Editing Meher Baba (section)

== Life and works ==
===Early life===
[[File:Meherwan irani.jpg|thumb|upright|Meher Baba (as Merwan Irani) at 16 years old in 1910]]
Meher Baba was born to [[Irani (India)|Irani]] [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] parents in 1894 in [[Pune]], India (formerly Poona).<ref>In an Indian context, an Irani is a member of one of two groups of [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrians]] of that subcontinent, the other being the [[Parsi people|Parsis]]. They are called Iranis by other Indians because they spoke an [[Iranian languages|Iranian language]]. "Those who left Iran soon after the advent of Islam to escape persecution, reached the shores of Gujarat 1,373 years ago. Their descendants are the Parsis. While the Zoroastrians who migrated to India from Iran relatively recently -- 19th century onwards -- are called Irani Zoroastrians." (Quote from Padmaja Shastri, TNN, [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/What-sets-Zoroastrian-Iranis-apart/articleshow/572604.cms "What sets Zoroastrian Iranis apart"], ''The Times of India'', 21 March 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2008.)</ref><ref name="Sutcliffe">Sutcliffe (2002); p. 38.</ref> He was named Merwan Sheriar Irani, the second son of Sheriar Irani and Shireen Irani. Sheriar Irani was a Persian Zoroastrian from [[Khorramshahr]] who had spent years wandering in search of spiritual experiences before settling in [[Pune]].<ref>Purdom (1964), pp. 15–17</ref>

As a boy, Baba formed the Cosmopolitan Club, which was dedicated to remaining informed on world affairs and donating money to charity.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) pp. 186–188</ref> He was a multi-instrumentalist and poet. Fluent in several languages, he was fond of the poetry of [[Hafez]], [[William Shakespeare]], and [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]].<ref>Kalchuri (1986) pp. 190–192</ref><ref>Purdom (1964), p. 20</ref><ref>Haynes (1989), p. 37</ref>

His spiritual transformation began when he was 19 years old and lasted for seven years.<ref>Hopkinson, Tom & Dorothy: ''Much Silence'', Meher Baba Foundation Australia, 1974, p. 24</ref><ref>Purdom (1964) p. 20</ref> At 19, he met [[Hazrat Babajan]], an elderly Muslim saint. He was cycling past a tree that she had made her abode, when she called to him. When he approached her, she kissed him on the forehead, causing him to enter a nine month-long trance which he described as "divine bliss", with a lack of consciousness of his body.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sovatsky|first=Stuart|date=2004|title=Clinical forms of love inspired by Meher Baba's mast work and the awe of infinite consciousness|url=http://www.atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-36-02-134.pdf|journal=The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology|volume=36|issue=2|pages=134–149|quote=At 19 years of age, Meher Baba (nee Merwan Sheriar Irani, 1894–1969) received a kiss on his forehead from the highly venerated Muslim, Hazrat Babajan (alleged to be 122 years old at the time), and then kissed her hands. That evening, he entered an altered state of blissful, ''electrified'' consciousness wherein he did not sleep or eat for nine months.|via=|access-date=15 December 2020|archive-date=3 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903154624/https://www.atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-36-02-134.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Landau|first=Rom |title=God Is My Adventure: A Book on Modern Mystics, Masters, and Teachers |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|year=1935|isbn=|location=New York|pages=105–118|oclc=525882}}</ref> Babajan predicted that he would become a spiritual leader.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chryssides|first=George D.|title=Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements|publisher=Scarecrow Press, Inc.|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8108-6194-7|location=United States of America|pages=213|quote=As a youth, he became acquainted with Hazrat Babajan, a Muslim who was said to be one of the five "Perfect Masters", and she predicted that he would become a spiritual leader.}}</ref> He then encountered [[Upasni Maharaj]], who he later said helped him to integrate his mystical experiences with ordinary consciousness, thus enabling him to function in the world without diminishing his experience of God-realisation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chryssides|first=George D.|title=Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements|publisher=Scarecrow Press, Inc.|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8108-6194-7|location=United States of America|pages=213}}</ref><ref>''Listen Humanity'', ed. D. E. Stevens, 1982. pp. 247–250</ref>

