When Mik and Ursula Hamilton left India the previous year, Baba directed them to get in contact with Robert Dreyfuss. All three wished to return to Asia. The Hamiltons wrote to Baba for his permission to leave America and tell others "on the road" about Baba's message of "No Drugs." Baba consented, but ordered them not to enter India until he instructed them, and definitely not before 21 November 1967. Mik and Ursula left America in October of 1966 and traveled overland for several months. By January 1967 they were in Lahore, Pakistan, waiting for permission to come to see him. Baba, however, did not allow them to come. Eventually, in June, they were forced to return to America, as they had relapsed into drugs and were seriously ill with hepatitis. They recovered and Baba forgave them for their lapse.
On 29 January, Meherjee arrived at Meherazad with Jehangu and Meherwan (who had come to stay for his annual month's visit). On Sunday, 5 February, Baba stated:
I am both divine and human. Those who live with me feel more of my humanity than my divinity. Those old and new ones who come and see me for a while see more of my divinity than my humanity. But those who stay with me will, in the end, not only feel my divinity but will also experience it.
This message was sent to Adi, but he was told not to publish it. When he read it, he was disturbed, and the next time he went to Meherazad he asked Baba, "What does this mean? Do you mean to say that those who live away from you will be deprived of experiencing your divinity?"
Baba snapped, "You fool, where does it say that?"
"It does not say it," Adi conceded, "but it implies it."
Baba replied, "Not at all. It does not say that only those who stay with me will experience my divinity — many will!"
But when the message was later given through Mani's February Family Letter, the last line was changed to read: "... All my intimate lovers whether living with me or away from me will, in the end, experience my divinity."
Baba once explained that he seldom ever gave his lovers experiences of the spiritual path.
He gave the metaphor of a lighted kerosene lantern placed on the floor, and said: "While the lantern sheds light all over the room, the circle close to its base is in shadow. When I give my close circle that which I have to give, it will be the real thing."1
Footnotes
- 1.In regard to the spiritual path, Baba has explained that the Avatar and Perfect Masters usually take their disciples through the planes "veiled" or "blindfolded." Vivekananda, one of the chief disciples of the Perfect Master Ramakrishna of Calcutta, may be an example of this. Vivekananda could spellbind large crowds when he spoke of God. Hafiz, too, perhaps journeyed through the planes veiled for 40 years under the Qutub Mohammed Attar's guidance.