Great heat denotes the coming of rain. Great suffering and intense sorrow indicate that happiness is about to dawn. Anything beyond your capacity will necessarily change your capacity, because so long as everything is within your limits, you don't know what is beyond them. And everything concerning God and God-realization is beyond limit! So in this way, great suffering and being plagued with terrible problems are beneficial.

People pray to me to solve their difficulties, saying that they love me, but there is a vast difference between love and prayer. In Persian, to pray means to beg, to want, to desire something — even the blessings of God. But when a person really loves, he gives himself over to his Beloved completely. This is true love. In that, there is no begging, no wanting, and no room for desires. Only the longing to unite with the Beloved remains.

Love means the renunciation of the self; prayer means selfishness, no matter how high the prayer may be. So there is a vast difference between the two!

Baba decided to remain in Karachi for several days, during which time Jamshed Mehta and Chanji's relatives, including Nariman, had several occasions to be in his intimate company. Baba also visited his aunt Banu Masi's home and discussed family matters with her. Her son Homi wanted to stay with Baba at Meherabad, and Baba had directed him to remind him about it. When Homi brought up the subject, Baba, however, advised him to seek employment, earn money and manage his household affairs, and in this way he would be serving Baba.

For some days Baba had stopped shaving; so with a bearded stubble on his face, he left Karachi on Thursday, 23 July 1931. The group arrived in Chalisgaon three days later at seven in the morning. Baba sent Buasaheb ahead to Nasik with instructions for Rustom to take the women mandali to Pimpalgaon Baswant (a few miles from Nasik) for two days on the 27th. The men mandali were instructed to meet Baba there on the 29th.

From Chalisgaon, Baba proceeded to Chandor on 27 July in an ordinary public bus (in pouring rain) and reached the dak bungalow at Pimpalgaon Baswant. When the women saw him, they were shocked and in tears. Looking weary from his journeying, Baba was unshaven, his hair disheveled, and he was dressed in dirty, tattered clothes. "Very difficult times lie ahead," Baba told them, "and you will have to undergo much more trouble if you elect to stay with me. Your life will be nothing but hardships. Even at present, providing food and clothing for all is difficult for me. In the future, who knows, even this much may be impossible! So I advise you to go back to your families with whom you will find some degree of comfort."