Chapter 36: Interested In Remaining Disinterested
1960Page 4,717 of 5,444
From 1 September 1960, Baba took a three-day "holiday" from his fasting and seclusion work. On the 4th, he resumed his work and began a weeklong fast, taking only one cup each of coffee, tea and buttermilk per day. The fast took a toll on Baba's body: his blood pressure rose; he caught a cold; he had severe headaches; and he sometimes experienced tremors. Nevertheless, Baba continued to remain absorbed in his Universal work and sat with Kaikobad every day.
On the final day of his fast, Sunday, 10 September, another program for the poor was held from 8:45 until 10:15 A.M. in mandali hall at Meherazad. Baba bowed to 220 poor persons (167 men and 53 women) from eight surrounding villages, and handed ten rupees to each as prasad. Noshir Irani and his brother Boman were permitted to witness the proceedings as they had donated the Rs.2,200 amount given as prasad, as per Baba's request of them. ("Baba has no money to give to the poor," Eruch had written them, "and give he must!")
Three days later, on 13 September, Baba declared, "I shall not break my seclusion until I break my silence."
Although Baba stopped fasting, his health continued to weaken. On the 14th, he felt giddiness and had slight edema in both hands and feet, which continued until the end of the month. Goher gave him a vitamin B12 injection (1,000 mg), and another injection of liver supplement (2cc).
On the morning of the 17th, Baba mentioned Vinayak Patwardhan with fondness and how he had sung so well before him in Guruprasad. Eruch was instructed to write to Ramakrishnan to inform Patwardhan: "As Baba was remembering you this morning in his seclusion, it behooves you to remain in touch with him."
On Sunday, 18 September 1960, Baba explained how the world is a prison:
The whole world is a prison, for the Soul experiences being behind the bars in a cell of its gross-subtle-mental body. The hold of illusion is so strong that it imprints the feeling of perpetual bondage. And the eternally free Soul — though lone Sovereign and supreme Lord — experiences itself as serf rather than Soul.
Illusion stages the Lord's imprisonment so perfectly and establishes his serfdom so convincingly that even at the moment when the Perfect Master bestows his grace on the Soul, it experiences itself as breaking out through the bars of a prison which never existed.