On the 16th, Baba and his companions fasted on the hill until eight o'clock the following morning. In the dargah of the Muslim saint, all the companions stood silent with Baba as Eruch read the following prayer five times, changing it each time with a different name of God and the Avatar:
O Ahuramazda [Allah, Paramatma, God] in the name of your infinite greatness and in the name of your beloved Self Zoroaster [Muhammad Mustafa, Avatar Krishna, Avatar Buddha, Son Jesus], and in the name of all Prophets [Avatars, Perfect Ones] and saints and your lovers: Meher Baba beseeches you to help him carry out successfully his four months' work beginning from today, the 16th October 1951, and asks you in all humility to have his desire fulfilled and the ultimate object achieved by February 16, 1952.
On this same day, 16 October, the same prayer was being repeated at five of the "holiest" places in India. In accordance with Baba's orders, Meherjee was in a Zoroastrian fire-temple in Udwada; Keki Desai was in Mu'inuddin Chishti's tomb in Ajmer; Was Deo Kain was in Krishna's temple in Mathura; Gaya Prasad Khare was in the Buddha's temple in Sarnath; and Vishwanath Haldankar was in Francis Xavier's church in Goa (Basilica of Bom Jesus). Each man had been ordered to fast and recite the prayer. Likewise, at four separate locations in Hyderabad, Baba had given the same instructions for Nilu to be in a Buddhist temple, Vishnu in a Hindu temple, Kaikobad in a fire-temple, Don in a church and the selected Muslim priest in a mosque. All this was occurring simultaneously as Baba began his seclusion.
When it was time, Baba had the five alabaster models, representing the five religions, brought into the dargah, and he sat alone inside with them in seclusion from 8:00 P.M. to 3:00 A.M., as the companions kept watch outside.
Two days later, on the 18th, Baba sat from 8:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. in his cave on the hill. On the 20th, he sat in seclusion in the Hindu temple below the cave from 6:00 A.M. to 9:00 A.M.
On 22 October, Baba communed in his cave with a high mast named Ghulam Hussein, whom Baidul had brought.1 The next day was the final day of Baba's seclusion.
The luggage from Khojaguda Hill was sent to the Kohinoor bungalow at Jubilee Hills on the 24th, with this message from Baba to the men and women companions:
"I am well and my work in the cave has been 100 percent successful. Today I will start on a foot journey to Meherazad via Aurangabad."
Footnotes
- 1.Baba had worked with Ghulam Hussein before, in 1945.