Sweet Story of an Elephant

While looking through some old notebooks I had brought with me on trips to India, I found this sweet story that Sam Kerawala (Eruch's cousin, known for his skillful storytelling) told at the Samadhi.

A small circus that toured villages had among its few animals an elephant who had been trained to garland any person who sat in a particular chair. They would seat the headman of the village in that chair, and at the beginning of the show the elephant would go and garland him. The intention was to flatter the headman so that he would be favorably disposed toward the circus troupe. On one particular occasion, Meher Baba happened to be in the audience. As the show started, the elephant came forward with its garland, but instead of going to the special chair that the headman was sitting in, as it was trained to do, all on its own the elephant went directly to Baba and garlanded him!