All chapters37 of 42

Tour of 1949

O PAPA, the bestower of bliss! After you returned from the tour in 1938, you did not leave the Ashram again for some years. As your health was not good I was asking you not to go on tours. At last, in 1949, a devotee of Limbdi, who was badly ill at Bangalore, addressed you a letter requesting you to come to him. Drawn by the love of your devotees you decided to go on tour again. So, in the company of a devotee you prepared to start. As for me, I was caught in a dilemma. By nature I do not like to go on travels. I felt that if I did not go with you this time there would be nobody to take care of your body and give you meals at regular intervals. So I started with you, taking with me some Ashramites, fearing that if I left them in the Ashram they would create discord and dissension.

O all-pervading Papa! Prior to our leaving the Ashram, we informed some of your devotees beforehand through correspondence and went to the places where we were invited. At all the places we visited we had not to face the least trouble and we lived as comfortably and happily as in the Ashram. At this time some Maharajas also invited you to their palaces and served you with all devotion.

O love-incarnate Papa! Wherever we went, thousands of people used to come to you for Darshan. As their hearts were filled with great love and devotion for you, the moment they had your Darshan, their hairs would stand on end and tears of joy would flow down their eyes. Some devotees, finding you in their homes, were so transported with joy that they forgot their bodies and sat still without knowing what to do.

O Papa, the lover of devotees! Wherever you went, devotees would assemble together and perform Bhajan in a loud voice with great spiritual fervour. At other times they would sit in your presence and swim in an ocean of bliss.

O Papa, the lover of the humble! Having been attracted by the love of the devotees, with a view to infuse divine joy into them, you were thereafter going on tour every year for several years. As for me, I was beginning to get tired of the tours and did not like to come with you. The devotees living in the Ashram, to whom we entrusted the responsibility of running it while we were away on tour, were also getting tired of it. Further, whenever we went on a tour, the friends who invited us to their places had to look after the devotees who accompanied us and also extend their hospitality to the ever increasing number of devotees who came for your Darshan. How far could this state of things continue?

Whenever we visited any place, people came for your Darshan in large numbers and everyday was like a huge celebration. Everybody knows how difficult it is to manage even ordinary celebrations for long periods. How then could the devotees escape from being put to trouble when we visited them for a number of days thrice a year? So some of them came to feel that it would be well that we did not go so often to their places. But there were also devotees who liked to have us with them any number of times. At some places we became objects of ridicule as people remarked that we were on tour for collecting funds.

O Papa, the ocean of kindness! In all the places we visited, I would ask our hosts to offer the visitors refreshments, etc., as hosts and visitors were both mine. If the devotees presented you with money and cloth I would distribute them as prasad to the poor visitors, with the object that the minds of these devotees would turn towards the goal of God-realisation. Some devotees who came to know of this did not appreciate my giving away things like this.

O blissful Papa! Another habit of mine was that I used to admonish devotees, whoever they might be, whether rich or poor – on the basis of my feeling that I was their eternal child – when I saw them living and acting with the sole object of pursuing transitory pleasures. As they did not understand that I was their child, they would take ill my advice and lose the opportunity of achieving true happiness.

O universal Papa! Wherever we went, the devotees were prepared to treat you and those who accompanied you with hospitality; but in some places they did not attend on the visitors who came to see you. The reason was that while you and the visitors were absorbed in bliss while conversing, their minds would not turn to the visitors and they were not even aware of their presence. Whenever I became aware of this I would suggest to the host to turn his attention to the visitors. Some liked this while others did not.

O omnipresent Papa! When we were on tour the people of the homes in which we stayed were happy over our visit. As they had immense devotion for you, whenever I wished to give anything to anybody I would induce them to part with things freely, which they did. By this they felt happy. Moreover, some were never satisfied however much they gave to you.