MEHER BABA JOURNAL - Avatar Meher Baba Trust

Impressions
BY WILL BACKETT (London)
I first heard of Shri Meher
Baba through a chance glance at a
copy of "The London Forum" in
the reading room of a Society in
London which I happened to be
visiting. This impressed my wife
and me so much that we decided
to get into touch with the writer to
judge of the extent of his experience
while with Baba. We then
determined to meet the Master,
but to guard ourselves from any
psychic or hypnotic influence. All
doubts vanished before Baba's
pure ineffable radiance, when that
great opportunity arrived, and on
looking back we still realize the
wonder of Baba's presence then. I
sat quietly holding His hand. He
smiled. The pure radiant Love
Divine enfolded my sole being. I
kissed His hand as I rose to go,
and then turned again on the way
to the door, to give an Indian
salute. Perhaps I did it badly, but
Baba smiled again in His beautiful
way as an old old friend.
Awkward and self-conscious one
may be in such a Presence for the
first time, that smile put me at
perfect ease. We knew we had
met our Master and that a new
life had opened.
During the following years, I
had many opportunities of meeting
Baba and writing to Him and
also receiving letters from Him in
connection with the work He
gave me to do at the London
office. Though He was not
present, I would hear His voice
speaking to me in tones more
wonderful than any sound I had
heard, though I have never heard
His natural voice in this incarnation.
On waking from sleep, I
would even feel His physical
presence, closer t o me than my
own. Once in particular, I remember,
whilst taking a bath, that I
saw His form like a cameo in the
distance as if looking through the
"wrong end" of a telescope, and
with that came the realization that
the leg I was bathing was actually
His and not mine at all. These
psychic experiences brought a
great realiza-