ELIZABETH PATTERSON MEETS BABA

 
Elizabeth Chapin Patterson, 35, was married to a prominent New York stockbroker named Kenneth Askew Patterson, and she herself was a successful insurance executive. A person of considerable means, she had traveled all over the world, including India and a venture to the North Pole.

Elizabeth had been religiously-minded since childhood and was a customer of Malcolm and Jean's bookstore. She first heard about Meher Baba in a letter from Jean. On the morning of 17 November 1931, Jean telephoned Elizabeth to inform her that Baba had arrived and to invite her to meet him. "Meher Baba wants to see you," she said. Jean gave her directions to Harmon and Elizabeth drove there that same day with a friend named Schatz Adams Weicker, with whom she had made previous lunch plans.

After a vegetarian lunch at Harmon, each was taken separately upstairs to meet Baba. Meredith led Elizabeth into Baba's room. Elizabeth described her first meeting with her Master:

Immediately my feeling was one of recognition. All the way to the far end of the room where he was seated, I tried to recall where I had seen him before. The feeling was one of familiarity, like meeting a friend in a foreign land — a friend whom one has known well since childhood, only since that earlier period the appearance has changed.

Still in the process of recalling, I walked over to where Baba was seated, with sandaled feet folded in front of him and the sun shining on his beautiful hair. His remarkable eyes reminded me of a Persian print, but they were so alive with a thousand dancing fires in them that I realized I had never seen anyone like Baba before. Nowhere in my world travels had I seen his likeness, nor did he seem to fit into any nationality.

Upon this close observation, my recognition ceased, but as he smilingly motioned me to sit by him on the orange-colored divan, I still felt completely at ease and at home with him. His silence did not seem strange or awkward. Baba's smile is so disarming and puts one so at ease. I was unconscious of any personality dividing us, either of his or mine.

I can only liken [being in his presence] to being seated by a quiet pool at the base of a great mountain with only the sense of peace in nature, newly born. This feeling has never left me.

Baba dictated (Meredith reading the board) that he was pleased to see her. Elizabeth replied, "I am trying to remember where I have seen you before."

Meredith interjected, "'Remembrance' happens to many people who meet Baba for the first time, as they are old 'contacts' from previous lives." Meredith then inquired if Elizabeth had any questions to ask Baba. Elizabeth told Baba about Florence Lee, 43, a friend in New York who was ill, and Baba assured her that there was no need to worry and she should leave the matter to him, directing her to bring Florence the next time she came to Harmon.

Elizabeth, then more relaxed, began to ask questions. "Now my many questions tumbled out," she later related, "and Baba smiled comprehendingly. I had the impression of receiving his answer directly in my mind, while the communication through his fast moving finger on the board seemed like an echo as it was read out by Meredith."

Elizabeth had come only for the Master's blessing but, upon seeing Baba, she was caught. By simply coming into Baba's physical contact, Elizabeth once said, "I gained life."