But my being placed in the position of a helpless witness to various incidents during this trip was a unique experience. There was the time when I and Gustadji (both silent) were alone to face some excited Hindus who had rushed to the aid of a Hindu boy that mistook Gustadji for a murderous Chaous. Gustadji narrowly escaped physical injury.
Then there was the incident when Eruch and Baidul, although both perfectly innocent, were insulted and ridiculed by people and held up by the police, who were aided in their unjust accusations by the Bania passengers. And finally the climax was when our train was held up at Bulsar because of a broken bridge. We were helplessly stranded in the interior of the thickly overcrowded compartment as is typical of third class accommodation — the heavy downpour making any chance of even temporary escape impossible. There, in the profusely leaking, stuffy compartment we sat — wedged in between this liberal share of India's populace — for twelve hours without a break!
Now these occurrences of this mast trip in June — these particular events that had never arisen on any previous mast trip — this happening to the Avatar — will have a wide universal reaction, and also will result in some form of personal disaster for me in the future. This happened before June 21. Other important events in the world have also occurred, including the apparent breakdown of negotiations between Hyderabad and India — which will all have definite universal results after June 21.1
So, I want you all to be prepared to stand by faithfully, and come out of the crisis successfully.
On 16 June 1948, Baba met with Babadas and Deshmukh. Baba told Deshmukh to remain in Ahmednagar for a few days more to work on Norina's articles, which Feram was typing. He sent Babadas to Delhi, Hamirpur and Bhagalpur for the work of disseminating his message of divine love in those areas. Babadas made significant contacts in Hamirpur.
As mentioned previously, Keshav Nigam of Hamirpur was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and did not believe in Meher Baba, whom he had heard about while imprisoned. He ridiculed him and would never pay serious attention to the circulars sent to him. But he did read the May 1948 circular and became enthusiastic about following item No. 5 — not to touch money, women, et cetera.
Footnotes
- 1.Hyderabad, the largest and most prosperous of the Indian princely states, was considering becoming independent or part of Pakistan, rather than joining the Indian Union.