EACH ONE WAS BABA'S FAVORITE

 
Two of Baba's lovers, Fred and Ella Winterfeldt, were part of the program. Fred would ask people to think of Baba and Ella would ring a bell to begin the silence; then after three minutes, she would ring the bell to end it. At that time Baba was still physically on the Earth, in India, so no doubt for most people this was a very palpable way of connecting to him.

But I recall that when they asked us to think of Baba, I thought, "Well, I don't even know who he is!"... So when they asked us to close our eyes and think of Baba, it felt to me as odd as if I were asking someone to close his eyes and think of my Uncle George. I mean, I had nothing to go on. Donny had never told me anything personal about Baba; he had talked more about the metaphysics and teachings. Now, the idea of focusing on Baba was like thinking about Immanuel Kant — how many people know about the personality of Immanuel Kant?

"Well, it's just three minutes; I can wait this out," I thought, as I looked around the room. My mind wandered.... As I was looking around, my eyes fell upon a large photograph of Baba propped up on an easel at the front of the room. In that picture, he is sitting in a chair, looking out. It's the same one that is in the Lagoon Cabin, where Meher Baba used to meet with people at the Center.

As I glanced at the photograph, suddenly Baba's eyes came alive. There was unfathomable love in his eyes, and I knew then that there was no love beyond this love. In fact, in that very instant, I knew my whole life was going to be led for him. Then Baba began looking at everyone in the room, and I could see that each one was his favorite. When most of us look around a room, we brighten up more for some, a little less for others. But each one there was clearly Baba's favorite.

In a moment, Baba's eyes began to get larger and larger, and all of a sudden I was looking directly into them. They filled the entire room, and it was like looking into oceans and oceans of love. Then in a flash, I was lifted up into a sublime realm, such as I had never experienced before. At the time, I felt we were outside of the universe; it was some place, and Baba was there beside me.

As I looked down, about seventy-five or a hundred feet below was the room where we were all sitting. Then Baba said to me that he wanted me to serve those people, his people. My background had been basically humanitarian, and I spontaneously asked him, "Why just them? Why not every man?" I just blurted that out, because one of the reasons I didn't like religion was that it was exclusive. Yet the answer for that was not to come for some time. The next thing I knew, the bell was ringing and I was back in my seat.

Oh my God! I mean, I had never expected to have such an encounter going to this little meeting of people I didn't even know! I had just gone along for the ride. Little did I know that I would find out the whole meaning and purpose of my life — the whole focus of my life! I was ecstatic.