Upasni Maharaj paid a brief visit to Khushru Quarters on 23 July, where he met Gulmai and her daughter Piroja.
Even though Baba was in seclusion during August 1935, he still attended to his correspondence, listening to letters and dictating replies. On the 9th, he wrote to Walter Mertens:
“”I know how affairs are, rather difficult to manage, yet how patiently you carry on. That is the best way, never to worry but meet the situations and try [your] best to pull on as guided intuitively. Difficulties there are all over the world, in all phases and problems of life, some of which have actually crushed not thousands but millions, but this is all a reaction of people's own doing, and must be faced.
This is a period of transition, and mighty powers are working things up to bring about a millennium in the near future. But those under the guidance of Masters have special protection and guidance, and hence are at ease from the worries that kill and crush others. And although, as you say, "weakness often befalls you," my contact and spiritual guidance and help make you stronger for all the experiences you have, in overcoming these weaknesses. Your beloved Baba looks on you and yours, and will not let you falter.
On 14 August he answered several letters. Darwin Shaw had written that he was hoping to establish a retreat for Meher Baba in America. Baba wrote back:
“”Whether that retreat on Earth is established or not, I do really appreciate the spirit of love and brotherhood that has been awakened, and consider it as a spiritual retreat already established within, which is much more substantial and real than any earthly home or structure. The true spirit is there, already awakened, and if it is fostered and kept up with warm feelings of love and brotherhood, it will eventually bear results that will be helpful in the development of spiritual understanding of life and things pertaining to life. And wherever such spirit of love and brotherhood exists, inner light and guidance always follow invariably.
The same day, Baba also dictated this reply to a friend of Nadine Tolstoy's, Grand Duchess Marie, a Russian aristocrat:1 “”Many bitter experiences of the past often open new vistas that help one to understand things better, as they really are not as they appear. Your hard trials in life have been instrumental in making you what you are now — a changed being with a different outlook on life — ushering you into the spiritual reality where you alone will find peace, bliss and love everlasting.
And on the 14th, Baba wrote to a woman named Tamara who had been deceived by a charlatan who claimed to be a guru:
“”There comes a time in the life of everyone when one finds oneself at the crossroads of life and one's future life depends on what turn one takes at that critical moment. If the person comes in contact with and is guided at this opportune moment by One who is Perfect, that person is said to be on the right path and his or her life is thereafter safe so long as it is guided by such a Perfect One.
The great difficulty is in finding such a One, and when One is found, it means everything. Salvation is secured and life's mystery solved!
Your longing in this direction has led you to where you are now and will henceforth lead you where you will find peace, bliss and love everlasting, which is the desire of all true aspirants and the goal of humanity.
Do not brood over the past terrible experiences you had, for it is these very experiences that have brought you to me.
