Baba then ordered, "No one, under any circumstances, should touch me for the next ten days, unless I order otherwise. I will be very sick."
Chhagan was sent to the station to see if Ali was still there. Khansaheb arrived late at 11:00 P.M.
The next morning, Sunday, 26 February 1928, Baba informed the mandali that he would come out of seclusion sometime that day. He discussed the situation of Ali's abrupt removal, and a few of the men suggested that one of them go to Bombay and try to convince Ali's father to allow the boy to return. Baba liked the suggestion and promptly sent Baidul and Raosaheb to Bombay, emphasizing to them the importance of bringing Ali back within seven days.
Baba had previously warned that if Ali left, he would close down all the activities at Meherabad. Accordingly, he now ordered a group of the mandali to begin pulling down some of the temporary structures on the hill. At the same time, Baba directed another group to repair and erect a few new structures! With Ali's departure, Baba was acting most peculiarly in the eyes of the men. On the one hand, he gave orders for the demolition of buildings, and on the other, he gave orders for construction of new ones.
He also stated that if he closed everything, he would "travel so much that the world will stop spinning! Whoever of the mandali wants to come, may come. We will beg for our food. Two or three of the boys who are ready can be taken."
Baba came out of his seclusion in the crypt-cabin that very day at 5:45 P.M. The rickshaw was decorated with flowers and Baba took his seat in it. The Prem Ashram boys pulled the rickshaw from the hill down to lower Meherabad. As the rickshaw halted near the dhuni, a strange supernatural phenomenon occurred. A blinding light suddenly flashed, and a flame rose from the dhuni when Baba came near it. Those who caught a glimpse of it were dazzled. In a few moments the flame disappeared. Afterward, Baba was carried in the rickshaw to various places in Meherabad.
It had been two months since Baba visited the women mandali in their quarters at the Bathroom Building and their joy was boundless. During the period of Baba's seclusion, he took only one pint of coffee made by Mehera, which she sent to him every day in a flask with the boy named Lahu.