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THE  GONG

The following is courtesy of the Trust, when in late January 2026 it was on their on-line newsletter.

But we were also witness to inanimate things dying for Baba. There's only one word I could use when I speak of what happened to the gong on 31st January 1969. The gong died. Died of a broken heart. That's how I like to say it.

Here's the gong I'm talking about. [Mani holds up the gong for people to see.]

My youngest brother, Adi, brought this gong to Baba in 1968, when he and his wife and children, Shireen and Dara, had come for Dara's own wedding.

Baba had me ring it for the first time. He was seated here, and the gong was placed there. Baba had me ring it, and it had such a beautiful, resonant sound; it just went on and on--a deep, mellow, resonant and yet sweet sound. It made you think of a water bird floating on waves—whooommmmmmm--on and on and on…

Baba said, “Very nice. Do it again.” I used the little gavel and rang it again and again. It just filled the Mandali Hall. It was lovely hearing that voice, that sound, of the gong.

A month afterwards, Baba was persuaded not to go over to the Mandali Hall anymore because He was weak and unwell. From about the 14th of January 1969, Baba stopped coming here to the Hall. He stayed in His room, where He eventually dropped His form, or as we say, “took off His coat.”

We can say only of Baba that He “dropped His body.” We cannot say it of any ordinary person, because we don't drop the body. The body drops us, whether we want it or not. But Baba puts the body on like a garment and takes it off when His work is done.

Anyway, Baba agreed that He would stay in His bedroom from 14th January, and that when He wanted His men mandali, they could be summoned. They could come and go from the side door, which was always used by the men when Baba wanted them at night. One night watchman would go out and another would come in, always from that side door.

Baba asked, “How do you summon [the men]?” Then He said, “Use the gong!” And He told Eruch and some of the others, “The moment that you hear the gong, drop everything and come.”

So the gong was hung up on a nail on Mehera's porch, on the side of that cupboard where Doctor Goher has her office table, and where Meheru writes, too. I would pick it up and hit it when Baba wanted the men.

The first strike would barely finish sounding and I'd see Eruch running over; once I saw him come with only one sandal on, his other foot bare, because Baba had said drop everything and come.

Now to give you an idea of the sound of the original gong, this is a baby gong that my brother had sent over the next year with Pete Townsend, who was coming here. Even this little one will give you some idea of the resonance and tone of the original gong. [Mani strikes the little gong.] I timed it one day and the sound continued for over a minute.

The last time I struck the big gong was on 31st January 1969, at about 10:30 in the morning. The men had been sent away for a while so that Mehera could come and be with Baba. I could be with Him at both times, with the women and with the men; for His work I had been given more freedom in seeing the men, for work or under Baba's direction or in His presence.

So Mehera was with Baba that morning for quite some time; we women were with Him also, and then we went back into the house, and I struck the gong so that the men would come back. That was about 10:30 or 11:00. Then the men were with Baba.

And Baba sent a message with me to Mehera, “Tell Mehera, ‘Be brave!’” And because Baba said it, she could be brave afterwards. You see, as I've said before, when Baba asks something of you, He's really giving you something. He said, “Be brave!” Therefore she could be brave. He's not asking her to be brave, He's giving it to her to be brave. So when Baba tells us, “Love Me more and more,” He’s giving it. That's why we can love Him. That is why we will love Him more and more.

So the gong was struck, and the men came over, and after that, well, what can we say about all that happened on the 31st of January? Baba's dropping His body was so unexpected, so incredible for us!

You all know what happened.
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Months later, when we finally came back to Meherazad from Poona after the Great Darshan, we really could be with ourselves, with Baba. We could drown in our private tears, in our personal memories….

So I was moving about in my world of Baba-memories, and He was everywhere in memory; it was a very deep feeling and presence.

And one day I came upon the gong. “Ah,” I said to myself, “this is the gong that I used to strike for the others to come running for Baba.” And I picked it up and struck it. And it was as if I'd been slapped. It was the deadest sound imaginable, like the flat of a hand striking a table.

I was shocked. That's the only word I can use, hearing that sound in contrast to the beauty and resonance and sweetness of the tone that had filled Mandali Hall. This was dead. The only word you could apply to it.  The gong died, as I like to say, of a broken heart, having done its service to the Lord, having been honoured to do that.

Later, one of the Indian Baba lovers, a noted physicist, on hearing this story, asked to x-ray the gong. He said that maybe it had been dropped sometime. Maybe there was a fine hairline crack in it. He was trying to find a practical cause for the lack of sound. He had it x-rayed. We still have the x-ray. Clear as anything. There is no crack of any kind.