On 30th November 1958, referring to letters Baba had permitted His lovers to
write to Him, Baba questioned Adi Senior, His secretary, about the care of
His correspondence:

        "Do you keep all the office records in steel trunks or
         almirahs (cupboards)? As a precaution against insects
         and fire, you must do this. The importance and significance
         of these records is such that you can hardly imagine today."

More than four decades later, as we engage in the vast and meticulous work of
rehousing, cataloguing, scanning and caring for Beloved Baba's
correspondence, from time to time there is a glimpse of what Baba must have
been talking about. Though the completion of this archival work will take
many more years, we would like to share some of these priceless treasures
with you.

The letter below is the first in a group of those which Baba wrote to William
Donkin between 1936 and 1952. One of Meher Baba's close Western disciples,
Donkin first met Baba in London in 1933. During the period of the first five
letters Donkin, as directed by Baba, was completing his medical studies in
hope and expectation that, when he was done, he would join Baba permanently
as one of His resident mandali. And this did happen: in 1939 Donkin joined
Baba in India and remained with Him until his death in August of 1969.

These wonderful letters show something of Beloved Baba's ways in drawing one
of His mandali into an ever-closer relationship with Him. "Heart Talk" will
present an ongoing series of such letters, to be sent out twice a month on
Tavern Talk

Jai Beloved Baba!
Archives, Museum and Research Committee
of the Avatar Meher Baba Trust

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                     Rahuri, Sept. 19 [1936]

My dear Donkin,

         I am very happy to read your letter. I know your feeling and love.
Baba's mission is to awaken Love, and nothing makes Baba so happy as Love and
its expression.

         Yes, my dear, you do belong to me and are mine - one of my dearest
ones of the Western group. That is why you feel as you do, so sure that Baba
is the Divine Self you seek and to whom you wish to give yourself up. And to
take care of those who have thus surrendered themselves unto him is Baba's
work.

         Your desire to come to India with the other dear ones of the group
is appreciable, and I would love to have you as one of my dearest, but the
plan of the coming of my dear ones is not yet fixed. It will be, probably next
month, when I will let you know, either direct or thru dear Will or Kitty,
what you should do.

         But, rest assured, my dear Donkin, that I love and you belong to me,
wherever I am wherever you are. I am so glad you are trying to help my
dear Will at the office, and this is but a small beginning of what I want you
to do for my work, in future, in the capacity for which you are being at
present trained.

         Your desire to serve me and my Cause in your own capacities has made
me very happy. Let that desire grow with your love and devotion, side by side
with your studies.

                                           All my love,

                                           sd/- M.S. Irani


Heart Talk, Letter 1, 15 December 2002
Copyright 2002, Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust
All Rights Reserved

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Tavern Talk is the electronic newsletter of the Avatar Meher Baba Trust


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