I had a recent conversation with someone about telling a family member about Meher Baba. The family member isn’t interested and that’s been a bit frustrating for the Baba-lover relative. Understandable; of course most of us want to share the most important thing in our lives, but the recipients don’t always want us to do that.

So what to do? Well, we could start by remembering that Meher Baba said it is enough for some people to simply hear his name. In other words, say his name and then, if there’s no response, leave it alone. I remember many years ago saying his name to a group of beings from whom I didn’t even expect a response. They were the lions, tigers and bears at the Bronx Zoo. Who knows what effect his name had on them? It is actually none of my business, but I’m sure Baba knows and that’s what’s important. I don’t have to actually see a result. But I do sometimes wonder when I meet a Baba lover with a definite leonine look!

One of the best stories I ever heard about someone simply hearing Meher Baba’s name happened some 30 years ago in Miami. A girl was walking down the street when a young man came dancing toward her, yelling at the top of his lungs, “Meher Baba loves me! Meher Baba loves me!” Totally intrigued, the girl set out to discover who “Meher Baba” was. She did and promptly accepted him. She never saw the young man again, so of course he had no idea of the result of his cries.

There are so many stories which should tell us that it is Meher Baba alone who attracts his lovers. He certainly uses us from time to time, but he just as certainly doesn’t need us beating people over the head because we think they should be interested. Remember what Baba said about not proselytizing? I think we have to develop a feeling for who might be interested, even drawn to Meher Baba. Going about it willy-nilly doesn’t seem to work very well. Large efforts to spread Meher Baba’s word seem mostly to draw one or two people and they are certainly worth the effort. Our mistake, I think, is in expecting a deluge of interest. Yes, I can think of one exception: that wondrous time in the late 1960s and early 1970s when there was a deluge. But expecting that to happen over and over again has only brought disappointment to those who expected it.

Better, I think, to watch and wait for “the few among the many” who, whether they know it or not, are about to be touched by his love and his grace.