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We set about the task. Time was short. The world was in a state of unrest. Travel was not easy. How could we explain to Christine the spiritual purpose of the trip when we barely realized it ourselves? We loved Baba and felt irresistibly drawn to him. We suggested to Christine that she come as our companion. This seemed reasonable and she accepted. There were difficulties over passports and visas. Christine was Scotch, and, because she looked under 20—although 28—the authorities insisted on seeing her birth certificate. This delayed matters. Maya was working against us. Then China was in a state of war, and the British Government did not want the responsibility of anyone traveling to China unless strictly necessary. Yet Baba had cabled and written us through Quentin that we must try to get our Chinese visas. We did get our Indian visas, and Christine's by guaranteeing to bring her back with us to England, but Quentin decided to get our Chinese visas in Bombay.

 

On our arrival in Bombay, one of Baba's first questions was, "Have you your Chinese visas?" and he was not at all pleased that we had not. He sent us all that same afternoon to the Chinese Consulate; and said we should have tried to get them in London, and then not worried if we had failed. As it turned out, none of us set foot in China, but no doubt Baba had laid important spiritual cables across the Pacific.

 

One is drawn to believe that there was some past connection between Christine and Baba. To illustrate Baba's emphasis on the spiritual purpose of our visit—an hour or so after we landed in Bombay, there arose the question of whether Christine and Audrey were free to make appointments to meet other passengers, men and women with whom they had become friendly on the boat. Baba answered, "No, nothing of the kind. You have all come out here to be with a spiritual Master," but he added, "Christine and Audrey are both free to return by the next boat for Europe if they wish to. They had to set foot on Indian soil. This they have done." No further explanation. Audrey was a young pupil of Margaret Craske's, whom she had had to sponsor and about whom she had similar difficulties re permission, etc.

 

Both Christine and Audrey, of course, remained the full three weeks, which was all any of us stayed. Not six months or a year, no journey with Baba across the Pacific to Hollywood as originally planned! At Agra, two weeks after we first set foot in India, Baba called us to him individually and asked if we would mind if he had to send us back to Europe and America

 

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