"When there is a cool breeze outside, I find it difficult to breathe. Were it only the hip joint pain, I could have put up with it, but now even the fever does not leave me. How active I was before! Now it is just the opposite. All my strength is sapped due to this fever."
Baba concluded, "Yet, I keep happy."
Baba's health continued to worsen during his seclusion.
When Goher requested him to call in outside physicians, Baba replied, "During the seclusion period, I wish neither to consult any outside doctors, nor will I go to them. My body may remain or go; I have to complete my work."
He did, however, permit Goher to take a blood sample and send it to Poona for analysis.
The night of 28 September 1958, was very bad for Baba. He was extremely restless. He had loose bowel movements five times and also vomited.
But in the morning on the 29th, when among the men, he remarked to Kaikobad, "Due to your prayers, I feel better now."
Addressing the mandali, he stated, "The result of your prayers is this [his recovery]. I don't say it lightly. Kabir has said: 'God hears even the tinkling of bells tied to an ant's legs!' "
On 1 October, Baba ordered the mandali, including those at lower Meherabad, to fast on tea or coffee taken twice during the day and as much water as they wished. After this, they were to follow the same regimen every Tuesday, until the end of the month.1 Before they began their fast, he told them to eat something light.
Once, deliberately trying to irritate the mandali, Baba remarked, "Is this [really] fasting?"
Baidul exclaimed, "Yes, Baba! In this fast we have tea and beforehand chapatis, butter and bananas to eat. But it would be a true fast if it were observed without water."
Thereupon, Baba explained, "Baidul once fasted without water for seven days and so gives importance to fasting without it. How fine it would have been had he not given voice to his opinions! His speaking out of turn has turned everything to dust [ashes]!"
Baba further explained, "I am deliberately goading and 'pricking' you so that the anger in you may come out. If, in spite of my goading, you do not get annoyed, I will bow down to you."
On the 6th, Baba's legs became swollen and he had a high fever.
"Day by day my health will deteriorate," he had remarked the day before.
Footnotes
- 1.Baba also sent certain instructions to a few Westerners. For example, Bili Eaton was instructed to repeat for one hour, from midnight to 1:00 A.M.: "Beloved God, Thou art the Soul of all souls." She was to do this on October 1 st, and then every Tuesday until the end of the month (7 th, 14 th, 21 st and 28 th).