But when we refused to be comforted, he appeared reminiscently serious and admitted, "It is the hardships of the New Life; I have suffered much, but after July, I shall be stronger than ever."
Baba then called in Francis Brabazon.
"I've known you for ages," Baba remarked, "but you don't remember it, do you?"
Francis admitted that he did not.
Baba assured him, "You will come to know it is true."
They then had a long talk about Sufism and Baba's plans for its future. Baba instructed Ivy to turn over her work in Australia to Francis and stated:
Listen carefully to what I say. The foremost point to remember is that God loves truth and honesty; if you are to work for God and me, you must be honest to God, to Baba, to others and to yourselves. That means, unless we experience what we preach and teach, we are not honest, not only of Sufism, but of life itself. To be an atheist, not to believe in God, to be bad even, is better than to be a hypocrite. So, we must work on that basis. Is it clear? And I know what I say. I feel what I say. So, what I want done is by authority of [my divine] knowledge.
Now, the time has arrived when there will be universal chaos and I have to work soon. That is why before I left India, I sent my intimate disciples all over India and Pakistan to prepare the ground for work which has to begin from November 1952. From November, my Fiery Life will begin. And I know what that Fiery Life is going to be and how it is going to end. But I do not mind. I want work done. What I am planning is five different aspects of my work.
About Sufism, he continued:
This morning I drew this figure myself [and dictated the wording to Adi, Sr.]:1
In India and America, Australia and Europe, I want this work done, and it is being prepared. But now with you, I want to decide about Sufism. Baba is in the center, and the work you have to do for Sufism must be done as I want it done. This is true Sufism, and real work will be done by my guidance.
Footnotes
- 1.Dasatirian is a reference to a school of esoteric Zoroastrianism founded by Azar Kayvan (16th-17th c.), known as the Ishraqiyyun (Illumanationists).