I am with you and I will do everything for you. Learn to be an automotive mechanic in England."
But there was a special reason Baba directed him to go to England. Homa had some damage to his knee joint and an operation was needed, though he never mentioned this or his pain to Baba, and Baba did not ask him. Yet what remains hidden from the All-knowing One? This was why Baba assured him not to worry, and later Homa's operation came about in a natural way.
On 15 April 1952, Baba gave darshan to about 200 of his old Bombay lovers at Ashiana, including D. M. Shinde and Keshav V. Nene, with their families. Shinde had come into Baba's contact through Gadekar, and Nene through his brother-in-law Rustom Kaka Hathidaru of Ahmednagar.1
During this period, Dolly Engineer, 20, came for Baba's darshan, but her fiancé, Jal Phiroz Dastoor, 22, did not, since he did not believe in Baba. Dolly had been in Baba's contact from her childhood, because her mother, Soona Engineer (Arnavaz's mother's sister) would often go to see Baba. That day, on returning home, Dolly found Jal in tears. She asked the reason, and he replied, "Do not ask me anything. By not going for Baba's darshan, I have committed the greatest mistake of my life. I am a fool! I now acknowledge him as the Avatar."
Reared in Bombay, Jal Dastoor was from the orthodox Zoroastrian priest class. After Dolly had left to attend the darshan, although he had no faith in Baba, Jal began seeing Baba wherever he looked! This vision began right after Dolly departed. To avoid the sight Jal left the house, but outside, too, he saw Baba! Feeling helpless, he returned home, and while thinking of how to escape the image, tears began falling from his eyes. His tears wiped out all doubts and made him hold fast to Meher Baba's feet from that day on.
One person who arrived late was allowed two minutes of darshan and prasad. His name was Hoshang Pheroze Bharucha, 25, a final-year medical student. Hoshang had first heard the name Meher Baba in 1949 while visiting Upasni Maharaj's ashram in Sakori. There he overheard two men discussing how Meher Baba was going to close his ashrams and leave with a few men and wander throughout India. This darshan in 1952 was Hoshang's first opportunity to meet Baba.
Footnotes
- 1.Nene's wife is the sister of Rustom Kaka's wife Kaku.