Giving impression of these visits, His holiness said that what had struck him most were the close and friendly relationships that India settlers there had developed with the local people and the manner in which they were co-operating with them for the common good. This had given him great joy, and he had never missed an opportunity of impression on them the need of keeping up such relations and indentifying themselves more and more with the local people and their interests.

Asked whether he had any message to give his followers in those countries on the occasion of his birthday, he said that he would repeat the sentiments that he had expressed with regard to his followers in India. The fact that some of them were somewhat removed in space from him could make no difference whatsoever to his love and affection for them.

With a large and ever growing family, His holiness puts one in mind of a kindly patriarch of the good old days. Asked how he liked this role, he smiled and said that it was a pleasure. Every one of the adult members had his allotted sphere wherein he was autonomous and independent. This made for harmony, he remarked. All of them, working devotedly in their own fields, came to him with their individual problems which he was always happy to attend to. While loving all alike, could he be described as being a little partial to the young? His reply was ready nod.

His holiness was a voracious reader, his preference being for books on philosophy and history and occasionally on science. As for writing, he is equally devoted to prose and poetry. Any place and any spare, time even while moving about in his car, his good enough for him to turn out a prose piece of a poem, the main theme being philosophy.

It may not be so well known that among the many endowments that His holiness enjoys is a phenomenal memory, capable of recalling whole passages read but once, indicating where exactly a particular reference in point occurs in a weighty volume or describing the minutest details of a scene witnessed decades ago. It is largely a gift, he says, though he had developed it further by regular system of observation, trying to retain what is valuable and eschew the rest. Discrimination and earnest concentration on essentials is the secret of a good memory, he adds.

In answer to another personal question as to how he could manage with so little sleep and sometimes none at all, he said that he loved his work immensely and that, when engaged in it, the thought of rest never came to him. He had been following this routine for so many years that it had become second nature with him. Would he advise others to follow suit? No, he would not ask them to sleep as little as he did, but then they ought not to sleep longer than necessary either.

On the subject of health and long life, his views is that there is much to be said for a well-regulated disciplined routine, with plenty of hard, absorbing work thrown in. but one must leave off one’s work when one’s mind is on the point of getting tired. He is for moderation in food, exercise and rest.

Asked whether he had played any game in his life, he shook his head. He could remember having watched a football game or two in his younger days. His only exercise, he remarked, was saying Namaz (prayer) at the stipulated hours, while his relaxation was no more than change of work. Nevertheless, he would commend sports and also exercises like walking to other though of course, within limits.

Could he recall some occasion in his life which he could describe as the happiest or most memorable? His reply was that such occasion had been so frequent and so many in his experience that he could not single out any. In answer to another question, he said that the guiding motto of his life and work had been Taqva which liberally interpreted, means piety – obedience to God and practicing what one preaches.

The most striking impression that His holiness’s personality produces on an observer is that of rare serenity and a quite inner joy radiating through his smile. What could be the secret of such a frame of mind? His holiness’s reply was “Forbearance with what one does not like and thankfulness for what one likes”

The interview had lasted for nearly three hours, with a few interruptions when some prominent citizens called to pay their respects to him and when some followers came in for his blessing s and advice. Throughout he was composed, sitting in the same posture, earnest and yet relaxed. There was not the slightest air of tension or impatience associated with hard-worked men about him, albeit he works harder than most. He almost seemed to be in an airy realm of his own, a realm of purity and grace and of beauty of heart and mind, far removed from the fret and fever of the workaday world.

And his concluding words were:“I pray for the good of all, my followers and mankind as a whole”

Courtesy of Ashok Rao, “The Foundation’ monthly, June1960