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612
The Unknown Pilgrims
remained unshakeable, he would feel free to accord her permission to undertake the great fast. Several days later, in accord with Sadhvi Kūmām, he gave his consent. One sādhvi of the same group, Sri Phulakumāri, who remained constantly at Sādhvi Ratnavati's side, kept a record of the most striking moments of the fast and of its effects. These manifestations reveal an increasingly rarefied awakening and consciousness of being, in proportion as progressive detachment from the body took place. To this awakening correponded a progressive inner purification and, at the same time, a confirmation of will and intention. Other sadhvis have undertaken this fast during the final days of their lives, but the extraordinary feature of this particular case was the state of extreme lucidity and vigour observable in a sādhvi who had hitherto been weakened by successive illnesses, a vigour which mustered together all her now purified faculties. It was because of this heightened awareness and this mental vigour that the fast lasted an exceptional length of time and that it communicated a radiance and a message to all who thronged around her. Sädhvi Phūlakumāri took notes on the spot, as the situation unroled, of the stages of this final advance. Here is a resume of this existential eyewitness account. 70
Dhyāna assumes an essential role
From the very outset of the fast, Sādhvi Ratnavati began to finu herself capable of sustained mental concentration she grasped forthwith the importance of dhyāna, which up till then, as she herself avowed, she had hardly recognised. She said that she felt the power of the ātman stirring within her.
Alocană
On the seventh day of the fast, she experienced a need for inner 'stripping', for clarification, and expressed a desire for full and frank confession to the sādhvis of her group. These latter were struck by the simplicity and honesty with which she addressed each one, recognising her faults and asking for pardon.
70 Ibid., chs. 2 and 3 of the second part for what follows.
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