The Master’s American Tour

I

Letters from America

Yoga Philosophic Centre, San Francisco, California, 2 September 1955

In five days time it will be exactly three months since this parting with our Beloved and Gracious Lord’s physical form. So it is beyond imagination how great must be the longing of each one of you to see Him back again in your midst. The Master feels this parting more than anyone can think it possible, but He has many duties to perform and is veiled with so thick a veil that only when He lifts it you are able to see what He wants to show. But even He cannot hide the Love which just springs out sometimes from His eyes, and that happens many a time when letters come or names are mentioned of His Loved ones in India. This great but unavoidable parting is not only for you but He, though He is with you all the time feels it too. Blessed will be the day when His feet touch the land of India again and blessed will be the Loved ones when they see and will be with him again but most blessed will be the one who will be near enough to see the Love which is going to pour out of His eyes when He looks again at His fold of helpless, lonely children and embraces all with His warm and loving look.

As you will notice from the top of this letter, this is being written from San Francisco. Maharaj with His party reached this place on the 20th August and today is the last day of His stay but tomorrow He leaves for Chicago by air and then back to Washington, DC so you will be pleased to see that the tour of the States is just going to end in a few days time and He will be back in India within the next two months.

In continuation to 10th August report from San Jose. On the 11th morning there were about thirty people for meditation, nearly all non-initiates and all had first-hand experience. In the afternoon Master had to go to San Francisco to attend to some matter regarding the extension of His visa. San Francisco is fifty miles from San Jose. At 7:30 p.m. He gave a talk in the house drawing room. It is quite a big drawing room but became too small to hold all the people who came over to hear Him. A Sardar Daman Singh came over from Yuba City. He has been in the States since the last 40 years. He is one of the old Satsangis and was overjoyed to see the Master, so he has come over to spend a couple of days near the Master. Tonight He gave a talk on the importance of Man-Body, Love of God and Love of all Humanity, then quite a number of questions were put to the Master and He answered to each one of them with such clarity that it was like clearing away the cobwebs with a broom.

12th. This morning 60 people came over for meditation and each one had a wonderful experience. In the evening He gave a talk in San Jose on what Christ meant when He spoke of the Kingdom of God. Master said that the Kingdom of God is within you and you can enter it by coming above the body consciousness but with one’s own effort, no matter if the man is the most pious, he cannot enter that Gate and yet the most sinful of the sinners with the guiding hand of a Master can enter that Kingdom and become One with God, and then He dwelt on the Higher Values of Life.

13th. Today there were more people for meditation than yesterday and all saw the Light of God and some saw the Radiant Form of the Master. In the evening He was invited to the Y.M.C.A. to give a talk there. He explained taught a human body is the True Temple of God in which God and you both reside, but as you yourself have forgotten who you really are, you have to realise yourself before making an attempt to realise God, so your Third Eye has to be opened by a Self-realised Man Who has realised God, only He can open your Inner Eye and He gives you contact with the Light and Sound within. He will help and teach you how to realise yourself and with the help of the Sound and Light to go back to your True Home and realise God. He says that is the only way by which you can realise God. For the present age there is no other way but this which is before us. The Master tonight dressed from the shoes to the turban all in white – He looked just radiantly beautiful.

14th. Initiation was given to 27 people all had experience of the beyond – some saw the Radiant From of the Master, of Master’s Master, of Swami Ji, Baba Jaimal Singh and Christ. In the evening He gave a fare-well talk, all initiates in San Jose and many other came. He explained to all that progress on the Way can only be made if all of them lived up to what they were told. All that has blemished your pure life in the past can be left in the hands of the Master and in future you live a clean and chaste life and be regular in your Spiritual Practices. You will come very close to Master, and His Love will just envelop you. Love of the Master with faith is the main thing that can help the initiate to progress on the Way. If you become Guru-man – who is God in Man – you are sure to be-come Godman some day, for you cannot love God until you have seen Him. That you can only do through a God-realised Man in whom God resides, by becoming One with the Master you become One with God.

He explained how the Love of the Master can be developed. He told them that the Master will be with all His initiates always extending all feasible help and will appear to them when they go within as also on the day when they have to leave their bodies permanently.

He explained,

let my word abide in you and you abide in me. Ye shall have everything that ye ask.

How can we love God until we come in contact with Him therefore, the Love of Master – God in Man – precedes.

15th. No meditation this morning but many people came to pay homage to the Lord and He met each and everyone and had a talk with all. Then a group of children of the initiates came over and Maharaj had a group photograph taken with them. After that He left with a party of 20 people to see the famous redwood forests. He liked the place very much for it was so beautiful and its natural beauty and the bliss of the moment caught everyone, so all sat down and meditated. There was no talk in the evening so the Master dealt with the mail.

