Baba stated, "Now these properties are yours, not mine; I have no objection to your keeping or selling them."
The Meherabad estate had first belonged to Adi Sr. and his father, who had laid it at Baba's feet.1 Meherjee became the owner of lower Meherabad, Sarosh of Meherabad Hill and Nariman of Meherazad. But these three men maintained the properties for Baba's future work and never considered them as their own.
At the meeting that day, Baba offered the following three alternatives to the group of men:
First: Those who find themselves capable of fulfilling the conditions I have laid down, and accept them, will go with me.
Second: Those who cannot accompany me will have to earn their living and, if they can spare any of their earnings, they should give the savings to the dependent families and continue to carry out the orders already given to them by me, or any orders that I may give them later.
Third: Those who can neither go with me nor support others and carry out my orders will have to go their own way.
Before discussing anything further, Baba asked Ghani to read out the following prayer: "May God give good buddhi [sense] to the mandali and full suddhi [discrimination] to Baba!"
Clarifying the alternatives, Baba gave a few examples:
Even if Ramjoo does not come with me and remains in Ahmednagar, continuing to do the duties entrusted to him and following my orders, his spiritual connection with me will remain as it is today. Similarly, suppose Padri does not come with me. In that case I will ask him to find a job, maintain himself out of his salary, and give the remainder for the families. If Padri carries out my orders, his spiritual connection with me will also remain as it is today. Likewise, if Baidul happens to accompany me, well and good; if not, he will have to serve in Kaikhushru's [Raosaheb Afseri] restaurant [in Bombay].
The afternoon before, Baba had explained the alternatives in the same manner to the women mandali on Meherabad Hill. But he had given them four alternatives:
First: If any of you can have some member of your family provide for you financially, you can stay on in the Meherabad Hill quarters, but there will not be any members of the men mandali down the hill to help in any way at all.
Footnotes
- 1.Sarosh had been made joint owner of the Meherabad Hill property two years before.