Even for Baba it is difficult!
Baba asked those courageous enough to do this fast to stand up. A few stood and Baba selected five: Hoshang Bharucha, Minoo Kharas, Burjor Mehta, Eruch Karadia and Minoo Khambatta. Baba instructed them:
For 21 days stay at one place, eat and drink nothing except water, take Baba's name half-audibly and never sleep.1 I will give further instructions later on. God is deaf. If you repeat my name mentally, I will not hear it as I am also deaf! Come what may, whether you fall ill or there are other difficulties, follow faithfully and stick to what I have told you.
Baba smilingly asked the assembly, "Will you allow me to leave early for Meherazad at 5:00 P.M.?"
All cried loudly in one voice, "NO!"
"All right," said Baba, "I will respect your wish ... I will not go at five but at 4:30!"
Shouts of protest erupted and at last it was settled that Baba would leave at 5:30 P.M. Actually, Baba was scheduled to leave at six o'clock, so with his usual shrewdness he managed to shorten his stay by half an hour, and at the same time keep everyone pleased.
Baba then touched on the publication of God Speaks in America. With hand gestures, speaking in Gujarati, he observed:
God Speaks will soon be available. It is a unique book. I have explained many things there; still I will briefly explain in a way so that you may all understand it.
From eternity we are all one. We do not know it; we are not conscious of it. But in eternity we are a limitless ocean. We are all drops of this ocean.
What happens daily? From our waking state, we go to sleep. Before entering sound sleep, we pass through the dream state. Before awakening, we pass through the same thing — from deep sleep to dream state and from dream to waking state. When you sleep soundly, you forget everything; nothing exists for you. That is the Original State. We pass through this state daily and wake up — after passing through the dream state — in yet another dream state, this gross world.
Footnotes
- 1.Subsequently, Baba rescinded the order of not sleeping, and reduced the amount of time from 21 days to seven days.