Robert Dreyfuss [aged 22] had been planning a trip to India for some years and now knew why — to see Meher Baba! He learned of the sahavas to be held in December 1965, but having neither the money nor the inclination to join Harry Kenmore’s group charter flight, Dreyfuss flew to London on a one-way ticket on 1 September. He spent the next two and a half months hitchhiking across Europe, Turkey and Iran toward India. He was forced to take a boat and ride deck class from Kuwait for eight days, because the border between Pakistan and India was closed due to the war.
Dreyfuss arrived in Bombay on 14 November 1965. After spending one night in Bombay, sleeping on the floor in a Sikh temple, Dreyfuss hitchhiked to Poona. He was given a ride on a truck carrying furniture, on top of which was a big overstuffed armchair, on which he sat all the way to Poona. At the Meher Baba Poona Center, Ramakrishnan asked who he was and why he had come. When he learned Robert had come for the sahavas, Ramakrishnan was silent and then said, “Surely you must be joking! Don’t you know that Meher Baba has canceled the sahavas?”
Dreyfuss replied, “No, I don’t know.”
“Baba canceled it on 4 September.”
Robert had left America on 1 September and had not received any mail, as no one knew where he would be. His initial reaction was one of shock. “You mean I have traveled 12,000 miles and there is no sahavas?” he asked, incredulous. “Well, can I see Baba?”
“He is in strict seclusion and is not seeing anyone.”
Robert recalled: “The world, for a moment, stopped turning.”
Robert was told that Baba was at Meherazad, 75 miles away. He said that he must try to see him. Ramakrishnan replied, “Oh yes, you try, but I don’t think you will be able to.”
…Â Francis remarked, “Robert’s sojourn is reminiscent of the story [by Aesop] of the tortoise and the hare: while the hundreds who planned to come for the sahavas by jet were halted before they started, this lucky ‘tortoise’ unaware that the race had been called off, plodded home to his goal.” Francis later commented to Robert, “You are the 1965 sahavas!”
… “Do you have any questions?” Baba asked. “Is there anything you want to know?” Dreyfuss replied no.
Baba smiled and asked, “Is there anything you want?”
“Yes, Baba. I want to love you as you should be loved. I want to see and love you in everyone and everything, always, for the benefit of others.”
In reply, Baba said:
If you want this prem [love] that you desire, for the service of others, you must obey me, and do exactly what I tell you to do. Will you be able to do this? It takes great daring to obey me. Be brave, do not be afraid. I am with you. I am God in human form. Bear with humiliation; whether humiliation or reward [praise], dedicate all to my feet. Whatever thoughts, good or bad, come into your head, offer them at my feet. Do not worry about them.
I want you to remember that the world and its affairs are a big zero — a nothing into nothing. God alone is real, and undoubtedly God exists. I am God. I am God in human form and God the Beyond. I experience my being infinite continuously, without a break. I suffer infinitely; I have the burden of the whole universe on my head. I am the Highest, and yet I come down to the lowest, and I see to minute details.
Spread out your legs; do not feel uncomfortable. Be free. I am everywhere, in all directions. I am your breath that you breathe. Make your home in me.
It is better to deny God than to defy God. What I mean by this is that the one who does not believe in God and performs his duties honestly is far better than those hypocrite saints who pose as teachers, who profess outside what they are not within.
Baba advised Robert, “Go back [to America], because what you are looking for you will not find wandering around India or sitting in a monastery in the Himalayas. [The exact two ideas Robert was harboring, but which he had not voiced!] But you will find it in society with people, by trying to be of service to them and loving them.”
-www.lordmeher.org, p5184
Nov, 1965; Meherazad