Seventh: Those who have unavoidably to leave Poona tomorrow should also join the queue now for Baba's darshan.
Eighth: Attention please. The following is a direct message from Avatar Meher Baba to you all: "All these years I used to embrace you, my lovers, and bow down to your love for me. Now I cannot embrace you, so I allow you to bow down to my love for you."
At 8:30 A.M. the darshan began. Groups of about 100 men and women at a time were admitted into the hall. The rushing, pushing and stampede at the door was at times too much for the volunteers to manage. Those who were lucky enough to enter the hall stood in a queue. They filed past Baba, bowed their heads on his feet and left. As an expression of love, some offered garlands of fresh flowers; some offered garlands of silk, of paper, of camphor, and puffed rice. Others brought offerings of fruits, toffees and candy. Baba would touch these love offerings and return them as his prasad. Government ministers, members of Parliament, military generals, judges, attorneys, doctors, postmen, cobblers and sadhus — a fleeting panorama of humanity passed before Meher Prabhu. After having Baba's darshan, most were loath to leave, but they were hurried along by the volunteers until they found themselves at the exit door, where a packet of prasad was thrust into their hands. Before they got their bearings, they found themselves swimming in the ocean of lovers outside the hall.
A few men and women had come from Iran. One plump Persian woman sobbed unabashedly in front of Baba and had to be lifted away from his feet. Every mother with her baby coming for darshan would hold aloft her child for Baba to touch. One woman from Hamirpur had brought her newborn daughter, who was only fifteen days old.
When a baby or child was lifted up to him, Baba would have to bend forward each time to touch it, but the severe shooting pains in his neck did not show on his cheerful, radiant face.
At one point, Baba turned to Dr. Bharucha and gestured, "The pain is very severe, yet how cheerful I look."
None of those who came for darshan had any idea that Baba was actually in physical agony, because to them he appeared positively beaming. Only the close mandali knew what pain Baba was enduring.