At Baba's pleasure, Kachwala sang without a break and became quite tired. He pleaded to Baba, "I am exhausted; I cannot sing anymore now." But Baba asked him to sing one more ghazal. Kachwala was the first qawaal whom Baba had prevailed upon to sing until he could no longer continue!
As a reward, Baba presented him with one of his handkerchiefs, and permitted the singer and musicians to touch and kiss his hand.
Judge Prem Khilnani had been transferred back to Ahmednagar. He came to Meherazad with his wife and two sons to have Baba's darshan. After seeing Baba, the family left in their car for Ahmednagar. Manek had also arrived on his scooter. Some important communication was to be sent through him. Baba instructed Manek to reach Ahmednagar before the Khilnanis. Manek drove as fast as he could, and he managed to return before the Khilnanis. But the next day, although Baba was pleased, he ordered him never to drive his scooter again at more than 30 miles per hour!
Another day, Manek drove the nine miles to Meherazad in the pouring rain. At one spot, his scooter got caught in the mud, and by the time he reached Meherazad he was drenched and covered with slush.
"Why did you come in the rain?" Baba asked him.
"Adi said there were important letters," Manek replied.
"Had you died, who would have been responsible?" Baba said. "Haven't your parents any sense? Has Adi no sense to send you here in the rain?"
Baba told him to change his clothes, and Manek was given hot tea and sent back to Ahmednagar after the rain stopped.
Baba continued dictating points to Bhau for The Nothing and The Everything , mostly in the hall, but also in his room during the night. The strange thing was that sometimes Baba would keep repeating one particular "point" over again and again. At other times, when something remained unclear or too complex, Bhau would ask for further explanations because he could not follow what Baba meant.
At those times Baba would gesture, "Just take down what I say and don't interrupt. I will explain it to you later on. Everything will be crystal clear to you."
Both Baba's dictation to Bhau and the reading of God Speaks by Eruch, however, were completely discontinued from 10 September. Baba did not explain things further, and Bhau did not work on clarifying the points. Six years later, after Baba had dropped his body, Bhau began work on completing this book. When he began writing it, Bhau found that Baba did fulfill his promise, in his own way, as Baba made all the points clear to him.
On 12 September 1967, Baba's Universal work suffered a grievous setback. At night while Kaikobad was walking on the verandah, an ant bit him on the foot. Kaikobad's eyesight was poor, and thinking it was a scorpion he shook his leg so hard that he fell down and broke his thigh bone. Don went to Meherazad that night to examine him, and the next morning he was taken to Booth Hospital by ambulance, where he was X-rayed and admitted. Sidhu came from Meherabad to help look after him.
When Baba came to the hall in the morning, he was very upset about Kaikobad's injury. He indicated that because of the accident it would postpone the time he had fixed for completion of certain work.
"I will have to do it alone now," he said. "My whole timetable [for his manifestation] has been upset."
After a while Baba did something extraordinary — he began to cry like a child!
He explained, "I am not crying about Kaikobad, but I feel sorry for my work. Kaikobad does not have the least notion what work I am doing! But by working with him in seclusion, my Universal work is carried out much easier."
On the 15th, Kaikobad was operated upon by Dr. Melvin Brieseman and a pin was inserted into his femur and hip.1 Don was present for the operation. Adi went to Meherazad that day and Baba dictated points for a circular (issued on 1 October).
Footnotes
- 1.Dr. Brieseman, 33, was a New Zealand surgeon who had taken over Dr. Southwell's duties at the Salvation Army's Booth Hospital.