To tell the story of Australian poet and Mandali member Francis Brabazon’s first meeting with Baba without telling the story of the man and his search would be an erroneous and incomplete account.
About his first meeting with Baba at Meher Center in 1952, Francis wrote, “This meeting was a culmination of ten years of spiritual study and search for that ideal Guide in whom I could unreservedly place my confidence; that man who, I felt, had mastered every difficulty and obstacle which still confronted me.”*
Being a shy country boy from Australia, Francis’ pursuit of God started as a pursuit of beauty in art. The driving force since his early years had been the unique exploration of the nature of beauty and its relationship to truth. He studied and practiced various artistic mediums including music, drawing, painting and poetry. The natural progression in these artistic explorations led him to connect art with spirituality which involved studying Eastern traditions. Finally, he immersed himself in writing poetry which according to him offered the greatest possibilities for discovery.
Through Sufism in Australia, he first heard about Meher Baba in the 1940’s. His response was bereft of urgent doubt. He said about the Discourses, that it “seemed to be the work of no ordinary man, no matter how keen his intellect, how broad his commitment to humanity.”**
His life took him to the vibrant art circles of New York and to interactions with the Sufis in America, among whom he met a woman named Sparkie Lukas. Sparkie was to Brabazon what Beatrice was to Dante—a spark through love—which created an unveiling and an inner awakening. This love would remain unrequited, but it had a greater purpose. Through this inner experience he knew that he had crossed a threshold in his quest for beauty. What he did not know was that Truth was going to personify itself right in front of him, very soon.
On May 7,1952, with a group that included Sparkie, Francis headed to Myrtle Beach to see Meher Baba. At eight o’clock the next morning, he came face to face with his Beloved. Immediately, Baba said, “I’ve seen you before, but you don’t remember it. Do you?”*** Francis knew that Baba was referring to past lives.
Baba met his expectation of what he thought a Sadguru would look like. “To Francis’ well trained artistic eyes, he saw in Baba the living perfection of art. Whether it was His eyes, or the very movement of his hands and body, Baba was the embodiment of truth, beauty, and knowledge,” says Ross Keating, biographer and friend of Francis. Ross points out that the first poem he wrote, inspired by that meeting, was “Dawn through Sunrise,” in which he sees Sparkie as the dawn and Baba as the sun which gives the dawn its light, which is to say that in Baba he saw divine love as the source for all love.
During the meeting, the real moment came when Baba asked him what he was prepared to do for Him. “Will you do anything I ask you?” Baba asked. A man of firm conviction, character and strength, Francis said, “yes.” Baba ordered Francis to return almost immediately to Australia. The test of Francis’ conviction had come instantly in this order. After having found His living Master and the woman he loved, he was asked to leave, having been in Myrtle Beach only four days. This would be his first and last time at the Center.
When he left Myrtle Beach, he started recording his feelings in verse and found that his writing flowed more lyrically. Later, he described that meeting with Baba to have inspired “true creativity." This creativity was a gift from the Master that never dried up. What followed was history in the making.
If one studies his art closely, there is a vivid transformation in his works after meeting Baba. He has found the Godman who he calls the ‘World Axis,' the one eternal and unwavering source of creativity. As his skills were sharpened and distilled, art for him became a practice of devotion, “an act of talking about love; of describing the beloved.”****
It is nothing short of a grand statement when Meher Baba called Francis a modern Hafiz. About his masterpiece Stay with God, Baba said, “This book is only second to God Speaks.”***** Baba was so touched by the book that He said that in time to come, people will weep while reading it. Of his other works too, Baba was definitely a fan. Intriguingly, He made Francis re-read some poems to Him over and over. Can you imagine why? Because He wanted to memorize them in order to quote them in seven hundred years!
* Journey with God, by Francis Brabazon, p.3
** Francis Brabazon, by Ross Keating, p.64
*** Francis Brabazon, by Ross Keating, p.86
**** The Water Carrier, by Robert Rouse, p.40
***** The Water Carrier, by Robert Rouse, p.50