Over the next several years, he encountered other spiritual figures, namely [[Tajuddin Muhammad Badruddin|Tajuddin Baba]], [[Narayan Maharaj]], and [[Sai Baba of Shirdi]], who, along with Babajan and Upasni Maharaj, Baba later said were the five "Perfect Masters" of the age.<ref>Purdom (1964) p. 270</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=|first=|title=Encyclopedia of World Religions|publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica, Incorporated.|year=2006|isbn=978-1-59339-491-2|location=|pages=706}}</ref> By early 1922, at the age of 27, Baba began gathering his own disciples.<ref>Haynes (1989) pp. 38–39</ref> They gave him the name ''Meher Baba'', which means "compassionate father".<ref>Haynes (1989) p. 40</ref>

In 1922, Meher Baba and his followers established Manzil-e-Meem (House of the Master) in [[Mumbai]]. There, Baba commenced his practice of demanding strict discipline and obedience from his disciples.<ref>Purdom (1964), pp. 29-30</ref> A year later, Baba and his [[Mandali (Meher Baba)|mandali]] moved to an area a few miles outside [[Ahmednagar]] that he named [[Meherabad]] (Garden of Blessing).<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 501</ref> This [[ashram]] would become the center for his work. During the 1920s, Meher Baba opened a school, hospital, and dispensary at Meherabad, all of which were free and open to all [[Caste system in India|castes]] and faiths.<ref>Purdom (1964), pp. 49–50</ref>

From 10 July 1925 until the end of his life, Meher Baba maintained silence.<ref name="Religion, Macmillan Publishing Company 1995, p. 346">''Encyclopedia of Religion'', Macmillan Publishing Company, 1995, vol. 9, p. 346</ref><ref name="Haynes 1989 p. 2">Haynes (1989) p. 2</ref><ref>Baba (2007) p. 3</ref> He now communicated first through chalk and slate, then by an alphabet board, and later via a repertoire of gestures unique to him.<ref>Haynes (1989) p. 41</ref> On 1 December 1926, he wrote his last message, and began relying on an alphabet board.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dowling |first1=Elizabeth |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412952477 |title=Encyclopedia of Religious and Spiritual Development |last2=Scarlett |first2=W. |date=2006 |publisher=Sage Publications, Inc. |isbn=978-0-7619-2883-6 |location=California |pages=285–286 |doi=10.4135/9781412952477}}</ref><ref>Purdom (1964) p. 66</ref> With his ''[[Mandali (Meher Baba)|mandali]]'' (circle of disciples), he spent long periods in seclusion, during which time he often fasted. He also traveled widely, held public gatherings, and engaged in works of charity with [[Leprosy|lepers]] and the poor.<ref>Haynes (1989) p. 70</ref>

===1930–1939 – First contact with the West===
Beginning in 1931, Meher Baba made the first of many visits to the West. Throughout that decade, Meher Baba began a period of world travel and took several trips to Europe and the United States. It was during this period that he established contact with his first close group of Western disciples.<ref name="Kalchuri 1986 p. 1405ff"/> He traveled on a Persian passport, as he had given up writing, as well as speaking, and would not sign the forms required by the British government of India.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 1249</ref> Here, he attracted more followers.<ref name="Kalchuri 1986 p. 1405ff">Kalchuri (1986) p. 1405ff</ref>

[[File:Baba dictating.jpg|thumb|left|Meher Baba dictating a message to a disciple in 1936 using his alphabet board]]

