DIFFICULT ORDERS

 
There were 31 orders in all that William was to adhere to....

The issuing of the orders coincided with a period of Baba's seclusion on the hill at Upper Meherabad. Through out his life Baba observed periods of seclusion — sometimes for days and other times for months. This particular seclusion would last a year with occasional lapses for travel.

At the end of August, William was ordered to go to Ankai Mountain. Five of Baba's mandali were staying there in seclusion and William was to check on their condition and find out whether they wanted to continue their stay.

"They are in a man-made cave up there — a fine view about 900 feet above the plain and a sheer cliff all around," William noted in his diary.

Ankai was a spiritual site, and the day that William arrived there was a day of pilgrimage. He describes the crowded conditions on the single stairway up the mountain.

"I fought my way up with great difficulty. It took me a half hour or more what would take 10 minutes when the stairway was empty... To get up I touched literally hundreds of women, although I am not allowed to do so by Baba's order."...

When William told Baba the next day about touching the women on the Ankai Mountain stairway he was not annoyed but told him that "to wipe this matter off" William was to fast the next day on milk only.