Maria Oakhill, Meher Rd Woombye

 

 

 

Where were you living when you first heard of Baba?

 

Probably with my grandma in Brisbane. It would definitely have been Brisbane.

 

What year?

 

When I was 16, so ’65.

 

How did you hear about Baba?

 

May Lundquist. Or my grandma, one or the other. It'd be May. My grandmother and my grandfather knew about Baba. It might have been them; they were in the theosophical society with Bill’s (Le Page) parents.

 

How did you meet May?

 

She worked at the university; she used to call in on my grandmother because of that connection on her way home. And cause of Bill and his parents, I don’t know exactly how, I never asked exactly how.

 

Do you remember what they told you about Baba?

 

Well my grandmother gave me The Everything and the Nothing for my 16th birthday. I’d already met May and heard of Baba, but reading that really filled me in about it. May asked me what I thought about it and I said I really liked everything he [Baba] had to say, but I didn’t know whether he was God. And May said, I can’t exactly remember what she said, but she said God in Human form is on earth and you’re missing the boat. So I thought I’d better give it some thought and I looked at his photo and thought if he is God and he wants me to know he’s God, I’m looking and listening, I want to know whether he is. I was very impressed with his followers; it was just a gradual process really from there.

 

You didn’t know about Tony before 69?

 

Tony Oakhill? No.

 

Had you made your mind up about going to India when the darshan was announced?

 

I remember saying, discussing with someone, about meeting God and I remember saying I was frightened to meet God. I think May just encouraged us all to go. I didn’t quite have enough money, she lent me money, she lent other people money. I got a really well paying job, night shift, but I didn’t quite manage to save enough so she topped it off.

 

So someone asked about meeting God, and you thought you were afraid?

 

Hmmm...Shows how brave I was...and am.

 

When Baba dropped the body, was there any indication that you wouldn’t go or everybody just thought they’d go anyway?

 

I wasn’t affected by it; I was a bit sad... I wasn’t affected by it.

 

Well you thought you’d just go anyway?

 

Yeah.

 

Now we come to the actual process of going, you went in a plane?

 

Yea, I remember May and Donald, yea she lent money to Donald too, she lent money to George. I remember I didn’t have any Indian money yet. I remember Felix. I remember in the hotel the men used to hiss at you, that’s in Bombay, you couldn’t go anywhere by yourself, even in the hotel, because the men servants would hiss at you.

 

The first impact?

 

It’s not very memorable, my memory is being hissed at and being with Felix in a village and I was keen to buy, there were these earrings and I had no money and Felix would lend me money but the earrings weren’t practical, you needed a big hole in your ear.

 

Do you remember when you first teamed up with the girls? Christine and Ruth?

 

I vaguely remember them in the hotel with me.

 

Did you get sick?

 

I was constipated utterly, four days that was all I could think about, and you couldn’t go in the toilet, the smell was for miles around, but I think I was treated for it, there were always plenty of doctors around.

 

We were taken on a trip to see the Neem tree and Babajan’s tomb....?

 

No....I seem to remember Baba’s house where he banged his head.

 

What were your feelings?

 

I was very impressed by that, that’s about the only memory I have of that.

Didn’t we go to a Parsi fire temple? We were treated as honoured guests and we were told how lucky we were for such high up people to be so nice to us, the high priest actually served us our food, it wasn’t because we were worth anything, it’s because he held Baba in such high esteem, unheard of for him to do it.

 

And Adi K Irani kept jumping up and down and talking all the time....?

 

Telling us how impressed we should be by it.

 

The next thing is Guruprasad?

 

I remember sitting in, I didn’t have the feeling that Baba was there but I remember the bereftness of the women mandali, total wipe out Mehera, and I think Mani kept herself together for Mehera’s sake; she was a total wipe out too.

And Francis’ talk. Mani was the more dominant one, very giving, constantly giving, Mani.

 

And Francis’ talk?

 

That was lovely-- enthusiastic man.

 

What about Eruch?

 

Ah, just a rock, Eruch. The one obviously holding it all together.

 

How old were you then?

 

Must have been 19. I felt totally junior; bottom of the pile was my feeling.

 

Who was at the top of the pile?

 

Oh, Bill and May.

 

Do you recall sitting in the hall, the entertainment?

 

Mani played the sitar, she said she wasn’t good at it but she had to do something to entertain Baba and us, but she seemed fine at it to me. The women mandali showed us how to put saris on; Rano explained the painting that is in the water tower.

 

The trip to Meherabad and Meherazad?

 

We were told when we saw the coat [Baba’s coat] how important it was.

We paid attention to the coat and the painting because we were told about them and how important they are. There was a beautiful cloth on the tomb. There were no trees going up to the tomb, it was quite barren.

 

The garden in Meherazad was mostly just brick and stone edges and pots, and clipped hedges; it was a difficult place to garden. The feeling that it was edges and clipped tough shrubs to give it a more aesthetic garden feel.

 

The women mandali didn’t wear saris like the Indian women, they wore these little layers of clothing with layers of floral dresses, it was in the curtains as well at Meherazad and was a nice little hippie flavour in my taste. I liked it.

 

I think it was that trip; didn’t we go to Bombay Centre? The ladies really made an effort to reach out to us and mix with us; I remember being amazed at this old lady who looked so young, so tiny and such good skin. I was astounded how youthful she looked; they were really making an effort.

 

I think we were told when we went to the Poona centre that normally they sang for hours but for our benefit they kept it short. I was quite relieved they didn’t sing for hours.

 

Were you exhausted?

 

Yea, that’s why I was glad they didn’t sing for hours, we were exhausted by the Indian stamina.

 

Do you think it was happy, beautiful, overwhelming? In a daze?

 

My feeling about it has always been that it was the centre of my life, I had always wanted to achieve something like Olympians did and I was quite happy then that I had done it, it was totally the achievement and highlight of my life. That is totally personal.

 

 

There was no question in your mind being upset that Baba was dead or not there? No sense of grief?

 

No, not at all, that didn’t come till years later. I got back to work and it was like a fire was burning in me and I didn’t want to eat, I felt like I was being given a taste of what it was like to really want God, I hadn’t earned it or anything, I was just being given a taste of what one day I might come to, for me not wanting to eat is unheard of! Hahaha, a very rare event. And when I look back I think Baba, he gave anyone who went, he really worked on. That’s my personal feeling, he sowed seeds and ploughed the ground, it was a really long term thing, for me anyway. He really hoed the ground with your sanskaras and planted seeds in you. That’s another personal feeling about that trip.

 

 

To be honest, it was tied up with my sanskaras, but I still felt that Baba was using that to give me that experience, I didn’t have any experience in India or feelings of Love from the mandali it wasn’t until I got back and went to work that I felt it. I was astounded.

 

I don’t remember any feelings of Baba, I was impressed by the Indian’s love for Baba, but I was content to be there. I knew it was the most important part of my life; I wouldn’t have to do anything magnificent after that, I knew it would affect the rest of my life.