On the morning of 28 October, when Manohar Sakhare was sitting with Baba and the mandali, Baba suddenly asked him,
"What is happening on our borders?"
Sakhare answered, "The Chinese are pouring across the Himalayas and are pressing us down the foothills. They will soon be in the plains of Bengal, cutting the army off from Assam."
Baba gestured casually,
"They will not come down the plains, but will go back."
Sakhare was doubtful, thinking a victorious army would never retreat on its own, and India certainly did not have the military strength to push them back. But in the rush of preparations, he forgot about Baba's statement, which turned out to be true.
There was concern that the Westerners would have trouble traveling to India because of the political and military confrontations. But nothing of the sort happened. Only part of the Australian group was a day late, as some of those who had come by ship from Australia had to take another ship from Colombo to Bombay because their flight from Colombo had been canceled. The airlines in the country were occupied with rushing soldiers and supplies north to the battle front.
On 27 October 1962 in the small hall of Guruprasad, Baba met about 100 of his lovers who had already arrived from Karachi, Calcutta and Bombay. Maharani Shantadevi was also present.
The Westerners had been informed not to arrive in Poona before the 28th, but a few had come early. The first to arrive was a thirty-one year old American from Woodstock, New York, named Tom Riley. Tom had first met Baba four years prior at the Myrtle Beach Center, with his wife, Yvonne (Andrau). Riley traveled to India by ship, but by the time he got to Poona two weeks before the darshan, he had practically no money left. He was called to Guruprasad on the afternoon of the 28th, and he fell in front of Baba with his head in his lap. Baba remarked to him,
"You have no idea how blessed you are today. You have broken the ice for the East-West Gathering."
Tom recounts his meeting with Baba:
I was alone. Magically, a stillness came, transforming into sacredness, suffusing my being. I was surprised to see that my hands were pressed together as in prayer. Holiness came over me and from within me; it was everywhere. The world became unreal and at the same time blessed and divine. In this state I ascended the steps [of Guruprasad] toward the opened doors of the mandali hall.