The four mandali priests — Kaikobad, Don, Khak Saheb and Kalemama — were then asked to read certain passages from the Avesta, Bible, Koran and Gita.
Baba stated, "First of all, I want to invoke God's forgiveness for myself, for the mandali and for all, through all four — Zoroastrian, Christian, Muslim and Hindu — approaches to God."
At the end of the recitations, referring to the melodious reading by Khak Saheb of the Koran, Baba remarked, "If God cannot be moved by such a beautiful performance, then God must be either deaf or dead!"
Baba stood up, and so did the whole gathering.
On Baba's behalf the following prayer of forgiveness was read aloud: "I forgive each and every disciple, devotee and follower all his weaknesses to date, and any disobedience on his part up until now. And on behalf of myself, I forgive myself for any pain, injustice or wrong that I may have done any of them."
Baba added, "This is the last ceremony, and henceforth there will be no further ceremonies, and likewise no prayers."
The meeting began. Baba directed Ramjoo to recount in brief all that had transpired during the past several days. Ramjoo outlined the plans and arrangements that were being made to wind up everything in order to start on the New Life. Baba then stated:
I want you all who receive this circular [of conditions] to understand once and for all that I am 100 percent serious about this New Life. Although you have stood by me faithfully and lovingly all these past years, with perfect faith and sincerity, in spite of receiving nothing from me, and although you all might be prepared to lay down your lives for me, yet there is the possibility that your and my habits of understanding and misunderstanding each other during the last so many years might mislead you into not taking this most seriously.
Therefore, I want you all to go through this circular word by word most carefully before you decide. It would be best if you accompany me and abide by all orders and conditions 100 percent thoroughly. But although your faith, love and service for me have been greater than mine would have been for my own Master, yet these conditions might prove your undoing. So unless you are ready to live the life of satyanashi [complete ruination] and absolute obedience, it would be better to stay behind and obey instructions that will be given to you.1
Footnotes
- 1.The Gujarati word satyanashi, Baba later clarified, not only means that everything is renounced but that everything is ruined, which may mean there is nothing to go back to. In Sanskrit, Satya means the True, the Real, the Pure, the Virtuous. (Satya is also another name for Vishnu or Krishna.)