BABA'S TRIBUTE TO DR. GHANI

 
NL Circular no. 30
1 September 1951
Issued from Hyderabad (Deccan) on 24 August 1951

"Of the many things I have had to renounce and to suffer in this New Life, the passing of Ghani is among the greatest.

"I have felt a sense of loss at the passing of all those men and women of India and the West who were my disciples in the Old Life, and my lovers of all time. But this sudden wrenching away of Ghani is a disaster for me, the more cruel because it came at a time when the New Life's consummation is so near at hand.

"To me, more than to any of you, Ghani was unique, and of all the work that still remains to be done for me by others, there is much that could have been done for me by Ghani and none else. The big head of his was truly a treasure-house in which wisdom and wit were blended to perfection.

"We were intimate friends since our earliest years, and no one knows better than I how courageous, and how loyal and loving, was his heart. To me, therefore, Ghani is irreplaceable, both as a friend and as a tool for my work.

"Those of you who were at the meeting at Hyderabad on June 28, will remember that Ghani read out the explanation to my Declaration and also the Declaration itself. As one of the witnesses to that Declaration he was to fast on October 16, 1951 and say a prayer on my behalf.

"Until February 16, 1952, I want to feel that Ghani is still in the physical body and I have therefore asked Ghani's son-in-law Baggu (who was not present at the meeting of June 28), to act as Ghani's proxy on October 16, by fasting and saying a prayer for me. Ramju has been instructed to give Baggu so full and vivid picture of the meeting that he will feel himself to have been actually present at it. In this way Ghani's duty as one of the witnesses to my Declaration will be fulfilled...."