16th. Left San Jose for Oakland where Lola Beverly handed over her apartment to the Master for His stay there; this was in Alameda, a town near Oakland. In the evening the Master gave a talk on ‘Know thyself’ and on ‘Love of God and Man’. Maharaj Ji emphasised the fact that without a Master it is well nigh impossible to transcend the body but Sant Mat says that criterion of a True Master is only that He can teach you how to transcend the body and believe only when you see for yourself and not otherwise. A Master Who is a Godman is able to give you a first-hand experience on the very first day, so when you find such a man place all your trust and Love in Him, for Love of God we have to love the Godman and all scriptures sing His praises and holy places of worship and also places of pilgrimages are where His Holy Feet had passed.

17th. 32 people came for the morning meditation and all had experience. Two very old Satsangis came over today to pay their respects to the Master, a Mr Bush from Yuba City and Dr Brock from Port Angeles in Washington State. Maharaj Ji was very pleased to see them. He embraced them saying –

My old brothers have come to see me.

In the afternoon the Master drove to San Francisco where He was invited by Walter Baptist to see the hall he had arranged for holding Satsangs there – Yoga Philosophical Institute of Culture. When Master reached the Yoga Institute He was greeted by some press reporters who were awaiting His arrival, so Master had a long talk with the reporters and lots of photographs were taken of Him. Some of them have been sent to India with the newspaper cuttings which came out in the San Francisco News. In the evening He gave a talk on the comparative values of life and where the Kingdom of God lies.

18th. This morning 50 men and women came over for the meditation. Dr Brock saw the Radiant Form of Maharaj Sawan Singh and of the Master and Mr Bush saw the Light within for the first time. During the whole day Master attended to the correspondence and in the evening He gave a talk on Kingdom of God and how by leaving the body you can enter that Kingdom whilst living. He also explained how the Inner Eye can be opened.

19th. Today was a very busy day for the Master. After the morning meditation to which over 50 people came, He went to San Francisco to the Yoga Philosophic Centre and then was invited by the Television people. He was on the TV for 15 minutes. He looked beautiful for this Television was in Technicolour, the first of its kind, for until now the TV was only on black and white. He had an interview with Mrs Armstrong, proprietor of the Metaphysical Library at the Town Hall who was carrying on work in connection with simplified yoga to suit modern living.

In the evening a talk was given on what is the difference between a learned man of letters and a man of practical knowledge of the beyond and as to what was the word referred to in the Bible and Master explained what was the natural yoga.

20th. 14 men and women were initiated and all had splendid experience. In the afternoon the Master with His party left Oakland for San Francisco. Mr Walter Paul Baptist had made arrangements for His stay in his house, California Street. Mr Baptist is the owner of the Yoga Philosophic Centre and he is known to be the most developed man physically in the world for his age. He and his wife is the second developed physically in the USA. Both have gold-plated trophies as a matter of distinction. Both were initiated by the Master this morning at Oakland and both are really nice souls. Mrs Walter Baptist had seen the Master in meditation a month before His coming. A Baron von Blomberg who is the director of the World Congress of Religions, along with a Bishop, came over to see the Master and had a long talk with Him and came to the Satsang too. He has invited the Master to come to Boston where he is going to invite all heads of various religions to meet our Lord and hear what He has to give to them. Master has accepted the invitation and so will go there for four days. This evening Master gave a talk on the Holy Scriptures – as also holy places of worship. He said all mankind is One and the God worshipped was one and the same thought under different names, and explained what that really meant when they used words like the Word, Light, etc.

21st. Over 70 people came for the morning meditation all had wonderful experience and some saw the Master, the Master’s Master and Christ. After that He gave interviews to many. During the day Mr Baptist took the Master and some others to see the famous bridge, the Golden Gate, which goes over the bay. This is one of the highest bridges and ships pass under it. It is three miles long with a span of over 4200 feet without any stake supporting it.

In the evening talk was given on the Inner Man and the higher values of live. The hall, huge in its size, became too small, so people just packed themselves in the passages and the side room to hear Him.

22nd. Morning meditation was given to over 50 people. One saw Guru Nanak and others saw the Master and His Master. Baron von Blomberg came again for the evening talk. He said he know practically everything about all religions, but had never seen the Inner Light or Sound and so wanted initiation. All people of disctinctive importance are coming up gradually. They have no other option. They and all must and will bow down in front of our Master, if not today then in the near future, that is if they are in search of the Truth, but our Lord in His humble way says,

It is all Hazur’s Grace.

