Chapter 16: Wartime Travel For Masts

with a poor person or a mast

Baba continued his seclusion upon his return to Meherabad at the end of November 1941, but this time he began seeing those of the mandali to whom he had assigned different duties. Mostly he would keep to himself in the Tomb and do his inner work in seclusion during certain hours. The men kept watch on all sides and no one could make any noise or enter the fixed boundary without permission.

Memo, who had come to Meherabad from Poona for a few days, at one point had an argument with Gulmai. Remarking about their confrontation, on Thursday, 4 December 1941, Baba told the mandali: "Father Sheriarji was a seeker, an extremely good soul. He was very good-hearted and he was quiet by nature. But the nature of Shireenmai is just the opposite! I have to balance both favorable and unfavorable dispositions. I tolerate a lot, and have to suffer much because of her nature. Still, she will be emancipated and gain salvation, as has Sheriarji!"

On the 5th, discussing with Chanji the matter of Mahatma Gandhi, Baba dictated the following message, which he instructed Chanji to send to Gandhi:

Stick to Truth at all costs, even if it means giving up your political life. Do not try to force nonviolence on unwilling adherents, nor even try to establish it, since it is already eternally established.

On the 6th, about some who did not obey him implicitly, Baba remarked, "All are like children, playing and making mischief, crying. The parents tolerate it all; they do not throw the children out on to the street. Similarly, you are all children and I have to tolerate a thousand-and-one whims and weaknesses of each. I can't throw you out, especially those who belong to my circle."

Pappa Jessawala arrived that day from Nagpur and was given watchman duty on the hill. Masaji had been sent to Pandharpur to bring masts, and he brought two on the 7th. Shireenmai arrived the same afternoon, and Chanji left that evening (and returned to Meherabad three days later).

When Baba returned to Meherabad, he instructed the mandali to again start lighting the dhuni every month from the 12th of December. The mandali thought this was perhaps for the purpose of bringing down rain since the dhuni had previously been lighted with that intent. But Baba explained, "This time the reason for igniting it is not for rain; it is for a certain definite purpose of my work."