Part 4a:

JEAN ADRIEL

When I first heard Jean's name I thought at once of Ariel, the spirit of Shakespeare's Tempest. There was an otherworldly, light and sparkling atmosphere around her, probably because she spent so much time in meditation and seclusion, especially in later years.

Jean Robinson was born on September 21, 1883. She later took the name Adriel, through numerology. She grew up to be a tall, regal blonde with a pleasing voice.

As a career, she took up social work in New York City. Later, she married the poet Malcolm Schloss whom she met in his bookstore, "The North Node" in New York. Both were widely read in metaphysical subjects and earnestly seeking enlightenment. Through the bookstore they made many contacts with spiritual seekers in the late Twenties and early Thirties. These proved invaluable to Baba's first visit to America. In 1931, very suddenly, through a young poet, Milo, a contact was established between the Schlosses and Meredith Starr, who told them a Perfect Master, Shri Meher Baba, was expected shortly in England. Jean and Malcolm were set to go, when a cable came in which Baba asked them, instead, to make arrangements for His arrival in America. Through a friend, they obtained a lovely home on the Hudson at Harmon. This was Baba's headquarters for a month in November, 1931.

Jean writes in her book Avatar of her first meeting with Him:

"My most outstanding impression of that first meeting is one of peering into bottomless pools of Infinite Love and tenderness, as my eyes met His. My heart pounded with tremendous excitement and for awhile I could not speak. I felt that in an inexplicable way He was the reason for my very existence; that I have never really lived until this moment; that He was deeply familiar and precious to me, even as I was no stranger and very dear to Him."

Baba stayed a month at Harmon, meeting many individuals, contacts of the Schloss's, including Princess Matchabelli and Elizabeth Patterson. It was a time of intense unfoldment for both Malcolm and Jean. It took Malcolm, skeptical of the need for any outer Masters, longer to surrender [see Awakener Magazine, Vol. 19-2] — 11 days, he reports. Baba named the American group "JeanCo"; it included the Schlosses, Elizabeth Patterson, Norina Matchabelli, Nadine Tolstoy and Anita de Caro; He intimated they were all in His Circle.

Of course, Baba put Jean and Malcolm to the test — His usual test in those days: the swiftly changed plans, the so-called "broken promise". On His second visit to the West in 1933, many contacts had been made with the Hollywood film world. It was Jean who stood beside Baba at the Hotel Knickerbocker and introduced the screen luminaries to Him, among many others.

Baba left for China, promising to return and break His silence in the Hollywood Bowl, introduced over the radio by Mary Pickford! It's easy to smile now, but all took it seriously then. Expecting instant God-Realization, some even had elaborate dresses made! (At least Norina got some use out of hers — all white — she used to lecture in it). Suddenly, Baba's plans to return to California were cancelled, leaving the Schlosses to face the music. Almost all the new contacts left, disillusioned, including two astrologers, Dane Rudyhar and Marc Edmund Jones, in whose home Baba had stayed. Dane had cast Baba's horoscope and seen Him as the great World Teacher of the Age.

But the Schlosses were made of sterner stuff, as the cliche goes. They were called to Europe and took part in Baba's visits there, notably at Cannes. Jean, in poor health, was in seclusion and missed many of the outings with Baba. I recall one meditation Baba gave her: "Jean is not the body, Jean is soul." The reward of many deep inner experiences of the Master perhaps made up for her physical weakness.

Her background in metaphysics and Jungian analysis stood her in good stead. She could understand how Baba brought up the "shadow" side of His disciples in their clashes and moods. She and Malcolm were invited to Nasik to join the Western ashram, one of two Western couples. It is hard enough to follow the spiritual path alone, but to walk it in tandem is doubly difficult. For example when Baba worked on Malcolm's ego — often through his importance as a writer — He worked on Jean's as well, and vice versa.

Also the harsh climate of India was hard on her health. But Baba showed her special tenderness; once, visiting a Buddhist temple with steep stairs, He ordered her to be carried up and down. Another time, she was on a diet of watermelon juice (probably her own — she was tremendous on diets) and Baba procured it for her. Jean and Malcolm were in the "meditation" group as opposed to light-hearted "Kimco". Baba used these temperamental differences — even clashes — of opinion, for His work. And one does suspect, for His own amusement sometimes.