on foot with the four women and Eruch, followed later by the whole caravan. The caravan now consisted of a white horse led by Donkin, the caravan itself pulled by a black English bull, a camel cart, a bullock cart, two cows, a calf, and two donkeys. “Passers-by were curious about this strange group of travelers. They asked the companions about their caste and sect, and where they were heading. When told the caravan was proceeding to Hardwar, they bowed in respect. For the first time in thirtysixyears, the Kumbha Mela was to be held in Hardwar, and the caravan’s destination made people think the companions were some sort 13 of monks, and the women nuns.” Their travels took them through nu merous villages and cities on the way to Dehra Dun. By the time they had reached Dehra Dun most of the animals and carts had been disposed of. During this journey Baba at times traveled by train, presumably to expedite the many contacts He was to make along the way. These were years of great turmoil in India. It was the time of partition and there were many riots and disturbances. The movements of the trains were completely disorganized. The Kumbha Mela is a great pilgrimage, all the sadhus in India feel compelled to attend. About His Kumbha Mela work Baba said: “My work has no real connection either with the Kumbha (sacred ancient tradition) or its Mela (festival). I only want to contact as many saints, sadhus and mahatmas as pos sible, and take their darshan. The Kumbha Mela has afforded me this opportunity and 14 I am taking advantage of it.” Baba contacted thousands of sadhus in Hardwar and the surrounding area. On the holy day ofRamnavni alone, Baba contacted four hundred and seventy-two sadhus and mahatmas. “As He would come across them, Baba would place His head on their feet, even stopping them on the main road, which was crowded with all sorts of traffic and mobs of people. Some sadhus were found sitting under the shade of trees, some on the banks ofthe Ganges River. Some Baba even contacted as they were bathing in the river. At one point there was a scuffle among the sadhus on the stone steps on the ghats leading down to the river, but Baba ignored beingjostled by the crowds and pushed His waythrough the mass ofnaked sadhus—get ting dirtied by their bodies’ ash and soaked by the Ganges. Such hardships He bore for the sake of this work.
“This continuous strain—incessant bending down to take darshan of holy men one after another until it numbered into the thousands, paying obeisance with bent head, or laying His forehead on their feet, or touching their feetwith His hands, and trekking mile after mile in search ofevery sadhu, mahatma and saint worthy ofthe name, and living only on one meal of rice and dal per day—finally punished Him with a severe strain on His health. Baba looked worn out, but He was determined to finish this work at any cost, because, as He indicated, He ‘derived a great joy from it.’ On March 30th, high winds were blowing down from the Himalayas and the freezing morning was piercing. Because ofthe dew, everything was damp and walking was treacherous in the wet grass and rock. Baba had a severe backache, and it was obvious to the men that the labors of His work were hurting His body. Nevertheless, at the crack of dawn, He started for Hardwar with the four cornpanions. There Baba had to walk back and forth on both sides of the road to make the continuous contacts amidst heavy traffic of motor vehicles and multitudes of pilgrims. Searching through the ashrams and camps ofsaints, sadhus and mahatmas, peering into every secluded place and recess, He found and contacted nine hundred and twenty-one more such men, bringing the total to five thousand nine hundred and three. During this phase, Baba was not repeating contact with any holy man; He would contact a saint, sadhu, mahatma, ascetic or hermit only once. As the day wore on, Baba became terribly exhausted, and returned to Motichur at a slow gait with heavy steps. “Despite the crushing fatigue, Baba contacted five hundred and thirty-two sadhus and anchorites in Hardwar the next day, March 31st 195O.” In an interview with Don Stevens, Mehera recounted the physical suffering which Baba endured during this period. “When Baba went to Motichur later and did His work contacting sadhus, He caught a serious infection. Motichur is some miles away from where we stayed, which was not in Dehra Dun proper but about five miles out of Dehra Dun. Every morning Baba would get up and get ready to contact the sadhus in Motichur, and perhaps through Baba’s working He caught an infection and got congestion of the eyes [conjunctivitis]. Baba was in great discomfort then. It was very serious. Baba’s eyes were very red. Goher took Baba to a doctor but He gave Baba some kind ofmedicine which made His eyes
worse.’ Mehru added: ‘Penicillin ointment. Baba got a very bad reaction from that, mak ing His eyes even worse than they had been. It was really. .you couldn’t see Baba without tears coming to your eyes, just seeing the 16 state His eyes were in at the time.” As of April 1st, Baba had contacted six thousand six hundred and ninety-seven sadhus and mahatmas. Pendu kept an exact account. Baba was getting noticeably weaker. His continual bowing down and rising was pushing His state ofexhaustion to a point of collapse. The companions were at a loss as to what they could do to protect His body. The next day, the date of the lunar eclipse, Baba contacted another two thousand nine hundred and sixty-five. Among them were the great ascetics and hermits of the most austere type; it was these that Baba desired to contact. Bowing down, Baba took darshan ofone ascetic or hermit after another. Baba led the men, covering about twenty-five miles for these contacts on both sides of the Ganges. It took eleven hours for Him to finish and He was so fatigued that He could no longer stand up. As Eruch recalled: “The New Life had a definite pattern, you may call it. Whatever it was, for two and a halfyears it was a new life that we led with Baba. Baba then brought us back to Meherazad in the Manonash phase. Whatever pattern He set, we started it with that training camp at Belgaum, as I told you. Then we started regularly a wandering life .
in which we wandered from place to place
without caring for shelter or food or anything of the sort. At the same time there was strict adherence to discipline, mind you. Then we were made to reach Dehra Dun, the destination as I told you. I always call that the destination. Baba had a destination in mind, so this very fact shows that it was notjust a matter ofwandering aimlessly. We
were not merely wanderers. We ‘wandered’ to our destination. There was a setting out and a destination. Those who want to lead this New Life must bear all these principles in mind. “After the destination was reached Baba divided all the companions into different groups which were given definite duties. One companion was to do gardening. Another was to open a clinic. Another was to be a night watchman because he was very healthy. Another group was sent out to Delhi to establish a business called the New Life ghee business, and in this Baba utilized the services ofthat very person who had brought all the provisions to us at Dehra Dun and
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