As was often the case, different officials and individuals would come to Adi's office requesting Meher Baba's darshan, which Baba had stopped. So when a bearded sadhu came to his office on 15 September, Adi sent him on his way after giving him a cup of tea. The sadhu, however, tried his luck and walked to Meherazad anyway. When Eruch explained that they were under orders not even to mention to Baba anyone's request for darshan, the sadhu refused to leave and camped out in a nearby field — and then requested food from the Meherazad kitchen! Baba did not see him, and he left after three days, much to the relief of the mandali.
When Adi came to Meherazad on the 18th, Baba expressed concern over the current conflict between India and Pakistan.
"If a ceasefire takes place before November, it would be best," Baba commented.
On 21 September 1965, the following message canceling Baba's proposed darshan tour was sent to all concerned by Eruch:
Avatar Meher Baba wants me to inform you that he was to go out with 40 lovers on a darshan tour of 40 days in India from 1st February 1966, and that he had in mind to take you with him on the tour. Beloved Baba now wants you to know that this darshan tour is canceled, and that he will NOT visit any places in India for giving his darshan in 1966 and 1967.
Please note and acknowledge.
On Wednesday, 29 September 1965, Deshmukh arrived at Meherazad from Nagpur and saw Baba at 10:45 A.M. for 20 minutes. He gave Baba an account of his recent visit to Germany and Switzerland, where he had presented a paper at a conference and given talks about Baba.
Nariman and Soona Hodivala had found out about Baba through their relative, Banumasi Kerawala, in 1937, and they met Baba for the first time in Bangalore two years later. Soona had not felt drawn to Baba, but after she had an experience of seeing Baba's face in a portrait of Zoroaster, she became totally his. The Hodivalas had since moved to Aden, but they returned to India in August 1965 for their son Jimmy's wedding. Jim Hodivala was anxious to have Baba's darshan, but because Baba was in seclusion, the possibility was remote.1 He asked Sam Kerawala to write to Eruch about this, and soon afterwards Eruch cabled the Hodivalas that Baba had agreed to see them "for two minutes only."
Footnotes
- 1.Jimmy's given name was Jamshed.