(1) Baba is not a Perfect Master nor a desirable teacher.
(2) Baba makes promises like an irresponsible child, and it is quite impossible to trust his word. (For example, he did not speak in America last July.)
(3) He has made all kinds of promises to me and others without attempting to keep them.
(4) According to Western standards, his conduct with women has been extremely undesirable ... He deliberately encourages hysteria in women.
(5) He traveled in China with a European boy [Carl Philipp], which gave rise to scandal. He has become the laughingstock of the newspapers. His Western followers are mainly hysterical women; he has practically no appeal to serious men; and frankly, he is regarded in America as an undesirable adventurer.
(6) I have rarely seen a person more restless than Baba.
(7) I have repeatedly seen him flattering the most impossible people, just because he wanted to get money or other help from them. He told me so and would laugh at them behind their backs. The first time he went to America, his only thought was to get money. He told me that he knew he was acting against the "Great Law."
To my mind, these are serious personal charges ... Baba claims that he intends to do all sorts of wonderful things. In spite of all these journeys, he has done practically nothing and has spent some £7,000 [nearer 10,000].
He owes me £400. He has frequently promised to repay it by definite dates, but he has not done so. It was all I had! If you see him, please ask him to repay it.1
Even though his claims were ridiculous, Meredith even complained to Scotland Yard. But when an investigating inspector came to talk to Margaret Craske, he candidly admitted that Scotland Yard had found nothing against Meher Baba.
Meredith Starr understood so little of Baba's ways. But for Baba's own reasons, Meredith was the first link between the East and West. Whatever his faults, he will always be remembered as such.2
Minta was delegated to bring Baba's food from the kitchen to his room, and whenever the group was sitting with Baba, Minta's place was next to him as she would keep his alphabet board handy. Once, while the Westerners were sitting with Baba upstairs, Minta left the room momentarily and another girl took her place by Baba. When Minta returned, she gestured for the person to move, but the girl refused. Minta stormed out and went downstairs to the kitchen.
Pendu was doing nightwatch duty for Baba as well as helping Kaka prepare Baba's food. He and Kaka were in the midst of cooking when Minta suddenly appeared and sat down. Minta had been told only to collect the food and not spend time visiting. Although Pendu tried to dissuade her from lingering, she would not listen and stayed.
Footnotes
- 1.Dick Ince sided with Meredith Starr in turning against Baba and demanding repayment of money from him, even though the amounts had been given as gifts to Baba for his work.
- 2.A year later, on 1 March 1934, Baba sent a cable to Herbert instructing him to send Meredith Starr a legal notice for defamation and to threaten further legal action by Rustom if Meredith continued to trouble Baba and his followers... (Chanji's diary, #51, 7130.) In July 1950, Meredith wrote Kim that he now loved Baba. He and his wife had become associated with the Subud movement in Cyprus. Meredith died in England in 1971. His occupation at the time of his death is noted as "psychologist and retired homeopath." When the editor contacted his wife Margaret in 1981, she wrote back: "We found the truth we sought elsewhere and have had no regrets."