Enid Corfe

ENID CORFE

enid corfe

Enid Corfe worked for the Texaco Oil Company in Europe and was a friend of Meredith and Margaret Starr.
Enid Corfe & Meredith travelled by train and ferry (the Biarritz) via Boulogne and Folkestone, and reached Victoria Station in London in the cold wet afternoon.
Her contact and dialogues with Meher Baba are produced as under:
In 1931, Baba reached Combe Martin at five o’clock. They went to the 60-acre property of East Challacombe which was a few miles away and where several Western devotees were awaiting the Master’s arrival including Enid Corfe. All of whom had contributed money toward Baba’s trip to England.
Baba quickly came into public prominence by the newspapers referring to Him as the Indian Messiah. The Fox-Hearst and Paramount Film companies wired Baba (through Malcolm Schloss on 31st March) for permission to film Him on His arrival in Venice. Baba however, without explanation, did not send them a reply. When He disembarked at Venice on Monday, 4th April, He quietly left for the Hotel International, where Enid Corfe had arranged the group’s accommodations.
On 12th September 1932, British woman named Enid Corfe, 32, met Meher Baba when Baba and His group arrived in Paris.
After two weeks along the Italian Riviera, Baba entrained with all from Santa Margherita to Venice on Wednesday, 17th August 1932. Kitty was supervising every detail of their journey. They changed trains in Genoa, and Enid Corfe joined them in Milan. The compartment was packed, but they arrived safely the next morning in Venice, where they checked into the Hotel International. Baba asked everyone to rest after bathing, but no one felt like resting. As they discussed matters, Baba instructed that they take particular care to stay with Him as much as possible during the next two days in Venice. They promised to do so.
In a letter to Enid Corfe the same day, Chanji wrote:
You are now one of His dearest ones who are closest in His heart and ever in his thoughts through the love they have for him. And he is so glad you have grown so much with your love and become so near to Him, in spite of all the defects of which you are so conscious, and that you have that open and honest heart to confess so plainly — a trait in human character he always loves best.
That is why he loves you so and lovingly asked, as one of His own, to give your share in the great work for the upliftment of humanity he has ever at heart. And He is glad you have so readily responded to His call for contribution.
If I venture to explain, dear Enid, let me tell you that love is the only thing that Baba always wants and values. But He also wants some ‘sacrifice’ made selflessly and out of pure love for the cause of humanity that Baba always has at heart, and which is His only great mission in life. That is why, with all the love that his best and sincerest lovers offer Him, He demands that ‘sacrifice’ from each and every one that makes one entirely selfless and raises him or her to the heights of spiritual attainments and to the Kingdom Divine that is the goal of humanity. He has to risk grave misunderstandings and even ‘doubts’ from the best of his lovers for this.
For that love, which goes out in a selfless and benevolent spirit for the benefit of others more needy, is much more valuable than years of yoga or meditation in mountains or in seclusion, particularly so when this demand of sacrifice is made by a Perfect Master. Because a Master never demands such gifts from anyone except from those with whom He has deep, deep connections of the past, and whom He wishes to lift to special heights through this special grace, which is very rare and descends only on worthy ones.
You are one of these, hence so much of love and the demand for love. I hope you now understand.
Baba and the mandali arrived in Venice on Friday, 2 December 1932. They were met there by Elizabeth Patterson, Norina Matchabelli, Nadine Tolstoy and Quentin Tod. They then traveled by train toward London, arriving in Milan on the 4th, where Enid Corfe and another devotee met them. The group stayed overnight at the Hotel Diana, leaving at 5:00 P.M. the next evening. Baba arrived in Paris at 6:00 A.M. on the 6th and left for London at noon, arriving the same day.
Baba and His group
left Barcelona at 7:00 P.M. and arrived twelve hours later in Marseilles on 2nd November 1933. Enid Corfe and Otto Haas-Heye were there to meet them. They went to the Bristol Hotel for breakfast and a bath; afterward Baba discussed matters in private individually with Enid, Herbert and Otto.
