As I started walking toward him, so much was going through my mind. I was concerned about how I was going to embrace him, he was so tiny and delicate. I was afraid I was going to crush him. Also, I did not know if my head should be above his or below his. If I went down on my knees would I knock him over? I was in a real tizzy. At the same time, I was aware that this was the most beautiful being that I had ever seen.
As I got closer, everything disappeared. The material world around Baba disappeared. He was, in a sense, floating in a halo of absolutely pure light. Everything was emanating from him. It was overwhelming. As I got to him, these two arms came out and embraced me so forcefully that it dispelled all of my worries about how I was going to embrace him. I don't think that I have felt such strength before in my life. That little bird was very strong, very strong indeed.
Baba told me to be seated. I was looking straight ahead toward the door. I was frozen. I had a big grin on my face. It was like ecstasy.
“”Baba asked me: "Are you happy?"
I looked at Baba with a big grin on my face (I can still feel it) and said: "Oh, yes." As soon as I said that, Baba clapped his hands and dismissed me. That is what Baba had meant when he had written that when I did meet him, it would be more than made up for. It was.
The impression of these first moments with Baba remain alive and vivid. I will never forget it. In my life, in times since then when I would go through periods of doubts, I would go back to that initial impression and it would always dispel any doubts I had. It was not anything that could have been manufactured or faked. It was absolutely real. Instead of fading, these times with Baba become even more clear. Everything else starts to fall away. They are so intense, so real. The rest of your life seems very unreal compared to the times when you were with Baba.
Most of the Westerners arrived by 30 October 1962 and were accommodated at the Turf Club, Poona Club, and the Poona, Napier and Wellesley hotels. Those from Pakistan stayed at the Ritz Hotel near the Poona railway station. The Indian devotees stayed at different places, such as Bhave's Girls' School, an orphanage, and in five other locations that were wedding venues.
