I know all the details about the connection between the two men. It was always Shri Meher Baba who went to see Gandhi, never otherwise. They first met on the Rajputana , and Baba sent round word, asking whether Gandhi would receive him. Gandhi, of course, consented. They had a talk, and after that, Shri Meher Baba visited Gandhi again in London. But, you may state quite emphatically that Gandhi never asked Meher Baba for help or for spiritual or other advice. He liked Meher Baba, and he talked to him, as he talks to everyone who wants to see him — that was all.
In Landau's book, God Is My Adventure , he wrote about this subject. He also told James Douglas, the London editor who had interviewed Baba years before, what he had learned.
Inquiries were made by several newspaper editors about Landau's statements. Chanji came to Meherabad four times in August to discuss the situation with Baba, and an appointment was made for Chanji to meet Gandhi at his ashram in Segaon on 4 September to clarify the matter. Gandhi was preoccupied with other matters, but Chanji broached the topic with Mirabehn, and afterwards wrote Gandhi about it. He came to Panchgani and reported everything to Baba on the 8th.
Chanji met Gandhi again on the 18th and 19th of September, and then came to Panchgani. After going through the distorted reports, Gandhi wrote to Chanji:
Segaon, Wardha Dear Dadachanji,
With reference to the alleged interview with Mirabehn, and reported by Rom Landau, you may announce to the curious that it was not Meher Baba who sought me out on the SS Rajputana , but I who sought him out in his cabin, and it was I who used to go frequently to his cabin.1 And this I did for the love of Jamshed Mehta, who had cabled to me that Babaji was a fellow passenger with me, and that I should seek him out and try to understand him. And, as you were Baba's interpreter of the alphabetical plate through which he held converse with the world, you know the spiritual nature of our conversation.
I had further invited Baba to meet me in London during the time I was there.
There was no question of Masterhood and discipleship. I have never felt like being [a] disciple to anybody in a spiritual way, though I am still, and have always been, in search of a guru, as I hold every seeker of God should be.
Yours sincerely, Mohandas Gandhi
Footnotes
- 1.Mahatma Gandhi respectfully refer to Meher Baba as Babaji.