He is coming to them as man to man and the credit goes to His Master at Whose feet He had the good fortune to sit.

23rd. At morning meditation more than 30 people and all had wonderful experience.
In the evening He gave a talk as to where was the Kingdom of God and how to pass through the strait gate to enter into that and open the Inner Eye to see the Light of God.
Samman Singh, old Satsangi, got the experience within and was satisfied as also Rattan Singh Dhillon with his wife came up from El Centro and remained to hear talks and ultimately both of them got initiation.

During the day Mr Harri Dass Chowdhari, representative of the Asian Philosophy in San Francisco University, who was initiated by Shri Aurobindo Ghosh of Pondicherry came with another reverend of the liberal Roman Catholic Church and had a talk with the Master and went away satisfied.
In the evening, talk was given on the natural yoga taught by Masters and how to contact the Word within.

24th. Initiation was given to 17 people. In the evening farewell talk was given to all the initiates of Oakland and San Francisco.

25th. No meditation today. Master and His party went to the redwood forests and enjoyed the solitude there. All sat down in the woods for meditation and many gathered together around Him and took photography of Him while in meditation.

In the evening He gave a talk at the Metaphysical Library and dwelt on the subject of how we can have peace on earth by living up to two commandments – love God and love also humanity, also how to enter the Kingdom within – this will even save one from the danger of death.

Washington, D.C. 9 September 1955.

In continuation to the last letter from San Francisco of the 25th of August 1955, today with thankfulness to Him, these words with gratefulness from all humanity, knowing they or not, are penned down that Maharaj, the much-loved Beloved of All, is in perfect health and with each breath He takes He wrought wonders in uplifting the essence of all purity and Truth, which is commonly known as soul, from the dungeon of hell where mind in its craftiness acts as a warden and keeps this soul of all purity besmeared with the dirt and filth of all passions, the soul an atom of the highest form of degree, which is that of God, has today so forgotten its True Self that it literally enjoys life lived in the lowest form and makes hard to believe it is one with that, it is just like one extreme wanting to join the opposite extreme.

But He has come and is in midst of all self-forgotten children of God, waking all up from the long slumber, washing the dirt off with His own dear hands, but this cleaning hurts them so some cry out in utter despair, some want to run away from this, but He sees how much one can take, so before any drastic action is taken, He gathers them to His heart and rejuvenates His offsprings for another washing He will not stop until He has made them as perfect as Himself. Doomed are those who do not even try to find out even out of curiosity as to why He has come to this earth and for what purpose.

But to go back to San Francisco.

26th August, 1955 – The Master with His Party consisting of Bibi Hardevi, Mr T.S. Khanna, Mrs Khanna, little Gurcharan Khanna and Cuckoo Narendra left the house of Walt Baptist – where they had been putting up for their stay in San Francisco – with several other disciples who had gathered at the house since early morning to wish the Master farewell. The Master with His party reached the aerodrome at 9:30 a.m.

As Maharaj Ji says

It was a pathetic scene,

so it was, very much so, some of them could not even come forward to shake the Master’s hand, they were sobbing their hearts out. Master’s representative in California, Dona Kelley, her husband, Charles, Dr and Mrs Crawford, Dr and Mrs John Lovelace, Walt Paul Baptist with his wife and daughter, he and his wife are the owner and in charge of Yoga Philosophic Center. All these and many others came and stayed on till the plane took off at 10:30 a.m. for Chicago.

It was eleven hours flight and Maharaj Ji most of the time kept Himself busy with writing letters. Nearly always the Captain on flight, whenever the Master travels by plane, always come to pay their respects to Him and have a few words with Him, so even on this trip, and slowly everyone came to know that the Great Master was travelling with them, so many children came to get His autograph and even an old lady, mother of a Roman Catholic Minister, went over and asked Maharaj Ji to write some sort of a message and His autograph. The Master wrote on her card, It is better to enter the world with one eye and signed His name. It was beautiful and she was very much impressed but could not understand what He really meant by saying one eye – she said, Aren’t two eyes better than one? So this is how much the ministers, priests, etc. know of the Truth in the present age. It is a pitiable state of affairs, especially for those innocent people who go to these ignorant teachers for the knowledge of the beyond.

This lady went straight to her son, the Minister, a Reverend A. Lauck, and showed him what the Master had written. He thought for quite a long time over this, then came over and asked T.S. Khanna if he could have a few words with the Master. The Roman Catholics are very strict in their own beliefs, so Khanna was amazed to see a Minister wanting to hear the Master. Maharaj Ji, our most gracious Lord, never says ‘no’ to any one so He talked to Reverend Lauck, and when the Reverend left the Master’s side, lots of his doubts had been removed about certain things and he carried back with him two of the Pamphlets – ‘Man, know thyself’ and ‘Message of the Great Master’.