On his first trip to England in 1931, he traveled on the ''[[SS Rajputana]]'', at the same time as [[Mahatma Gandhi]], who was sailing to the second [[Round Table Conferences (India)|Round Table Conference]] in [[London]]. Baba and Gandhi met three times on board. One of these exchanges lasted for three hours.<ref>Purdom (1964) p. 95.</ref> The British press publicized these meetings,<ref>See articles from the Daily Herald, 4 April 1932 (quoted in Kalchuri (1986), p. 1573) and from Sunday Express, April 1932 (quoted in Purdom (1964), p. 99)</ref> but an aide to Gandhi said, "You may say emphatically that Gandhi never asked Meher Baba for help or for spiritual or other advice."<ref>Landau, Rom: ''God Is My Adventure: A Book on Modern Mystics, Masters, and Teachers'', ''Faber & Faber'', London, 1936. p. 111.</ref><ref>''Indian Mystic in New York'', [[Associated Press]], 20 May 1932, The Lowell Sun</ref><ref>{{cite news |agency=[[Associated Press]] |title=Meher Baba Hopes to Elevate People Here to "Infinite State" He Enjoys. He Will Establish Spiritual Retreat at Harmon, N.Y., and Seek to Break Religious Barriers |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A0CE0DD163EE633A25755C2A9659C946394D6CF&legacy=true |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=26 March 1932 |access-date=10 September 2017 |archive-date=8 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808075549/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A0CE0DD163EE633A25755C2A9659C946394D6CF&legacy=true |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the West, Meher Baba met with a number of celebrities and artists, including [[Gary Cooper]], [[Charles Laughton]], [[Tallulah Bankhead]], [[Boris Karloff]], [[Tom Mix]], [[Maurice Chevalier]], and [[Ernst Lubitsch]].<ref>Landau, Rom: ''God Is My Adventure: A Book on Modern Mystics, Masters, and Teachers'', ''Faber & Faber'', London, 1936. p. 108 Available as a [https://books.google.com/books?id=_9DxiBTKdJsC Google book]</ref> On 1 June 1932, [[Mary Pickford]] and [[Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.]] held a reception for Baba at [[Pickfair]] at which he delivered a message to [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]].<ref>Purdom (1964) pp. 103–105</ref> As a result, says [[Robert S. Ellwood]], Meher Baba emerged as "one of the enthusiasms of the '30s".<ref>Ellwood 1973 p. 281</ref>

In 1934, after announcing that he would break his self-imposed silence in the [[Hollywood Bowl]], Baba changed his plans abruptly, boarded the [[RMS Empress of Canada (1920)|RMS ''Empress of Canada'']], and sailed to Hong Kong without explanation. The [[Associated Press]] reported that "Baba had decided to postpone the word-fast-breaking until next February because 'conditions are not yet ripe'."<ref>Associated Press, 13 July 1932, as cited Kalchuri (1986), p. 1670</ref> He returned to England in 1936<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 2040ff</ref> but did not return to the United States again until the early 1950s.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) pp. 1661–1668</ref>

In the late 1930s, Meher Baba invited a group of Western women to join him in India, where he arranged a series of trips throughout India and [[British Ceylon]] that became known as the Blue Bus Tours. When the tour returned home, many newspapers treated their journey as an occasion for scandal.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) pp. 2338–2421</ref> ''Time'' magazine's 1936 review of ''God Is My Adventure'' describes the US's fascination with the "long-haired, silky-mustached Parsee named Shri Sadgaru [sic] Meher Baba" four years earlier.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848514-4,00.html |title=Men, Masters & Messiahs |date=20 April 1936 |access-date=26 June 2008 |magazine=Time Magazine |archive-date=2 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602032109/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848514-4,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== 1940–1949 – Masts and the New Life ===
[[File:Wayf 154.jpg|thumb|upright|Meher Baba with a [[Mast (Sufism)|mast]] in Bangalore, 1940]]

