On the 19th of April, Baba went from Mandla to Katni, where he continued his mast work, communing with Mehtab Shah . An unusual tale was told about this mast: Several years before, he had died in a village called Panagargh. He had come back to life from the grave three months later, and had returned to live in a tailor's shop. Samdi Mast also lived in the shop of the same tailor who took care of Mehtab Shah. Samdi's arms and legs were arrayed with numerous rings and bangles of iron and brass. This unusual tailor thus gave refuge to two God-intoxicated souls in his shop.
Shobha was an advanced, majzoob-like mast who lived on a rubbish heap a few yards from some stinking public latrines in Katni. He never left his perch, even to answer the call of nature, so one can imagine how foul and horrid the place was. But, when it came to his work, Baba was indifferent to such things, and he was quite happy with the contact, since Shobha was a high mast.
From Katni, Baba traveled to Rewa, where he worked with Mauganj-ka-Hafizji , a well-revered figure of the area who was worshiped by Hindus and Muslims alike and was said to be about 125 years old. Baba continued on to Allahabad, where he contacted two masts on 20 April. Most significant was a man about 60 years old, known as Inayat Sai , who referred to himself both as a Sufi and a Hindu. He was also revered by both Muslims and Hindus.
Baba wished to contact sadhus at Chitrakot, 110 miles southwest of Allahabad, and they drove there that day.
But when they arrived, Baba felt uneasy and stated, "I don't like the atmosphere here," and so they returned to Allahabad without having made a single contact.
The road to Chitrakot was horrendous and what work Baba did by driving 110 miles there and back is unexplainable. The forested area of Chitrakot is associated with the advent of Lord Ram. It is believed that Ram, Laxman and Sita spent eleven years of their fourteen-year exile in Chitrakot. The once thick forest or jungle area is famous for being a hidden abode of saints as described by the poet Tulsidas.1
Meanwhile Jal Kerawalla's driver had taken a train to Allahabad, and when the group returned they gave the car back to him and boarded a train for Faizabad on Thursday, 21 April 1949. In Faizabad, Baba contacted the much revered Haji Abdul Rahim Shah , who was 90 years old.
Footnotes
- 1.Tulsidas (1532–1623) was a divinely inspired writer and is considered the greatest poet of his time. He rewrote the life of Lord Ram (Valmiki's Ramayana) in Hindi.