WE MAKE ALL OF OUR CLOTHES

 
During the interchange of many letters between Manija and me regarding the Supplement to God Speaks, I mentioned to her that I felt it was very important that she write down her impressions of the two years' New Life phase she shared with Baba. Her reply was a concise description of the life of a close disciple. She said:

"There is a very practical obstacle. Believe it or not, I haven't a minute's time that does not have to be calculated, juggled, cut out and pasted to fit the pattern of our daily life and duties.

Now that Baba is in retirement for the time being, I have been trying to get on with some of my sewing and mending that I have been neglecting disgracefully these days. We make all of our clothes, including underwear. We never know when Baba may change his plans — the seclusion and so forth — and then there is even less of that spare half-hour."

When I heard that the girls did all their own sewing I reacted as a typical American and sent over a batch of nylon nightgowns. My acknowledgment from Mani was typical of those around Baba. She wrote, "The nylon nightgowns were ethereally lovely. I gave mine to my sister-in-law — not because it wasn't beautiful, but because it was. She adores nice clothes and I could not have given her anything more beautiful from America, which she has always wanted to see."