It is all rigmarole and will waste your precious time, which might better be used in thinking of God, meditating, and creating love. Love is the sum and substance of all religions and the only essential of all creeds. Leave the rigmarole alone.

For example, the alphabet is taught to a child to make him begin to learn the language. But if he merely learns the alphabet without any efforts at proceeding further, he will learn practically nothing. It is the same in religion. The shariat, doctrines, and dogmas are given as a preliminary beginning — like the alphabet — to reach the ultimate aim of the Realization of the Truth. After one masters the fundamentals, one advances; but if a person merely sticks to religious ceremonies and rituals and believes that religion is that alone, then he does not advance at all. God and Truth are far, far above shariat, doctrines and dogmas, rituals and ceremonies.

Namdar Dastur had been searching for God for many years and had contacted different gurus. But after meeting Baba, he told Chanji, "I thank the Almighty for bringing me here. I feel quite a different atmosphere from what I have experienced at other ashrams. Here, I internally feel the divine light, which I've not felt elsewhere. No one else I have met has so boldly declared themselves to be God, as Shri so lightly did. He actually gave me proof of his being God, as I internally felt and understood what he said to be true." Namdar returned to Meherabad after a few weeks and was permitted to stay with the mandali for some months. Sheheryar was given the duty of teaching a Persian class.

About Ali, on the 4th, Baba commented, "The more Ali sleeps, the more conscious he becomes." That day (the 7th), Baba remarked, "Today, Ali was so 'ready' that with one embrace from me, he would have been drowned. I was at the point of doing it, but I stopped myself."

In the evening of 7 February, Baba gave an explanation to the mandali about the importance of obeying his orders:

The best way of all for a disciple is to obey the orders of his guru, without using his mind and thinking over its merits or demerits. For instance, suppose Sidhu comes to me at noon and says that he is very thirsty. Considering the weather conditions and time, I may give him a cold drink.