If, following this, God is not found, Tulsidas' tongue has no value!"
Kishan said, "I don't agree with what Tulsidas says. He, too, had a wife, and due to her, realized God."
Baba responded sternly, "Give up your sham so that God may be pleased! There is a vast difference between realizing God and pleasing God! It is better not to meet God than to meet and displease Him! Now, stop all this gorakh business [meaningless, ridiculous chatter]!"
Translating a couplet of the poet Jigar, Baba spelled out: "Love means annihilation. Don't expect to live and love. But live while dying, and live when you are dead."
Aloba asked, "When can we expect an awakening in the world?"
"That awakening is definite," Baba stated. "It is about to come. It will have to come."
Kishan Singh had bought a car, and it was his fondest wish to drive Baba in it. But whenever Baba would leave for mast journeys or sightseeing excursions, he would invariably have Hellan or someone else drive, but not once Kishan Singh. Finally, after much persuasion, one day (saying in jest that they would all be killed!) Baba agreed to take a ride in the car with Kishan at the wheel. But there was one catch: Because Kishan's driving was considered such a menace, Baba ordered a man to run alongside the car and be ready to take over the wheel in case of emergency. So, to the astonishment of pedestrians and onlookers, Kishan had his wish fulfilled. He did take Baba for a short ride in his car, but with someone jogging alongside them in the street.
On Monday, 15 June 1953, Baba announced he intended to fast for a week on water mixed with lime juice and sugar.1 He first consulted his doctors — Don, Nilu and Goher — who said it would not drastically affect his health, and they promised not to interfere with his wish.
In the vicinity of Dehra Dun were four prominent saints: Anandamayi Ma, Sant Ishwar Singh, Sant Mangat Ram and Miran Bhai.2 Baba wished to contact the first three of these. But because he was about to fast, he decided instead to contact them by proxy. He put his head on Elcha's feet, and instructed him to go and touch Anandamayi Ma's feet, and convey his love and blessings to her.
Footnotes
- 1.Baba's leg still pained severely at times, and Meherjee was instructed to write to Max Haefliger and Irene Billo in Switzerland to obtain and send Dromoran injections and tablets (a strong morphine-like painkiller) — enough to last until December.
- 2.Anandamayi Ma (1896–1982) was originally from Bengal, but moved to Dehra Dun in 1932, where several ashrams were established in her name. Jawaharlal Nehru's wife Kamla was among her devotees.