At 2:30 on the 31st, Army Major-General Bhandari, his wife, Kamla, and their two daughters arrived at Guruprasad to have Baba's darshan. Baba told him:
China is hesitant to attack India. There are two views about it in China. If she attacks, there will be a lot of chaos and suffering in India. If she does not attack, there will be tension and great suspense in India. The coming fifteen days are crucial. I have to decide which way is best. But the eventual victory will be that of India. I look after the affairs of the entire world. I am the Sole Authority.
Goher and Katie's brother, Aspi, was a major in the army, and during the recent Indo-Chinese War had been entrapped in a battle. Remembering him, Baba mentioned this and asked Eruch to relate what had happened to Aspi during the conflict. Eruch narrated:
Aspi was being sent to the border and before going, Katie, loving him and desiring his safety, asked him to wear Baba's locket at all times underneath his uniform and to take his name. Though Aspi did not believe in Baba, he respected him and said: "Well Katie, just to please you I will wear it."
The Indian troops were defeated at one post after another. Aspi too was ordered to retreat with his regiment. He was surrounded by the Chinese and so he retreated into the forest. As they were retreating, at one point they came across a huge Gibraltar-like rock. There was no other way but to attempt the 90° climb. The men were exhausted, without water or food and it was biting cold. Somehow Aspi dared to forge ahead, and miraculously it seemed that at each step during the night the path was cleared and opened to them. Once when they were resting, suddenly he felt that no matter how exhausted his men were, they should not rest at that spot. He made the men push on and found out later that within an hour the Chinese were there. God knows what would have happened to them if they had been captured.
During the trek they reached a river, a fast, flowing, roaring one, impossible to cross. While climbing, Aspi had lost many of his men. The more desperate ones jumped into the river and drowned, but Aspi with the few men who followed found a bridge. (He later said he was still not convinced it was really there, for who would build a bridge in such a remote, thick forest.) They crossed it and, at last, after fourteen days and heavy losses, they reached the Indian border.