He was instructed to live alone and to keep aloof from the other mandali. Baba was so strict with Gustadji that he was forbidden to leave the Jhopdi's compound except to answer the call of nature.
Gustadji was a garrulous raconteur and had a wealth of stories from his days with Sai Baba, Upasni Maharaj, and Hazrat Babajan. Since he was so talkative, the other mandali would at times wish him to be quiet. One day Buasaheb teased him a little and Gustadji became so upset that he went on abusing Buasaheb for over two hours. After hearing about his harangue, Baba too seemed fed up with Gustadji.
On 1 May, he ordered him, "From now on, you are to remain silent."
As was his method, Baba had deliberately created the row (started by Buasaheb) to provide an excuse for putting Gustadji on silence.
He explained to Gustadji, "The observance of silence on your part will be most helpful to me in my work. Therefore, be silent for my sake."
Although loquacious by nature, Gustadji nevertheless began observing silence and remained silent until his death in 1957. He communicated his thoughts through hand gestures.
After some time, Baba asked Daulatmai also to observe silence, which she did until her last breath. He later instructed Bala Tambat, one of the Kasba Peth mandali who had been living at Meherabad since 1925, to maintain silence, which he did for the rest of his life. Thus, besides Meher Baba, there were three maunis (yogis on silence) living in Meherabad during 1927. But there was a vast difference between the silence of the devotees and that of the Master. Their silence was for their own benefit, whereas Meher Baba's was to drown the world in the Ocean of his silence.
While the improvised school was being conducted in the Mess Quarters, none but the workers were allowed to enter the school premises. On 5 May, Shankarnath was appointed watchman; he was to sit near the school and make sure no visitors went near it. They were to wait by the dhuni and only approach Baba when he was seated there.
On Monday, 9 May, Memo and Mani came to stay at Meherabad for a few weeks, as Mani had a summer holiday from school.
At one meeting during this period, Baba considered again having a grand structure for the ashram constructed, which he proposed be "a big building with a huge dome in the center on which [inside] to be painted pictures of the emblems of all the leading religions — Hindu temple, Mohammedan Mosque, Parsi fire-temple, Christian church."