From Calcutta, Moorty sent a letter seeking Baba's advice about some personal matter.
Baba cabled this reply: "Do whatever your heart tells you to do."
On 11 December 1968, Baba dictated this message for his 75th birthday the following year, but Adi was instructed not to print it and circulate it until after January:
To love me for what I may give you is not loving me at all. To sacrifice anything in my cause to gain something for yourself is like a blind man sacrificing his eyes for sight. I am the Divine Beloved worthy of being loved because I am Love. He who loves me because of this will be blessed with unlimited sight and will see me as I am.
Baba's blood and urine samples had been sent to Ruby Hall Clinic in Poona on 28 November 1968, with indeterminate test results (the samples may have spoiled on the way). When additional samples were sent on 5 December with Don, the results were alarming. Dr. (Mrs.) R. N. Ichaporia, the pathologist, wrote to Goher informing her that Baba's hemoglobin percent had dropped to 7 percent (normal is 14). and his blood urea was 148 mg. (normal is 20-40), indicating that the waste products of the body's metabolism were not being properly excreted by the kidneys. Dr. Ichaporia wrote: "Baba is losing [blood hemoglobin] at the rate of 2 gms. per week [12 percent]. He urgently requires a transfusion and twice more at weekly intervals."
Dr. Grant was consulted and upon seeing the report could not believe what he read. He asked Don if Baba was conscious. Don replied that Baba was fully conscious. Grant called for a second blood report on 13 December, thinking there had been a mistake with the first one. Although the blood urea level was now 97 mg., the hemoglobin was 5.8 percent. There had been no mistake. The urea and blood sugar levels showed improvement, but the blood count was terribly disturbing and a blood transfusion was immediately needed — as Baba had hinted some weeks before.
Adi went to Meherazad on the morning of the 13th and recorded in his diary: "I see Baba in his room. His physical condition is not at all good. Eruch, Francis and Bhau help him to stand up with difficulty."
On Sunday, 15 December 1968, Dr. Grant came to Meherazad at 7:30 A.M. from Poona with his nurse, and gave Baba a blood transfusion and administered a cardiogram.1 Meherjee came with Dr. Wadia and Dr. Ichaporia, and Adi and Don were also present.
Footnotes
- 1.Baba's blood type was AB+, a universal recipient.