In the 1930s and 1940s, Meher Baba worked with [[Mast (Sufism)|mast]]s, or those "intoxicated with God".<ref>Donkin (2001) p. vff</ref> According to Baba, these individuals are disabled by their enchanting experience of the higher spiritual [[Involution (Meher Baba)|planes]]. Although outwardly masts may appear irrational or insane, Baba claimed that their spiritual status was elevated, and that by meeting with them he helped them to progress spiritually while enlisting their aid in his spiritual work.<ref>Donkin (2001) p. 9</ref> One of these masts, Mohammed, lived at Meher Baba's encampment at Meherabad until his death in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.trustmeher.com/message/mohd02.htm |title=A Tribute to Mohammed Mast |access-date=30 August 2007 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927210408/http://www.trustmeher.com/message/mohd02.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

During his journey in 1946, Meher Baba went to [[Sehwan Sharif]] to meet a [[Sufi saint]] and descendant of [[Lal Shahbaz Qalandar]], [[Nadir Ali Shah|Murshid Nadir Ali Shah]], whom Baba referred to as an advanced [[pilgrim]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Wayfarers: Meher Baba with the God-Intoxicated|last=Donkin|first=William|publisher=Sheriar Foundation|year=2001|isbn=1-880619-24-5|location=Myrtle Beach, S.C}}</ref>

In 1949, Baba began a period that he called the New Life. Following a series of questions on their readiness to obey even the most difficult of his requests, Baba selected twenty companions to join him in a life of complete "hopelessness and helplessness".<ref>Purdom (1964) p. 177</ref>

He made provisions for those dependent on him, after which he and his companions otherwise gave up nearly all property and financial responsibilities. They traveled around India incognito while begging for food and carrying out Baba's instructions in accordance with a strict set of "conditions of the New Life". These included acceptance of any circumstance and consistent good cheer in the face of any difficulty. Companions who failed to comply were sent away.<ref>Purdom (1964) pp. 163–176</ref>

Concerning the New Life, Meher Baba wrote:

{{blockquote|This New Life is endless, and even after my physical death it will be kept alive by those who live the life of complete renunciation of falsehood, lies, hatred, anger, greed and lust; and who, to accomplish all this, do no lustful actions, do no harm to anyone, do no backbiting, do not seek material possessions or power, who accept no homage, neither covet honor nor shun disgrace, and fear no one and nothing; by those who rely wholly and solely on God, and who love God purely for the sake of loving; who believe in the lovers of God and in the reality of Manifestation, and yet do not expect any spiritual or material reward; who do not let go the hand of Truth, and who, without being upset by calamities, bravely and wholeheartedly face all hardships with one hundred percent cheerfulness, and give no importance to caste, creed and religious ceremonies. This New Life will live by itself eternally, even if there is no one to live it.<ref>Purdom (1964) p. 187</ref>}}

Meher Baba ended the New Life in February 1952<ref>Purdom, (1964), p. 194</ref> and once again began a round of public appearances throughout India and the West.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 3762</ref>

=== 1950–1959 – ''God Speaks'' and automobile accidents ===
After being injured as a passenger in two serious automobile accidents, one near [[Prague, Oklahoma]] in the United States in 1952,<ref>Kalchuri, Bhau (1986). Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba. Manifestation.</ref> and one in India in 1956, Meher Baba's ability to walk became limited.<ref>Haynes (1989) p. 60</ref><ref>Purdom (1964) p. 376</ref>

In the 1950s, Baba established two centers outside of India, namely the [[Meher Spiritual Center]] in [[Myrtle Beach, South Carolina]] in the United States and Avatar's Abode near [[Brisbane]], Australia. He inaugurated the Meher Spiritual Center in April 1952. On 24 May 1952, en route from the Meher Spiritual Center to Meher Mount in [[Ojai, California]], the car in which he was a passenger was struck head-on near [[Prague, Oklahoma]]. He and his companions were thrown from the vehicle and injured. Baba's leg was severely broken and he sustained facial injuries including a broken nose. The injured were treated at Prague Memorial Hospital, after which they returned to Myrtle Beach to recuperate.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) pp. 3834–3840</ref> While recuperating at Youpon Dunes, a home owned by Elizabeth Patterson, he worked on the charter for a group of Sufis, which he named [[Western Sufism#Sufism Reoriented|Sufism Reoriented]].<ref>''Glimpses of the God-Man, Meher Baba'', vol. 3, by Bal Natu, Sheriar Press, 1982, pp. 64, 65</ref>

