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

164 THE GOD-MANconsequent upon the New Life Baba was to decide for himself, and for those who would e1ectto keep company with him, or who would choose to remain under his guidance. Stick to melike a leech and try not to miss anything that I say to anyone during these days', was the orderhe gave to Faram, who started to make shorthand notes, to the results of which this account ispartly indebted.In addition to his usual insistence upon discipline and thoroughness, Baba was especiallyearnest in the matter of the mandali's attendance at these meetings, the attention to be paid byeach of them to all he said and did, and above all to the seriousness and finality to be attachedto his plans and intentions. 'However busy you may be, do not fail to be present all thetime . . . I shall not be available afterwards ... there will be no more chances such as this ... Iwill need no further work to be do ne by anyone .... May God help all who may take anythinglight1y or allow themselves to be misled by their own individual fads and fancies', were someof the warnings Baba made very gravely to those around him.Immediately on his arrival on the 15 August, the first day of the meeting at Meherabad,Baba embraced Gustadji and Kaikobad and entered the hall in the new quarters of the ashram.It was near1y 7:15 a.m. but some ofthe members were absent. Only when Baba was satisfiedthat this was due to a bona-fide mistake die he permit the proceedings to start, but a warningwas given to them to be present punctually at 7 the following morning, to enable all to followBaba's words which were most1y in Gujarati. Ramju and Vis hnu were asked to translatethere and then in English and Marathi what Adi Senior and others read from the alphabetboard. This is what he said:"Listen and pay full attention to all that I am going to tell you. Whatever we are going todiscuss and decide these days is to be made known to all plainly, exact1y and truthfully.Today we shall have a general talk about the basis on which we have to make the ultimatearrangements and adjustments to facilitate the final decision or decisions that have to bearrived at. There are three points I have already decided upon definitely about myself. What Iwant from you is to help me to help all to adjust themselves as best they can to fall in with mydecisions in one way or another. These three points are - (1) I shall be absolutely helpless inthe true and literal sense of the word on account of some personal disaster to me; before thathappens after October 1st, I want to make what arrangements are possible for the mandaliunder the limited means at our disposal, because I shall then stop looking