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 no one else. That 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
28th 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 16th and say a prayer on my behalf.
Until February 16th, 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 28th, to act as Ghani's proxy on
October 16th by fasting and saying the prayer for me. Ramjoo has been instructed
to convey to Baggu such a 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.
And if it be God's will that I manifest universally by
February 16th next year, may it be His will also that Ghani, and every Old Life
disciple who has passed away, experience and enjoy that manifestation as if
they were still in the physical body.
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