Meher Baba began dictating his major book, ''[[God Speaks|God Speaks, The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose]]'', using an alphabet board in [[Dehradun]], in August 1953.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 4208</ref> He dedicated this book "To the {{nowrap|Universe{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}the Illusion that sustains Reality". In September 1954, Meher Baba gave a men-only [[sahavas]] at Meherabad that later became known as the Three Incredible Weeks.<ref>''Three Incredible Weeks with Meher Baba: 11–30 September 1954'', by Charles Purdom & Malcolm Schloss, Sheriar Press, 1979, pp. xi–xii</ref> During this time Baba issued a declaration, "Meher Baba's Call", wherein he once again affirmed his Avatarhood "irrespective of the doubts and convictions" of others.<ref>Meher Baba: "Meher Baba's Call", Pamphlet, 12 September 1954</ref> At the end of this sahavas, Meher Baba gave the completed manuscript of his book ''God Speaks'' to two members of Sufism Reoriented, Ludwig H. Dimpfl and Don E. Stevens, for editing and publication in America.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 4551</ref> The book was published by [[Dodd, Mead & Co.|Dodd, Mead and Company]] the following year.

On 30 September 1954 Meher Baba gave his Final Declaration message.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ambppct.org/messages.php#final |title=The Final Declaration |access-date=8 February 2014 |archive-date=8 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708051427/http://ambppct.org/messages.php#final |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In October 1954, Meher Baba discarded his alphabet board and began using a unique set of hand gestures to communicate, which he used for the rest of his life.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) pp. 4457, 4464</ref>

On 2 December 1956, outside [[Satara (city)|Satara]], India, the car in which Meher Baba was riding lost control and a second serious automobile accident occurred. Baba suffered a fractured [[pelvis]] and other severe injuries. Nilu, one of Baba's [[Mandali (Meher Baba)|mandali]], was killed.<ref>Purdom (1986) p. 289</ref> This collision seriously incapacitated Baba. Despite his physicians' predictions, Baba began to walk again, but from that point was in [[chronic pain|constant pain]] and had limited mobility. During his trip to the West in 1958, he often needed to be carried from venue to venue.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 5450</ref>

In 1956, during his fifth visit to the United States, Baba stayed at New York's [[Trump Park Avenue|Hotel Delmonico]] before traveling to the Meher Spiritual Center at [[Myrtle Beach, South Carolina]]. In July he traveled to [[Washington, D.C.]], and received friends and disciples at the home of Ivy Duce,<ref>''Awakener Magazine'', Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 38–39 {{cite web |url=http://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/heroines7c.html |title=Heroines of the Path, Part 7C |access-date=25 June 2008 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165218/http://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/heroines7c.html |url-status=live }}</ref> wife of James Terry Duce, the vice-president of the [[Saudi Aramco|Arabian American Oil Company.]]<ref>''Man hasn't spoken in 31 years'', ''Big Spring Daily Herald'', 30 June 1957 ''Note: this article identifies the visit as Meher Baba's 10th US visit, and places the planned date as July 1957, not 1956 as generally accepted.''</ref> He then traveled to Meher Mount at [[Ojai, California]] before proceeding to Australia. His final visits to the United States and Australia were made in 1958.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 5457</ref>

