Because of the recent tremors, he had to let it go at a very low price. After selling all his property, Rusi and his family moved to Ahmednagar where his wife's sister lived. A few years later, in 1935, another much more devastating earthquake leveled Quetta, resulting in the death of 50,000 people and causing extensive damage. It was one of the worst natural disasters in history.
In Quetta on Saturday, 16 May 1931, Baba stated to the mandali:
As I've forewarned, the present crisis and the most critical, desperate situation of one and all of the mandali, as well as for others, is nothing but the outcome of my working. Not only do they weep, but I also have to shed tears. No one is to blame for this; it is no one's fault. It is the result of the inner work of the Masters. This situation was necessary, and something more is to come which will be still worse. No one ever dreamed or expected such bad times would come. And it is possible that I, too, will have to suffer along with some of the mandali to the extent of being stricken ill or perhaps having to go without food or water. I may face terrible hardships at times.
Much more humiliation is probably still to come, but it is brought about by me on purpose. I am responsible for it, and it will increase to such an extent that I may be handcuffed, chained and taken to prison! Who knows what will happen!
One thing is certain: I will have to go away alone. Many of the mandali will leave me one by one. Because of the hopeless situation in Nasik, some are already leaving one after the other. All this is nobody's fault. It is the bitter fruit of my internal work, for which I myself have to weep at times.
Chanji then asked, "If it is the result of your internal work, then why do you feel upset by it?"
Baba explained:
Because all are mine, and I am especially pained for my close mandali whose pitiable situation I have brought about. They find themselves in trouble and facing unhappy and unpleasant times because of me. It is like a father who suffers at the moment of his child's operation. It is the father who consents to the operation and knows that it is for the child's good, but the child's suffering also gives the father pain. My pain is like this.