The following day, 30 December, Slamson, Gustadji's brother, brought a mast from Indore to Ahmednagar. When he was taken to Meherazad, Baba immediately sent him back, indicating the mast was not very advanced. He instructed Slamson to bring another better mast. Baidul was sent to Nanded for the same purpose.
On Friday, 4 January 1952, Baba sent this humorous message to Nilu through Padri: "If you stay awake the whole night and repeat God's name, then I will give you all the good, sweet things that have been brought for the masts, and serve you as I do them."
Nilu sent this reply to Baba: "God forbid that I should ever be a mast! I only wish to be the doctor."
Baidul could not persuade the mast from Nanded to come with him, so Baba sent him to Bombay for another mast. Ali Shah was brought to Meherazad on the 4th, and Baba began working with him in seclusion.
For his work, Baba would sit alone in his cabin or in the Blue Bus from 7:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. daily, spending the rest of the time with or without the companions in his cabin. Eruch would be on guard from 7:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M., Gustadji from 11:00 to 2:30 A.M. and Pendu from 2:30 to 6:30 A.M.
At 6:45 on the evening of the 4th, Baba lit a dhuni in a pit behind his cabin in Meherazad. This fire was kept burning until seven o'clock the following morning, when it was extinguished. The dhuni was lit at exactly seven o'clock every evening thereafter until the completion of the Manonash work.
During the day, Eruch would read some portions of the Gita, Bible, Buddhist and Sufi literature to Baba. Occasionally phonograph records were played in Baba's cabin, at which times Baba would call the four companions, as well as the other mandali.
Nilu sported a beard then, and one day Baba sent him this message: "If the mast does not come, every hair of your beard will be plucked out!"
Nilu's beard stayed intact, as Baidul returned with Pathan Baba in Meherjee's car. After working with him on the 14th, Baba sent him back the same evening. Slamson had brought the mast-saint Vishandas Maharaj from Indore that same day, and the saint was kept at Meherazad. Baba intended to work in seclusion with the Hindu saint for some weeks (as he had done with the Muslim mast Pathan Baba the month before) but Vishandas Maharaj knew who Baba was, and so the work with him proved too difficult. He was therefore sent back to Indore after five days, on the 19th.