True spiritual mastery is achieved through complete self-emptying and devotion.
"Becoming the sandals worn on the Master's feet"
Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai
Irene Ruth Billo
Swiss; cleaned Baba's room; spread Baba's message in Europe
βPadmini or Padma ("lotus"), given by Meher Babaβ
Irene Ruth Billo was born on 22 September 1916, the daughter of Otto Billo, an international businessman who was among the first Swiss to meet Meher Baba. In 1936 she came upon Baba's photograph in her father's secret cupboard and was struck as if Baba himself were present; from then on she attended the meetings of Baba's Swiss followers at the home of Hedi Mertens.
In August 1937, when Baba was staying at Cannes and help was needed in the household, Hedi sent the twenty-year-old Irene. At the Villa Caldana she cleaned Baba's room and did the grocery shopping, and she felt she had come home. She asked whether she too might go to India one day, and Baba said yes. On 28 June 1938 she arrived in Bombay with Nadine Tolstoy, Hedi Mertens and the painter Helen Dahm, the youngest of the Western women, and joined the women's ashram on Meherabad Hill. Soon after arriving she fell ill with jaundice and, by Baba's order, Rano Gayley nursed her back to health. Baba gave her the name Padmini, "lotus"; in India she was called Padma.
Irene had been raised to be practical. She sewed clothes for the patients of the hospital on the Hill, taught the Dastoor sisters to make their own clothes, and cared for the animals Baba gathered: horses, donkeys, dogs, geese and even pigs. Her love of animals and her sewing brought her close to Mehera. She travelled with the women on the Blue Bus tours, keeping a year of silence on Baba's order as Mansari did, and stayed with Baba and the women at Meherabad, Mahabaleshwar and elsewhere. When her father died at the end of October 1940, Baba told her he had been very lucky and was free.
Baba had told her, "You come for two years," but she remained eight. In March 1946 he sent her back to Switzerland. Her family's fortunes had declined, and she worked as a telephone exchange operator for Siemens, later training blind operators. When Baba came to Switzerland in 1952 after his car accident in America, Irene met him at the airport and helped Hedi Mertens host him and the women; in 1956 she arranged his stopover in Zurich, where about 35 Europeans met him, and accompanied him to London.
In 1983 Irene returned to India for the first time in 37 years, visited Mehera and the women mandali at Meherazad, and spent hours on Meherabad Hill with Mansari, saying it felt as if Baba had gone to Nasik and would be back next week. She died on 25 July 1986.
βWhen you ride a horse, what would you do if it goes out of control?
β 1940, after a talk on the mind as "a good servant, but a bad master," when Baba noticed Irene was not in a good mood
βYou should be happy. Your father was very lucky. He died like Vivekananda, without suffering. He is free.
β 27 November 1940, on the death of Irene's father, Otto Billo
βMargaret and Irene will have plenty of opportunities to die, if they do as I instruct, but with no hesitation.
β March 1941, on sending Margaret Craske and Irene to spread his message in Europe
βWhile your love is with me here, I am with you there.
β Telegram to Irene in Switzerland during the East-West Gathering, 1962, when ill health kept her from coming
βIf you get nervous or angry, you cannot control the horse. If you have control over your mind, the animal will become quiet. If control is lost, both the rider and the horse are lost. The horse is just like the mind; it is good if controlled, but dangerous if it becomes the master.
β Meherabad Hill, October 1940. Irene, who was in a bad mood, had answered Baba's question about a runaway horse by saying there were rules to follow; Baba then explained what he meant.
βAll relations of those who are with me, whether they know me or not, or even if they do not believe in me, get salvation. Krishna has said, 'Seventy-two generations of such lucky ones get liberation.'
β Ceylon, 27 November 1940. After telling Irene that her father, Otto Billo, had died without suffering and was free, Baba went on to speak of the relatives of those who live with him.
βYou must come back from the West, if alive, before I speak. Spirituality says life and body are zero. So if we spiritualists don't die, then the materialists must never die. Yet they are dying for their country. You all must die too, or you ought to have died long ago. So, you all must really die soon. β¦ So, be ready to go and be prepared to stay!
β 16 March 1941, to Irene, Margaret Craske, Norina, Nadine and Elizabeth, the day after Baba discussed sending them to spread his message in Europe and America.
At Cannes Irene cleaned Baba's room and carefully preserved the hairs she found on his pillows. She also found hair on a pillow by a chair and saved it too, wondering why Baba slept in two places. After some days she discovered that Kaka Baria took that pillow for his head during night watch: she had been collecting Kaka's hair.
Once, feeling stuck, Irene told Baba she was not getting any further. Baba showed her with his fingers that one goes up two steps and then one back, again and again. She understood that this protected her from spiritual pride: one is advancing, but if one felt advanced one might stop striving and fall back.
When Baba came to Switzerland in November 1936, Irene knew of him but felt too scared to meet him: she thought she was not pure enough and that Baba would see all her secrets. She slipped off to a nearby restaurant with friends, then cried all night at the chance she had missed. Baba remarked that someone he was expecting had not come and that he would have to come back to the West. Less than a year later Hedi Mertens sent her to Baba's household at Cannes.
On the Blue Bus tours in March 1939 the Swiss painter Helen Dahm fell ill with colitis in Bhopal and was taken to hospital. Baba told Irene to stay with her. When the party moved on to Sagar on 12 March, Helen was still unwell, so she was left in the Civil Hospital with Irene to look after her. On 23 March, Helen having recovered, the two rejoined Baba at Jabalpur.
In 1952, after the car accident in America, Baba flew to Switzerland. Irene was waiting at the airport and had hired a car and driver for his visit; the party drove to Hedi Mertens' home, Ronco dei Fiori, at Locarno, and stayed in the house next door. Irene and Hedi, both former members of the Meherabad ashram, were overjoyed to be his hostesses. When Baba wished to have a young boy near him for night duty, Irene brought her nephew Konrad Benedict Koethner, aged fourteen and a half; Baba liked him and gave him two hours of duty every night along with Rano and Nilu.
For Baba's stopover in Zurich on his 1956 journey to the West, Irene and Hedi Mertens made the arrangements, and Irene reserved a conference room at Kloten Airport. About 35 Europeans met him there; Baba embraced Hedi, Irene and Max Haefliger first and then the others one by one. Irene, Hedi and Max then flew on with Baba and the mandali to London. On the plane Baba moved the seats about, and Irene ended up sitting just behind him.