Gadge Maharaj came to Ahmednagar later that year to meet Meher Baba.1
On 18 April 1954 a very high mast who resided in a cave was brought with great difficulty from Kolhapur to Mahabaleshwar for the day. Later, Kumar was able to bring Nilkanthwala mast. Baba was very happy about this and worked with the mast for a few days before sending him back to Rishikesh.
Meherjee was called to Mahabaleshwar for a few days from 17 April. Ten days later, on the 29th, Baba left Mahabaleshwar with Eruch, Pendu, Gustadji and Baidul for mast work in Dharwar. They traveled in Meherjee's car, which had been sent from Bombay. In Dharwar, Baba contacted eleven masts in two days. After completing his work, Baba was back in Mahabaleshwar on 1 May.
On 14 May 1954, Baba and the women mandali, proceeded to Bhilar near Panchgani in Meherjee and Nariman's cars, and after a three-day holiday there, they returned to Mahabaleshwar. Mehera and Meheru continued to attend to Baba's personal needs; Mani kept busy with her correspondence with such Western lovers as Elizabeth Patterson and Kitty Davy in Myrtle Beach, Ivy Duce and Filis Frederick in New York, Hedi Mertens and Irene Billo in Switzerland, Delia DeLeon in London and other close women disciples. Goher looked after the health of the women; Naja did the cooking; and Rano supervised the household affairs and did her painting work.
The individual duties of the mandali kept them engaged in one way or another day and night, and changes in their duties constantly took place. For instance, although Pendu was the manager of Meherabad, occasionally he had to do the duty of cleaning latrines, also filling and bringing water cans, et cetera. Each of the mandali was treated similarly. Eruch had to do other work besides reading the alphabet board and carrying on English correspondence. Vishnu had different duties in addition to marketing and keeping accounts. The same was true for Gustadji, Aloba, Bhau, Baidul, Don, Nilu, Kaka and others.
Krishna Nair was the night watchman near Baba in Mahabaleshwar. He also had the duty of preparing Baba's bathwater every morning. One day he accidentally heated the water a little too hot. Baba put his finger in the water and complained it was scalding. He lambasted Krishna.
"Are you trying to kill me?" he asked. "Do you want to burn me?"
Baba severely reprimanded him, "Why are you staying with me? It would be better if you went away! I now dislike your staying with me. You are useless! You only eat and sleep. I would be happier if you died! Why don't you die instead of trying to kill me?"
On and on it went. Baba was relentless and Krishna was devastated. After he was dismissed, Krishna went to his room and in despair swallowed 22 sleeping pills to attempt suicide.
Footnotes
- 1.As a youth, Baba had heard Gadge Maharaj perform kirtans in Poona and Bombay. And once while traveling with the mandali by train, at one station another carriage was being attached to their train. Gadge Maharaj was seated in it and leaned out the window trying to look inside Baba's carriage. Eruch informed Baba, who just nodded.