At Chicago, Dr Ruisink, Dr Ruth Martin and one other lady were awaiting the Master’s arrival in all impatience. From the aerodrome the Master was driven straight to Parkwell Hotel where arrangements were made for His stay in Chicago. When the Master reached the Hotel, He was greeted by flashlight from a press man’s camera. As it always happens, no one ever gave a thought that Master might be tired after this long journey, but He was interviewed by the reporter for quite a long time. Master retired very late, at nearly 3 in the morning.

27th August. As early as 7 a.m. people started pouring in. By 7:30 a.m. over forty people had gathered together for meditation and all had wonderful experiences. Two saw Christ first, then the Master in His radiant form, eight or more saw the Master and His Master. In the evening, talk was given at Stovone Hall, the hall in a big hotel. The Master gave a talk for two and a half hour on God and Godman, Holy Scriptures and holy places of worship, in a most unique way. He explained how we can get the best out of the Holy Books and the Holy Places. He said if we summarise different religions and faiths and looked at each one, all of them are striving hard to reach the same goal which is our True Home and where God resides, so all religions if taken down in their basic form are one and as all mankind is one, so He said it was an act of a madmen to hate each other and love God, for God is One, there is no such thing that East has a different God and North, South and West different Gods for themselves. All mankind is One and there is only One God, so we should, He said, love each other rather than hate.

There is a saying: love and if love of the other cannot return your Love, then at least your Great Love will burn his hate away for you – that is what the Master teaches and He is so full of Love that when with Him you cannot do anything but love.

28th August. In the morning meditation a woman by the name of Olga Donenberg came over and said she had seen the Master long before she had ever even heard about Him. Mysterious is the way He works and great are His powers bringing whom He wants near Him. Another lady by the name of Mrs Lovepath said she had seen the face of the Master several times before she actually came face to face with Him. At the meditation she saw Christ in all Light, then the Master’s Radiant Form.

In the afternoon Master was on the air for twenty minutes. This talk was relayed to all Radio Stations throughout the United States.

In the evening He gave a talk on the Higher Values of Life. After the talk lots of questions were asked and Maharaj Ji gave replies to each and all, to everyone’s satisfaction.

29th August. More than thirty people attended the morning meditation. Many disciples of Master Charan Singh came over and said that this was the first time they had seen the Light of God. A Dr Tonbell fell down after a complete withdrawal of the soul from the body.
Again the Master was invited to the Radio Station, so He was again on the air this afternoon and gave a talk.

In the evening He gave a talk on where is the Kingdom of God and how to enter it. He explained how the Light of God can be seen by opening of the Inner Eyes. He said all outer temples were made by man and picture or images of past Masters were placed there with books written by past Masters and these are the things which for aeons of years people have been worshipping without understanding the true import of what the scriptures hold in them, thus wasting their so precious time, gaining nothing substantial. He said the True Temples are not made by the hands of man but are made by nature and in this temple God resides and He resides with you in the same temple. You all call it a body, but the Master looks on it as a temple of God, so if you really want and worship God, you must first of all realise yourself and then God. Then only can you taste the nectar of God’s Love and then only you know the true meaning of worship.

30th August. Morning mediation was given to about 30 people and all had wonderful experience.

In the evening a talk was given by the Master on what is Word – then He explained why Surat Shabd Yoga is the best and the most natural yoga suitable for the present age, to realise oneself and to realise God. He so beautifully laid before the audience the explanation of what a Godman really is and how to judge if He was a True Master or not.

A Minister of a Presbyterian Church came forward after the talk was finished and told the Master that though he had been serving his Church for the last forty years this was the first time that he fully understood what really the Holy Scriptures had to give out to man, then he said that this evening when he was meditating he saw the Master in a beautiful Light, after that with reverence he bowed low, paid homage to the Master’s feet with Great Love.

31st August. This morning Master gave initiation to 31 people, the same Minister of the Presbyterian Church who had met the Master last night was initiated and one Bishop with his wife too were initiated. The whole day Master was kept very busy by giving interviews to many people.

There was quite a crowd at the airport to see the Master off, for tonight He leaves Chicago for Washington D.C. The plane was delayed for twenty minutes.

T.S. Khanna said

Hazur, the Love of the people is not letting the plane take off.

