"Now, this is very important," Baba emphasized. "The difference is so subtle between imagination and contact, yet there is a world of difference. When you imagine, you have no purpose; when you contact you have purpose."
Malcolm then said, "It's clear, but even in contact don't you use the imagination?"
"Yes, imagination is the background," Baba replied.
The topic turned to what happens after death, and Baba commented about heaven and hell:
"Hell and heaven are mental states, not places. In these states the mind's desires and the capacity to receive become extremely intense. For example: you die — you're dead. That means you leave the body, but you as soul continue. Your mind and your ego also continue and the impressions in your mind are there.
"One of these impressions is of drinking [alcohol]. Now this impression has to be wiped out by drinking. But here in this state without the body, the drinking process is only by thought and desire. The mental enjoyment, however, is much more intense, and it lasts longer. There [in the body] the thought is to drink. Now you can enjoy drinking, just by thinking. But since the gross vehicle is not attached, you cannot get drunk, unless you drink gross wine.
Garrett asked, "What is meant by a possession?"
Baba spelled out, "There are certain cases where the gross body is compelled to drop before the person's sanskaras are completely used up. Such is the case when a person commits suicide. The body is gone but the momentum of all the [gross] impressions goes on [and the person becomes a ghost].
The soul wants to drink, eat, et cetera, very, very badly; so much so that it takes to unnatural resources by entering someone else's body. It awaits its opportunity. When it finds you drinking [pointing to one of the group], it satisfies its desire by drinking through you. When it has to experience anger, then, when you are angry it experiences it through you. This is a fact."
The Western group had to go to sleep early that night at eight, since they were going to Meherabad with Baba the next morning.
To avoid driving in the heat of the day, Baba woke them at 1:00 A.M. on Monday, 15 March 1937. After hot tea, they started out at 2:00 A.M. Baba assigned each person's place in the three cars and, in good humor, posted a list with each one's new nickname: