The next day, 26 April 1952, Agnes was taken to the Center, where she learned from Margaret that despite not receiving Baba's telegram, she was not late but "right on time!" After breakfast she was shown to the Lagoon Cabin (the interview cabin), where Baba was already waiting. None of the men mandali were inside. Agnes recounts her first moments with Baba:

There are no words to describe it. It was so fantastic. All my doubts just flew out the window. The first thing Baba did was to open his arms and put my head on his shoulder. Something out of this world happens to you when Baba puts his arms around you. It's indescribable. What I saw sitting on the couch and what I felt was sitting on the couch were two different things. Without any more rationalizing, I accepted him 100 percent. [Afterwards,] I was consciously watching him to see if he was going to make any mistakes, but deep down I had already accepted him.

I realized later on, watching him over the years, that Baba practiced what all the great teachers preached: you must be one-pointed. Forget the past and the future and be concentrated in the present. I realized that Baba practiced that to the hundredth degree. No matter what he was doing — whether he was patting a dog or giving spiritual advice or saving the universe — whatever he did, he did with the same concentration. It was absolutely fantastic! When he was talking to you, you felt that same concentration. That to me was proof of his greatness, regardless of anything else.

Margaret was called in to act as interpreter. Baba stated, "First of all, I want Agni to know that only Agni, God and Baba know what she has gone through in these six years to hold Meher Mount for me."

Agnes looked at him in surprise and said, "It was no trouble, Baba, no trouble at all." She had completely forgotten all her problems simply by being in his presence! She added, "Baba, do you know I almost got killed coming here?"

Baba clapped his hands and gestured, "Wonderful, wonderful!"

Expecting commiseration, Agnes looked puzzled and then described the close brush with death she had experienced while driving across the country with another woman to Myrtle Beach in a bad rainstorm. Baba remarked, "When maya does her worst, God has to do His best to work harder."