The Westerners had been informed not to arrive in Poona before the 28th, but a few came early. The first to arrive was an American from Woodstock, New York, named Tom Riley, who had first met Baba four years before at the Myrtle Beach Center with his wife, Yvonne (Andrau). Riley traveled to India by ship and arrived in Poona on 16 October, but by the time he got to India he had practically no money left. He was called to Guruprasad and fell in front of Baba with his head in his lap. Baba remarked to him, “You have no idea how blessed you are today. You have broken the ice for the East-West Gathering.”
Tom recounts his meeting with Baba:
I was alone. Magically, a stillness came, transforming into sacredness, suffusing my being. I was surprised to see that my hands were pressed together as in prayer. Holiness came over me and from within me; it was everywhere.
The world became unreal and at the same time blessed and divine. In this state I ascended the steps toward the opened doors of the mandali hall.
As I approached the room it appeared dimly lighted and I was vaguely aware that men were seated on carpets facing toward my left. I entered and turned in the direction of their gaze. Meher Baba was seated in an armchair. He was radiating. His eyes shone like glistening silver. He was beside himself with joy at seeing me. In an instant he swept away the surreal revelations of his holiness in me and, now, again, as I stood before him, renewed and more intense waves of grief and despair descended upon me. In this state, disconnected from rationality, I knelt before him, placing my forehead upon his knees, and wept. He caressed my head as he moaned softly, reaching deeply into me across immense barriers, touching me spiritually, mending my sorrow and creating union with me.
Timeless moments passed. Then, all at once, my eyes fell upon an extraordinary lacework on the hem of his sleeve; a labor of love, undoubtedly created by one of his women devotees. It was the fineness of this craftsmanship which brought me now, into the moment.
Baba asked Tom, “Have you read God Speaks?”
Tom answered, “Yes, Baba, I have read it three times.”
“Can you sum up for me in a nutshell the essence of God Speaks?”
“The whole of creation exists so that the Soul can find its way back to you.” Baba beamed and made the sign of perfection with his right hand.
Baba asked Tom what kind of work he did. Tom longed to be a full-time painter, but he answered, “I’m supposed to be a teacher, but education is very bad in America.”
Baba nodded and said, “You will know what you have to do upon your return home.”
Tom had been smoking hashish for three years, and Baba asked him about it and said, “”It is best if you don’t smoke [hashish] again. Smoking is very bad for you.” (Later, on the opening morning of the gathering, Baba repeated to Tom, “If you continue to smoke it will be your end. There will be nothing I can do for you then.”)
Baba began expounding on the nature of his love, stating at the end, “You have to love so much that all this world you see around you becomes completely unreal.”
Tom relates what happened next: “The beauty of [Baba’s] love was so singularly present in my heart in those moments that I as a separate personality ceased to exist and at that instant, I heard myself cry out wildly, “O God!” I threw myself before him, pressing my head upon his feet.”
It almost happened a second time, during a morning meeting when the other Westerners had come. Baba stated: “Nothing at all can compare with this love which I offer. It is only for those who are willing to risk everything. There can be no compromise in this.”
Tom recalled: “What [Baba] was saying was so clearly related to what he revealed to me at mandali hall ten days before. The beat of my heart quickened. I felt him within me, his love crowding out everything superficial and extraneous. I felt so strongly at that second the need to cry out and express the intensity of this love presence. In that instant, in the midst of 300 people listening to him and gazing at him, and yet, unknown to anyone of these people, he caught my eyes with a stern look and said so vividly in my mind, ‘Don’t make a display of love!’ “
-www.lordmeher.org, p4826
Nov, 1962;Â East-West Gathering, Guruprasad