Boxes of rotting sweetmeats and other such things were strewn in his room. A strong stench hung in the air, but the old mast would not allow anyone to clean the place.
Baba was delighted with the contact and remarked, "Our journey of hundreds of miles has been worth it!"
Baba was to have been gone for two weeks. But on the 21st, because the men mandali and he were both exhausted (and some were not well to begin with), he canceled the rest of the tour to Uttar Pradesh and returned to Meherazad, where he intended to rest for a few days. Heavy rains came and it poured incessantly.
Francis Goldney was supposed to come to India around Christmas, but while Baba was at Meherazad, Adi came and read a letter from Goldney, saying that he and his wife Olla's passage had been canceled because of the Suez Crisis. Baba gave instructions to Adi about their coming later in March by plane, and a small bungalow was rented for them in Satara.
Baba returned to Satara 23 November 1956. This was Meher Baba's last mast journey. Never again did the Slave of his true lovers venture out for mast contacts; from that time on, wherever he was residing, masts were brought to him.
Returning to Satara, Baba resumed his daily routine with Kaikobad. Every evening, he would call the mandali to Grafton and play cards with them. Nilu would write amusing poetry and read it to Baba.
Irene Conybeare was staying in Satara at this time, and Baba permitted her to visit Grafton every Sunday. On 26 November, she conveyed an invitation to Baba from Sadhu Vaswani, asking Baba to visit the Saint Mira High School in Poona. Baba agreed and fixed 20 February for the visit.1
On 29 November, Baba remarked, "The month or so before the climax of my seclusion on 15 February will hold greater and more concentrated suffering for me in which a number of my close ones will also share."
Little did the mandali know to what form of suffering Baba was referring.
Baba wished to fast on Sunday, 2 December 1956 and also instructed all the mandali except Bhau to fast that day without water. Bhau's health had recently suffered. He had been working long hours attending to correspondence, and he had fallen ill with pleurisy. Baba ordered him to take complete rest and not to move out of bed.
Footnotes
- 1.Subsequently, Baba's visit was postponed until March 1957.