Meanwhile, at the Ice Factory bungalow Dr. Ghani continue to work on the esoteric points given by Baba (for God Speaks ), but in his usual lackadaisical way was taking his time over it. Finally, Baba dictated an agreement which he made Ghani sign before witnesses, promising to finish the book by the end of May 1948. Part of the agreement was a poem by Baba about Ghani:
He swears by everything he holds dear and near That he will stay here without the summer fear And not asking for beer And finish this book or out he'll clear!
Baba now began the third phase of his special 40-day-work — distributing prasad to the poor of Ahmednagar District. Eruch, Pendu and Nusserwan Satha had been busy for some weeks making the necessary arrangements for this work. As they had done before in Niranjanpur, thousands of tickets with the word PRASAD printed on them had been distributed to the very poorest peasants in different villages.
Other tickets had printed on them: "You are great; you give us the opportunity to serve you." At each of the four locations where Baba was to work with the poor, facilities were found and cleaned. Volunteers were engaged to help heat water for Baba to wash the feet of the poor, and many other requirements were meticulously seen to before Baba's arrival.
Meanwhile, at Pimpalgaon and Ahmednagar, thousands of bundles of prasad were being prepared and stored for Baba to distribute. Each bundle consisted of four seers of millet wrapped in one and a half yards of white cloth.
The first program was held on Monday, 16 February 1948, at the town of Kotul, 80 miles from Ahmednagar near Sangamner. Driven by Adi Sr., Baba left Pimpalgaon in the middle of the night at 3 A.M. and came to Rusi Pop's where he washed and had breakfast. At 5:15 A.M. he left with Dhake, Kaka and Jalbhai, and arrived at Kotul shortly after eight in the morning. The program was held at the dak bungalow. Baba sat on a stool and washed the feet of 1,010 poverty-stricken men and women, placed his head on their feet, and handed them his prasad. To 27 of them he gave one rupee each, and to two people who had come late and did not get bundles, two rupees each.
When Baba washed the feet of these people, the mandali would assist by pouring water and handing him the soap and towel.