Something will happen which will make them forget all their promises and that too from quite a fresh point — Poland — Russia? So five months' preparation for war and for my manifestation. When war is in full progress I will speak in the middle of its climax. It will not last more than one year, so if it begins in February, then by July, I might speak.

There will now be talk of world peace. Spiritually, everything but God is zero. Therefore, spiritually war and peace are nothing. But externally war is the most dreadful thing. Unless war were absolutely necessary for the spiritual upheaval, I would never allow a war to be — never! But it is absolutely necessary for spiritual reasons.

So from October to February any day, war will start. Even if there is an agreement, and peace is accepted and guaranteed, February will still be the latest date for the starting of the war. So we won't talk of war now until it begins, maybe in a month or in four months.

But on October 7th [I have] a more important plan than war. This plan has indirectly to do with war and directly with you and me. Guess the surprise!

They all had to guess, but it was only revealed to them a week later.

The Hindu festival of Dassera was celebrated on Meherabad Hill on 3 October. As per the custom of the day, the women dressed the dogs Chum and Kippy in clothes and flowers. A pet rabbit on the hill was also dressed in an outfit to amuse Baba, and Helen dressed herself like a rabbit. The women paraded in their compound before Baba, and Walu beat on an empty oil tin as if it were a drum. All had lighthearted fun and Baba happily watched the amusing antics.

On Friday, 7 October 1938, the "surprise" was revealed when Baba spoke separately to the men and women mandali about journeying all over India by bus. Baba's plan had unparalleled significance, as he was to travel by this bus with his Eastern and Western women over the length and breadth of the country, contacting masts at many different places.

The following day was a day of importance and significance for Baba's mandali. According to Baba's explanations, given some while ago to Pleader, "All of the sanskaras of my circle members will be wiped off as of that day — 8 October 1938. All will be free of sanskaras." What Baba meant, he alone knew. The mandali could only go about their assigned duties and tasks, devoting little more than a passing thought to the Master's unusual remark.

During this period, Jalbhai had been ordered to visit surrounding villages and bring women who were pregnant to the Maternity Hospital on Meherabad Hill. On 12 October, at 4:00 A.M., a mentally unbalanced woman was the first to deliver a child there.