Then he looked at me and asked, "And do you like me?"
This was an absolute arrow in the heart. I suddenly found myself wanting to say, "I love you. Baba, I love you!" But I was, of course, too paralyzed by inhibition, conventionality and egotism to be able to say this. With great difficulty, at last, I managed, "Yes, Baba, I like you."
Baba smiled, and stated, "And I like you too," and then he touched me.
From that day on, Tom and Dorothy Hopkinson were dedicated to Baba and remained at his feet for all time.
Dorothy had told many people in London about Baba. Among them was a young couple named Kenneth and Alice Lawton. They came to the Charing Cross Hotel with their three children, Cedric Peter, six, Edwin, three, and their baby, David. Alice had been reluctant to go, as she found it difficult to accept Baba as the Avatar. The whole family went in together. Ken knelt down in front of Baba. "I was not conscious of the fact that he was not speaking," he recalled. "My only feeling at the time was as if my heart was melting."
Alice was holding the baby, and Baba put his hands on his head and told them, "Open your heart, open your heart!"
All Alice's resentment faded away, and she became his for always.
May Lundquist, 39, a Swedish woman living in Australia, came to see Baba one day. Being of an independent nature, she wanted to do Baba-work according to her own concepts, but, at the same time, she was willing to obey Baba. Baba asked her to go back to Australia and work under Francis Brabazon, which she agreed to do.
Douglas H. Eve, who was in the insurance business, was a seeker and had found out about Baba during the 1930s from Charles Purdom and Will Backett. After his private interview with Baba, he brought his wife, Mollie, 41, and daughter, Ann, 16. Mollie was, at this time, not wholly committed to Baba.
He asked her, "Do you know about me?"
"Yes, a little," she said.
"Well, do you know about God?"
"Oh yes."
"Then you know about me, don't you?"
Fifty-two-year-old Fred Marks had first heard of Baba through the newspaper, and in 1938 he met Will Backett. He had been miraculously saved from death on three separate occasions during his life — a fortune he now attributed to Baba.