As people were standing in line to pay their respects to Baba, he suddenly stopped the program and called one of the mandali. Baba pointed to a woman standing far back in the crowd and instructed that she be brought to the front to meet him. Baba’s summons was delivered by Norina Matchabelli and received by the woman in an embarrassed manner, as neither of them knew one another. The woman apologetically explained that she had come merely to accompany a friend and did not feel inclined to meet Baba. Baba kept signaling that she should come to him. At this, her attitude changed and she walked toward him.
Baba’s hand stretched out to her with obvious joy. He had found the needing soul that, for some obscure reason, was unconsciously due to meet him. Standing before Baba, her embarrassment almost grew into a state of confusion which Baba took care of immediately in his benign way. At his words, “Do not worry. I know everything, and I will take care of you and help you,” she involuntarily began shedding tears. The reception continued as the rescued soul disappeared into the crowd. The woman’s name was Marian.
About a week later, before Norina drove to California with Elizabeth Patterson to meet Baba, she received a phone call from a woman she did not know. She told Norina, “I am the woman that you so graciously induced to meet the Master. May I come and see you? Something so wonderful has happened to me!” Norina made a date to meet her.
The woman came to Norina’s apartment and narrated the sorrowful state of affairs in her family due to the hatred between her and her daughter. Marian narrated to Norina:
My daughter and I have persecuted each other in hatred for twenty years. I have never been able to understand why, as she was born in love. Neither was I able to overcome a physical detestation for my child. I had never even kissed her!
When the Master asked me to meet him, I did not know why he was calling me. My own unhappiness had become so much a part of my life that I did not even know I was in need of help. When the Master greeted me with so much kindness, I did not remember being impressed in any way, not even to have been able to look at him closely. I was like one in a dream and woke up suddenly as if I had been carried off somewhere by an invisible friend for some good reason. I could not understand what had happened to me.
The next morning, I woke from an unusually deep sleep and found myself bathed in an ecstasy of love and bliss! It was so powerfully active within me that it made me function without my will and without thinking. I walked straight into the room of my daughter who was still sleeping and, drawn by irresistible love, stretched myself near that despised child. For the first time in the lives of both of us, we felt a bond – a bond that was more than a mother and daughter’s love! It was an experience almost superhuman. It sealed our hearts together and a new life has begun for us. My experience was contagiously felt by her, and there is a tender relationship that today reflects happiness for the whole family.
Friend, who is this man? I remember similar stories about Jesus imparting such grace of love.
Norina then told Marian a little about Meher Baba.
Lord Meher, Original Publication, Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 5, pp. 1627 – 1628.