For several days, Baba roamed about Itarsi contacting saints and, perhaps, some masts. The full details of his solitary wandering are not known; but it was evident that for his inner work he had stayed behind in Itarsi, and that he wished his movements to be kept secret. This was perhaps the only time during Meher Baba's adulthood that he ever traveled alone without any of the mandali with him.
After disappearing for one week, Baba returned to Meherabad at the end of March 1924 and gathered the mandali once again near him. The Kasba Peth mandali — Arjun, Chowdhary, Kondiram, Vishnu and others — were also called from Poona to stay at Meherabad.
The Avatar's inner work is on a universal scale and it is not possible to understand any particular action of his — including all his changes in travel plans. The Avatar's every action brings millions of unseen results. Meher Baba would, at times, talk to someone but another person listening would feel that his words were directed at him. The extent of the unseen force of his actions can never be imagined.
Perhaps one aspect of the journeying to Persia and all the changes of plans had to do with the inner work Baba was doing at that time regarding the Persian people and the country. (Baba hinted as much at the time to the mandali.) Meher Baba's presence there actually seeded a change in the consciousness of the people. After Baba's visit to Persia, a change for the better swept over the country. After a year and a half, Reza Khan ascended the throne as the Shah (King), and the country was, for a time, greatly benefited by his coming to power. Also, after Baba's journey, the religious animosity and persecution of minorities (such as the Zoroastrians) disappeared and the country gradually began to progress toward modernization.
Some of the structures at Meherabad were in a state of ruin, so during April 1924, Baba assigned the mandali the work of repairing them, and in some cases demolishing them and leveling the ground. For this work they used ghamelas (rounded iron pans) used for carrying earth and stones; thus, the work came to be referred to facetiously as ghamela yoga .
During this labor phase, a typical day began at 5:00 A.M.; all were required to offer prayers according to their respective religions until 7:00 A.M. From 7:00 to 8:00 A.M., breakfast of milkless tea and millet bhakri was served.