The Harmon Retreat was owned by a wealthy Broadway playwright, Margaret Mayo, 49.1 When Margaret learned why Malcolm and Jean wished to rent it, she donated it for Baba's use. The large, secluded four-bedroom stone house with red window frames was situated at 180 Old Albany Post Road (South), in a wooded area along the east side of the Croton River. Baba's room (the master bedroom on the second floor) stretched the length of the house on the river side, with a deck from which he could look out through the treetops.
Jean was waiting at Harmon to welcome Baba, and Meredith introduced them. "I am so happy you have come," she said.
"I am happy to be here," Baba warmly stated as he embraced her.
Jean led Baba through the house to his room. Looking at her bandaged finger, he asked what happened. She replied that it was a slight cut.
Baba gestured to her, "It will be all right tomorrow."
By the next morning, the cut had healed completely.
On one occasion, Jean recounted:
My most outstanding impression of the first meeting [with Baba] is one of peering into bottomless pools of love and tenderness as my eyes met his. My heart pounded tremendously with excitement and for a while I could not speak. I felt that in an inexplicable way he was the reason for my very existence; that I had never really lived until this moment; that he was deeply familiar and precious to me, even as I was no stranger and very dear to him.
At dinner that first evening, the few people present were wonderstruck being in the Master's presence. Baba sat at the head of the table in the soft glow of candlelight. Malcolm described him as, "Looking for all the world like a Rembrandt painting of Jesus come to life."
The next morning at eleven o'clock, Baba asked Jean in detail about the Harmon house, and she placed before him all the difficulties they had passed through planning his stay. But she was determined that the work be carried on, despite setbacks.
"Don't worry," Baba reassured her. "Everything will be all right. I am pleased with you and I will help you spiritually."
Jean was clever and would think things through before doing anything.
But Baba further explained to her, "It is good to use discretion in all things. But before coming to any decisions, give more importance to the heart than the head. The judgment of the heart should be given preference. Your heart is good and you are always eager to help others. You will be able to do everything much better after receiving 'light' from me."
Footnotes
- 1.Malcolm and Jean had stayed in the Croton area previously at which time they rented one of Margaret Mayo's other properties.