To Kumar, Baba observed, "I feel that in the future I might have connection with you in the New Life until the end, but I can't promise."
(The day Baba left Dehra Dun, 14 June 1950, an order was received from the government that the Mahant had been permanently released from prison. It was Baba who broke the good news to him, and he attributed it all to Baba's nazar.)
More meetings were held on the 21st and 22nd of April to discuss the new changes which would come into effect on 1 May. From the 25th, Baba's mood lightened and he began playing badminton, gilli-danda and cricket in the mornings with Nilu, Kumar and the other men. Eruch arrived that day and reported on the preparatory work being done in Delhi.
At 7:30 A.M. on Wednesday, 26 April 1950, the companions gathered for a meeting with Baba in which the possibility of starting a business in Delhi was discussed. In the end, Baba came to the following decisions which comprised the New Plan:
1. On May 1, 1950, I and all the companions of Plan Three will go out begging for the last time in Dehra Dun, before dissolving Plan Three companionship.
2. By the evening of May 1, I shall order the companions of Plan Three and Plan One-B to join the New Plan as one group. Consequently, Don will close his clinic [in Dehra Dun] on May 1.
3. All the companions of the New Plan group will strictly abide, for all times, by all the fixed conditions of Plans One and Two. There will be no day-to-day orders, nor any interference from my side other than the fixed restrictions.
4. On behalf of the Temporarily Restricted B-Group companions and original Plan One-B, and Plan One-C and Plan Two companions, I will do the three phases of begging, langoti life, and gypsy life [alone] — and on my behalf, all the New Life companions will do the labor phase.
5. Kaikobad Dastur is in the New Life, and remaining as such in the same, he will stay and eat with the New Plan group. He will also get pocket expenses, as will the New Plan group companions. He will not be asked by the companions to do any work. He will do his own usual work.1
6. Sadashiv Patil will be in the New Plan group, but I permit him to stay at his own residence in Poona, without taking any maintenance or pocket expenses from the New Plan group.
Footnotes
- 1.Kaikobad's sole work was to repeat Baba's name 100,000 times per day, by silently saying " Baba... Baba... Baba. " He kept count with his fingers.