All the Old and New Life companions were invited for a stay of seven days; in addition, 39 men were to stay for only three days. The Hamirpur leaders, such as Keshav Nigam and Pukar, were to come, as were those from Andhra, led by Dhanapathy Rao and the Madras advocate A. C. S. Chari. These were relatively "new" lovers, yet they did much work for Baba in their areas — with the result that in a short time the entire Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh in the north and the state of Andhra Pradesh in the south were at Meher Baba's feet.
Although the Hyderabad meetings for the declaration of the God-determined Step were fixed for 28, 29 and 30 June, a few, such as Adi Sr., Ramjoo, Ghani, Adi Jr., Sidhu, Deshmukh were called beforehand, and preliminary discussions with them began on the 20th. That day at three o'clock, looking cheerful, Baba arrived at the palatial bungalow chosen for the meetings; but he climbed the steps to the meeting hall very slowly. He asked those gathered how he looked. "Very pulled down and weak," they replied.
"That is a fact," he stated.
Then he explained at length:
I am feeling very ill. The piles trouble is still there, more or less. I feel a continuous gnawing pain near my diaphragm. I cannot sleep well. I do not possess the least appetite to eat anything. I have to force myself to eat a little, once every 24 hours; yet, at that time, the very sight of food is nauseating. I tried my best these past days to faithfully carry out the advice and instructions of the doctors. I was particularly anxious to be free from such trouble, at least during the time that you all are here, so that I might enjoy your company as well as carry out all the work that I have to finish by the 1st of July as cheerfully as possible.
Apart from regaining the health that I lost during the 100-day partial seclusion, there is no substantial improvement, so far. Let us hope I do not get worse. In any case, I am determined to finish all that I have got to finish now. You all will have to help me, more or less. You should be very careful about your own health. We should try to do all that we have got to do with as much good cheer as we can.