He also sent this telegram:
I send my blessings of love to all at Meher Vihar. Keep Meher Vihar aglow with my love by keeping the lamp of your love for me ever bright with your honesty in life, with your steadfastness in holding fast to my daaman and with your labor of spreading my message of Love and Truth.
Meanwhile in America, in Washington, D. C. on 28 August 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights leader, led a million Blacks and Whites on a "freedom march" against segregation1 This news article was mentioned to Baba.
Numerous American and Russian rocket space flights were also in the news at this time. One morning some remark from one of the mandali elicited this response from Baba on the subject of the exploration of space:
However far man may fling himself into outer space, even if he were to succeed in reaching the furthermost object in the universe, man will not change. Wherever he goes, he will remain what he is. It is when man travels within himself, that he experiences a metamorphosis of his self. It is this journeying that matters, for the infinite treasure — God — is within man, and not to be found anywhere outside of himself.
Baba repeated what he had said at Guruprasad:
When mind soars in pursuit of the things conceived in space, it pursues emptiness, but when man dives deep within himself he experiences the fullness of existence.
On 25 August, the second message was sent to those in New York, working on the booth for the World's Fair. They were having a quarter of a million brochures printed of Baba's "Universal Message," a brief biography and a photograph of Baba (chosen by him) taken by Bhikubhai. Baba's second message was added to it. When a sample was sent for Baba's approval, he sent a telegram in reply: "Folder perfect. Baba happy. Sends love." Even though Baba himself was not well, still he would continue to have his eye on the smallest matters and personally look after every detail.
Prem Khilnani brought Kishore Mistry to Meherazad on Sunday the 25th. At 8:30 P.M. that night, an unexpected visitor suddenly arrived at Khushru Quarters in a tonga. She was an American woman named Stella Kusevich of Long Island, New York. She and her husband Marko had met Baba in Myrtle Beach in 1958. She explained to Adi (who was observing silence) that she had been unable to attend the East-West Gathering and felt that Baba had drawn her to make the journey now. She had been traveling continuously and was exhausted, but she refused to eat until she saw Baba. Adi took her to Viloo Villa for the night.
Footnotes
- 1.In May 1956, Beryl Williams had written to Martin Luther King and his associate Ralph Abernathy, telling them about Meher Baba and inviting them to meet Baba, but the meeting never took place.