A good-natured servant named Genu was to look after Mohammed; Genu had been called from Meherabad by Baba for that specific purpose. Mohammed was to remain near Baba throughout the tour. Chanji joined them at Mughal Serai.
Baba left Jabalpur the same day in the Blue Bus at 4:45 P.M. with the women's group. Kaka and Eruch rode in front with Elizabeth, and Eruch occasionally drove. Reaching Katni in the evening, they stayed at the Bajans' home. They left for Benares at six the next morning and reached there at five o'clock. Chhagan had rented bungalows in the cantonment area (near the Civil Hotel), where Adi Sr. and the rest of his group were already waiting.
In the morning of 18 January, Baba took the women for a boat ride on the sacred Ganges River.
He explained the significance of Benares and the Ganges, and remarked, "Every Avatar has come to this city and touched his feet in this river's waters."1
There are more than 1,500 temples in Benares.
When Baba showed them the temple of Visheshwar (the Almighty), he remarked with a smile, "You are seeing the temple of Visheshwar in Visheshwar's company!"
To the men, he commented, "Since ancient times, the holy city of Benares has been the abode of saints, rishis and highly advanced souls. As such, it is imbued with a spiritual atmosphere, congenial, and helpful to any spiritual aspirant or seeker. As to the shrines and temples that abound here, it is not the walls of bricks and stones, but the atmosphere and environment here that breathe spirituality [because of the presence of advanced souls]."
Baba further explained that, while the masses make pilgrimage to such places to "cleanse" themselves of sins, the Masters are drawn there only for their work and sanctify such places by their presence.
At 3:00 P.M. on the 18th, Baba went in a tonga through the ancient city's streets, with Chanji and Adi Sr., ostensibly to find an ideal boy but, in fact, to contact masts and sadhus. Along the way, Baba would often have the tonga stopped and get down to contact a specific person whom he spotted, sometimes giving them money and sometimes only looking at them. "His contact was only momentary," Age observed, "but it spanned ages!" For several years, Baba had not touched money, but, when it came to giving it to the masts, sadhus and the poor, he would give it with his own hands.
Footnotes
- 1.Benares (now called Varanasi) is one of the oldest cities in the world, thriving since the time of Babylon.