Landed at Washington, D.C. at 1 a.m. and were met by a score of people. The dampening spirits of all who had seen so much misery on the faces of the Chicago people, just a few hours back, lifted when they perceived the great joy displayed by the Washington crowd on greeting the Master, so it is and so it will be, that one has to go through the grinding stones to give someone else pleasure and this suffering of separation will not end until one becomes One with Him Who is All and All. All these people came over to the house which was arranged for the Master’s stay – 4411, 42nd Street, NW and stayed late talking to the Master.

1st September. In the morning meditation was given in the drawing room of the house. All had experience of the Light of God and more. Master had a busy day sorting out the mail which had been accumulating since the last week and writing replies. In the evening from 7.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. He gave a talk at the Friends’ Meeting Hall. He told them that all religions were aiming at the same thing – the goal of all religious was one and He explained the equality of man, it mattered not if they were white, black, red or yellow, all men are equal in all respects. Then He explained the help which we can get through living in our own social religions but He also showed the shortcomings of all social lives. He said we should love all Masters Who had come in the past, for they had realised themselves and had become One with God, so They can also be called Godmen for after realising God the Power of God works through Them, because, He said, if we love God we should naturally love all Godmen, we should love all holy Places and Holy Books made and left by these Great Masters. If each one of us, He emphasised on this point, could only live up to what was written in the Holy Scriptures, then the Kingdom of God would come to earth and all fear of an atomic destruction of all civilisation would fade away forever.

2nd. In the morning meditations were given as usual. A Bishop came over to see the Master. He had a long private talk with Him.

In the evening the Master gave a talk on ‘Love and Attachment’. He said as God is Love and our souls being as of Him are also Love, we should therefore love God and all humanity but we should, He said, not attach ourselves to lower things which are perishable matter. Soul is that which is of the same essence as that of God, so we should attach ourselves to God, which is unchangeable permanence, and He also dwelt on higher values of life. This should not be done by giving up or running away from the world. He so many times says, you all must be remembering this, that to live like a Lotus, which grows in the filth of the underwater, it has never seen the light or the cleanliness of outer world and yet when it grows out of the filth and shakes off even the water from its petals, there it smiles in all its Glory, the world raves about its beauty, poets have risen to great success because they could so easily lose themselves in the purity of that flower, and no one has yet thought even that there is filth under that water where this flower blooms for it has no roots, living there yet no being attached in anyway to that – that is what our Beloved Lord wants all the souls to be like, once you are like that it would matter not what you did or what you were.

3rd. In the morning there were about 40 people for meditation and all had wonderful experiences.
In the afternoon a scientist came over from Louisville and had a talk with the Master for over two hours on various subjects – electrons, detrones, life, etc.

Evening talk was given as usual in the Friends’ Meeting House, He dwelt on how important the human body was. He said the only possible the soul ever has of returning to its True Home and God is through a human body, for only through this body the art of concentration can be taught, the Inner Eye can be opened and the Light of God can be seen, and so the soul enters the Kingdom of God, after realising who and what he is.

4th. Thirty or more people attended the morning meditation and all had experiences. The afternoon was spent by the Master at Reverend Shadd’s house for the Reverend wants to hand over his entire library to the Ashram and had asked Him to come and see the books.

Master took up the subject of the various yogas taught to realise God. There are many ways for beginners to start on this return to their True Home. There are different ways to come above the body consciousness. When one comes up, there is only one road and only one was. There are difficult ways which involve control of breathing and there is a natural way which is easier, the Sehaj Yoga. He said as we are not strong enough to take up the latter ways for that reason only we should take up the easiest, quickest way – for the average age of man has been shortened from one Lac years of the Golden Age, when men could put in thousands of years in meditation, to 100 years in this age and mostly the people go up 50 to 60 years. (The average life of a man does not go beyond 20 to 30 years.) The most natural way up, for that there is only one yoga, i.e., the Surat Shabd Yoga. Brief details were given out by the Master of this yoga. After the talk, film of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj was shown and other films of the Master’s tour.

5th. Initiation was given this morning to ten men and women of importance. All had wonderful experience, some saw the Radiant Form of the Master, the scientist from Louisville saw Great Light and found himself to be also Light and heard the Sound of bells.

The whole afternoon the Master spent dealing with the post.

Tonight Master held the Satsang on the lawn and by request of many the theory of the karmas was explained and many questions were put to the Master and He replied to all with such clarity and simplicity that the answers went right through the heart cleansing all doubts.

6th. After the morning meditation as usual, Master spent two hours or more talking to people there and explaining many things to the newcomers. In the evening a talk was given on the subject of devotion and faith of a True Follower, and what does it do for Him.

Washington D.C. 23rd September, 1955.

In continuation of the report sent on the 9th September 1955.

