Sai Baba the Master

December 24, 2005

Soon after his encounter with her, Merwan visited Hazrat Babajan everyday.

One day, she said, of him to the other devotees, “This child of mine will

one day cause a great awakening in the world and would do immense good to

mankind”. No sooner did he return home than he began to experience strange

‘electric shocks’ all over his body and then became unconscious. For three

days he was like that, speechless and not seeing anything even though his

eyes were wide open. Later he slightly regained his consciousness. Change

of residence or medical aid could not help him. But during the course of

one year he recovered much and felt the need to find someone who could help

him to gain complete recovery. An impulse to travel extensively added to

this. Accordingly, he visited places and incidentally he also visited

spiritual masters like Sri Narayan Maharaj of Khedgaonbet and Hazrat

Tajuddin Baba of Nagpur. Later he visited Sri Sai Baba at Shirdi who

directed him to Sri Upasani Maharaj.

At that time Sri Upasani Maharaj was at Shirdi and was passing through the

climax of his spiritual progress when he seemed a lunatic to common folk.

In December 1915, when Merwan approached Sri Upasani, the latter grew

furious, and flung a stone at him. The stone hit Merwan at the exact spot

where Babajan had kissed him. This marked the second turning point in

Merwan’s metamorphosis into Meher Baba. Merwan henceforth visited Upasani

Maharaj off and on. Though as a normal lad he had to obey his mother’s

demands that he should run a tea shop, his devotional life continued and

even swallowed up the worldly occupation.

In 1921, he stayed with Sri Upasani Maharaj for six months. Most of the

time Sri Upasani was alone with him and both were silent. Towards the end

of the period, Upasani Maharaj declared to his devotees even as Sai Baba

did “I have given my charge to Merwan. This boy will move the world. I have

made Merwan perfect.”

Recommended Posts