21 February through 21 March 1968 daily: — four hours in the morning — one hour in the afternoon — a quarter hour in his room [this may have been canceled]
Except on 25 February 1968: — one hour in the morning only
The new schedule went into effect from 9 February 1968. Baba completely sacrificed his Universal body for his Universal work and became fully merged in it. Each day, on completion of his work, his face showed signs of extreme exhaustion. For some while, despite his work being over, Baba appeared still immersed in it. (Similar to a train which, although the brakes have been applied, does not stop all at once, but gradually slows down.)
After his daily morning seclusion work was completed, the mandali were called into the hall, where Eruch recited the prayers. Then, one by one, the mandali came forward to Baba's chair and placed their foot on the "poof" (stuffed ball-like cushion) in front of Baba for him to bow to them as they repeated the name of God seven times, according to their religion.
In America, Benjamin V. Wright, 24, heard of Baba in October 1966, in New York City, when a fellow drug-user, Cindy Whitaker, told him of her resolve to stop taking drugs and the part that Meher Baba played in her decision.
A year later, when Wright was living in the mountains of Lebanon, on Christmas Eve he had an inner experience of Baba speaking to him: "Drop everything and come and see me."
Ben's friend, another young American, Stanley "Skip" M. Fisher, 18, was lodging with him and had a similar experience.
The two agreed to travel together and left Lebanon, traveling overland to India in the second week of January. They arrived in Bombay on 11 February 1968, but since Ben had expressed his wish to go to Baba alone, once they reached India they agreed to part ways. Ben went to Poona for three weeks, and Skip hitchhiked to Ahmednagar.
Skip Fisher arrived at Adi's office on the 15th, wanting to see Baba. A note from Skip was sent to Meherazad, but, being in strict seclusion, Baba did not allow the young man to meet him. Instead he sent these seven instructions to him through Eruch:
(1) Baba will not be seeing Skip as he is in strict seclusion.
(2) Baba wants him not to feel unhappy about it but to remember him all the more and as often as possible and to love him more and more.
(3) Baba wants him to return to his place and live a normal life and earn his livelihood and think of Baba as much as possible and read as much as possible books on and by Baba only. He should tell his friends and others about Baba and his message of Love and Truth.