Exactly at eleven o'clock, Baba called the mandali and the group into the hall.
He reprimanded them, Sarosh in particular: "Don't you know that my seclusion work of three hours in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon is in complete silence? At the time, I am totally merged in my work amidst an atmosphere at Meherazad when everything comes to a halt. Still you were careless and inattentive enough to cause an unnecessary disturbance. It was lucky that I had completed my work early today from seven to ten o'clock, stopping at 10:30 A.M., to be ready to meet you all now."
Baba questioned Prem and Dhake, "Are you aware or not that for several weeks I sit for my work for three hours in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon, and that during this period complete stillness must prevail?"
The two men remained quiet.
Baba looked haggard and tired with drawn features, and his face was pale as he continued: "The time is fast approaching, and I want to complete my work in absolute quiet. How I work and what strain I undergo, I alone know. You have no idea of it in the least. It is an unbearable and infinite strain on me — this three-hours' continuous sitting without any movement. Then I retire and come back in the afternoon for a half-hour sitting."
Baba then said, "But we will now come to the purpose of this meeting."
He asked Aloba to read out (in Urdu) these lines written by the poet Asrar Majaz in the 1930s in praise of Hafiz:1
Thousands of praises be to Hafiz, We are eternally obliged to Hafiz. His was the Lisan'ul-Ghalib [the Divine Voice], For Hafiz came to Earth from the seventh plane. Although he is not a prophet, His Divan is full of words as if spoken by prophets. What a wondrous Divan it is! Each ghazal in it shines like the most brilliant star.
Whatever claim Hafiz makes for himself is a rightful claim — There is sublime proof for his greatness. O thou delver in the Ocean of Truth! What priceless gems there are in the Divan of Hafiz! There is not only sweetness and beauty in his ghazals; Hafiz also reveals the secrets of the Path. Come, Asrar, let us lay down our hearts and souls On the khak [dust] trod upon by his doorkeeper!
Footnotes
- 1.Asrar-ul-Haq Majaz (1909–1955) was a famous Indian poet from Uttar Pradesh. The Arabic word asrar means secrets.