During my recent short stay in Poona, I was happy to let the Poona bhajan group sing before me. I also paid visits to the homes of some of my men and allowed a few to call on me; but it was in connection with the continual pain in my injured hip joint that I went to Poona and also paid a flying visit to Bombay.
The hip joint is now said to be almost healed so that full weight-bearing and almost normal use are advised by the best available consultants. But the fact remains that I still have intense and continual pain, even while resting. Those of you who keep watch by turns throughout the night at my bedside know how I suffer; so much so that at the moment I am handicapped to the extent that I must depend upon the loving help and care of those near me. But all this is as nothing compared to what I shall have to endure when the dark cloud bursts upon me.
To fulfill all that is ordained, I work, and this work releases the tremendous force that stamps my advent. The impact of this force on groping humanity is an awakening, in general, and the realization of Self, in particular.
Work has a charm of its own when the forces of opposition are faced and eventually overcome. For the present, I face the dark cloud, and yet, I continue to do my work ceaselessly. Besides this, I have to do many things. I have, for instance, to see to the arrangements for the sahavas and shall also have to give sahavas to hundreds of my followers.
But how difficult it is to overcome all hindrances and complete the work in hand when there are distractions to be reckoned with. The pain in my hip joint, for example, is just one of the many distractions that I must endure while doing my work. If this pain should vanish or even lessen to some extent, my work will be fulfilled, in spite of the onslaught of the dark cloud that threatens to jeopardize fulfillment.
Just as I am now quite incapable of doing many physical things unaided, in spite of an otherwise healthy body, I may, at the time of the impending crisis, become even mentally helpless, but without being mentally deranged in the least.