Concluding the discussion, Baba asked the mandali again to decide whether they wished to stay with him. On 9 May, he had the following notice posted:
As it is intended for certain reasons to remove the entire establishment from Meherabad to a new place to be fixed hereafter, the whole of the mandali is hereby ordered to read and think over the following and inform Baba of their decision one way or the other and as soon as possible.
For Those Who Wish to Stay: Their stay should be unconditional, absolutely without any condition or promise as to time, place or result. No question at all is to be raised regarding these points. Shri may go anywhere, may stay any length of time there, or may remove or go elsewhere as it pleases him with no promise of any result, either spiritual or material. In addition, those who wish to stay will be required strictly to try to obey and observe all Shri's orders without any question as to reason, argument, or discussion.
For Those Who Wish to Leave: Those who cannot manage to observe or accept these conditions, or desire to leave for any other reason, are hereby given complete freedom to do so, and are allowed to go anywhere and do anything they like after informing Shri about it.
A discussion then ensued about a suitable place for the ashram. Navsari and Daman in Gujarat and Sinhagad west of Poona were mentioned as possibilities. Baba left in Rustom's car to visit these places at 4:30 A.M. on Tuesday, 15 May 1928. Baba was driven straight to Sinhagad where B. D. Pudumjee had offered his bungalow for Baba's use. But because of the altitude and heavy rainfall there during the monsoon season (which was imminent), Baba did not like the site and decided to leave for Bombay.1 Baba and the mandali had intended to catch the Gujarat Mail for Navsari, but they arrived in Bombay three hours late and missed the train. Baba instructed Chanji to proceed to Navsari alone and search for a suitable spot, while he and the rest of the mandali returned to Meherabad the following afternoon.2
Rustom's car with Baba and the mandali was overloaded, carrying ten persons and a heavy amount of luggage piled on top. On their way back, the car abruptly stopped while ascending the mountainous pass near Khandala and it began rolling backward down the steep hill.
Footnotes
- 1.Pudumjee had offered Baba his bungalow before, in December 1926, but Baba had not stayed there then either.
- 2.Sorabji Desai expressed misgivings about relocating the ashram to Navsari, probably due to likely opposition from the local orthodox Zoroastrian community. Nevertheless, he tried to obtain land (on Fuwara Road, where D. D. School is located), but was unsuccessful.