Conlon (Cont’d from p. 20)

might be where I'd have a little trouble, because Fred and Ella had warned me not to say why I was going. Baba was in seclusion; He wouldn’t want any publicity, and there were beginning to be some problems with young Americans going to India, running out of money and overstaying their visas. They had told me to be careful about what I said. So on the application where it says, "Why are you going to India?" I entered, “I am going to visit an old friend of my family’s who has been ill, and this might be my last chance to see him." All true. I handed her my papers and asked, "How long is this going to take?"

"Three days." (It was already Wednesday.)

"But I'm leaving tomorrow night."

She looked over all my papers, saw the reason for the trip and said, "Well, we'll just have to help you, won't we? You come back tomorrow morning at ten o'clock and I'll have your visa."

Then we went back to the Air India office to meet with agent. He had arranged that someone would meet me in Bombay, put me on the train to Poona, and make sure that I got there OK.

I went home and packed for a 22 hour stay in India. The next day, Thursday morning, we went running back to pick up the visa and they had it. And that night, Ginny and Liz took me out to what was then Idlewild Airport and put me on the plane. The last I saw of them, they were on the observation deck. It was pouring rain. The two of them were hugging each and jumping up and down. They were more excited than I was. I was just going with whatever was happening. I had ceased to think.

Well, I got into Bombay, walked off that plane and was met by a customs officer and a young man from Air India. They shooed me through customs. The young man brought breakfast for me and gave me a quick lesson in Indian money. Then he took me out to the Dadar railroad station and found the station master. I sat in his office until the train came, he put me on the train, and he found someone who would tell me when we got to Poona and when to get off. When we pulled into Poona, the only thing I had to do was to get to the Napier Hotel. Mani had telegraphed Air India to tell me that as soon as I got to the Napier Hotel, I was to call Guruprasad. I got to the hotel and went up to the desk without identifying myself. I asked the manager for a telephone. He picked up the phone, dialed and handed it to me. There was Eruch on the other end saying that Baba had said that I was to stay at the hotel and rest until 3:30 when one of them would come for me, and, an hour before the daily darshan started, it was Meherjee who came and, of course, as a result, I have always dearly loved Meherjee. We're very close.

Well, we drove out to Guruprasad. Even if you have never seen it, you remember the pictures of the wide driveway that curved in front of the steps leading up to Guruprasad. From there, the entrance led across the verandah and into the main hall. I bent over to get out of the car. When I stood up in front of the steps, the door was open and there was Baba sitting at the back of the hall, 60 or 75 feet away from me. Now, in the years that I waited, I only wanted to see Baba's eyes. That's all I wanted. Just once. I was standing there and I looked at Him and all of a sudden, all I could see were His eyes. They got huge. They filled the room. They blotted out everything else. And I saw shafts of light coming from behind His eyes. I thought, "If He closes His eyes, I’ll drown in that light." Then everything