Baba boarded the SS Viceroy of India at noon and they all sat together in silence in his cabin before it was time to depart. In a splendid mood, Baba stated, “You do not see me as I really am. This body is not me; my Real Self is far more beautiful. I am Infinite Truth. I am Infinite Love. I am Life Eternal.”
The whistle blew. Baba’s words had been so powerful that Enid, Herbert and Otto felt dazed. They stood with tears in their eyes, and Baba embraced each of them before they left. Baba and the mandali sailed for India at two in the afternoon. Shortly thereafter, Herbert returned to Spain to stay in Avila as previously instructed
In 1934, Enid Corfe came to Paris from Italy to meet Baba on 8th July. Other western Baba lovers came from Zurich and London. They stayed at the nearby Hotel Raben, since there was no room for them in the Mertenses’ home where Baba stayed.
In 1952, Enid Corfe, and few other lovers all had private meetings with Baba on the morning of the 10th May. Enid had not seen Baba for many years, and had been interned in a concentration camp in Italy during World War II. “You are one of the intimate ones,” Baba assured her. “After the 17th May, I will find time to read your notes (about her wartime experiences).”
Baba called a halt for afternoon tea and called in Enid Corfe, and few others. As tea was served, Baba narrated the story of King Janak (a Perfect Master and the father of Sita who married Ram).
On 22nd July 1956,135 guests, mostly from the New York area, but some out-of-town lovers as well, assembled in the large Palm Room of Longchamps overlooking the garden at Manhattan House. At the head table, Baba’s longstanding disciples Enid Corfe, and few others were seated with Baba and the four mandali (Adi Sr., Eruch, Nilu and Meherjee). Baba wore a pink jacket and white sadra. All rose to greet Him when He entered.
Preparations to leave the Center were made, and on 30th July 1956, in the morning, Baba came to meet everyone in the group traveling with Him including Enid Corfe to California.
Baba said He was happy; He liked the food and would stay. In a lighter mood, He played with the children for a while, met his San Francisco lovers who had not been on the trip, and gave the rest a quick embrace. Baba asked Enid Corfe what she was thinking, and she said, “I was thinking that if you take the ‘I’ out of Enid, that is the end!” Baba enjoyed the remark.
In the evening, Baba came out of His room with a tin of sugar cookies (presented to Him by Etta Mehdy, Rabia Martin’s daughter). He gave each of the group one of the powdered, star-shaped cookies. With His sugar-dusted fingers, He painted a white mustache on Beryl William’s face; playfully He touched Enid Corfe
In 1958, after several postponements, Baba’s visited visit Myrtle Beach third time. Two hundred and fifteen “birds” from England, France, Switzerland, Israel, Mexico and different parts of the United States began arriving. Longtime lovers Enid Corfe and few other western Baba lovers arrived who had met Baba during His 1952 and 1956 visits.
In 1962, Enid Corfe of America and Delia DeLeon of London arrived Poona to attend East west gathering. About 100 people were coming from America, 33 from Australia, 17 from Europe, Carrie Ben Shammai alone from Israel, 50 from Pakistan and 4 from Iran. In addition, there were almost 3,500 people from various parts of India, and 1,500 from Poona, Ahmednagar and Bombay. After several postponements, the long-awaited East-West Gathering was took place.
Meher Baba embraced Enid Corfe and other western lovers who had come to Poona in East West gathering. After embracing all, Baba commented, “Tomorrow there will be discourses. Anita has to be serious! It is something new — about the ‘Four Journeys.’

A new book of discourses is coming out (The Everything and The Nothing).


Resources

References/Images from: Various Lord Meher volumes, discontinued website's ambprasarkendra & love-remembrances, images and dates, stories etc from respective copyright owners websites or publications used with permission - i.e. In His Service, Glow International, MeherBabaTravels, MSI and MNP Collections, from AvatarMeherBabaTrust, BelovedArchives websites and from various other website sources, Books, journal etc. More information where ever available with us like letter scans, stories etc are added. Kindly feel free to Contact us with any updates, photos or corrections etc.
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