7th September: In the morning there was meditation given to over 60 men and all spoke wonderfully about their meditations and a long talk was given to the initiates on various important Spiritual Subjects.

During the day Master went with a party to the riverside for about 2 hours and films were taken of the scenes over there.

In the evening a talk was given on the subject that man should awake from the lethargic sleep and go ahead on towards his goal which is beyond physical, astral, causal an super-causal places and which is the common goal of all religions and many questions of importance were answered by the Master.

On the 8th morning of September, 1955 the Master gave a meditation sitting in the living room of the house where He was staying – 4422-42nd St., N.W. Washington D.C. Everyone had a wonderful experience. Mr Emil Christesen saw Christ on a lower plane first; then when he went further up he saw the Master in His Radiant Form. The whole day Master spent in dictating letters or writing replies in His own hand.

In the evening there was a very big function at the Pakistan Embassy to wish farewell to the outgoing Ambassador by the new Ambassador. All foreign Ambassadors, diplomats and heads of various departments and high officials were invited. The Master was invited personally by the Ambassador Syed Amjad Ali. It was a great success. Maharaj was surrounded by a crowd all the evening through. The Ambassador himself felt greatly honoured and talked with the Master at great length and asked Him to let him know when, if ever, the Master pays Pakistan a visit.

9th – Friday – Forty people attended the morning meditation with great satisfactory experiences. The rest of the day Master spent in interviewing people or dealing with the huge pile of never-lessening mail. In the evening He gave a short talk on how Kingdom of God can be brought on earth, but most of the time at the meeting was taken up by various questions and answers in detail by the Master.

10th – Saturday – After the morning meditation the Master gave a short farewell talk to those who had come from Louisville three days back and were leaving today. They were crying so much that they could hardly hear the Master. In the afternoon the Master and His party left for Philadelphia. It was a long drive. It took five hours. In Philadelphia Master stayed in Yeadon at Dr Alfred R. Smith’s house, 915 Church Lane

In the evening He gave a talk at the Friends’ Meeting House, 20 South 12th Street, Philadelphia. It was a huge hall of 400 sitting capacity but it was so full that people were squeezed in like sheep and when the Master started His talk till the end, as usual, there was a pin-drop silence. The Master dwelt on the subject of the equality of all mankind and He said we should develop the Love of God and as God resides in each and everything we should love all creatures on this earth and our goal in life should be to realise God. Then He spoke in more detail on what is God and how important it is to bring His Kingdom to earth.

11th – Sunday – 30 people came for the morning meditation and all had experience. There were many newcomers so they put a lot of questions to the Master and were more than satisfied with the enlightening answers they got.

In the afternoon Master drove to Mr and Mrs Johnson’s house in New Jersey and blessed their abode with His presence. From there He drove straight to the Friends’ Meeting House for the evening talk. Tonight He gives a talk on ‘Man, know thyself’. Maharaj looked beautiful as He looked directly into the eyes of hundreds of upturned faces and impressed on them the Inner Greatness of the man. He said all ancient and modern inventions of security and destruction came out of man and He said the books we worship today, came out of man too – microcosm is in the macrocosm Man, so it pained Him, He said, to see this highest form of life being degraded to the lowest form of animal life.

After that He explained the higher values of life and said,

Life is more than the raiment.

After the meeting three cars were sent by Father Divine to bring Him and His party to the Reverend Divine’s house for a visit.

Before any further description is given of the Master’s visit it would be better to explain who ‘Father Divine’ is in brief, for you all to get some idea as to what he is. Here his past or privat life will not be touched, only what his mode of working is. He has tried and has been successful in getting the rich to give him all that they could and then has successfully uplifted the poverty-stricken to the level of an average man. He has arranged free schooling and under his call he has done a wonderful work in this part of the world. He is a small little coloured man, has done so much socially for them that all the benefiters following him look upon him as God, which is natural, for what they know of Truth.

