The Swiss group (Max, Hedi and Irene) were not always on the best of terms. Max was an intellectual type of person and Irene just the opposite. But somehow since reaching London and being with Baba, peace and good feelings had been restored.
There were differences among the English group also. Baba met with them for an hour in the afternoon just before his first public reception. To do his work in England, they had established the Universal Spiritual League with Baba as their president. At the meeting each person aired his or her grievances, and Baba said he would meet with them again the following day to give his decision.
On the afternoon of 18 July 1956, more than 120 people came for darshan in the large hall of the hotel. Will, Mary and Charles sat next to Baba, and Dorothy, Tom and Delia ushered in each one individually to meet Baba for one minute. To introduce newcomers, Fred Marks stood by the door with a royal blue sash across his chest like a steward. Baba distributed prasad of sweets and his photographs. Among those who came were Darius Hodivala, Phyllis (who had met Baba years before at East Challacombe), Ann Powell, Dina Patel (Minoo Kharas' sister) and her son Hoshang, Margaret Craske's sister, Will Backett's sister, Joyce Bird and her family, Charles Purdom's wife Antonia, Milicent Deakes and Norman Franklin.1
Will described the reception as follows:
The reception ... revealed Baba's same individual understanding of every guest. To one, a deeply significant glance; to another, a loving touch on the cheek, or perhaps the arm would be gently stroked. Some, whom Baba had greeted at their first meeting with a handshake, received a warm embrace. Some who expected advice received none, and yet others, who had been hoping for at least ten minutes in which to explain their longstanding difficulties, heard his familiar "I know all and I will help you." Most striking, too, were the groups of friends or the family in which the children and parents all came together to Baba for the first time, and his look, passing from son to father, conveyed his love in which both father and son and indeed all humanity find themselves afresh.
A young woman with her boyfriend happened to be strolling past the hotel. When they saw the queue waiting to take Baba's darshan inside, they joined it.
Footnotes
- 1.Darius was the son of Nariman and Soona Hodivala, Parsi followers who had met Baba in Bangalore in 1939 and now lived in Aden. Darius was studying in England and later became a dentist.