Afterward Baba umpired a cricket match between the mandali.
Up to this time Baba would write his book during the day at the box-like cabin inside Sai Darbar, and at night he would continue writing in the Table Cabin. But on Tuesday, 12 October 1926, he again retired to the water reservoir on the hill for what he indicated would be a period of 100 days of special work. The mandali and students took him there in a procession at 8:30 that evening. Bhajans were sung and afterward tea was served.
Baba stated that after a week he would stop taking all food for 100 days and, as a result, he would become very weak and be reduced to a skeleton.
"During the final period of my fasting, I will appear to be dead for 70 hours," he repeated. "But I will revive after that. Not only will I begin to eat but I will speak, as well. And with the breaking of my silence will come the manifestation of my internal work which will turn the world upside down."
During 1926, the scarcity of water was a great problem in Meherabad due to the increasing number of people staying there and the lackluster rainfall that year. Rustom asked for and received Baba's permission to dig another well near the railway line. He brought in experts and water diviners to locate a suitable spot. The work began near the railway tracks, but though they dug deep, no water was found.
Concerning the problem of chronic water shortage in Meherabad, Baba wryly observed, "See the paradox and irony here: When outsiders come for my darshan, their desires are fulfilled by my blessings. They even find plenty of water in their wells by seeking my grace. But at Meherabad, all three wells are short of water!"1
Baba then cited the tale of the Perfect Master Khwaja Saheb Chishti of Ajmer who sat under a tree for many years.
Baba concluded, "That particular tree not only stopped bearing fruit, but after some time it withered and died."
At that time, a farmer from a nearby village came to Meherabad, looking very dejected as he approached the Master. When Baba asked the reason, the villager said, "I am a very poor man. I own a small piece of land, but cannot farm it due to lack of water. I borrowed money to drill a well, but no water was found, and now I am in desperate straits."
Footnotes
- 1.The three wells were the original well near the road, Babul No. 1 well at lower Meherabad, and Rustom's new well by the railroad tracks.