Baba retired to a room to rest, and after dinner had private interviews with about eighteen of his lovers. Nearly 200 people came to take his darshan, including the Education Attaché from the Indian Embassy. The Washington followers of Trilochan Singh Khanna, Kirpal Singh's representative in America, saw Baba separately, and received a message from him.
One person from the Indian Embassy who did not show up was an old contact of Baba's named Mohan Shahane. As a boy, Mohan had lived at Meherabad in the 1920s and had composed a Marathi arti for him.
When Mohan Shahane left to further his education, Baba had turned to Padri and said, "He will not see me again for 700 years!"
Although Shahane had been informed of Baba's arrival in the city, he did not come to see him.
A renowned Washington photographer named Harold Chase Davis had been called by Ivy, and he took several portraits of Baba, a few of Baba in front of the fireplace, and one of Baba with the mandali.1
Baba was also interviewed by reporters from the News , the Evening Star and the Washington Post . The reporter from the Star , Charles Puffenbarger, asked what was the reason for his visit.
Baba smiled and gestured: "I have been repeatedly telling that God is the only reality. God is in everyone. Everyone should love God. Your love for God should be so much that you see Him in each and all."
About his silence, Baba said: "God has been everlastingly working in silence, unobserved, unheard, except by those who experience His Infinite Silence. If my silence cannot speak, of what avail would be speeches made by the tongue?"
To George Clifford, the reporter from the News , Baba stated: "Selfishness is the primary cause of wars. It must be replaced by selflessness to have world peace."
At about 9:30 P.M., Baba and the mandali returned to the Washington airport, where he met the remainder of his group traveling with him. He looked tired after the strenuous day.2 They boarded American Flight 655 and left at 10:20 P.M. for California, about 60 people in all. Baba sat in the tail section. The DC-6 plane touched down at Dallas, Texas, and several persons got off the plane for a half-hour break, including Baba. He paced the airstrip several times before reboarding. Although everyone else dozed, Baba had forbidden Eruch, Nilu, Meherjee and Adi to sleep during the entire flight.
Footnotes
- 1.Based in Washington, D.C. throughout his 40-year career, Harold Chase Davis photographed several Presidents of the United States, as well as other world leaders.
- 2.That same day in Washington D.C., President Eisenhower signed a bill making "In God We Trust" the official motto of the United States.