Turner asked Baba, "Did you know I was about to ask that question?"
Baba spelled out in reply, "I know everything!"
Baba permitted the reporter to ask a few more questions. "When will you speak?" Turner asked.
"In about two years."
"When will your manifestation be?"
"Twelve years after I speak. These past twelve years of silence were for the preparation of the same."
"What will be its effect?"
"Convincing."
"At once or gradually?"
"Gradually, like the rain and crops. Rain falls spontaneously in showers at a time, but the crops take time to grow. So the effects and fruits of my work and manifestation will grow gradually as time goes on during these twelve years of my manifestation."
"Will there be a war before you speak?"
"Yes."
"Is it necessary?"
"Yes, unavoidable. None will win, none will lose. But it will create an awakening for a better and higher ideal. All the false ideas of race, color, nationality, nationalism, et cetera, will be eradicated and destroyed, and universal human brotherhood and idealism will be established.
"I shall lead the way for those who seek," Baba concluded.
At the end of his 25-minute interview, Turner sought permission to formally introduce some prominent fellow passengers (such as Louis Bernacchi, a famous explorer and scientist, and Evangeline Booth, the worldwide head of the Salvation Army), but it is not recorded whether Baba agreed to meet them, although no doubt they saw him on deck.1
After eleven days at sea, Baba, Chanji and Kaka arrived in Bombay at noon on 23 November, and were met by Adi Sr. and Adi Jr. Beheram's wife Perin had given birth to a baby girl six days before, so before visiting Memo, Baba was driven to Parekh Hospital at Khetwadi to see them and his new niece. Baba named the child Soonu , but he later changed her name to Gulnar when Memo requested that the girl be named after Shireenmai's mother Golandoon.
After meeting Memo at Dadar, Baba proceeded to the Dadachanjis' house, where he had lunch. At five o'clock, Baba was driven to Nasik in Rustom's Pontiac by Adi Sr.
In Nasik on Tuesday, 24 November 1936, Baba discussed the visit of the Western lovers at length with Rustom and Freiny. After meeting Rustom and Freiny's children, Baba was driven to Rahuri and then Meherabad, where he arrived at noon. Baba informed the men and women mandali in Meherabad about the impending arrival of the Europeans and Americans, and his own wishes for the celebration of his birthday.
Footnotes
- 1.Evangeline Booth, 71, was the dynamic daughter of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. She was on her way to India, where she was received by the Mayor of Bombay and addressed a packed gathering in Poona on 25 November 1936. During her tour, arrangements were apparently made for the Salvation Army to take over the large American Marathi Mission Hospital in Ahmednagar, which had closed for financial reasons in 1935. The hospital became known as the Evangeline Booth Hospital when it reopened on 26 June 1939.