When Master heard of Reverend M.F. Divine and the way he has helped the poor in clothing them and feeding them and looking after the orphaned children, He naturally, out of the Great Love He has for every one, wanted to meet him, so the Master’s secretary phoned up Reverend Divine’s – better known as Father Divine – house and got an appointment. Father Divine’s hospitality was really great, when he heard of the Master he sent three cars to bring Him over. Master left the Friends’ Meeting House after the meeting for ‘Woodmont’, the place where Father Divine lives, as it always happens a crowd followed Him, so Master had about six cars following Him.
When He and His party reached ‘Woodmont’, a beautiful place on top of a hill, this house where Father Divine and his young white wife Mrs S.A. Divine – better known as Mother Divine – live is a beautiful small place. When it was built it had cost half a million dollars but was purchased for 40,000 dollars by the members of the Palace Mission, Inc. New York, one of the many churches of the Peace Mission Movement. Here Father and Mother Divine live like Kings. When the Master and His party entered the grounds, one after another dozens of guards stopped the cars but when finding that it was the renowned guests of Father Divine they saluted and let pass. When Master’s car reached the house, He and His party were amazed to see the wonderful welcome Father Divine had staged for the Master. There were scores of girls standing in rows with men at the other side, awaiting the Master’s arrival from the steps of the outer door to the room where Father and Mother Divine awaited Him. These girls in red and blue stood in rows singing with smiles on their faces.
Father Divine sat like a great King with Mother Divine by his side and a crowd surrounding him as if he was holding court.

He greeted the Master and made Him sit near him, little knowing Whom he was entertaining – so after talking a little with the Master he asked if the Master would honour the banquet he had laid down for the Master. Master agreed and so the Master, Father and Mother Divine and all the Master’s party, consisting of over thirty people were conducted to the banquet hall. All along, the girls, known as Rosebuds, went on singing. The Father sat at the head of the table with Mother Divine on his right and our Beloved Lord on his left side. Then the feast, which would do credit even to the Kings, began. About thirty dishes of meat of all kinds, dish after dish of different fish, dozens of different kind of ice creams, puddings, etc. were served, a feast which would have been a dream of delight to many a man, but turned out a sorry display to the Master’s party as all were vegetarians and looked down on this sort of worldly display, for all the Master’s followers life a high and pure life. But this did not mean that Father Divine’s generosity was not appreciated, for everyone could see that what he had he gave out, after all he has not been initiated to the beyond and so does not know that there is anything better than this what he sees in this world.

Of course Master and the Party with Him did not take anything except a cup of tea.
After the feast Father Divine gave a short speech, then he asked Master to give one. Here he made a wonderful mistake, for his followers had been taught to look up at Reverend Divine as God, they believed it with complete faith, but when Maharaj stood up in all His dignified Glory and with flashes of Love, purity and impelling force drew everyone’s attention towards him and gave out His message He told them that this world was not all and everything. He told them of the True Home of the Light within and the Way back to God. He gave out the Truth to the gaping faces. Each word He uttered drew them towards Him, that in a few minutes’ time everything else was forgotten but only He, and He remained.

Never in the history of the world such a scene was enacted before. The ‘would be’ God and the Goddess at the head of the table, the table itself overladen with food and surrounded by chairs on which sat the Master’s followers and around them stood line upon line of the Father Divine’s entourage, the banquet hall itself beautifully furnished in the most modern and luxuriate style ever possible but all this was completely forgotten by all present at that moment, it seemed as if the hall shivered to get out of the imprisonment and go to Him. Never did the Master look so beautiful as He did then, and never has He spoken with such force as He did then.

After He sat down two or three other people got up and thanked Father Divine for his kind hospitality. When Master was leaving Father and Mother Divine asked Him to come again the next day. He agreed to it.

12th. Morning meditation was attended by 31 non-initiates with the other initiates – all had very good experiences.

Dr Ruisink and Dr Ruth Martin, with a man who wanted initiation, drove up from Chicago and met the Master after meditation. The secretary of Father Divine telephoned to enquire as to how many cars the Master would require and at what time He would come to ‘Woodmont’. Master left the house at 2 p.m. and went straight to the Father Divine’s house. There He was received with great cordiality and before Reverend Divine had a talk with the Master, ushers were directed to take the Master and the party all over the house to see how Father and Mother Divine lived. All the rooms were beautifully furnished, a house fit for a King to live in. After that when the Master was with Father Divine the Master asked him in course of conversation as to what was taught here of the Inner Self. Father Divine said he only taught his people the intellectual concept of Spirituality.

When the Master referred to certain portions of Sermon of the mount, the Kingdom of God and the opening of the Third Eye, the Father had nothing to say on this but kept very quiet.

The he said,

Well, I teach them to sit together in remembrance of God.

Master said –

Well, this is really a good thing to be taught but it is only an elementary thing, preparing the ground for higher and a truer living.

Just when the Master was leaving, Father Divine had himself photographed with the Master and Mother Divine came up and asked if she could be photographed with the Master. A movie film was taken which will be sent to India and then you all will be able to see some of the scenes there. In the evening Master had huge gathering at the Friend’s Meeting House where He gave a stirring talk. He explained why it was necessary to understand the true import of the Holy Scriptures. He said Jesus belonged to the East and the terminology used by Him could be rightly understood if taken in as through and eastern eye. The Truth in the Holy Book is simple and not hard to grasp but intellectual people who have had no first-hand experience of the Truth put down in the Holy Scriptures tried to understand it through their emotional feelings or inferences arrived at by intellectual wrestling, that is why they were all subject to error. This Truth can only be rightly understood when it is seen, that can only be done if the Third Eye is opened and He said, the Kingdom of God of which everyone has heard so much can only be got by opening the Inner Eye and transcending the body consciousness.

