Ajmer is 560 miles from Dehra Dun, and the group halted first at Ghaziabad for two hours to have their lunch. They spent the first night at Khurja and the next at a dak bungalow at Bharatpur. Baba contacted a mast at Khurja, and three in Bharatpur, before arriving in Ajmer in the early afternoon of the 17th. The rented bungalow that Baba and the women occupied was called Purfiza Mahal (Palace Full of Grace). It was nicely furnished and situated on a hill above Ana Sagar Lake with a commanding view. Quarters for the men were much less comfortable.
A British woman named Irene Conybeare Harvey, 51, had been interested in mysticism and religion since childhood. In the spring of 1940 she met Will Backett in London, and through him learned of the Master. "Could Meher Baba really be the Messiah — Lord of the Second Advent?" this highly educated daughter of a famous Oxford professor mused to herself: "It seems incredible!"
Yet over the next few months Irene became convinced of Meher Baba's Godhood and of his personal guidance in her life. She had the overwhelming desire to meet him in person and, difficult as it was to travel in wartime, she managed to book passage to India in the spring of 1941.1
Landing in India, Irene learned from Adi Sr. that Baba was staying in Dehra Dun, and she traveled there by train, arriving on 29 April. Baba had been informed and sent Norina and Elizabeth to meet her. They took her to a hotel where they told her, "Baba is in seclusion and will not see you for the present, but he wishes to know if you would be willing to go to America? All your expenses will be paid."
"But Baba has not even seen me," Conybeare protested. "He doesn't know me!" she said, somewhat bewildered at the strange turn of events.
"Baba does not have to see you to know you," Norina reminded her. Irene then stayed in Dehra Dun for some time, finally agreeing to go as Baba wished, and got her travel papers in order.
Keki Nalavala would visit Irene and talk to her of Baba (although Keki himself had not yet met Baba either), and Irene became more and more anxious for his darshan. Finally, Baba called her to Ajmer. She once recounted her first meeting:
On being shown into a small room, bare of all furniture except for two chairs, I saw Baba, who was seated on one ... I had the curious sense of having arrived at the end of my destination, my quest for Truth, and felt that I was in the presence of a great spiritual being.
Footnotes
- 1.Conybeare may have written to Baba, but not sought his permission to come to India. Will Backett may have informed Baba that Conybeare was on her way, because Baba cabled her not to come. She did not receive his telegram, however, as she had already sailed for India.