On Tuesday, 14 February 1956, Baba's luggage was brought from Grafton to Jal Villa, and Baba moved to Jal Villa in the evening to begin his seclusion. Kaikobad and Nilu resided in the bungalow with Baba, while the other mandali remained at Rosewood. At midnight, Baba had them recite prayers and he started fasting, as did both Kaikobad and Nilu. But the two men fasted for only 24 hours, whereas Baba continued his fast for five days.
During the Meherabad Sahavas in 1955, five men from every language group had been selected and were to fast for seven days from the 15th of February. The fast was subsequently curtailed to five days, and hence Baba fasted with them for the same period of time. The fact was that these 20 individuals were being given the opportunity of sharing in Baba's work.
On the 15th and 16th of February, Baba took only two cups of tea or coffee every 24 hours. On the 17th, he fasted on only two cups of syrup (sherbet) water, and on the 18th on only tap water, which he complained smelled of chlorine after boiling.
During this seclusion, Baba was working with Kaikobad in Jal Villa for hours on end. Kaikobad would continually repeat the seven names of God, and every time he said them, Baba would bow to him seven times. Even Kaikobad had not the faintest notion of what work Baba was doing. No one can grasp the significance of his Universal work.
On Sunday, 19 February 1956, Baba left Jal Villa and again began staying at Grafton with the women mandali. There he continued to remain in seclusion and did not see anyone or go out of the house. He broke his fast the next day, and again, from the 22nd, moved back to Jal Villa for his seclusion work. He worked with Kaikobad for two days in seclusion and then again returned to Grafton, where his 62nd birthday was celebrated privately with the women mandali, on Saturday, 25 February.
When Baba was staying in Grafton, Mehera and Meheru would see to his personal work, but when he was in other bungalows, Eruch and Bhau would do this duty. After his two days of work in Jal Villa, Baba indicated that his work in seclusion there was finished. He instructed the mandali to stop renting it, and another bungalow was rented for his seclusion work, called Gite's , or the Judge's Bungalow , opposite Mutha's Bungalow.1
Footnotes
- 1.Mutha's Bungalow was the house in Satara that Baba and the women had occupied in 1950 during the New Life.