Immediately upon his arrival from Meherazad at 6:50 A.M., he instructed Kaikobad, Don, Khak Saheb, and Kalemama to be ready with copies of the Avesta, Bible, Koran, and Gita. After a talk with Nariman and Meherjee in the Interview Cabin, Baba entered the hall and called the four mandali "priests" — representing a Christian priest, a Zoroastrian dastur, an Islamic mullah and a Hindu pandit — and had them stand on his right. Kaikobad was first asked to perform the kusti (sacred thread) ceremony and read aloud the usual prayer for five minutes. Then Don read the crucifixion of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew. Khak Saheb offered namaz (prayers), and Kalemama completed the readings by repeating the seven shlokas from the tenth adhyay (chapter) of the Bhagavad Gita.
The tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is called the "Yoga of Manifestation," wherein Krishna describes to Arjuna his divine state. The following is an excerpt from that chapter:1
Krishna: "Listen! I shall explain to you my divine self-manifestations; those only that are prominent, for there is no end to my extent. I am the Self, Arjuna, abiding in the heart of all beings; and I am the beginning and the middle of beings, and the end as well! I am that which is the seed of all creatures, Arjuna, there is nothing that could exist without existing through me, whether moving or not moving. There is no end to my divine manifestations, Arjuna ...
"This has been declared by me as an example of the extent of my manifestations. Whatever manifested being that is glorious and vigorous, indeed, understand that in every case he originates from a fraction of my splendor. But what is this extensive knowledge to you, Arjuna? I support this entire universe constantly with a single fraction of myself."
After each reading, Baba would take the book and keep it on his lap, resting his fingers on it. After the last prayer, Baba took the holy books from his lap, and spread them out on a table by his side. He directed Ghani to put both his hands on the four books and offer the following prayer: "May God help Baba to definitely take this step, which he is taking, to give up everything and to go away irrevocably, so that from October 16 when he enters the New Life, there will be no turning back."
Footnotes
- 1.This excerpt, given by way of example, is not the exact version read at Meherabad in 1949. This excerpt is from the version known as Dnyaneshwari translated by the scholar Vitthal G. Pradhan (1948) and re-rendered into contemporary English by Swami Kripananda (1999).