Meher Baba's Life & Travels
ESTABLISHING HIS CENTRE
1924 - 1929
Chapter 6 :
1. INTRODUCTION
The story of Meher Baba's advent continues from Chapter 5.
This web page / chapter 6, will
follow Meher Baba ( Merwan Irani ) in 1924 with his first close group of both male & female followers, through the rest of the
1920s.
The beginning of this page continues
the story from the previous page, with Meher Baba and his first group of men mandali ( close ones ) residing in
different locations such as Bombay, Poona, Lonavla and
in Ahmednagar. There were some long distance walks and trips throughout India in rapid succession, Baba not quite settling down in the area near Arangaon village, which was later known as Meherabad.
Click on images and maps to enlarge them, also click on the under-scored names to visit their web-pages.
1924
CONTENT : 1. INTRODUCTION
2. BOMBAY
3. 1ST TRIP TO PERSIA ( IRAN )
4. BABA IN ITARSI
5. TRIP TO KARACHI & QUETTA
6. JOURNEY TO SOUTHERN INDIA
7. TRIP TO CALCUTTA
8. VISIT TO KASHMIR
9. BABA IN BARODA
10. VISIT TO GOA
11. RETURN TO MEHERABAD
Click on the following button to visit the previous page in Meher Baba's Advent.
2. BOMBAY
December 1923
In the last week of December, Baba went to Poona for a couple of days and stayed at Sadashiv's place in Kasba Peth. Baba held a large darshan program with several hundred people attending.
Ramjoo had received a letter from Baba on the 30th December, detailing his travel plans and telling him to remain in Lonavla after seeing him on the 31st. It was signed - Merwan.
Soon afterwards, Baba returned to Meherabad without anyone knowing where he had gone to, except for a few men. He was still on a fast. On the 31st December, Baba came out of seclusion and left Meherabad for Bombay via the Poona rail line, with Beheramji and Gustadji. Baba had written earlier to Dr. Ghani and Ramjoo to meet him at Lonavla station when his train arrived on the way to Bombay. When they arrived, the men were alarmed by Baba's poor physical appearance from all the fasting, he was a skeleton, but he was also very cheerful. They gave him some cocoa and they travelled with him as far as Khandala. Baba arrived in Bombay that night and stayed at the Bharucha Building which Vajifdar had rented according to Baba's instructions. Here he maintained his seclusion but curtailed his fasting periods.
This brought the monumentous year for Meher Baba of 1923 to a close.
Ramjoo's Diaries p. 275 - 285
Lord Meher Vol. 2 p.588 - 589
JANUARY 2024
Gulmai Irani had been sent by Meher Baba to Sakori ( Upasni Mahraj's ashram ) at the start of the month to bring Mehera ( 16 ) & Khorshed Irani ( 12.5 ) to Bombay, staying at Khorshed's parents home at the Irani Mansions. Mehera's mother Daulat was also there.
Both Mehera & Khorshed came daily for Baba's darshan at the Bharucha Building.
LM Vol.2 p.589
** Note : There are NO teenage pictures of Mehera J. Irani. She would have been 16 y.o.
January continued...
During this month, Baba went with Naval Talati for a walk at Chowpatty Beach in Bombay. ( see map below ). Baba noticed a man and asked Naval to find out who is this man. A dialogue between Baba and this man Feramroz H. Dadachanji ensued, with Baba telling him he was to be part of his Universal Cinema. Naval explained to Feramroz ( later named by Baba as "Chanji" ) who Baba was and he gave him Baba's address and they left.
The man was planning to take his life by drowning but changed his mind with this new hope. He started to visit Baba and soon his family came to Baba as well.
Chanji had a cinema in Bombay called the Madelaine Cinema near the corner of Grant & Lamington Streets which he co-owned with his best friend. This friend had an affair with Chanji's wife which led to a divorce, which had led him later to contemplate suicide.
Chanji was to become Meher Baba's secretary and served him for
about 20 years.
LM Vol.2 p.589
A fuller account of this encounter is
on Feramroz's ( Chanji's ) webpage, click on the name below.
Feramroz H. Dadachanji Bombay map Madelaine Cinema Naval Talati
January continued...
Throughout January, Meher Baba fasted , but broke it on Jan. 20th. The following day, Vladimir I. Lenin died, the Communist Russian leader. ( see Historic
Timeline below )
Later the same month, Baba resumed fasting even thou his mother was very upset with his physical appearance and scolded
him.
On the 12th February, a birthday feast was held for Baba at his premises, ( according to the Parsi calendar ) with lots of food. This coincided with the Perfect Master Upasni Maharaj coming out of his bamboo cage, ending a very long confinement period.
21st January 1924 Historical Timeline :
Lenin dies : Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin, He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924.
February continued....
On the 29th February, some of the men mandali went to the Persian Consulate in
Bombay with their passports. Elsewhere, after some deliberations, Baba decided to go to Persia via Bandar Abbas instead of going to Baghdad, Iraq.
Baba determined that 8 men were to go with him.
They boarded the ship S.S. Varela on 22nd February at 7:30am and departed Bombay harbour at 9:30am.
The men mandali that accompanied Meher Baba were :
Adi K. Irani, Beheramji H. Irani, Rustom B.'Baidul' Jafrabadi, Gustadji N. Hansotia, Rustom G.'Masaji' Irani, Khodadad F. 'Nervous' Irani, Faredoon 'Padri' Driver, Hormusji Vajifdar.
The other men that were left behind were told to wait at their homes until their return.
Mehera and her mother Daulat returned to their house in Poona.
https://www.meherbabatravels.com/ship-travels/varela/
REFERENCE BOOKS
The reference books that were used on this webpage :
Lord Meher Vol.2 - Bhau
Kalchuri pages 589 -
Ramjoo's Diary - Ramjoo
Abdulla pages 285 -
The Perfect Master - Charles B. Purdom pages 67
-
The God-Man - Charles B.
Purdom pages 46 -