Introduction

"Love is his panacea for all the ills of the world. If love fails, apply more love. If that fails apply more of that divine love that nestles in human souls in unending abundance. Love cannot fail, for if love fails, God fails.

Meher Baba's first visit to Europe and the United States was in the autumn of 1931.

Some who met him in England on this occasion have since passed on and a few have drifted away, perhaps temporarily . . .only Baba knows. Others, during the thirty years intervening, have grown closer to Baba in love and understanding. Even so, of these remaining ones who were present when Baba first visited the shores of England, time in due course will take its toll.

Bearing this in mind it seems that now is the time to make available to both present and future generations what records exist of this first visit. Have we not longed to know more of the life of Jesus than is recorded in the four gospels? Meher Baba's five Discourses and God Speaks give his philosophy; but the example of his daily life among us which exemplifies this philosophy, he bequeaths to us for all time as a way of life —"a way of life," says Baba, "that will go on for ever, long after I give up my body." To preserve such records, what better medium have we than the Awakener Journal, devoted exclusively to the sayings and doings of Meher Baba?

The account which follows will include Baba's first trip to England in 1931, touching briefly on his visits to Europe and the U.S. in that same year. The material comes from my own diary with excerpts taken from the diary of my brother, Herbert; both written within a year or so of the events recorded therein. Included also will be three short diaries from three of the group who shared these early days with Baba.

Concerning my own diary, I admit its incompleteness due to limited vision and its personal element. For example, as a keynote to this first visit, I would choose the word "intimate"—an intimacy, a companionship such as one feels existed between Jesus and his early disciples.