He spoke at great length and with such convincing force that all the intellectual preachers and those who thought up till now that they know all and everything were shaken off their faith, so one by one they stood up and questioned the Master on Aristotle, Plato and on Christian Science, but it did not take Him, Who knows all, long to satisfy everyone of them, one by one.

13th. Tuesday – This morning all those intellectual giants who had so ardently questioned the Lord last night came up for meditation to find out if there was such a thing as a first-hand experience – all had experience so were convincingly satisfied, some even saw the Master, the Master’s Master and Master with Jesus Christ.

In the evening Master explained the difference between a man who has the knowledge of the Truth through books and a man who gets it by coming in contact with the Truth himself and learning it through practical knowledge. After that He explained the difference between the various yogas and why the natural yoga which the Masters teach is the best of all other yogas to reach the soul back to his True Home.

14th. – 31 men and women were initiated this morning, a Bishop and three doctors included, all had experience, one saw the Master in all Light and by His side stood Christ. Six others saw the Radiant Form of the Master. In the afternoon left Philadelphia for Washington, D.C.
Reached late in the evening and found the living room of the house where Master is going out stay – 1516 Spring Place, NW full of people awaiting the much-loved Lord with yearning hearts. Master greeted all with Great Love and gave a short talk before retiring for the night.

15th. – Left Washington at ten in the morning by Eastern Airlines for Tampa. At Tampa Airport Dr Love, Meta Graham, Lola Beverly and many others met the Master.

Master drove to St. Petersburg, Florida, in Dr Love’s car. The Great Love which all these people have for the Master was very touching.

On the Way to St. Petersburg Dr Love asked lots of questions regarding the Ashram in India. When the Master said it was a small Ashram with no temples or Church built in it, she said

But Master shouldn’t you have a big Ashram?

The way the Master turned His head and looked at her in frank surprise was worth seeing. He said,

Ashrams – I am not here to build Ashrams. I am here to build up man and make him as perfect as his father.

He shook His head and said,

I am not interested in Ashrams.

Of course they are going to have an Ashram on a mountain nearby in due course.
In the evening He gave a wonderful talk to a gathering of about 150 or more. He explained how God is defined by the Masters.

He said,

Can we see God?

If so, with what eyes? – then He said,

We do not know God, if we did we would naturally love Him and if we loved Him we could do nothing else but love all humanity, all Godmen, all Holy Scriptures and all temples. But we cannot see Him until we have realised ourselves.

16th. – Meditation was given to mostly all non-initiates and all had Inner Experience. In the evening He gave a talk on the ‘Inner Man’ and the ‘Higher Values of Life.’

17th. – In today’s meditation one saw the Master in Radiant Form and Christ was with Him and eight others saw the Master’s Radiant Form. Jean Adrian saw Kabir, the Master and the Master’s Master talking to each other. Kabir looked at Jean and said that the present Master was a True Master and He was working through Him. After the meditation Master went to Meta Graham’s house for she had made a request to have her house blessed by His presence. In he evening He gave a talk on man-body which is the temple of God, how the Inner Eye can be opened and how you can enter the Kingdom of God.

After the talk a film of Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji was shown and a few others of the Master’s tour.

18th. – In the morning meditation, given to 30 initiates and non-initiates, Jean Adrian saw Kabir, Guru Nanak, the Master and a few other Masters who stood before the repetition of the five names. This evening a talk was given on the True Religion, a True Master and a learned Man and on Surat Shabd Yoga as compared to other yogas, then some films were shown.

19th. – Monday – Initiation was given to 12 men this morning, for men came from Datona Beach. Eight of them saw the Master within and forms of other Masters.

During the day Master gave interviews and in the evening a farewell talk to all initiates.

20th. – Left for Washington by air at 9 a.m. Many people came to see Him off including Jean Adrian, Meta Graham, Dr Love, Lola Bevely and many others. Reached Washington, D.C., at 2.25 p.m. Mr and Mrs Khanna with a small crowd waited at the airport and when Master reached 1516 Spring Place, 61 others were awaiting His arrival anxiously.

In the evening Master came down to the living room for all initiates were gathered there. No talk but lots of questions were put to the Master and answers were given by Him.