Silla Hormuzd’s birthday was celebrated on April 20th (1940) with fresh mango ice cream. Besides an abundance of mangoes, Amboli had plenty of poisonous snakes, whose bites were said to mean certain death. Baba ordered all not to move about in the dark without a lamp. Once, Kitty and Nadine forgot their lanterns, and the next day, Baba took them to task, asking, “Why did you break my order? Do you think I am a fool?”
Nadine reasoned, “But had a snake bitten us, we would have died in your presence.”
“How would that have benefited you?” Baba asked.
“We would have merged in your Ocean!”
“Instead of drowning, you would have been carried to the shore! Merging in the Ocean is not for those who disobey. They are tossed up on the beach like an old piece of dried driftwood, and there they die! What gain is there in such a death?
“With me, one has to live while dying, so that you can live eternally, after dying such a death.
“Do you follow?” Nadine nodded that she did.
Lord Meher, Original ed., Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 7, 2550 – 2552.