The male members of the audience then went forward, one by one, to receive Baba's kiss on both cheeks. The women touched and kissed Baba's hand, according to his wish, and then touched his feet. A basket of bhujias, which had been specially ordered to be brought from Ahmednagar, was put beside Baba on a low stool. Baba looked into it and asked who had prepared them. He informed those gathered not to drink water after eating the bhujias, but to have tea which had been kept ready. After a few moments of rapidly moving his fingers and concentrating on his work, Baba handed out the prasad on a dry-leaf plate to each one, who then filed out of mandali hall. Everyone had his fill of bhujias and tea.
Baba called them back into the hall and within five minutes directed them to disperse. As they were leaving, Baba called them back and took them to the garden, remarking that Kaka knew the trick of maintaining gardens without water. There had been no rain in Ahmednagar for the past two months, and it was truly remarkable to see the greenery and beauty of the flowers at Meherazad. Baba took the gathering in a roundabout way, emerging from the front gate. At 10:15 A.M., he told them to leave.
The message which Baba had referred to for the center group heads was as follows:
From the 14th of August to the end of October 1959, maya will try to make everything go against me. Maya, the Master Showman who displays things that do not really exist, will perform its master trick of making everything, including my health, body, energy, words and promises seem to go against me, and this will automatically test the extent of the faith and trust of my lovers in me. The only thing that maya cannot go against is my work, because maya itself is the means of bringing about the results of my work.
Maya being the instrument for the fulfillment of my work, it is but natural that it should do its utmost to bring about the utmost results of this work. Maya, having existence only in nonexistence, will in the end give way to the one and only Reality that is God. And so, God will manifest in His glory.
Maya is the infinite shadow of God's Infinity. To use an analogy, when the sun appears just over the horizon, the shadow projected by any object appears much bigger than the object itself. But when the sun is directly overhead, the shadow disappears and the object is trampled, as it were, underfoot. Thus it is that, in my present phase of helplessness and humiliation, the sun's rays must appear faint and weak and the shadow appear larger and more potent than that which creates the shadow, seemingly overriding the object beyond all proportion.