Baba asked all to come nearer, and they sat close to him. Replying to Baba's inquiry, Siganporia said that all Baba's longstanding lovers were present.
He introduced them in turn, during which Baba observed: "God is the most Intimate One, but courage is required to have his close contact. You have to become powder and dust from head to foot, so much so that one has to lose oneself. Have so much love for Him that you become as dust in His love."
Baba asked the qawaal, "How many times have you sung before me?"
The man said this was his fourth time.
Baba whimsically remarked, "This is the fourth time, and there will be a fifth — but after that, not a sixth!"
On a sign from Baba, the qawaal resumed singing this couplet:
Without fana there is no baqa [without annihilation of the mind there is no Realization]. God is unattainable unless the lower self is wiped out. If the lover asks in the way it should be asked, What will he not receive?
When the song was finished, Baba asked the group, "Did you follow it?"
Very few were familiar with Urdu, and Baba himself answered, "Even if you understood it, so what? Intellect cannot reach the Thing to be understood!"
Praising his voice, Baba urged the qawaal, "Sing a ghazal which, even though not understood, will make all hearts flutter!"
The qawaal sang the following couplet:
Why do you question me about the world of intoxication? I only know that You alone exist in every heart!
When he was through, Baba asked those present, "Have you read God Speaks ?"
Some had, but Baba remarked, "Even if some have read it, what then?"
He added: "In addition to what those have read and understood, I have to say one thing, and that is when coming to me, come bereft of worldly hopes. This disease, this annoyance, I don't want! Those seeking my friendship have to lose all. This is absolutely true.
"God is infinite honesty and compassion. As God, I forgive everything except hypocrisy. I can never forgive that. So never pretend to be what you are not!"
Baba continued, "What does a lover want? He wants deep, sincere love. If he has pure love, what remains for him? The lover should have such deep, unadulterated love that, oblivious of what others think, even he does not know that he loves!"
