Why did Maharaj stop giving medicine, and what did he replace it with?

Maharaj explained his transition away from giving medicine in a conversation with a writer he called "Kaka." He stated, "I used to give medicine to people before. Later, I stopped giving medicine and started saying 'Hari Hari', and while saying Hari Hari, I met Hari." As Chapter 0 describes, this suggests a spiritual evolution where he moved from physical remedies to purely spiritual ones. He replaced the practice of giving medicine with giving Udi, or sacred ash. The text notes that he had given ash even before this transition and that people had always benefited from it.