eat food for long periods and so had severe griping pain in his abdomen. As a last resort he hung himself upside down in a well. After several days he was brought out of the well miraculously and found to his utter astonishment that he had gained powers. He at once began to experiment with them. On a nearby tree were sitting some birds. He said, 'Let the birds fall dead.' All the birds fell to the ground, dead. He then said, 'Let the birds come to life and fly away.' Immediately the birds flew away."

Baba continued, "He went round from village to village showing off his powers and thus feeding his ego. At one village, he saw an old woman drawing water from a well and then splashing the same just outside the well. This monotonous procedure the woman continued for a long time. Farid, disgusted at the madness of the woman, went up to her and asked her why she did such a foolish time and energy-consuming action. She replied, 'Son, by splashing water here I am trying to put out a fire that is raging in a village ten miles from here. This action is not as easy as making dead birds fly away again!' Farid at once realized that the woman was not an ordinary person, and asked for forgiveness for his past deeds. She directed him to a Perfect Master who was some distance away. Farid approached the Master and found that the tree he was sitting under was completely dry. The hot sun was beating fiercely on the Master. Farid at once made use of his powers and turned the tree green. The Master just looked up at the tree and it again became dry. Farid again made the tree green but a glance from the Master again made it dry. This happened five times. At last Farid realized that his powers were nothing compared to the Master's. He surrendered himself to the Master. The Master told Farid to become a real 'Fakir' and not play like a child with such powers. He said that miracles are not the criterion of 'Fakirhood.'"

Baba then told us another story of a Mohammedan who had gained certain powers through such Tantric knowledge. Baba said, "He had powers even to give sight to the blind and so he had a very big following. He stayed in a huge building that had several floors. One day while he was standing on the terrace of his house he saw a cow fall in a well. He instantaneously stretched his hand up to the well and pulled out the cow. Very near to his house was a river and on the other bank lived a Perfect Master. Since the Master did not work any miracles his following was very limited The Master on hearing about the cow incident, sent one of his men to the Mohammedan asking him to stop all such nonsense. The Mohammedan flew into a rage and swore that he would take revenge on the Master and