Yogi Bharati invited Baba to accompany him to Switzerland, and Baba told him to write him about it later and he would consider the request.
Baba was about to go back to his bungalow for lunch when Shuddhananda Bharati asked if he could sit in Baba's room and meditate for a while. Baba permitted him to sit in the room where he would converse with the mandali.
After his meditation, the yogi told Nilu, "Baba is a very great saint."
"Meher Baba is not a saint," Nilu corrected him. "He is above all saints!"
"What spiritual practices does Meher Baba do?" Bharati inquired.
"There is no need for him to do any sadhana."
"What do you mean?"
Nilu explained, "Meher Baba is the source of all knowledge. There is nothing for him to achieve or know, as all knowledge flows from him. Seekers do sadhana, not the One who is Realized." Bharati was offered milk and fruit, and left at 2:15 P.M.
One of the delegates to the conference was G. S. N. Moorty. While studying for his PhD in philosophy in Calcutta, Moorty had met Dr. Deshmukh who encouraged him to have Baba's darshan. When Moorty heard that Bharati was going to Dehra Dun to meet Baba, he asked if he could accompany him. Bharati had no objection, but Kishan Singh warned him that Baba had told him only to bring Bharati.
At Dehra Dun, Moorty waited by the car when Bharati went inside to meet Baba. Baba was not pleased about someone else being brought.
He did not permit Moorty inside, but sent this message, "If he really loves me, I will call him sometime. But just now he should leave."
During this period, a rumor spread in Andhra Pradesh that Meher Baba had been arrested by the police and sent to prison. Baba's lovers there became anxious, and many letters of concern were received from them. To ease their anxiety and reassure them that all was well, Baba sent Eruch and Pendu to Andhra for fifteen days at the beginning of April 1953.
According to Baba's instructions, Eruch and Pendu saw Babadas in Nagpur on their way back from Andhra. They told him that Baba wanted him to return to Dehra Dun, but Babadas refused. Because of his disobedience and disregard of his order, Baba broke off all outward connection with him, and all concerned were informed accordingly through a circular. Babadas had duped innocent persons and raised loans in Meher Baba's name without Baba's permission; however, Meher Baba later agreed to repay all the money to those who were deceived by Babadas.1
On Friday, 10 April 1953, Baba, accompanied by the men and women mandali, departed Dehra Dun for the hill station of Mussoorie, where they were to stay for seven weeks during the hottest months of India's summer. Herne Hill bungalow, the Maharaja of Tehri's home in Happy Valley, had been rented, and Aloba and Kumar were sent in advance to clean it. Baba and the women occupied the main house and the men resided in the servants' quarters.
Footnotes
- 1.Babadas later became a caretaker at Tajuddin Baba's tomb in Nagpur, posing as a saintly person to extract money from people.