To me, he was as the Christ must have been to the Magdalene — love and compassion and absolute purity.
Baba visited Charles Purdom's office on Wednesday, 13 April 1932 and instructed him to write his biography, later titled The Perfect Master .
Later Baba, the mandali and Kimco drove to Kim's parent's country estate, Penbury Grove , in the village of Penn, near High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire. Baba was in a happy mood. All joined in a game of soccer (Baba's side always won) and then foot-races. They had a lovely tea in the ballroom, where the gardener had built a fire in the fireplace. Afterwards, Baba suggested a game of Hide-and-Seek in the big house. He hid and they had to find him, which proved to be great fun.
Baba liked the place very much, and remarked, "I intend to make this one of my centers in England. With me here, it will be heaven on earth!"1
A couple in their fifties, Will and Mary Backett, had first heard of Meher Baba in 1931 from Meredith, but had not met Baba on his first visit to England. Both had been initiated into Sufism by Inayat Khan during the 1920s and followed him until his death in 1927.2 The Backetts were now eager to meet Baba and had their first opportunity of doing so during this visit to London. Meredith introduced them to Baba at the Davys' home. Will had brought some grapes for Baba and, when Meredith told Baba that Will suffered from poor health, Baba plucked one of the grapes and handed it back for him to eat, assuring him that his health would improve.
Will once recalled that first meeting:
Looking back, I see Baba again, seated so quietly on a settee that at first it might appear to the casual observer that he lacked energy. Yet there was something compelling in his posture, for the picture which stands out like a cameo in my mind is of him being pure, untrammeled by the world, completely poised, like a bird arrested momentarily in flight in a world that reflects not the like anywhere.
Mary, too, was irresistibly drawn to the Master and once recollected:
As we entered the room, Baba sprang up with the agility, power and grace that characterize all his movements and quickly came forward. He then beckoned for me to sit beside him and took my hand with such a gentle touch.
Footnotes
- 1.Built in the early 1900s by Kim's American father, a wealthy engineer, the house featured fifteen bedrooms and five bathrooms, on 53 acres of land. It later became a boarding school, first for girls and then for handicapped children.
- 2.Inayat Khan (1882–1927) was a fifth-plane Sufi Master who in 1910 traveled from India to England and the United States to initiate Sufism in those countries. Besides being a genuine Sufi teacher, he was also a musician and singer. The school of thought that Inayat Khan eventually founded in America was later placed under Meher Baba's guidance and renamed Sufism Reoriented.