At the back of the pandal, a woman devotee began crying out loudly, "Baba, Baba!" She came rushing forward and was grasped by the workers and taken outside.
Baba gestured with his hands at his neck, "She is full of love, but if permitted to come to me she would take hold of me and never let go!"
Baba told the Westerners, "When the queue is over, you may come to me and bow down, and that will be the first bowing down and the last bowing down."
In small groups, the Western women were taken inside to say goodbye to Mehera and the other women mandali.
That day, for the first time, several devotees from Andhra, as well as the Nafde family of Bhopal, and the Lokhande family of Nagpur had the opportunity of singing before Baba. During their session, the Andhra bhajan group sang this Sanskrit shloka (verse) from the Bhagavad Gita: "For the salvation of saints, the extermination of sinners and the establishment of [true] religion, I am born age after age!"
The line of those waiting for darshan extended about a third of a mile along the road outside the gates. At 3:30 P.M., it was estimated almost 7,000 persons were waiting, so Baba had the line sped up.
Several newspaper reporters were present. After taking darshan, one reporter from the Hindi newspaper the Maharashtra Times , quickly asked Baba, "Who will win the war between India and China?"
Baba replied, "As the Avatar of the Age, I have taken birth in India — so Bharat [India] will eventually be victorious. Just now, someone was reciting the call of Lord Krishna in the Gita. I am Lord Krishna, I am the Ancient One. Time and time again, I come down to protect and redeem my lovers. I am the Christ, the Personification of Love."
Shouts erupted from each language group, as Baba's pronouncement of his Avatarhood and India's victory were translated. (Baba's statement was published in most newspapers in India, and two weeks later, China unexpectedly declared a ceasefire and withdrew its troops across the border.)