Noor Mahal

March 15, 1979

Beloved One of God,

Thank you, Mansur, for your letter of March 8. Fatima and the group are due back in about a week, inshallah. Three months can be a long time to be without one’s spouse; this is to say nothing of the effect of a mother’s absence on her children, and of a Begum’s [an honorific address used by Muslim men for their wives] absence to a large and complex household.

I feel moved to ask Fatima to compile and edit her many letteres written from Anandashram into a kind of “Anandashram Journal” or “Devotee’s Diary.” (I believe Fatima wrote that Papa’s secretary, Swami Sachitananda, has a book ready for press that will detail his memories of life with Papa and Mataji from 1949 to the present.)

Indeed, I agree with you that this pilgrimage has been a fulfillment of one of Murshid’s most heartfelt desires. As I recall, he wanted to take a group of disiples to the East to meet actual God-realized personalities, as well as to visit places of baraka. He used to mention it might happen during the Ghadhi Centennial.

In my last letter to Vasheest I declared emphatically “You are Murshid!” You’re not kidding, this trip was manifested for considerably less than $400,000! As I understand, Vasheest has been virtually broke the whole time—but then he’s used to it, and he is well-versed in the ways and means of slender resources and foreign cultures. He has certainly fulfilled the teaching of Hazrat Inayaat Khan: “You must foregoe your own hunger in order to see to the hunger of others.”

Your work in the sphere of alternative energies has Murshid dancing with delight, I am sure. One can see the fruits of your concentration beginning to ripen. I look forward to reading your article on OTEC in the May issue of New Age.

Paul Jacobs [He died Jan 3, 1979, from radiation poisoning. The film Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang speaks to the government’s suppression of health hazards of low level radiation after nuclear tests in the 1950s] was, I feel, disadvantaged in his otherwise fine efforts by his radical political connections and outlooks [Jacobs co-founded Mother Jones magazine]. You, sir, have the endless advantage of spiritual realization—which includes the ever-present baraka of Murshid and the ever-desirable realization of Fikar.

I’ll keep the faith, you keep up the good work.

Commentary on Cosmic Language enclosed. Names and address of pilgrims must await Fatima’s return, as I do not have them.

Incidentally, W.D. Begg passed away a few days after our group visited him. I believe he died a happy man, based on his last letter to me, copy enclosed.

As-salaam Aleikhum!

Moineddin