DATTAJI’S PROPHECY

I said, “You know best. I do not know what to ask for”.

He immediately said, “On the 17th day from today I shall send you the Mukhtare Ahamad”. I did not understand this Urdu expression.

Meanwhile everybody got busy in making arrangements for his sitting in the train. When the train steamed off some people came and embraced me. I did not know understand the significance and asked one gentleman, “Why are people embracing me?”

He said, “Did you not follow, what Dattaji has said to you? Dattaji has said that on the seventeenth day from today he will send to you the representative of God. This is a great thing.

Be careful on the seventeenth day, lest it may happen that He might come and go away and only thereafter you will understand that it was He. That kind of mistake will be great”.

On the 17th day after bidding farewell to Dattaji, I suddenly received a letter from Shri Manan Prasadji, the deputy superintendent at Monghyr and also a disciple of Baba, summoning me to meet with Asthanaji at once in Monghyr.

I lost no time in complying and by late afternoon was in Monghyr. That evening, having finished the work, I went to Jamalpur, which was not too far away, and reached Baba’s residence in time to accompany Him on His field walk.

As we approached the tiger’s grave, I told Baba everything about my experiences with Dattaji, concluding with the question, “what did he mean when he said, ‘On the seventeenth day I will send you the Mukhtare Ahamad’?”

Baba listened to everything and said, “You will automatically understand all this after some time”.

That entire day I did not meet anyone in Muslim dress or anyone who had an Islamic appearance. I went home to Begusarai.

A week later, official business took me to Muzzafarpur. I went to see Dattaji and told him, “I did not meet the Mukhtare Ahamad on the seventeenth day, although you said I would”.

Dattaji looked at me . “Did you meet your guru on that day?”

“Yes”

A long silence ensued as if Dattaji were searching for the proper words. At last he asked, “What have you understood of your guru? Is he just an ordinary guru?

He is some phenomenon totally different. He is much more powerful than any of the saints who have reached perfection in the past”.

At last I realised that I had indeed met the Mukhtare Ahamad on the seventeenth day, although, just as I had been warned, I had failed to recognise Him!

Later I also came to understand what it meant for Dattaji to ‘send’ the Mukhtare Ahamad.

It did not mean that Dattaji had the power of command over the Mukhtare Ahamad, or that Baba was subordinate to him. Rather, the laws of the mystic world would bind Baba, as a higher authority, to grant the wishes of those who have attained a very high degree of spiritual development.

Regardless of whether they were Margiis or other disciples of Baba, even regardless of whether He approved of their requests He would comply with them, although He may subsequently scold or punish them for inappropriate requests. And so it had been He who had, on the seventeenth day, fulfilled Dattaji’s prophecy.