Living with Baba

Baba's mission on this earth is to uplift humanity's spiritual status en masse to the next stage of evolution. He did not come here just to liberate a few privileged individuals. He wants to accelerate the earth's evolutionary process, so that the future humanity would be able to operate on a higher plane, bringing it a step closer to a neo-humanistic civilization - an advanced civilization that recognizes every manifestation in the universe as a blissful expression of the Supreme Consciousness; one that is characterized by love for the Supreme Consciousness; and one that is ensconced in the joy of freedom. Such a stage in human evolution would open up vast, innumerable possibilities for human progress, linking matter with mind and spirit; bringing a wealth of new knowledge and experience, scientific and spiritual, mundane and metaphysical.

From the perspective of the earth's natural evolution, the establishment of a neo-humanistic civilization lies hidden far in the future. Humanity is currently at a transitional stage between animality and real humanity. The natural process of evolution is painfully slow. It is not possible for a single spiritually enlightened human being to push the whole of humanity a scale or two higher in the evolutionary ladder. It really needs the direct intervention of Taraka Brahma for that purpose. To create a truly human society on this planet, He had sown the seeds to create many enlightened beings - spiritual giants called sadvipras, who would be the torch- bearers of the human society marching towards a glorious, new future. He once said that He will make saints of His Margiis and gods of His workers.

In 1987, I was the EI-1 (dada in-charge of education) at the Central Office in Tiljala, Calcutta. Once, at noontime, during the reporting session, Baba asked me many questions about the different plants that should be grown in each project in Ananda Nagar. He had earlier given a complete list of the plants that should be grown in each project. There were many different types of plants, each performing a different function. There were boundary plants to be planted on the borders; plants to be planted on slopes; intermediate plants within the project site; water-based plants in pools and ponds; medicinal plants; plants that attracted rain-clouds; and decorative plants, among others.

I was unable to answer His pointed questions and had to repeatedly turn to my records for the answers. To every question he posed on each project, I had to fumble with my notes, desperately hoping to find the right answer. For every question, I gave a half-reply or no reply at all. Of course, as an ordinary person, it was impossible for me to have memorized the voluminous list of plants to be grown in more than one hundred projects in Ananda Nagar. I certainly do not have a photographic memory.

He became annoyed at my incompetence. For Him, I should know every detail, every bit of information on all subjects under my charge. Not knowing these details amounted to gross incompetence and, therefore, rendered me unfit to continue holding a leadership position in the organization's administrative hierarchy.

Of course, He knows that we are imperfect and limited in every way, and that on our own, we are not able to bring about the momentous civilizational changes He envisions.

Nevertheless, to continue the drama, and perhaps, to highlight the importance of acquiring all types of knowledge, he quipped, "Why can't you remember anything if I can remember everything?"

I replied that it was easy for Baba to have all the information and knowledge at the tip of His fingers, but that it was an impossible task for an ordinary man like me.

To heighten the drama, He then recited the list of plants for every single project in Ananda Nagar. He rattled off the names of the plants like a tape-recorder, methodical and precise.

After sometime, I got tired listening to Him and remarked, "Yes Baba, it is only possible for You, as only You are Baba." To that He immediately replied, "You are My mini-baba. You should also know everything."

Although the standards He sets are presently impossible for any human being to follow, it nevertheless gives us a glimpse of the inherent characteristics of the future leaders of society - at once giant intellectuals, towering moralists and great spiritualists. In short, super human beings.