=== 1960–1969 – Final years and death ===
In 1962, Baba held one of his last public functions, a mass meeting in India called the East-West Gathering. At these meetings, at which his Western followers were invited to meet his Indian disciples, Baba gave [[Darśana|darshan]] to many thousands, despite the physical strain this caused him.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 6000</ref><ref>''Awakener Magazine'', Volume 9, Number 1–2, 1963, p. 1</ref> Despite deteriorating health, he continued what he called his "Universal Work", which included [[fasting]] and [[seclusion]], until his death on 31 January 1969. His ''[[Samadhi (shrine)|samadhi]]'' in [[Meherabad]], India, has become a place of international [[pilgrimage]].<ref>Haynes (1989)  p. 62</ref> In the mid-1960s Baba became concerned with the drug culture in the West and began correspondences with several Western academics, including [[Timothy Leary]] and [[Ram Dass|Richard Alpert]], in which he discouraged the use of [[hallucinogen]]ic drugs for spiritual purposes.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 6412ff</ref> In 1966, Baba's responses to questions on drugs were published in a pamphlet titled ''[[God in a Pill?]]'' Meher Baba stated that drug use was spiritually damaging and that if enlightenment were possible through drugs then "God is not worthy of being God".<ref>''God in a Pill? Meher Baba on L.S.D. and The High Roads'', Sufism Reoriented, Inc. 1966</ref> Meher Baba instructed his young Western disciples to spread this message; in doing so, they increased awareness of Meher Baba's teachings. In an interview with Frederick Chapman, a [[Harvard]] graduate and [[Fulbright Program|Fulbright]] scholar who met Meher Baba during a year of study in India, Baba described [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]] as "harmful physically, mentally, and spiritually" and warned that "[its continued use] leads to madness or death".<ref name=UPI07271967>''Spiritual Leader Warning on LSD'', United Press International, 27 July 1967</ref> Baba lovers in the United States, Europe, and Australia initiated an [[anti-drug]] campaign during this period. Though some contend that this campaign was mostly futile, it attracted new followers to Meher Baba.<ref>Bruce Hoffman, 'Something on an Inner Level,' Glow International Feb 1990, p. 17</ref> Furthermore, some of Baba's views entered into [[academic]] debate on the merits and dangers of [[hallucinogen]]s.<ref>Albert Moraczewski, 'Psychedelic Agents and Mysticism,' Psychosomantics Vol. 12:2 (1971), 95–96</ref>

From the East-West Gathering of 1962 onward, Meher Baba's health deteriorated. Despite the physical toll it took on his body, he continued to undergo periods of seclusion and fasting.<ref>Haynes (1989) p. 61</ref> In late July 1968, Baba stated that he had completed a particularly taxing period of seclusion and noted that his work was "completed 100% to my satisfaction".<ref>''Awakener Magazine'', Volume 13 Number 3-4, p. 75</ref> He was by then using a wheelchair. Within a few months, his condition had worsened and he was bedridden, wracked by [[spasm|muscle spasms]] without clear medical origin. Despite the care of several physicians, the spasms worsened. On 31 January 1969, Meher Baba woke up in the morning. He had a few pieces of papaya. At 12:15{{spaces}}p.m. he died at 74 years of age after a violent spasm wracked his body.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'', retrieved 7/2/14,</ref> He conveyed by his last gestures, "Do not forget that I am God."<ref name="Kalchuri 1986 p. 6713">Kalchuri (1986) p. 6713</ref> In time, his devotees called the anniversary of his death ''Amartithi'' (deathless day). Meher Baba's body was placed at his [[Samadhi (shrine)|samadhi]] at Meherabad, covered with roses and cooled by ice. His body was kept available to the public for one week before its final burial.<ref>Kalchuri (1986) p. 6735</ref> Prior to his death, Meher Baba had made extensive preparations for a public [[Darshan (Indian religions)|darshan]] program to be held in [[Pune]]. His mandali decided to proceed with the arrangements despite the absence of the host. Several thousand attended this "Last Darshan", including many hundreds from the United States, Europe, and Australia.<ref>James Ivory, The Talk of the Town, "Jai Baba!", The New Yorker, 21 June 1969, p. 28</ref>