THE GOD-MAN The Life, Journeys and Work of Meher Baba with an ...

THE PERIOD OF WORLD TRAVEL 131hands, feeding, bathing, and clothing them. These people were all indigent. They wereaccommodated in special huts, about six at a time. Baba intended to have as many as fifty. Life inRahuri was very simple, and the work of looking after these people exacting, for they wouldordinarily be regarded as human derelicts. Except for his attention to these people, Babaremained in strict seclusion; no interviews were granted, and no darshan allowed. The nextchapter of this book is devoted to this work.NINTH VISIT TO THE WEST, 1936In the middle of October he set out on another visit to the West. As the visit was for a shorttime only, he with two disciples travelled by air from Karachi to Baghdad, intending to go thenceby train; but a breakdown occurred on the line, and Baba had to stay two days at Baghdad. Therehe got together a crowd of crippled and diseased beggars and fed them. The journey was resumed,though with great discomfort, for the railway service was disorganized, and the party arrived inLondon on 3 November, Baba being very exhausted, for after his long period of fasts andseclusion he was extremely weak and his two companions were much concerned about his health.The day after his arrival in London he appeared as well as ever, and, staying only three days, hewent to Zurich and Paris, afterwards joining the Viceroy of India at Marseilles, getting back toIndia before the end of the month. The visit was strictly private.Baba's object had been to arrange for disciples from England and America to go to the newashram at Nasik. The first party left at the beginning of December. 'I want them with me', he said,'because the time is at hand for me to do much work, and I want them to share my work.'Five women and one man went from the United States, four women and two men fromEngland; they were afterwards joined by three others from America. There at the ashram, fivemiles from the old town of Nasik, they spent Christmas. They were in a comfortable house,belonging to one of Baba's disciples, the only time in India where both men and women sharedthe same buildings and garden. They were each, individually, required to make two promises, tolive harmoniously together, and to stay for five years. They were to spend three months, fromJanuary to March, at Nasik, the next three months at Meherabad, in preparation for future work.For a certain time everyone was required to write down his or her thoughts during