Sarosh came to see Baba at Lonavla on the morning of 19 November, and returned to Ahmednagar the same day.
For the past few days, Baba had been discussing the idea with the mandali of holding a mass gathering at Meherabad in February 1943. But on 21 November, Baba brought up a new idea. Instead of holding one gathering at Meherabad, he suggested that smaller congregations be held at seven different places simultaneously. Baba chose Bombay, Poona, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Allahabad, Lahore and Sholapur as central points for spreading his message. To make preparations for these gatherings, Baba decided to hold a meeting of his intimate followers on 27 December, at Meherabad. His lovers were then invited to attend the meeting.
A message titled "We Must Live for God and Die for God" was also dictated, printed and circulated on 1 December 1942:1
This war is a necessary evil. It is in God's plan, which is to awaken humanity to higher values. If humanity fails to profit by the lessons of war, it will have suffered in vain. This war is teaching that even the man in the street can rise to the greatest heights of sacrifice for the sake of a selfless cause. It is also teaching that all the mundane things of the world — wealth, possessions, power, fame, family and even the very tenor of life on Earth — are transitory and devoid of lasting value. The incidents of war shall, through the lessons which they bring, win over man for God, who is the Truth; and they will initiate him into a new life, which is inspired by true and lasting values.
People are making unlimited sacrifices and enduring untold sufferings for the sake of their country or political ideology. They are, therefore, capable of the same sacrifices and endurance for the sake of God or the Truth. All religions have unequivocally claimed man for the life in the Truth. It is sheer folly to fight in the name of religions. It is time that man had a fresh vision of the Truth that all life is one, and that God is the only thing which is real and the only thing that matters.
God is worth living for and He is also worth dying for. All else is a vain and empty pursuit of illusory values.
On Friday, 4 December 1942, Baba left Lonavla for mast work in Raipur. He returned after a week, on the 10th.
Footnotes
- 1.Ten thousand leaflets were printed.