Once Katie took the juice to her at 3:05 P.M., and Baba of course noticed her tardiness.
He asked, "Why are you five minutes late?"
Katie replied that it took more time to squeeze the oranges.
Baba corrected her, "Because of your delay in following the order, everything I was trying to do for Mani and my work has become ineffective. There may be good reasons for lateness in all other things, but in obedience it is an unfortunate tragedy!"
Rumors of war breaking out soon were circulating at the time. Hearing some persons discussing the current world situation, a mast in Bhopal pointed to Baba while he was walking along the street, and repeated, "He will uproot all these troublemakers and set everything right."
In response to a letter from Delia in England, who longed to be with the group in India, Baba dictated these lines on 5 March 1939:
... I would love to have you here with me, but you say truly, there are lessons that must be learned even apart from the physical presence of the Master. I teach you wherever you are.
In my conscious state I limit myself. So too in the conscious state of those of my circle, I also set limits. When I choose I free them from those limits, but in my own time. Until then be happy, content and know it is all my doing. When I draw the curtain, you will understand all and smile at my game. It is all illusion — the pain of yesterday is no more, the joy of a week ago is no more; only the present exists, and the love you feel for your Beloved.
The unconscious self, which is God, in order to become conscious has to go through this apparent opposite process of duality in order to become aware of its oneness with God and gain that conscious union with God which makes lover and Beloved one.
You make the effort and I will give you the Victory. It is a divine struggle with purpose behind it. Don't fight against it.
On 7 March, Baba wrote the Backetts about the purpose of his journey:
[T]his was a tour not for sightseeing only but for spiritual work. This contacting personally certain saints and agents had to be before I speak and manifest. Every day brings the great spiritual upheaval nearer and with it the terrible suffering that must precede the "Awakening of the soul" ... You who have seen and known me before this happens will suffer in a different way [from] the rest of humanity.