On the 18th, Baidul brought a mast named Ramji from Poona. After sitting with him for a while, Baba sent him back also on the 19th.
On Sunday, 20 January 1952, Mohammed Mast was sent from Meherabad and one poor man was brought. Baba bathed and fed both before sending them back.
On the evening of the 23rd, at seven o'clock, Baba had Gustadji light the dhuni in his presence. While it was burning, Kaikobad repeated the ancient Persian prayer, the 101 Names of God.1
After this recitation, Kaka and Kaikobad loudly invoked: "Ahuramazda!" Pendu and Padri invoked: "Ya Yezdan!" Nilu, Krishna and Vishnu invoked: "Om Parabrahma, Paramatma!" Eruch invoked: "O God Almighty, Father in heaven!" And Baidul invoked: " La ilah illallah [There is no God but Allah]! " Each man shouted their invocation seven times.
Baba bowed his head to the dhuni and then at the feet of each person present. He directed everyone to leave him while he remained alone, seated beside the dhuni for some time. After a while, he again sent for them, one after another, and directed each of them to repeat the invocation of the various names of God, in the order described.
Before the dhuni began that evening, Nilu entered the enclosure with his stethoscope to examine Baba's heart and take his pulse, so that he could differentiate between his heart and pulse rates after the work.
Baba said, "Thank you, no. I appreciate your feelings for me, but it is not necessary. Come what may, after this period of seven days I may live or die — or the blood may rush to my head and crack my skull!"
Baba conveyed to Eruch that he should tell the other men what he found after Baba had sat in seclusion for a time that afternoon. Eruch said that after Baba had come out, Baba directed him to feel his head and Eruch found it hot.
Baba reassured the men, "Whatever is to happen will happen; do not worry about that as long as my work is successful."
Baba's seclusion intensified from 23 January 1952, when he sat alone for hours in his cabin, and in the Blue Bus. For eight days, until the 30th, Baba worked rigorously, and except for going to and coming from the cabin and bus, he never left these confines. His expression was grave, and signs of exhaustion lined his features.
Footnotes
- 1.The 101 Names of God (or 101 Attributes of God) was originally recited by Zoroaster thousands of years ago.