"'What do you think of the KUMBHA MELA?'
"'I was greatly disappointed, sir.' I added hastily, 'Up until the
time I met you. Somehow saints and this commotion don't seem to
belong together.'
"'Child,' the master said, though apparently I was nearly twice
his own age, 'for the faults of the many, judge not the whole.
Everything on earth is of mixed character, like a mingling of sand
and sugar. Be like the wise ant which seizes only the sugar, and
leaves the sand untouched. Though many sadhus here still wander in
delusion, yet the MELA is blessed by a few men of God-realization.'
"In view of my own meeting with this exalted master, I quickly
agreed with his observation.
"'Sir,' I commented, 'I have been thinking of the scientific
men of the West, greater by far in intelligence than most people
congregated here, living in distant Europe and America, professing
different creeds, and ignorant of the real values of such MELAS
as the present one. They are the men who could benefit greatly by
meetings with India's masters. But, although high in intellectual
attainments, many Westerners are wedded to rank materialism. Others,
famous in science and philosophy, do not recognize the essential
unity in religion. Their creeds serve as insurmountable barriers
that threaten to separate them from us forever.'
"'I saw that you are interested in the West, as well as the East.'
Babaji's face beamed with approval.
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