Gulmai then narrated that Maharaj had warned her also: "Don't go to Merwan any more! He will misguide you! You will wither like a tree afflicted by disease. And consequently, in the end, you will have to come to me. For your sake, stay away from him!"
Hearing this, Baba gathered the mandali in the hall upstairs and asked, "What is your understanding of this? Only a few days back, Maharaj had spoken quite well about me to Dowla Masi and expressed his love for me."
They replied that Baba had hinted about it since their stay at the Manzil.
He then smiled and said: "I started this game. I wrote to Maharaj that I had no connection whatever either with him, Durgabai, or anyone else at Sakori; and it was I who sent my mother to him. Because of this letter, he has now taken the step which he should have taken long ago.
"Now that I have started this game, it will not end with me. It is in Maharaj's hands. I have been continually telling you that Maharaj and the whole world will turn against me, and this is only the beginning. So be prepared. Everything will take a turn, just as I said it would."
He concluded cryptically, "April is approaching after a gap of a year."
After dinner, Baba directed Adi Sr. to write the following message to Upasni Maharaj:
Meher Baba did not at all like your remarks to his mother, made in the presence of others at Sakori. He is now fed up with his duty [the burden of the work] and wants to abandon it.
This letter was read out before the mandali, and Baba said, "Be cautious and do not misunderstand what is now occurring between Maharaj and me, or be taken in by this business of our exchanging harsh words."
"A secret game was being played," thought Age, "and only the Masters knew what it meant and what the consequences were.
Rustom was sent to Sakori to personally deliver Baba's letter and receive Maharaj's reply. After his return to the Manzil (on the 3rd), Rustom reported:
I reached Sakori on the evening of 1 March and took Maharaj's darshan. He talked to me civilly, as he had in the past. Since the day he caged himself, he has ordered the ringing of the temple bells all day and night. The next morning at four o'clock, during the absence of his devotees, I was requested to ring the bells continuously for two hours.