Ghani and Ramjoo left for their homes in Lonavla on 21 August. That same evening at seven o'clock, Baba was sitting in the Makan in a very pleasant and expansive mood. From among those sitting around him, his eyes fell on Gopal Swamy. Gopal Swamy had come to stay at Meherabad in January 1926 and had agreed to follow Baba's orders for one year. Under Baba's direction he was observing silence for certain hours each day, and was also instructed to repeat God's name while sitting under a tree by the road.
Baba asked him, "Tell me what you most desire?"
Gopal said, "Nothing."
Baba pressed him, "Go on, ask me. Ask for anything. Tell me your desires now and I will grant them!"
Gopal kept quiet and only smiled at Baba.
"Speak out," gestured Baba. "Empty your head and heart before me! Now is the time. I, of my own accord and will, am asking you to have your desires fulfilled. Now is the time when I am in that mood."
The other mandali too began encouraging Gopal to speak up. Gopal finally let out one word: "Mukti [liberation]!"
Baba smiled and gestured, "Granted!"
Then Baba remarked to the mandali, "Gopal is a very good and sincere devotee. He is the only determined and staunch keeper of my orders. Out of the many [yogis, sadhus, fakirs and ascetics] who have come seeking spiritual advancement, he is the only one who has survived and not run away on one pretext or another. He obeys me without question and willingly accepts whatever food is offered to him."
Baba continued, "I will fulfill your wish and in this birth."
Testing him, Baba asked, "But suppose I were to give you the form of a donkey, a leper or a cripple in the next?"
Gopal humbly replied, "As you wish, Baba, if it would be your pleasure."
Baba then asked Shivnath Vibhuti Gademali, a short, bearded swami who was also staying at Meherabad and following similar instructions, to tell how he happened to come to Meherabad. He related that while he was visiting the tomb of a saint in Gangapur, he had a dream in which he heard a voice urging him, "Go towards Dhond and your work will be done." The next morning as he started for Dhond and passed through Arangaon, he decided to have Meher Baba's darshan. From that day on Vibhuti remained at Meherabad.