That's How it Was : Stories of Life with Meher Baba

Now it so happened that...there was to be a big industrial fair in Bombay. There were huge tents set up over acres of open land, and there were hundreds and hundreds of booths underneath and thousands of people coming each day, so the Bombay lovers thought, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could obtain a booth and have literature and information about Baba there so that all these people could hear about Him?" And that is what they did. How they arranged it all, that I don't know. You will have to ask one of the Bombay people, but somehow they managed and set up a booth and the crowds did start coming. And the people who came were very curious to know about Meher Baba. But the ones who came kept putting the same question to them and they didn't know how to answer it. For the people would ask them "Who is Meher Baba?" and they didn't know what to say.

Some said, "He is the Ancient One." Others said, "He is the Highest of the High." The Bombay lovers said whatever came to them, whatever they took Baba to be, but they found that no matter what they said, it didn't satisfy the crowd. And they got desperate. How to answer this question? People kept asking it over and over and they didn't have any answer. So they called Baba. We were in Poona at the time, and I remember I answered the phone and they explained the situation to me and they said, "Eruch, what should we say?" So I said, "Baba is in the next room, hold on and I will ask Him." And I did.

Baba seemed amused at this situation, but He told me to tell them that when someone asked, "Who is Meher Baba," they should reply, "He is the one who provokes this question in you. The Being of all beings." Just that. ...

And that satisfied people. When the Bombayites told this to people, they felt astonished but satisfied. It made sense to them in a way that "Ancient One" and "Highest of the High" and whatnot did not. This, they could understand. Baba is the one who prompts us to seek Him out. Our curiosity to find out about God, or Truth, that itself is Baba. A Sufi saint once said that our very question to God, "Where are You?" is His answer "Here I am." That it is because we feel His presence that we are moved to search for Him and cry out in desperation, "Where are You?" When we don't feel His presence, we don't miss Him, we don't start looking for Him. What a game it all is.