There is this difference, however. In the divine scheme of things, individuals or a people who, when instead of progressing higher and onward, are about to lapse into bestiality, it is suffering that rehabilitates them.
Spiritual Masters achieve for humanity the same resurrection, much more easily and less painfully, by not only preaching but translating into fulfillment the too familiar words, self-denial and brotherhood of man, whose very beginning and whose ultimate end is love.
The time for such a universal awakening is looming large in the near future, to meet which, the scheme of a Universal Spiritual Center is founded today. [The princely state of] Mysore will surely realize, at no distant date [in the future] its singular good fortune in possessing, among many progressive features, the spiritual capital of the world as well.
I bless every one of you, participants and non-participants, in the greatest scheme of spiritual regeneration the world has ever known and the foundation of which you have witnessed today.
This scheme of a Universal Spiritual Center symbolizes the character of my divine mission on Earth. I bless you.
Speeches were then delivered by Lakshmi Aiyangar and M. Chakravarthy Iyengar. The program terminated amid loud cheers of Baba's Jai. As Baba left, fireworks lit the evening sky.
Age marveled at the spectacle. "The ground-breaking function afforded thousands of people the opportunity of having Meher Baba's darshan. Through the outward medium of this occasion, Baba sowed the seed of love in the hearts of many Mysorians — which, with the passing of time, will grow into saplings and subsequently blossom into flowers and bear fruit!"
Meanwhile, as this ceremony was taking place, the attorney Venkatapathaiya who was trying to raise mass opposition against Baba hired a Morris automobile and filled it with leaflets denouncing Meher Baba, which he intended to distribute at Byramangala. But as the vehicle was on its way to the function, at 6:15 P.M. it hit a bullock cart carrying firewood and overturned in a ditch, strewing the anti-Meher Baba literature all over the road. Padri happened to drive past at the time and took a photograph of the scene. God's hand, perhaps, was behind the unfortunate "accident."
A committee had been formed, including a few of the Western women and some of the mandali, to oversee the construction of the center.