Chapter 36: Interested In Remaining Disinterested
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Francis received her letter and, while with Baba one day, he purposely let it fall out of his pocket.
"Who is it from?" Baba asked.
After being told, Baba inquired, "What does she say?"
Her story was related and Baba agreed to see her for five minutes at 4:00 P.M. on the 14th.
Diana Snow arrived in Bombay and drove to Poona with Nariman, Arnavaz and Katie, arriving just before the given time. Francis was waiting for her at the Napier Hotel and took her to Guruprasad. Baba explained to her about his seclusion and stated it would continue, despite his giving darshan for an hour each evening until the end of May.
"You have no idea how much I suffered during the last few months and how I am still suffering," he remarked.
After Diana sat for some time in the main room where Baba met the Easterners who had gathered, he sent her inside to greet Mehera, Mani and the other women. She spent that night in Poona, and the next morning she was taken to the various Baba places in Poona by Francis, who then put her on a train to Bombay from where she flew to Colombo, to rejoin her ship to Australia.
The open darshan began on Monday, 15 May 1961, at 4:30 P.M. and lovers from all over India streamed in to take advantage of it. Lovers from Hamirpur and Uttar Pradesh led by Pukar were there. Also present were Deshmukh, Bal Natu and hundreds of other devotees. Some children danced for Baba, and there was a singing performance. Maharani Shantadevi attended the darshan. At one point, the electricity went off and portable gas lamps had to be brought to provide light.
After the usual inquiries about travel and health, Baba announced to the crowd: "You have come here to see me; but I am here to see who dares to really see me!"
He quoted one of his favorite couplets in Urdu, wherein the Master says to his devotee: "My glory is from here to there; it has no end. So, let me find out to what extent you are prepared to go [sacrifice] to see my glory, and how much of it you can see."
Baba explained the couplet: "Each one can perceive my glory according to his own capacity — either small or large."