It was about sunset when he touched the feet of the first sadhu. The man was gazing straight at the setting sun, loudly shouting, " Jap! Jap!" — meaning, "Repeat God's name!" The sadhu wore the long garment of a typical sadhu, but on his head he wore an old, shabby solar topee, usually only worn by Europeans. The mandali thought it significant that this first contact was someone whose dress was a mixture of the East and West.
The second sadhu contacted was a young, handsome man of about 30, who saw Baba from a distance. For a while he began dancing as if overcome with happiness. He paced about and then sat down — the feeling had overpowered and exhausted him. Baba embraced him as if he were his dearest child! The young sadhu was completely naked, and his body was covered with dust and sand. He was known as Nanga Mast . He would walk about Allahabad with his eyes turned upward so that only the whites could be seen, without colliding into people or objects. But his conversation was irrational.
He was taken aside to an empty tent to be contacted, and after half an hour, he suddenly crawled away under the canvas of the tent, but Baba was highly pleased with the meeting, and later revealed to the mandali, "The beginning is good. He is a soul drowned in the Ocean of divine love. If someone were to ask me what makes me happiest, my reply would be embracing a mast, like the one you saw today."
Referring to the love of the sadhu-mast, Baba added, "Such love consumes the false ego and annihilates the lower self. Divine consciousness dawns and the Highest asserts itself. Just as the state of man's communion with God, the soul's identification with the Oversoul, and the lover's union with the Beloved are beyond the realm of understanding, so also is the state of this perfect lover of God indescribable."
Baba touched the feet of 359 sadhus that first evening. All the mandali were exhausted, but nobody complained about it to Baba. To their relief, Baba himself indicated he was tired and the work should be resumed the next day.
The following morning, 31 December, Baba rose early, walked from the hotel and by six o'clock began his work of bowing to sadhus. Baba eased the mandali's duties by directing each to stay in one place.