Baba is subject to chance, so is he subject to heat and cold, and the ordinary ills of man, just as he can beignored, misunderstood and attacked. Were he to choose to be a miracleworker, he could no doubt overcomethese obstacles, sustain his life by other than normal means as the advanced yogis do, and make himselfaccepted by those who reject him, but he does not do so. He evades nothing, and could say with the greatMilarepa, 'mine illness to me is an adornment'. He has said that his body is to him as the nail is to the toe: heis simultaneously careful of it and ignores it.(7)That many people should look for the marvelous is to be expected, but unless Baba is accepted as a man hecannot be accepted on any terms at all. If he is not a man, he is not for us, and as a man he is consciouslylimited, though the extent of that limitation it is not possible to define. I have written about him as a man,objectively, not aiming to present him in one aspect but all round, as far as that is possible; and before I goon to attempt an explanation of the nature and structure of his life, I hope that interest in him as a man willhave been established.