the seriousness of the present but that there were much worse times ahead. But one also remembers that when Baba speaks of adversities he does so to avert them. Still, how many difficulties did lie ahead for us all as 1945 approached. Also, we were realizing that Baba no longer tried to keep you in good mood by humoring you. Those days were over but with 100% faith in Baba, how really much better for us are all these difficult times than for those in the world who do not feel the spiritual significance of all that goes on.

Let us now hear from Ivy Duce on her first visit to Pimpalgaon, referred to in the previous letter:

"Everything and every moment of our 1947-1948 visit with Baba was outstanding. Of course the personal thing I like to speak of is the way Baba healed my body. I know Baba always says he does not perform miracles. I understand this to mean that when he does anything supernatural it is not a miracle—as it would be if we did any phenomena, but perfectly natural because his nature is divine.

"One day he was telling me what my job in life would be and how I had much work to do in the future to establish the Sufi movement on a sane and stable basis in the West. As his implications dawned on me, I was aghast, and said, 'But Baba, how on earth can I do all that with this machine?' (pointing to my body). He looked down at me sort of appraisingly, and then looked off. 'It is a long time since I have discussed the physical,' he said, 'but I will help you.' I had not asked him for any healing and did not expect it. My exclamation came out of surprise.

"The next morning about eight o'clock he summoned Norina, Elizabeth, Charmian and me to the house in back of where we were staying. The 'girls' lived there. He said we were all to play' that morning and not be serious. By keeping us all telling jokes, we were soon in gales of laughter. He quietly suggested to Mehera that I might like to see some of their snapshots. She brought them out and laid them on a large table which stood in the center of the room. Baba had been sitting on a couch on the opposite side of the table from where we westerners sat. As I stood up to look at the snapshots and picked one up, I suddenly felt as if I had been pierced through the heart with an arrow. It was such a shock I fell weeping into my chair and it seemed as if my heart turned over and over. I have sometimes wondered if this was not something I once read about in Sufi literature―the 'emptying the chalice of the heart' by a Master. Baba crossed the floor