During some nights in his room upstairs, Baba was heard uttering, "They are beating and torturing me!" Most likely this was not in reference to ghosts but to his previous statements (which he had not explained) that he would have to "suffer at the hands of advanced yogis, sadhus and mahatmas."
Naval had recommended to Munshi to purchase a secondhand De Dion automobile for Rs.100, but repairing it cost Rs.300 more. On the afternoon of 5 October, Baba, Behramji, Gustadji and Munshiji rode in it to Malabar Hill for a test drive. When they returned, Baba remarked, "The engine is so noisy that while talking one has to shout to be heard! It stalled twice, and Munshiji had to shout to the driver over the roar of the engine."
When Naval came to the Manzil, Baba told him facetiously, "You were right — the car was a steal! You really are a miracle-worker. Would you believe that we drove the car all the way up Malabar Hill at terrific speed without having to blow the horn once? It's a fact. The noise of the engine was so loud that it was sufficient to make all pedestrians give way — and then make them strain their necks to see who would be fool enough to ride in such a car!"
During October, Baba sent Sadashiv Patil to Sakori to present Upasni Maharaj with some newly printed photographs of Maharaj and Sai Baba. Baba had Sadashiv inform Upasni that his biography was soon to be printed in Urdu, Marathi and Gujarati. Baba requested that Upasni Maharaj should raise the necessary money to pay for the printing expenses, and that Maharaj would receive all proceeds from the sale of the books.
Upasni Maharaj frowned at this arrangement and sent this message with Sadashiv: "Merwan, not I, should meet all the expenses of printing and distributing the books. After the book is printed, he should arrange to pay me, in advance, half the amount of the profit he will earn on the sale of the books. The other half he may keep. To give up 50 percent of the expected profit, as I will be doing, is not a small gesture."