I want 25 men who can, under proper circumstances, fast on water for seven days from the 25th to the 31st of July. By proper circumstances, I mean the person should be free of any responsibility. Otherwise, Dr. Ghani would say it would make his wife weep, and that would hinder my work.
In short, I want those who can fast freely and undisturbed. Either fast or keep silence. Even if you were to fast for 40 years, you would never be able to realize God. Otherwise, every dumbbell in the world would be God-realized! Adi Sr. has remained on water for 28 days. Pilamai of Karachi has lived on water for 31 days, and throughout the time was active in performing her household duties. Only when I sent an order from here did she begin taking food. Kitty and Ernest [her brother] lived on water in London for 40 days, and similarly others.
But all this fasting or silence has nothing to do with God or even the Path. The reason for this is, as you will know tomorrow, that good and bad both are binding. Not eating binds just as well as eating. In short, fasting and not fasting are both binding. God is beyond both. He is even beyond hope.
Why do you fast? With some hope, of course, whether it is material or spiritual. The fact is that the very thought of fasting or beginning a fast is binding. One fasts either because one is ill or has no appetite. None could be prepared to fast without a motive. Even if you think of fasting to death, that thought of fasting itself is a binding. "I will fast to death to see God!" That thought is always there. But only a very few rare souls can see God by such a threat. It is heroic but very rare.
I want 25 men to fast for seven days, primarily for my work in August.
Selecting 25 individuals was difficult with 50 raising their hands, but Baba managed in a good-humored way. It was a surprise to all that Ghani, who always grumbled at the mention of a fast, was the last man to raise his hand.
Baba praised him and smilingly remarked, "You are worthy of being my childhood friend."
Baba then embraced him and directed him to sit with those not fasting. Ghani was accepted, but was not to be among the "fasters."