The next day, Baba instructed both men and women mandali to fast with him for one day (two cups of tea in the morning; ice cream in the afternoon; two cups of tea in the evening). They broke the fast the following day on the Irani New Year, Jamshed–e–Navroz . Naoroji and his daughter, Nargis, arrived that day from Bombay.
On the 24th, when asked as to how the advanced God-mad (the masts) had come to the state they are in, and what that state actually is, Baba explained:
These men may be called yoga-brashtas. Apart from the circle, who are taken to the Goal blindfolded, there are very few who receive the grace of a Master and who are pushed to even the sixth plane. All this depends mostly on past sanskaras. It is very little of this [present] life which brings one in contact with a Perfect Master. These souls you see here had been on the Path in their past lives, but were entirely lost as yoga-brashtas, and became spiritually dazed. Among many examples, one man held on to the fruit of a tree for four years, remaining in the same position until a Master came and gave him experience, so that he released his hold on the fruit and branch he had been holding.
[One of the mandali asked how these men could withstand all the tests physically.]
All of you have three bodies — gross, subtle and mental. Ordinarily, everyone uses the first two — gross and subtle — for experiencing the gross and subtle worlds, the former in the awake state and the latter in the dream state.
After a soul is spiritually advanced and is stationed on the spiritual planes, he assumes a body which is called karana sharir [mental body]. When in this state, the soul has immense powers in proportion to the stage of advancement which he has attained. The power sustains the physical body even in the hardest strains and trials. That is how, even oblivious to the world and their own physical needs, they keep on [living] as fresh and strong as ever. Otherwise, an ordinary man would drop the body even under a thousandth part of the strain on the physical body they experience.
Material happiness is a millionth shadow of the true, divine bliss.
[Someone then asked, "How are you able to take so much strain and suffering of the work of bathing and feeding the masts, fasting, et cetera, upon yourself?"]