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6

 

Charles Purdom will be greatly missed not only in England, but in all parts of the world where Baba lovers reside, for those who had not met him were enabled to know and admire him through his various books and articles about Baba and also such diverse subjects as garden cities, Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw, politics and his own autobiography, Life Over Again.

 

Those of us who knew him well were able to appreciate the special qualities which made him the outstanding personality he was for he had a sharp, penetrating intellect coupled with deep spiritual awareness and this enabled him to understand and interpret Baba as few have done either in the East or West.

 

Some people thought him difficult as he often gave the impression of being cold and aloof, but those who were fortunate in winning his friend-ship knew him to be loyal, kind and ever ready to help with real warmth and understanding. He disliked smugness and hypocrisy and fought against these all his life for he was a man of absolute honesty and integrity on all levels.

 

Charles, or "C. B;" as his friends often called him, was one of the small hand of men and women in England who met Baba in 1931. He was then editor of the Everyman Magazine and wrote a series of articles on “The Perfect Master and the Spiritual Way of Life" He was drawn to Baba from the start but kept aloof from the group, though working for Baba in the ways directed by Him, and it was in these early years that he wrote Baba's biography The Perfect Master, published in 1937 and which much later was incorporated into The God-Man . It was not until 1948 that he was drawn into working in cooperation with the group for then the "Universal Spiritual League" in England was formed with Baba as President and he asked Charles to be the first Chairman. Charles agreed and took his tasks very seriously, doing everything with meticulous care. We were all then enabled to know him better and were stimulated by his many talks and writings. He felt that the really important thing was to obey Baba implicitly with all one's heart and soul.

 

All those who knew him from his early life—and they included authors, actors, poets, religious teachers and businessmen—agree he was a man of extraordinary ability, running several careers almost at the same time. He was a trained accountant, a pioneer in the Garden City Movement, a dramatic critic, author and editor.

 

In his long and varied career he had successes, failures and disappointments. He was often abused and maligned, but he never bore malice and rose above disaster with increased spiritual insight.

 

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