A beautiful situation and right in the centre of India, 70 miles from this important town. Two important rivers meet in Mandla and our property is eight furlongs [one mile] from the river and with such a large number of trees that some may have to be cut. I was there again yesterday to make final arrangements and to have the deed signed.
The climate is wonderful and suited to both Easterners and Westerners. The donor owns large properties in this neighbourhood - 117 villages. He is a very spiritual man and very interested in the centre which will embrace every activity of mine. It is also a very spiritual part of India and suited in every way to my needs.
In a letter to Delia DeLeon the same day, Baba wrote:
Tell your mother not to worry over money or the fear of war. I will look after all who are mine wherever they are. Long for what is real. You will then have no time for worrying over what may never happen. Truth and love, which are one, you will find and they will give you permanent happiness. Both are expressions of the one God who is in all — your beloved Baba.
... Life is not easy for the group. They see very little of me. But this is not a holiday trip. I have great work to do and they have much to learn. Life is a school wherever you are. I teach all whom I have chosen ... This, too, you are finding. I will see that you have the experience that you need. Half the battle is won when you can face up to yourself and see the false from the true. Truth is within, but is hidden by the false ego. I, the Divine Sculptor of all hearts, will mold the "Perfect One," myself, whom I love, in all.
In her letter to Delia from Benares, Kitty wrote:
From now on we saw Baba less. It was like being in a desert with a bottle of water close at hand and yet forbidden to
touch it a little worse than having water in sight. But we guessed it would be so, as Baba said we should all be happy
on tour. And just after we started he said, "Beware! I throw my bullets at you till you become impregnable to them!" We
then knew a little what to expect.
Mohammed Mast had been brought to Jabalpur in the middle of December. Baba bathed and fed him daily at the mandali's residence. He would also sit in seclusion with Mohammed for his work, and no one was allowed to be near. Eruch was the mast's personal attendant, as Pleader had been sent to Bombay. Mohammed would want a certain vegetable, and Eruch would bring it from the market. Once, when Mohammed wanted peas, Gaimai cooked some other vegetable, because peas were not available. But when Baba took lunch to him to feed him, Mohammed cried out, "Where are my peas?! Why didn't Gaimai prepare them? Call her here!"
On Baba's orders, Eruch brought Gaimai, and Baba gestured to Mohammed, "She did not cook peas for you today, so I am going to punish her."
He raised his hand as if to strike her.
But Mohammed shouted, "No, no! Don't beat her; forgive her. Today, I will eat something else." The problem was solved and Mohammed became happy, thanks to Baba's ruse.