Murphet came to Swami a long, long time ago. An Australian, he had seen action in World War II as a soldier. War over, he turned, being of a spiritual bent of mind, towards oriental philosophy, Theosophy, occultism, etc. In his explorations, he came across a book on Shirdi Baba. About this he writes:

It was a book written by an Englishman [The Incredible Sai Baba, by Arthur Osborne] and published in England that first introduced me to the strange, fascinating figure known as Sai Baba of Shirdi. Later I learned more about this miracle-working God-man from other writings, including the four-volume biography by B.V. Narasimha Swami, but from the first introduction to him, I felt a deep stir within me – as if something pulled on a cord attached to the core of my innermost self. I could not understand what it meant.

Murphet picked up the book on Shirdi Baba (sometime in the early sixties) while in England. Later he toured Europe, and started on the return journey to his native land.