A few persons knew about him, though Baba saw almost no one. He met only Professor Ernest E. Wood, 48, a noted British Sanskrit scholar working at the Theosophical Society in Madras, to whom Baba explained at length what he meant by spirituality.1
"Perfection includes both good and bad," Baba said, "but is not touched by either. Perfection embraces both material and spiritual aspects, yet is beyond both."
Baba quickly came into public prominence by the newspapers referring to him as the Indian Messiah . The Fox-Hearst and Paramount Film companies wired Baba (through Malcolm Schloss on 31 March) for permission to film him on his arrival in Venice. Baba however, without explanation, did not send them a reply. When he disembarked at Venice on Monday, 4 April, he quietly left for the Hotel International , where Enid Corfe had arranged the group's accommodations.
During the voyage, the mandali had continued their efforts to inform Eileen about Baba. But by the time she began showing a bit more interest, Baba said it was of no use. She was a pure, innocent young woman, but a bit "dull" and not fit for his work. He decided to send Eileen back to Bombay from Venice. When Baba announced that she should go back, Adi Jr. spoke up for her, saying that he felt responsible. "What are you doing?" Adi asked Baba. "You promised her all sorts of things: 'I will take you around the world,' you said. From the first, her father was suspicious of the whole thing and her mother only agreed because she thought I was trustworthy. This is not proper; let her see something of Europe at least."
Adi spoke so strongly that Baba agreed in the end.
"Where in Europe?" Baba asked.
"At least Paris," Adi replied. "Let her see Paris before you send her back."
So Chanji, who was managing the tickets on the tour, took Adi Jr. and Eileen to the Venice station and assured them that their train went directly to Paris without changing. Afterward, Adi Jr. narrated the following:
The first near disaster I experienced was at the Milan railway station. It was a very large station. We were both cold and miserable. Eileen asked me to bring her a cup of coffee from the platform restaurant. I got down, but while I was getting the coffee, the train began to move and quickly left the station!
Footnotes
- 1.Ernest Wood was a longtime associate of Anne Besant, Leadbeater and Krishnamurti, and wrote many books about Theosophy and later yoga. (In 1948, Paul Brunton wrote the introduction for one of Wood's books on yoga.)