The next day, 4 May, Baba, Chanji and Gustadji came down from Baba Budan Mountain and went to Chikmagalur. After a night there, they proceeded to Belur the following day.
In Belur, too, Baba remained in a secluded spot for his work, and left for Hassan on 6 May, where he likewise spent a period of time in seclusion. From Hassan, Baba returned to Mysore on the 7th, after a hectic five-day tour doing his seclusion work.
Following the journey north, a few days after returning to Mysore, Baba decided that he wanted to move his ashram headquarters. While holding a discussion with the men mandali about setting up an ashram in Mysore, Baba indicated that he now preferred a move to Rahuri — a rural, forested place about 30 miles from Meherabad.
He stated, "Since Rahuri is between Meherabad and Nasik, I can conveniently go to either place from there. The women will remain in Meherabad with some of the men mandali, and the rest of the mandali will stay in Rahuri. A small hut in Rahuri should be built for me."
Baba assigned to Kalemama (a civil engineer by training) the work of erecting huts in Rahuri for himself and a few of the mandali, and instructed Dhake to obtain a piece of land for the purpose. Baba also proposed that a trust be created for the maintenance of the women and mandali.
On Wednesday, 13 May 1936, Baba left Mysore for Nasik with Kalemama by train. Rustom met them in Poona and accompanied Baba to Bombay. On the 17th, Adi Sr. drove Baba to Nasik, and from there to Rahuri. An isolated area had been selected for establishing the ashram, and the land was leased for five years from a Marwari named Laxminarayan. The landowner was paid in full, and Baba instructed Kalemama about the proposed work.
After a brief stay with the mandali at Meherabad, Baba returned to Bangalore on the 22nd, and was met by Chanji. While they were having tea at Spencer's Hotel , a Jain named Dwarkadas, who worked for the Mysore state government, recognized Baba and stood before him with folded hands.1 They returned to Mysore the same day by train. Baba wanted to travel by third class, but Chanji persuaded him to go second-class, which was much less crowded and hence there would be less chance of his being recognized.
Footnotes
- 1.The hotel is now known as the Taj West End.