During the seclusion, Baba remained alone inside the cage while Gustadji and Buasaheb were on watch outside. Baba would gather the mandali in the large hall outside his room and dictate instructions from inside his cage.
When asked why he was physically confining himself, Baba replied, "This physical confinement is apparent, not real. It does not inconvenience me in the slightest. Certain kinds of work which I have to do in nonphysical realms automatically prompt me to shut myself up in a small area. After becoming perfect, Jesus stayed for 40 days and nights on a mountain for the same reason, and did not allow even his most intimate disciples [apostles] to approach him."
During this seclusion, at first visitors were permitted and many came. (More came than before Baba entered seclusion, it seemed to the mandali.) Baba would discourse in the evenings, after which those Prem Ashram and Meher Ashram boys whom Baba kept under his guidance in Nasik would meditate for an hour. During one of these discourses on Sunday, 12 January 1930, Baba further explained the significance of the number seven:
The evolution of creation has seven stages. There are seven planes and seven types of desires. All these sevens should be eradicated once and for all.
However, the number seven is significant. There are seven types of sanskaras, seven types of colors, seven types of flights of imagination and seven types of sounds. The reason all these have seven variations is that in the beginning of creation — with the start of the original whim in the Beyond, Beyond state of God — there was a clash between Matter (Akash) and Energy (Pran), and Energy's powers were divided into seven parts.
The original sound coming out of the Creation or Om point also turns into seven sounds. This music in the subtle plane is indescribably sweet. Even if you listened to it for 24 hours without a break, you would not tire of it. [It is enrapturing]; one absolutely drowns in its melody. But remember that in the subtle sphere, the sweetness of this music is only the shadow of the Original Sound.
In the gross world, the shadow of this melody is again divided into seven parts; only expert singers can express these [tones and octaves]. Sound is created by contact between two things. When you speak, your voice passes through seven veils; but just see how quickly it comes out! [You do not notice because the sound comes so quickly.] Your physique, a by-product of your sanskaras, determines whether your voice is sweet or harsh.