Norina had many acquaintances in London and she brought them to meet her Beloved. Among them were Countess Catherine ("Kitty") Pahlen of Russia, Baroness Rothschild, Lady Stella Vitelleschi, and Vivienne Giesen.1 "Baba was teaching his gopis to sing his Song," Age observed, "so that others might be drawn to the Master Musician. The Song is contained only in the Wine, which reverberates its strains. And who, except the Saki, can bestow this wine of love?"
Baba explained to his lovers that he wished them to come to India the following year. And for the first time, he spoke to Kimco about Mehera and of her intense, pure love for him.
He gestured, "Mehera is my Radha and her life consists of my happiness. When you see her, you will have an idea of her love for me. Her love always keeps me happy!"
During this visit, Baba would go about London incognito.
When relaxing in the hotel, he would let his long hair down and assign the duty of combing it to Delia and Margaret, spelling out on his board, "How lucky you are that here I give you the work that Mehera does in India."
On more than one occasion, there was a discussion about the idea of making a film of Baba's life. This project particularly interested Norina, who had pursued it with different filmmakers since Baba had mentioned it at the Harmon Retreat in 1931.
While Baba was in London, Kitty was always busy attending to different matters, serving others in a selfless manner. Delia was at the hotel full-time, acting as a secretary, making appointments for interviews and answering the telephone. Baba and a group usually went to movies in the evenings, and he was particularly fond of the comedies of Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and Fatty Arbuckle.
During this time, an intellectual Indian Brahmin named Chakradhar Dharmanidhar Deshmukh, 24, was studying for his doctorate in philosophy in London. Deshmukh came to know of Meher Baba's presence in the city through the accounts in The Daily Herald . Baba had actually inwardly contacted him four months earlier, as Deshmukh dreamed he saw Baba standing before him.
In the dream, Baba spoke to him: "You are closely connected with me. You are a good man." Seeing him hesitating to accept this, Baba asked, "Are you not?"
Deshmukh had replied, "Good or bad, please take me up into you."
Footnotes
- 1.Stella Vitelleschi was an Italian actress who later appeared in Ben Hur; Vivienne Giesen was an interpretive dancer known as Orrea, who had studied with Norina.