(May 1959) One day a young man from South India came to see Baba. He wished to recite a Sanskrit shloka before Baba, claiming he had composed it in praise of Baba’s love and glory. Baba allowed him to recite it and appeared to like it. Looking at Ramakrishnan, Baba asked, “How did you like it?” Ramakrishnan knew that the verse was from a Vedantic book and not the man’s own as he had claimed, and he said this. Baba scowled. “You are a fool!” The man, who was annoyed and hurt, repudiated Ramakrishnan’s statement, asserting again that he had written it himself.
After the gathering ended and the man had left, Baba asked Ramakrishnan, “What are you thinking?”
“Baba, there is a conflict in my mind between the truth and love. When you asked me, I said the truth that the verse was not written by that man. I know it was from a certain book.”
Baba replied, “Don’t worry now. Forget it. I wanted you to admire it so that the man would feel happy and be encouraged to love me more. At the same time, he would have realized that he had told a lie before me and would have felt ashamed.”
Lord Meher, Original Publication, Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 16 – p. 5580.
[This day in 1952 (24th May) Baba underwent self-imposed suffering by way of an automobile accident at Oklahoma, Prague, USA.]