"Baba, there are so many things I wish to do for you," Ivy declared, "but these broken feet won't let me!"1
Baba said, "Can't you take this much? Look what they did to me when I was Jesus — put all those thorns on my head, which drew blood, made me carry the cross. They beat me, nailed me on the cross and pierced my side. I had to withstand so much! Can't you withstand this much pain?"
Ivy later recalled: "If you could have seen how realistically Baba said all this, one would never ever doubt that he did suffer on the cross, and you would never feel like complaining again about anything."
To a few, Baba revealed:
After my seclusion ends in February 1957, I am planning to give mass darshan again, followed by a big meeting, provided I do not drop my body during the remaining months of seclusion. For the meeting, I will invite both Western men and women this time. After this meeting, everything will happen — my humiliation, glorification, the breaking of my silence and the dropping of my body. But don't worry.
Again, I tell you on my divine authority: I am the Ancient One, I am the Lord of the universe.
Baba looked intense. He stood up from his chair, stretched and paced the room like a caged lion, giving an impression of tremendous, yet perfectly controlled power. In one corner, Baba had allowed a young artist to sit and draw a pencil sketch of him as he talked.
"Are you through?" Baba asked.
The young man nodded and laid his work on the table.
Jeanne Shaw was given more of Baba's clothes to wash and iron, and found the work a privilege. Darwin recalled carrying the bundled sadra and pink coat back to their hotel and how "waves of love" flowed out of the package.
At 9:30 A.M. the interviews began downstairs; each person first checked in at Ella Winterfeldt's table by the door. As their names were called, the persons holding appointment slips stood in a line behind the screen at the entrance to the interview room where Baba was. Those peeping through the hinges of the screen had to be asked to leave, as the line doubled and tripled with eager newcomers, many of whom had flown from distant parts of the country just to see Baba for these few minutes.
Footnotes
- 1.Ivy had broken both her feet in 1949–50 and had much pain and trouble walking for the rest of her life.