Life of Ahmad — Page 142
AT HOSHIARPUR as 142 that he would then be glad to receive visitors. Strict orders were given by Ahmad as to keep the front door always bolted and that none even of his companions should disturb him. No one was allowed to go upstairs or to talk to him more than was necessary in answer to questions. He wanted his meals left upstairs, no one was to wait upon him, and the dishes and utensils were to be cleared when he had finished. He offered his prayers alone in his room upstairs. His instructions were carefully carried out and he was left undisturbed with God. He came down on Fridays and the party used to go to a solitary mosque situated in a park outside the town where Ahmad as led the Jum‘a prayers. He also attended to his letters and read newspapers. To the westerner, whose spiritual understanding has become warped by materialism, this sustained solitude may seem both unnatural and unnecessary; but it is the source of the saint’s strength. From it he derives guidance; and his victory over the powers of darkness is in proportion to the intimacy of his communion with God. Ahmad as had reached a stage when he no longer considered himself the master of his own person. All his movements were controlled by God. He was expressly commanded to go to Hoshiarpur and from there he wrote in one of his letters (February 11th, 1886) to Munshi Rustam Ali ra of Jullundur that he could not say how long he would stay in Hoshiarpur. He could not even tell the route by which he would reach Qadian. Everything, he said,