( "Benjo" / "Big Ben " )

On Wednesday, July 25, 1956, the second day we were at the Center with Baba, at about 3:30 p.m., after conducting interviews in the Lagoon Cabin, Baba invited us all — about eighty people — to walk with him from the kitchen up along the winding path to his house. When we arrived in Baba's garden, he walked over to the edge of the slope overlooking the lake and the ocean beyond. There he sat down with his back leaning against a tree. The area was quite open at that time, and we sat on the ground facing Baba.

Baba wore a garland of seven sand dollars, which were supposed to represent the seven main evolutionary stages, from unconscious stone to conscious man. (It was a gift made by Betty Thibodeau.) In a happy mood, Baba reached over to Dr. Ben Hayman, who sat near him, and took his cap off and put it on his own head.

Then, in a more serious mood, Baba said, "I want you to know that I have stayed in many, many places in India. When I went on mast trips to different places, I stayed sometimes in palaces, sometimes in dharamshalas, or special resthouses, sometimes in temples or huts, and sometimes under trees or on station platforms, where the sweepers, or untouchables, would follow me. But here Elizabeth has built a very comfortable house for me. Everything here is her contribution to me. She has given the whole five hundred acres as a gift to me. Tomorrow is Elizabeth's birthday. I am just in time to celebrate her birthday. Tomorrow I will have to embrace her seven times. None of you must give any gifts, however.

"Now the house is open. Go in and see everything, but do not run away with anything. Don't slip — the floor is very slippery! It's some kind of special carpet.

"Of all the places in the world, I feel most comfortable in this house. Even though the climate here is hot and humid, I like this place."

Baba led us all to his house and, as the most gracious host, stood on the porch welcoming each one as we entered.

AS ONLY GOD CAN LOVE, pp. 357-358, Darwin C. Shaw

28 November - 2 December 1960 Meherazad

November 1962

Baba reminded Ben Hayman, "I had promised you five minutes. Today's the day! Shall we send all these people away?"

Lord Meher on-line p.4866

Though I am the Avatar, I am past sixty and can no longer depend upon my memory, like any worldly man past the age of sixty. There is a proverb that at 60 memory begins to fail, and I will be 65* this 25th February (1958). The fun is that you all are in search of memory, whereas in my case memory seeks me!

• For those on the spiritual path I am the sun, giving them light and life. There are a very few on the path who burn themselves completely in the glory of my light. There are some who warm themselves in the rays of my light, taking care to be away from the intensity of the glory of my light; and there are also others who remain under shelter, keeping themselves shut away front the rays of the glory of my light.

Baba asked at the end, "What shall we do, Ben?" Ben Hayman answered, "I enjoy whatever you do."

The Awakener magazine. Vol.5, No.3 p.18

2 December 1960

On the morning of Saturday, 2 December 1960, 100 poor persons from Pimpalgaon Village were brought to Meherazad. Baba washed their feet, bowed to them and handed each ten rupees as prasad. He allowed Ben Hayman and Joseph Harb to help in the work. He positioned Ben on his right and Joseph on his left, during the first half of the program. Ben passed a ten-rupee note to Baba for each poor person, which Baba handed to them.

Joseph was busy giving Baba water and handing him the towels. He was keeping careful track of the number who had been washed and was amazed when, at exactly 50 (half), Baba reversed his and Ben’s positions. At the end of the program, Baba went to his room to rest, as his head ached from all the bending down.

The "Will it—Won't it " heartbeats of Meher Baba lovers wondering whether there would be an Eastern Sahavas this May or not, came to a sudden standstill—or cardiac arrest—today when Baba's car turned into the narrow lane leading to the Avatar Meher Baba Poona Centre. Long before dawn, Baba lovers were seen like bees swarming to their hive at the Poona Centre, from different parts of India, Iran, Pakistan and Aden. Several lovers from the West were also present. Dr. Ben Hayman, Mr. Joseph H. Harb, Dr. Harry Kenmore came from the United States. Mr. Peter Rowan and his wife Helen came from Australia.

As Baba's car honked its way through the narrow lane where Baba lovers were massed on both sides, loud cheers of "Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai' rang out. Meher Baba alighted from his car at the Centre at 7:55 A.M.

The Awakener Magazine - Vol.11  No.1  p.18

1958 : Myrtle Beach

Herman Alvarado's account.

When I embraced Baba,
He kept asking me how I
was feeling and I said,
“OK.” Perhaps because of
my lack of sleep, my eyes
looked tired, because He
pulled down my eyelid
and, with a penetrating
look, told me, “tomorrow,
you see Dr. Ben Hayman,”
an English physician who
had come with Charles
Purdom to the Myrtle
Beach Sahavas.

“With a good night’s sleep and some eye drops, you will
be O.K,” Dr Hayman told me. How true it was. Dr. Hay-
man gave me the comfort of my body but Baba gave me
the comfort of my soul. He knew me inside and out. I felt
so good — strong enough to volunteer to bus dishes at the
dining hall.