The Master and the Old Man's Four Sons
A Story Told by Avathar Meher Baba
All his life, the old man would come to the master.
One day, he said to him:
"Master, now I am old. Very soon I will die. I also want my four sons to follow you, so please advise them."
"All right, bring them tomorrow," the master replied.
The next day, of course, the old man brought all four sons to the
master.
"One at a time, send your sons to me," the master instructed the old
man.
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The first son came before the master, who enquired, "What do you want
to do?"
"Master, whatever you want me to do, I will do," the first son replied.
So the master told him, "I am very, very happy. Last night, I was
thinking about you and what would be good for you. If you do a normal job,
then, of course, you will become a slave. You will be bound. This is
not good for you, you should be free! Do you want to cultivate land?"
"Yes, master, if you want me to do it."
"Become a farmer. Cultivate the land, and you will be free. But don't
tell anyone, this is a secret for you. Now go."
So the first son left, thinking that the master had given him something
secret and that he must not tell anyone.
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The second son then came to the master.
"If I ask you to cultivate the land," the master said, "what might
happen? Sometimes it will rain, and sometimes it will not. If it rains,
then you will have a good crop. But if it does not rain, then you will
have a bad one. So do you want to cultivate land?"
And the second boy answered, "Master, you please decide."
"No, land cultivation is not good for you. Go into business. If you
do, you will earn a lot. So, do you want to go into business?"
"Of course, master, if that is what you want!"
"Good. But this is a secret for you. Go out and go into business. Do
not tell anyone."
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Then the third son came to the master.
The master said to him, "I was thinking about you, and what you should
do. If you cultivate land, that will be no good. If I ask you to go
into business, then sometimes you will incur a loss and sometimes a
gain. So, this also would be no good for you. But if you take a job, on
the first of every month, you will get a salary. Do you want this?"
"Yes, I would like a job if you want me to have one, master," said the
third one.
And the master said, "Okay, good. But this is our secret. Do not tell
anyone."
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Then the fourth son came to the master.
"Of course, I have been thinking about you," said the master. "If you
do land cultivation, there will be rain at some times, and no rain at
others. This is no good for you. If I ask you to do business, you will
incur a loss. Also no good. If I ask you to do a job, you will become
a servant, and this, too, will be no good for you. So why don't you
remain here with me?"
And the fourth son replied, "Master, I had wanted to be with you!"
"This is a secret, so do not tell anyone," the master informed the
fourth son.
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Why did the Perfect Master give different orders to the different sons?
Because their treatment needed be according to the disease from which
each one suffered.
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Though we don't know our own disease, everybody has one. Only the
masters know this.
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So why Baba has said, "Remember Me and follow My Wish?"
Only the One who knows impressions can give a person proper treatment
according to their disease (impressions).
You cannot say, "Just do this or do that" as a spiritual discipline, because spiritual discipline is different for everyone.
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What is spiritual discipline?
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"Eat like this; don't eat like that?"
But what importance is there in eating or sitting?
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Eat everything!
Sit comfortably!
Why sit like this or like that?
That is not spirituality.
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In spirituality, we should be free from all these impressions.
Only when impressions are wiped out are we really free.
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He is doing everything for us, and He has taken on the burden of our
impressions for us.
He is an expert cleaner; it is His business.
Impressions are an obstruction, and when they are cleaned, awakening will
occur.
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If you had spoken to the Mandali members who had been with Meher Baba,
they would have told you that the instructions Baba gave them were
specifically for them, not for people in general.
Baba would give orders according to the individual Mandali member's need.
For example:
Gustadji only observed silence and did nothing else:
Eruch and I, however, always had a lot of work:
His orders were always according to the disease:
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Only Beloved Baba knew what our disease was, and He gave us
treatment correspondingly.
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( to see Nadia Wolinska's illustration of this story, go to:
http://www.jaibaba.com/mandali/bhauji/book/foursons.html )
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courtsey:[email protected]
Bhau's Children's Book: Story #
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