I feel sure you will not get dismayed over this new and latest modification in plans. This passport business is nothing more than a material incident to be achieved by material means.
I therefore emphasize, and repeat once again, for you to have full faith in the accomplishment of what I have stated, and to remain brave in heart, even if God's ways, for the time being, seem inscrutable.
On the 5th, this circular was mailed from Lahore to the devotees concerned.
On the evening of Monday, 2 August 1943, Baba left Lahore on the Bombay Peshawar express for Taxila with Ghani and Baidul. Jal Kerawalla was told to join them in Peshawar on the 4th. Baba crossed the frontier the next day, and returned to Lahore on the night of the 6th, after contacting masts en route.
In Peshawar, Baba had contacted the mast Ashaq Baba , who had turned majzoob-like since their previous contact. The mast had become incontinent and sat seemingly immovable in his hut — in his own filth.
Baba also contacted a seeker, much revered in Peshawar, called Miskin Shah Malang, whose abode was in a Muslim shrine where he kept a sacred fire (dhuni) burning night and day.
Also in Peshawar, Baba contacted a somewhat wild jalali mast called Ashaq Shah , who lived totally naked in a hut in a cemetery.1 This mast smoked a hookah and abused whoever approached him. Even though old by then, he was quite fearsome and brandished a large heavy knife at times. Whenever anyone came near him, he would strike a piece of wood with the knife. Baba approached him twice, but because of the old mast's fiery nature, it was not possible to have a satisfactory contact.
Another strange, jalali-type mast in Peshawar was Qaym Baba , who lived in a tiny room, where he had stored hundreds of tin cans. He always had a fire burning inside his hut, even on the hottest of days. He would sit before his fire writing by hand page after page of notations, seemingly in connection with his current conversation, which for reasons unknown to those present consisted almost exclusively of crime and punishment. Qaym Baba would be heard to shout out, "Give the poor bastard two years!" or "Fine that crook 50 rupees!" or "Hang that murderous wretch!" or "No! Let him go! He is innocent!" Baba's contact with him was good.
Footnotes
- 1.Ashaq Shah was also called Nanga Baba.