NOTES ON MY TRIP TO INDIA IN 1948

July 23rd. It was arranged for Kitty to take us down to the men's quarters where Baba was seeing people for the first time in months. At 7:30 a.m. the car called for us. It drove up by Baba's little room, where Baba stood garlanded, looking simply radiant. We went in. He touched our cheeks and said how well we were looking, then we were sent in to greet Norina and Rano and the Mandali. Norina looked well.

The men came in amongst them: Donkin, Nilu, Pendu, Padre, Vishnu, Sarosh, Adi Jr.; Gulmai was also there. Baba called us in again to meet a political leader who had been a disciple of Gandhi's but who now follows Baba and accepts Him as Avatar. He said this man was very sincere. At 9 a.m. the train stopped right in front of the Ashram. This had never happened before. The people came mostly from Poona and Jubbulpore. They trooped up and were allowed to see Baba, but not to take His darshan.

At 9:30 a.m. we were summoned into the big hall. Baba came in garlanded and sat on a chair facing us. Everyone stood up and as He entered chanted, "Shri Sadguru Meher Baba Ki Jai," then they sang the names of God, written by Baba during the war for that purpose — Hari Paramatman Allah Ahura Mazd God Yezdan Hu. The political leader stood up and made a speech hailing Baba as Avatar. After this the young daughter sang a sacred song. At 10:30 a.m., Baba stood up and closed the ceremonials. We were shown the men's quarters — also plans for a new dispensary. We were then driven back.

July 24th. We learnt quite a lot of interesting facts by talking to the women. In the early days, a group of six women (Baba's nuns, as He called them) lived at Nasik. In 1935 they moved to Meherabad and were completely secluded. The six lived in one room and were only allowed to go to the kitchen or the toilet.

In 1938, some Westerners joined the group to live on the hill. The Eastern women had first met some of the Western women when they made a visit to India for the first time in 1933, and again when a larger group of Westerners came to India in 1936 and stayed for six months in Nasik. Baba had also brought several of the Eastern women with Him when He came West in 1937 and stayed three months in Cannes, so the groups had already intermixed on several occasions. Margaret joined the group in 1939. Those already living there were Kitty, Rano, Irene, Norina, Elizabeth and Nadine.

In December, 1938, started the famous tours with His disciples in a blue bus specially built for these trips. On the second tour, they stayed seven months in Bangalore, Mysore where Baba laid the foundation stone for the first Universal Spiritual Centre. The group then toured till 1941 and were in Ajmer when Norina and Elizabeth and Nadine were sent back to America. The rest of about thirty disciples returned to Meherabad and that was the beginning of the very austere regime. The group was divided into threes and were not permitted to speak to each other or enter each others' rooms. Food was cut down to a minimum and Baba started to withdraw from the women, spending very little time with them. No one was allowed to embrace Him except Mani and Mehera.

In 1944, Baba divided the group into two. He moved to Meherazad with Mehera, Mani, Meheru, and Margaret, alternating with Kitty, Rano and Naja. All the others were left at Meherabad. They only saw Him when they were summoned to go the cinema. He made tours from Pimplegaon with this small group. In 1946, Margaret and Irene were sent back to Europe and all the groups were dispersed to different places and were told to keep their destination secret from the others. This applied also to the men. No one was allowed to communicate with Baba; only Mehera, Mani and Mehru stayed with Him.

In 1947, this phase ended with the arrival of Norina and Elizabeth. They met Baba at Satara and most of the women were re-summoned to Meherabad — also the men to their own quarters. These moves synchronized with the freedom of India, August 14th, 1947 — from British rule.

In order to rebuild Pimplegaon to make room for myself and Jean, Baba and the small group moved to a bungalow in Ahmednagar. In January 1947, He distributed grain and cloth to 4,000 poor in Ahmednagar. He also started to go to Bombay to contact masts and found two brothers and seven sisters — all of whom with one exception were God-intoxicated.

On February 9th, 1948, Baba's visit to Allabad coincided with one of the great days of the Ardha Kumbha Mela — the day known as Ainavasici, the day of the new moon, when the sadhus bathe at the confluence of the two sacred rivers — the Jumna and the Ganges. This visit was three days before the ashes of Ghandi were immersed in the waters. Baba and His men went to the fairgrounds. It was said that 30,000 sadhus were present, apart from about two million people.

From 7 to 10 a.m., Baba contacted 4,000 sadhus. He said there were among them only about seven advanced souls. Baba said that He had worked seven years with boys, seven years with men and seven years with women and now He was concentrating on this universal work.