Buddha (600 B.C.) who preached his first sermon of initiation at this spot to his five associates. I recall in the early days of the blue-bus tours, Baba took the women to this spot and showed us where Buddha preached his first sermon.

"In such an ancient, historical, peaceful and spiritual background as afforded by Sarnath," Dr. Ghani tells us, "Baba and his companions sat down in a subterranean passage one morning, in langoti, in biting weather. Baba made all his companions read mentally for about 15 minutes a prayer addressed to God, dictated by Baba beforehand. After the mental reading, the companions were asked to don their clothes and to stand in a row. Baba took his stand at one end of the passage and called upon each one to hand over to him the prayer chit. Outside the passage, Baba called upon Dr. Ghani to utter aloud seven times the words "Ho gaya" (accomplished). Baba himself joined in these repetitions of "Ho gaya " by the lifting of his right hand.

Leaving Sarnath, the party moved on to Jaunpur, towards Hardwar where Baba had his great work to do at the Kumbha Mela festival. At one stage of their journey Baba asked the companions to surrender their watches, which numbered twelve, including one from the girls, to be sold In Delhi. Three of the men were allowed to keep theirs for outside duty, to which they had to attend. I recall a similar occasion later on when the weather was bitingly cold and Baba had their bag and baggage sold which included their warm suits.

And how were the animals behaving? Again referring to Ghani’s notes we read that on the first days the cows and donkeys refused to walk and had to be dragged the whole distance. Dr. Ghani himself was completely exhausted handling the donkeys with the help of Gustadji. Similar were the experiences of Dr. Nilu and Ali Akbar with the two cows and the calves;― Dr. Nilu having to carry the calf on his shoulders for five miles at a stretch. Finally the animals continued the journey by rail. Ghani was given a place on the driver's seat on the ladies' coach,* and ordered not to walk. On this journey the party had a foretaste of gypsy life—often sleeping in the open under the trees.

Jaunpur brings us nearly to the end of the first 2½ months training. Before starting immediately with the second period, Baba surprised all the companions by announcing that there would be a period of ten days

*bullock-drawn caravan