God loves most those who suffer most. Uninvited suffering is a blessing in disguise, for both pleasure and pain ultimately end in the Nothing. Lepers must not become despondent and curse their fate, but should consider their affliction as a God-given chance of coming nearer to Him. Compared with the few suffering with physical leprosy, many in the world today suffer from leprosy of the mind.
In the end, Baba declared, "I have plans of my own to open a universal ashram for sufferers of all types of leprosy in the world."
Baba was invited to Devargaon, fourteen miles from Amraoti, on the morning of Wednesday, 24 December 1952. There, he contacted a mast named Virbhan Maharaj. As Baba began massaging his legs, the mast said to him, "Why undergo so much trouble for me? You have to do great work for the world!"
Baba replied, "I am for those who love me, and those who love me are my gurus."
"You are the Master of the Universe," the mast said. "The village is blessed by your presence." Addressing the mandali, Virbhan Maharaj then quoted this shloka (verse) from the Bhagavad Gita : "When the flame of righteousness burns low, God descends as the Avatar."
Baba's presence overwhelmed Virbhan Maharaj, and he wept tears of love. "Meher Baba is the real Avatar," he stated. "I can see him in his Real Form. My birth has at last born fruit."
In the afternoon from 3:30 to 4:30 P.M., Baba gave darshan in a Harijan colony. That evening there was a mass open-air gathering in Devargaon. A multitude of people came, and the scene was reminiscent of those witnessed in Hamirpur. Jairam Bua also came with his devotees and took part in the Master's arti, performed by Gadekar. Baba was driven back to Amraoti by Akbar Ali M. Anwaralli, who had specially come from Bombay to drive Baba in his new Hudson automobile.
According to the schedule of mass darshans that had been planned, the next stop after Amraoti was to be at Saoner and Nagpur, 60 miles away. But without explaining why, Baba postponed the programs there. Eruch's uncle Piloo Mama Satha, who was residing at Karanja, a town near Amraoti, had come to Amraoti for Baba's darshan, and Baba sent the mandali with him to Karanja. Baba, with Eruch and Chhagan, left on the 24th for Meherazad via Badnera, arriving at 9:45 the following morning.