REMINISCENCES, Part 2:

 
For a long time I was given regular medical treatment, but no amount of drugging and injections could put me to sleep. As Shirinmai used to say, "Having exhausted all available means," she sent me to Bombay to stay with Jamshed for a change.

Thinking to keep me occupied with day-to-day activities, Jamshed encouraged me to cook the food for the two of us. Sometimes I did the cooking all right, but I did it as I did other things — without knowing what I was doing. I can recall the particular bench in the Victoria Gardens on which I passed most of the time, sitting alone, entirely oblivious of the world and its affairs.

Although the infinite bliss I experienced in my superconscious state remained continuous, as it is now, I suffered agonies in returning towards normal consciousness of illusion. Occasionally, to gain some sort of relief, I used to knock my head so furiously against walls and windows that some of them showed cracks.

Nine months after my self-realization (November, 1914) I began to be somewhat conscious of my surroundings. Life returned to my vacant eyes. Although I would not sleep, I began regularly to eat small quantities of food. I now knew what I was doing but I continued to do things intuitively, as if impelled to do them by inner forces. I did not do things of my own accord or when asked by others. For example, when I began to teach (December, 1915) Persian to Buasahib, my mother tried to collect more pupils for me, thinking this would hasten my "recovery". But I would attend to no one else and continued to teach only Buasahib.

Later on (April, 1915) I also began to go for long distances on foot or by vehicle. Once I left Poona by rail for Raichur (more than three hundred miles south of Poona), but after traveling for only thirty-four miles I felt the urge to leave the train at Kedgaon. There for the first time I came in physical contact with Narayan Maharaj (one of the five Perfect masters) whose ashram is not far from that railway station.

Similarly, from time to time I was also drawn to see majzoobs like Banemiyan Baba at Aurungabad and Tipoo Baba at Bombay. Once in the company of Behram (Buasahib) I traveled as far north as Nagpur and saw Tajuddin Baba (another of the five Perfect Masters).

Finally (December, 1915) I felt impelled to call on Sai Baba, the Perfect Master among Masters. At that time he was returning in a procession from Lendi (in Sherdi), a place to and from which he was led everyday in order to ease himself. Despite the crowds I intuitively prostrated myself before him on the road. When I arose, Sai Baba looked straight at me and exclaimed, "Parvardigar" (God-Almighty-Sustainer).