Baba again tried to induce these two early followers to come and stay with him and the mandali, and was particularly anxious to have Buasaheb with him. Buasaheb, however, pleaded business commitments, whereupon Baba offered to take the complete financial burden upon himself and free Buasaheb of any monetary responsibility. An agreement to this effect was even drawn up, but Buasaheb later backed out of it and it was torn up. In light of subsequent events, it was an attempt by Baba to save Buasaheb.
Baba and the women departed from Lonavla for Meherabad at five-thirty on the morning of the 25th, arriving the same day at 11:30 A.M. Immediately upon returning to Meherabad, the discussion about a center in Mandla or Jabalpur began again. The Western women liked Mandla, and Baba implied that he did too. Norina, subsequently, began planning the inception of a center there.
Baba was sleeping at night on the hill, but he came down on the night of 27 May and played cards with the mandali after not having done so for a long time. (The losers were given a stroke with a stick by Baba as their penalty.) He continued this routine of nightly card games for some time, returning to sleep up the hill at 9:00 P.M.
On the morning of the 29th, Baba held a discussion with Baily, Ghani and Chanji about a proposal to start a Gujarati magazine, along the lines of Meher Baba Journal. That evening, Baba came down the hill to enjoy a bhajan performance (and dance) by the inmates of the mast ashram.
In June of 1939, Baba sent Deshmukh, Norina and Nadine to Bombay, Poona, and Nasik to give lectures.1 They spoke effectively before the public (on the topic "The Present Spiritual Crisis") and countered some of the adverse opinions and rumors that were still being spread about Baba by Colonel Irani and his cohorts. They also informed the public of the proposal to open a Universal Center.
Now that Baba was again residing at Meherabad after a six-month absence, many came to see him on Sunday, 4 June 1939, including the Satha family, Sarosh and Viloo, Indu Deshmukh, Maneck Ranji, Minoo Pohowala, Gadekar and Dhake and his family.
Footnotes
- 1.Deshmukh frequently visited Baba during his university holidays, and would carry out work according to Baba's instructions.