Those men who were invited were eagerly looking forward to the October meeting, and Baba was engaged in inner and outer preparations for it. Nearly two hundred lovers and devotees from throughout India arrived in Mahabaleshwar on the evening of October 15th (1950), to attend the meeting.
By 6:45 A.M., on Monday morning, October 16th, 1950, they had collected outside the men’s quarters of Florence Hall on the Agha Khan’s estate. Sidhu, Jangle, Savak Kotwal, Kalemama and Bala Tambat had come from Meherabad, and Padri from Meherazad. Keshav Nigam, Gaya Prasad Khare, Babu Ramprasad, Bhavani P. Nigam, Raisaheb Ramashankar, Laxmichand Paliwal and Parmeshwari Nigam (Pukar) were present from Hamirpur. (Pukar had finally come, and to a profound extent he accepted Baba.) Rano Gayley and Kitty Davy were also called from Bombay for the meeting.
Gadekar and Ghani had brought a few newcomers from Poona. Their group included the singer Madhusudan, Krishna Bundellu, V. R. Bade, Thade, Rangole and a youth named Pratap Gangannath Ahir (whose birthday it was that day). Cowas Vesuna, who had had Baba’s darshan three years before in Surat, was also present. The rest of the lovers and devotees arrived from Ahmednagar, Poona, Bombay, Nagpur, Saoner, Delhi, Dehra Dun, Nasik and Karachi, and a few from other places.
Calling each man to him, Baba embraced and caressed each lovingly, releasing his “breeze of joy” in their hearts. Adi Sr. introduced everyone to Baba as they came forward. Then, as he wished, all gathered in the meeting hall at seven o’clock, and the doors were shut. Vishnu did not close the gate as fast as he should have, because he saw Gustadji walking toward the bungalow. This was the cause of Baba becoming upset right at the outset. He had himself slapped for losing his temper, and then scolded Vishnu, “Even if you had seen God approaching the gate, you should not have waited for Him to enter!”
Baba took his chair inside the hall and declared, “For some hours, I and my companions have entered the Old Life. Plans One, One-B, One-C and Two have now ended. Consequently, I will not accept money from those in Plans One-B and One-C.”
Baba asked God’s forgiveness for not being able to live the New Life, adopted last October 16th, 1949, as he wanted. He himself forgave all the New Life companions for not being able to live up to the New Life conditions as he wanted and, in turn, asked the companions to forgive him, which they did.
Donkin then read Baba’s Sermon:
Lord Meher, Original Publication, Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 10, pp. 3629 – 3630.