Baba ordered the men to fast until his contact with the old mast was over. Baba fed Pallukollah a little food and sat with him, but for only ten minutes. However, he indicated that he was greatly pleased with the contact.
They immediately began their return trip to Madras at nine that morning, reaching there at midnight. Baba directed Adi to drive back to Bangalore in his car, and Baba proceeded to Chanda by train, accompanied by Baidul and Jal Kerawalla. Baba contacted a fifth-plane mast in Chanda named Lohewala Baba , who lived deep in a forest. This mast gathered junked iron pieces from the railway salvage yard and hung them high in the treetops of the forest.
Baba went to Nagpur, where he contacted more masts. Then they boarded a train for Delhi, where they would take another train to Jaipur. In Delhi, they had a few hours to wait before the Jaipur train departed, so Baba took the men went to see a new Charlie Chaplin movie, The Great Dictator .1 Baba liked the movie immensely.
"It is the only film I would have liked to see seven times," he remarked.
He had a letter written to the Meherabad mandali, instructing that everyone should see the movie, any number of times they liked, and he further added that those who had been forbidden to see films under the current restrictions were allowed to see only this movie when it came to their area.
After having covered almost 5,000 miles in two weeks, through the north, south and east of the country, Baba returned to Jaipur late at night on 18 February 1941. Age summarized Baba's recent journeys: "Throughout this exhausting, if not excruciating journey, Baba literally spent every night in crowded third–class train compartments. During the daytime he had no rest as he was constantly looking for masts. It was scorchingly hot in Ramnad and Madras and, adding to the usual wartime obstacles of traveling in India, when Baba entered Lucknow there was a riot. Civil disturbances occurred at Calcutta, also, and at other places Baba visited.2
"Who can have an idea of the great love Meher Baba had for these masts? To contact a mast he would travel thousands of miles by train, car, on foot, in bullock carts, riding on horses and camels, in the heat, rain and cold without proper rest, food or drink — amidst the worst imaginable discomforts.
Footnotes
- 1.The Great Dictator was a satirical attack on Hitler and Mussolini. (Chaplin depicted the Nazi swastika as a symbol of betrayal — "the double cross.") Hitler was outraged by the film and protested against its showing.
- 2.Prior to beginning the mast journey, Baba had intimated many of his lovers: "All orders [such as fasting twice a week, et cetera] given to you are, as already stated, to be followed until July 31, 1941; but from February 1st to February 20, 1941, I want you to follow all these orders, not only implicitly, but also with the utmost zeal."