According to O-Meditation, Meher Baba and Gandhi met for the first time in 1931 while traveling on the same boat — the SS Rajputana — out from India. Meher Baba was setting out to tour various Western countries, while Gandhi was on his way to London to attend a meeting regarding Indian independence. It was Meher Baba’s first time making the trip westward, while Ghandi was a London-educated lawyer. As the story goes, the two met in Baba’s cabin and had a conversation regarding the topics of the day: spiritual disciplines and Indian independence. Being a long boat trip, they talked for three nights in a row. Baba’s secretary, by all accounts, recorded their conversation.
Because Gandhi engaged in regular, public fasts to push for political change (discussed on India Today), and Baba had apparently kept silent for six years leading up to 1931, the two men talked about fasting and silence. Baba also showed Gandhi some bit of a book about spiritual enlightenment that he was working on, and Gandhi told Baba about his non-violent involvement in the Indian fight for independence. Baba told Gandhi that if Gandhi failed to resolve things with the U.K. non-violently India would “suffer tremendously.” Gandhi seemingly admired Baba, and wished for some of the latter’s insight into “divine truths.”
