Gandhi later telephoned Chanji, saying, "I am eager to see Baba. Even if it is for only five minutes, I would be happy. Even if you have to carry him here on your shoulders — just bring him!"
On Friday, 2 October 1931, Baba decided it was time to meet Gandhi again. At 8:15 P.M., accompanied by Chanji and Rustom, Baba went to Kingsley Hall Community Center, at Bromley-By-Bow, in the working class East End of London.1 When they arrived, they found Gandhi surrounded by many people. Seeing Baba enter, Gandhi stood up and received him with great reverence, and then introduced him to all present. Gandhi wished to talk privately with Baba, but their meeting was carried out in the hall in the presence of everyone. Their conversation proceeded as follows:
Baba remarked, "I have been to a retreat in Devonshire for twelve days. Tomorrow, I am proceeding to Turkey."
Surprised by this, Gandhi asked, "Why?"
"For spiritual reasons," Baba replied. "The atmosphere in Turkey is very bad and the people are leaning more and more toward materialism. It is necessary for me to go there to change this."
Baba then commented about his visit to the West, "I find the people here in England very pleasant. All who came to me were fine. Berating the English, some in India say they do not care for spirituality, but those who came to me were quite sincere and honest persons. Some shed tears only by seeing me and others after my touch. One high-society lady first snatched her hand away when I offered mine, yet after my discourse, she herself came forward, caught me by the hand and burst into tears.
"A woman artist came and said, 'How beautiful you are! I am a lover of beauty, but I have no faith in God. My life's ideal is this reality. There is no life after death.'
"I then explained to her about the existence of God and asked her, 'Do you love beauty?' She replied yes, and I asked, 'Then why don't you love God who is the Beauty of beauties?' But since she did not believe in God, how could she love Him?
"I then inquired if she could love me. She instantly replied, 'Who could not love you after seeing you?' "
Baba asked Gandhi, "Why is this the case?" Then Baba explained: "People weep at the sight of me and find themselves loving me even when they say they don't love God.
Footnotes
- 1.Located at 4, Powis Road, Kingsley Hall was a center dedicated to the upliftment of London's lower classes. Charlie Chaplin had also met Gandhi in London on 22 September 1931. None of the Westerners accompanied Baba, perhaps, as Kitty Davy later related, "Being 1931, the tension between India and England was such that the subject of [Baba's different meetings] with Gandhi was almost taboo amongst we early followers of Baba and friends, and I think Baba wished it so."