Ginde said that he had two medical specialists standing by in Bombay in case additional consultations were needed on matters besides neurological problems. If necessary, he said they would rush to Meherazad on Saturday, as soon as they received a phone call from Ahmednagar. If things were under control, Ginde would leave the same day.1
The night of 30 January, Baba rested for four hours, sleeping for two and a half hours. At 3:45 A.M. he called Eruch, Pendu, Padri, Bhau and Goher. Repeated shocks made his body rise from the bed. All caught hold of his limbs, but the shocks were extremely violent. Baba had tremendous pain in his back, and he conveyed that it felt as if an electric current was passing through his body.
Age noted sadly, "The Avatar's state was beyond imagination. With each shock, he was dedicating every part of his body to his lovers and to the universe — for the sake of the illusion that sustains the Reality — and thereby weakening maya's forces.
Baba commented, "Maya is trying to kill me, but I will win!"
He also remarked, "This crucifixion will last seven days more and then take a turn for the better. I will be 100 percent free from my suffering after seven days."
Baba turned on his side, and Eruch massaged him. Suddenly, Baba snapped his fingers.
Eruch leaned over to read his gestures, and Baba's hands motioned, "But I will return ... I shall return."
Eruch at first could not understand why Baba was saying this, but then he remembered a story he had read to Baba about ten days before from the Gujarati newspaper Kaiser-i-Hind. The tale was about a Tibetan lama who was an abbot of a Buddhist monastery over 1,500 years ago. As the ancient tale has been passed down: one day the lama left his abode, telling his disciples he would return, but he never did. His followers and their generations after them were still waiting for his return by keeping his room in the monastery clean and intact, changing his sheets and pillows, keeping his water pots filled, expecting him to return at any moment.
Eruch asked, "Oh, you mean that abbot?"
Baba gestured, "Yes, the monk did not return, but I shall return."
The spasms continued throughout the early hours of Friday, 31 January 1969. At about 7:00 A.M., sending the men mandali away for their breakfast, Baba called all the women to his room.
Footnotes
- 1.The driver, Yusuf, was scheduled to go to Poona by bus with another of Baba's blood samples at 7:30 A.M. on 1 February 1969, although he never did.