Baba silently laughed and then dictated in reply, "What you say is perfectly true, Mother. You are on par with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with Yashoda [the foster mother of Krishna]. You must be respected and you too will one day be worshiped, as it was through your womb that God has taken birth.
"As your son, I would never disobey you. Of course, I respect your wishes. However, in order to get married, there must be two persons — a man and a woman. What am I to do? God has raised me to such a state of consciousness that I do not find anyone else in the world but me! I experience myself to be in all. God has made me realize that I alone exist, and that all else is illusion.
"When a man goes to a cinema and watches a movie of a beautiful actress on the screen, can he marry her? No, because she is only a two-dimensional image on the screen. Likewise, I see you all on the screen of maya. How then can I get married?"
Memo was sincere in her wish, and Baba's reply made her weep.
Lunch was served in the Mess Quarters and a singing program held. At 5:30, the closing celebration was on Meherabad Hill. A palanquin was decorated and a procession was formed. Baba did not take his seat in the palanquin, but preferred to walk with the procession up the hill. There a bhajan program took place, and Angal Pleader narrated stories from the Puranas . Baba later distributed prasad. At the fervent request of the crowd, Baba sat in the palanquin on the way down the hill as the celebration ended.
As mentioned, Mehera played a unique and special role among the women mandali. As a young woman, Mehera was fond of reading and had brought a few novels with her when she came to live at Meherabad. During this period, however, Baba prohibited her from reading or writing anything, so Mehera packed up all her books and sent them to her sister at Khushru Quarters. Baba's order was so strict that even labels on bottles and tin cans had to be covered with pieces of blank paper to prevent her from accidentally reading them.
She was also ordered not to talk with, look at, or touch any man other than Baba. Although the prohibition against reading and the injunction against speaking with men were lifted later, the order not to touch any man was never rescinded.