He accepted their plea on the following conditions:
All of you should remain with me until I break my silence. I will break my silence whenever I like and no one should hope for or anticipate the time when I will break it. It might be after a day, a year, or a decade. In the meantime, none of you staying with me should ask me for money under any circumstances.
When the mandali had accepted these conditions, Baba called for sandalwood and ordered a fire to be built. He directed them to take an oath of acceptance, symbolized by putting a piece of sandalwood into the fire, which they did. In this way, Baba forgave them and they renewed their surrenderance to his cause.
Rustom had arrived by this time and found everything back to normal. After the ceremony, he drove Baba and six of the mandali to see the Pimpalgaon water reservoir, approximately fifteen miles away. Such was the contrast of life near Baba: One moment Baba was ordering all to "pack off" — and the next he was taking them on an enjoyable motor outing.
Baba continued to fast the entire day.
Soon after their return, Baba stated, "I will now remain in seclusion for many days."
He then walked to the Jhopdi and shut the door.1
In the days of the Hazrat Babajan School, the mandali were doing all sorts of menial chores — sweeping, filling the water pots, washing the children's clothes — in addition to their duties as teachers. Those who were paid employees, however, were only engaged to teach. On the 21st, Baba called Chanji to the Jhopdi.
After a game of draughts with him, Baba explained, "I intend to reopen a boarding school in Meherabad, but I don't like to persuade and goad the mandali to do all the work."
He concluded, "I am happy with the mandali's decision to stay with me. It is sufficient that they are kept away from the two greatest temptations of maya — women and wealth — which would be practically impossible for them to do elsewhere."
Kalemama of Dhulia contacted and urged K. K. Manekar, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, to have Meher Baba's darshan. On 22 January, Manekar arrived at Meherabad, and though in seclusion, Baba allowed him darshan from the window of his Jhopdi. Within moments of seeing Baba's face, Manekar stated that he was "merged in the light of God shining forth from that window."
Footnotes
- 1.There was a hidden purpose in Meher Baba's visit to the Pimpalgaon water reservoir, but it was only revealed twenty years later when a spot near there, Meherazad, was chosen as Baba's permanent residence.