On the 5th, Baba reaffirmed Rustom's responsibility, "It is your choice. You may serve me or meditate on me."
Rustom replied that he preferred service.
Afterward Baba explained to the mandali and boys about meditation:
Meditate on me to such an extent as to forget everything else. Be merged in me. Pleader, though he is fasting and meditating, is still not merged in me. Meditate spontaneously like the inhalation and exhalation of your breath which goes on automatically — like the tick, tick, tick of a clock. While sitting, eating, drinking, studying — amidst every activity — meditate on me naturally. Meditation with the help of mercy leads to the Path; with the help of the Master, to samadhi. But without grace, such meditation is not possible.
Every day, Baba emphasized to the boys to be alert and not doze off while meditating at night. On Thursday, 8 November 1928, he gathered them at nine in the morning and narrated this story:
Once an uncle and his nephew, who were both very stubborn and obstinate, came home and found a delicious laddoo on the table. Both wanted it and quarreled over who should have it. In the end they decided that whatever happened, whoever spoke first would lose the sweet. They sat down opposite each other and neither spoke for hours and hours.
The aunt, knowing their stubborn natures, took everything out of the hut and set fire to it! But neither moved. All the while they stared at the laddoo. But when the fire reached them the nephew could stand it no longer. Screaming, he fled the house. Immediately the uncle picked up the laddoo and popped it into his mouth.
You should be like the uncle and totally concentrate on me while meditating, without feeling the least bit drowsy.
The 12th of November was an eclipse of the sun, and several thousand people from the surrounding villages came for the Master's darshan. Baba was not happy taking time out of his schedule to give darshan, but he met the villagers anyway. He preferred to spend most of his time with the boys of the Prem Ashram. He would watch them play cricket, walk with them to the riverside and watch Chhagan give them swimming lessons; he would feed them with his own hands, listen to phonograph records with them and regularly give discourses.
The routine at this time was 9:00 to 10:00 A.M. — a discourse; 10:00 to 12:00 P.M. — swimming; 12:00 to 2:00 P.M. — meditation; then lunch and either accompanying Baba on a walk or listening to music.