East-West Gathering, 1962
[Here are some incident of the Day-1 of the East-West Gathering]
Each day, morning sessions were reserved for the Westerners. At 9:00 A.M., several buses arrived and 144 Western men and women entered the hall of Guruprasad to meet their Beloved. Baba was dressed in a white sadra and pink coat, and the rays of his smile filled the room. His smile was radiant as he met his lovers, and his glance penetrated every heart.
There were no introductions. Each man and woman walked before Baba and said his or her name, as Baba embraced them.
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Vivian Agostini accompanied her husband, Louis, but she was not yet prepared to accept Baba as the Avatar. She had agreed to come but vowed: “I will never kneel down before any man who calls himself God!” After meeting Baba, she announced her intentions to return to America, complaining to her husband, “Baba did not look at me. I don’t know whether he was even aware that I was presented to him. I feel as if I were treated by him as nothing!”
However, suddenly Rano Gayley appeared calling out, “Vivian Agostini! Baba wants to see Vivian Agostini.”
Vivian Agostini later recounted her impressions:
I approached Baba and knelt at his feet as his gestures indicated that he wished to give me a special embrace. No mother’s hands could have been more gentle as he held my head in his hands and gazed deep within my eyes. All I could say was: “Baba, I love you. I love you so very much.” He nodded his head as if to say “I know, I know,” referring perhaps to my genuine anguish of the evening before when I felt so forlorn and abandoned.
And, I had the strange feeling of melting into a vast and endless domain. Then the tears came pouring out as though a dam holding back a large expanse of water had suddenly broken, and the uncontrollable torrent poured down my face and over my clothes. If that was the edge of the cyclone of Baba’s love which I had just experienced, what must the very center be like?
Dazed by the experience, Vivian left and wandered into Baba’s room, where sister Mani greeted her. Instead of returning her greeting, Vivian could only say in wonder, “I never knew I would look into the eyes of a man and know that he is the Christ.”
www.lordmeher.org, p5977
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After moving from Myrtle Beach in 1958, Baba had ordered Jane Haynes to try to revive her acting career. She and her three children (“the Trio” as Baba called them) relocated in New York City, where Jane briefly appeared in a Broadway play. She had a rough time finding roles to act and for many months had no work. When she came before Baba, he asked with a mischievous expression, “Tell me Jane, do you have work?”
Thinking, “You know very well, Baba, I haven’t had any work,” she replied, “Yes – Baba’s work!” as she had been working on a children’s book about Baba.
Baba slapped both hands on the arms of his chair twice in a strong and vital gesture and looked happy. He stated, “So be it – always. It will always be only Baba’s work,” a hint perhaps of her future role helping Elizabeth Patterson at Meher Center*.
*Footnate in Lord Meher: Elizabeth Patterson died in 1980, and Jane Haynes replaced her as the de facto head of the Meher Center board of directors. Jane Haynes died in 1997.
www.lordmeher.org, p5978
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The rain:
Suddenly, it turned very dark and rain began to pour down.
One American man recollected: “The feeling inside the pandal was volcanic. We have all been in heavy rain before, but here there was something, not ominous, but such a feeling of immense power. I saw Baba weaving back and forth in his chair. His face held an expression of power. It was an awesome sight.”
The cloth roof of the pandal flapped furiously in the wind and began to tear in places. Water cascaded down, soaking men, women and children who awaited their turn to approach the Father. Almost everyone was shivering.
He remarked, “This rain is most significant. This is a unique gathering of the East and West.”
www.lordmeher.org, p5997