However, as much as Baba tried to persuade him, Chacha refused to allow himself to be bathed in Satara. Only after weeks did Baba convince him to allow his filthy clothes to be removed and new ones put on him.
Baba explained: "The clothes and odds and ends that a mast keeps by him, or on his person, have some inner significance. It is for this reason they cling so obstinately to them."
Baba's work with the masts was, more often than not, physically exhausting. After sitting for an hour or two with Chacha, Baba would emerge from the tiny room, his face pale and tired, his clothes drenched in perspiration.
Besides Ali Shah and Chacha, Minoo Kharas brought three masts from Karachi to Satara on Friday, 13 June 1947. They were not particularly outstanding, and Baba kept them for only two days. He bathed and fed them, and then sent them back with Minoo on the evening of the 14th. Deshmukh was also in Satara for a visit at this time.
Now that the war had ended, instead of himself journeying to the West, Baba had called certain of his Western lovers back to India. He was anxious that Pendu finish the work of Nadine Tolstoy's tomb before Norina and Elizabeth arrived. Even after her worldly departure, Nadine was still being remembered by her Beloved! On 13 June, Baba sent a letter to Pendu to have these words carved on her headstone:
Nadine Tolstoy, her happiness was Baba.
Dr. Goher had been an occasional visitor, but she joined the ashram permanently on 19 June. Adi Sr., Meherjee and Nariman all had interviews that day with Baba.
Meanwhile, throughout the entire month of June, Baba continued to work with Chacha and Ali Shah. Manek Mehta was granted an interview on the 25th. He complained about Baba's mandali not being cooperative with him in his plans for developing his Bombay group.
Baba explained to him, "My mandali may have their weaknesses, but fundamentally they are prepared to obey me 100 percent. Eruch, for example, if ordered, would even go and kill his father. The members of your mandali are ill-prepared to obey me implicitly. I am more concerned with your obedience and faith than in that of your Jap Mandal."
On Thursday, 10 July 1947, having finished his work of 40 days with Chacha, Baba sent him back to Ajmer with Baidul. Pendu, Adi Sr. and Waman Padale had come to Satara to receive instructions from Baba.1 Baidul and the majzoob rode with them to Poona (Chacha vomiting the entire way) and then to Bombay, where Baidul and Chacha boarded a train for Ajmer.
Footnotes
- 1.Waman Padale was a young man employed to assist Adi in his office work and in driving.