Still, for the mandali it was painful to witness Baba suffering as he did. Only by his suffering infinite agony (and that too suffered in silence) could the world's pulse be kept steady. It was all according to his wish, cloaked in the garment of infinite bliss and infinite suffering.
On Wednesday, 1 January 1969, Chinta Sarvarao, Majety Ramamohan Rao and Manikyala Rao from Andhra arrived in Meherazad with Adi as permitted. Baba entered mandali hall in his wheelchair at 9:00 A.M.
He expressed his appreciation for the work the three men were doing in his name in Vijayawada and remarked to them, "The time is near. How lucky you are that I am meeting you three."
Baba asked Manikyala Rao about his personal and family affairs. After spending about half an hour in Baba's company, the three men departed.
Other close ones in India and elsewhere, too, sought permission to see Baba, but to them he sent this message: "Come to Poona. I will not be in seclusion then."
More blood and urine specimens were sent to the Poona hospital for analysis on 2 January. Dr. Grant wrote back advising Goher to limit Baba's protein intake, because the level of urea was found to be still quite high. Liver juice and bone soup should be discontinued, and Baba's kidneys and prostate gland should be examined.
Accordingly, Adi brought Dr. G. V. Ketkar of Ahmednagar to Meherazad on the 4th. He found Baba's abdomen mildly distended but there was no evidence of retained fluids there, and the prostate gland was not enlarged but flat and firm in consistency. Dr. Ketkar could only recommend a full urologic examination due to the rising urea level. Adi Jr. knew of a specialist in Bombay, whom he tried to contact the next day, but he failed to reach him.
On Sunday afternoon, 5 January 1969, a young Australian woman named Mary Rosalind Bennett unexpectedly arrived in Meherazad. She was from Sydney and had found out about Baba from some young lovers there. Mary looked like a "flower-child" and was hitchhiking around India. She had arrived that morning by train and walked barefoot all the way from Ahmednagar to Meherazad (a distance of nine miles) with a guitar slung over her shoulders, ostensibly to deliver a poster of Baba made by Leigh and Steven Campbell. Welcomed by Mani, she played a song for the women mandali, and was then taken into Baba's bedroom, where she played her guitar and sang a song for him.