Second: You can work for your living and put aside anything that can be spared for families that have so far been depending on me.
Third: You can do what you like and have nothing more to do with me.
Fourth: You can leave everything to me and do exactly as I say, accepting with full faith whatever decision I make for you.
Explaining the difference between the two sets of alternatives, Baba stated that the concession he had given the women mandali, regarding his making a decision for them himself, would under no circumstances be applicable to the men mandali, each of whom would have to arrive at the final decision himself.
"But in either case," Baba added, "each person — man or woman — will have to affirm sole responsibility before God, in my presence, for his or her respective decision, whether arrived at directly or through me."
In describing to the men his meeting with the women on the hill, Baba made particular references to Baidul's and Kaikobad's wives and children:
When I suggested to the members of Kaikobad's family to consult him first, each of them told me that they belonged to me and would do what I myself tell them. Similarly, when I inquired of Baidul's family whether I should ask them or ask Baidul about them, they went so far as to say that Baidul had no concern with their future and that they would fully accept my decision for them.
After carefully pondering over all four points, each and every one of the women present promised to abide by the fourth point, to do what I tell them. As a token of their sincerity and promise, I asked them to kiss my hand. Afterwards I told them to be careful not to let the kiss be the kiss of Judas, but to maintain it as the seal of obedience.
Thursday, 18 August 1949 was the first full day of meetings with the men in lower Meherabad. For the three days prior to this, Baba had been with the men at lower Meherabad from 7:30 to 11:00 A.M., and with the women up the hill from 11:00 to 7:00 P.M. (Mehera, Mani, Goher and Meheru had accompanied Baba to Meherabad from Meherazad on the 15th, 16th and 17th.) However, from the 18th onwards, Baba would be spending the entire time with the men at lower Meherabad.
Baba's repeated prayers to God, and his assertions about being liable for the mandali's responsibilities, reached a climax on the 18th.