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

THE PERIOD OF WORLD TRAVEL 133Rano and Kitty on the Circassia on her maiden voyage to Bombay. The others went home. Babaand his party went at once to Meherabad, in two sections, where they remained for some weeksafterwards going to Navsari, in Baroda State, as guests of the Desai family. There they were for afew days, when they left for Nagpur, capital of the former Central Provinces, where Baba had agreat reception, thousands of people coming for a sight of the Master.There was much talk about the coming war and what they should do when it started. At thetime of the Munich pact Baba said, 'The British Premier is now the hero of the day. A good manbut an old man. War there will be. This is as certain as anything. War or no war, it is all thesame.' On September 30, 1938, the day of the pact, he said:"There will be war, whether it starts in February or November or December. Something willhappen which will make them all forget their promises, and that, too, from quite a fresh point,Poland or Russia. So five months' preparation for war and for my manifestation. When war isin full progress, then I will speak. If it begins in February I might speak in July."There will be talk of world-peace. Spiritually, both war and peace are nothing; but externallywar is the most dreadful thing, and unless it were absolutely necessary for the spiritual upheaval,I should never allow the war to be."For some time past Baba had been saying that he proposed to establish an InternationalSpiritual Centre, with more to follow. With this in view he went with members of the mandaliand others, including the Western women, to Panchgani; afterwards he made journeys toBangalore in Mysore and Belgaum in Hyderabad, with the object of finding sites for the purpose.With the support of the Maharaja of Mysore Baba decided to start the first centre at Byramangala,some twenty-two miles from Bangalore.The idea was that the centre should accommodate two thousand people of all religions, withsix departments: The Spiritual Academy with the aim of preparation for international harmony;The House of Advanced Souls, for practical mysticism; The Abode of the Saints, for those whowould teach the ignorant of the reality of God; The Mast Department for the God-intoxicated;The Department of Meditation, for those who wished to practise prolonged meditation underguidance; The Resting Place for the Afflicted, for the care and alleviation of suffering of all kinds.The most detailed preparations were made. A plan of the entire