“”The second stage begins from January 1, 1950 and may continue for four, six or even fifteen months.
The third stage commences from the time when the last stone of the foundation of the building is laid.
Take the analogy of a building for explaining the New Life. The first stage, which is of help and training, is like determining what type of material — bricks, mortar, lime, stone, mud, et cetera — is to be utilized for the building. This stage is devoted mostly to labor.
The second stage has two parts — one of training and the other of practicing. Here the training will be for begging, the langoti life and labor; and the practicing will be actually in the matter of going out for begging wearing a kafni, in leading a langoti life, as well as in actually working in the labor phase.
This langoti, labor and begging will be tantamount to collecting the material like bricks, mortar, wood, et cetera, for the building and laying the foundation thereof. When the last stone of the foundation is laid, it will correspond to complete and perfect renunciation.
The third stage will mean the construction of the super-structure (which will be the Real Life) of the building. This life has a beginning but no end.
It has already been explained before that the training and practicing period will be characterized by ordinary and normal situations and circumstances. Therefore, the langoti, labor and begging period for our purposes, culminating in the laying of the last stone of the foundation — which is complete and perfect renunciation — will be considered normal and ordinary, irrespective of what the world may think of it.
The third stage of actually living inside the building — after complete renunciation has been achieved — will consist of abnormal and extraordinary situations and circumstances. The ordinary and normal situations and circumstances will also be there. But it is the abnormal and extraordinary situations that will make you enjoy the sufferings.
I cannot say more. The life of this stage will bring in the endless end!
In the afternoon after tea, the discussion turned to individual needs and necessities. When it was found that the companions were not provided with enough woolen clothing for protection against the severe Himalayan winters in Hardwar and Rishikesh, Baba permitted the purchase of two extra blankets for each, in addition to other items of daily requirements as per individual lists prepared by them.
