I'm now up to page 5566 of Lord Meher, Bhau Kalchuri's epic account of the life of Meher Baba. At this point in the biography it's early 1959. Recently Bhau's health has been very fragile but latest reports say he's feeling better. The first time I met Bhau, I was with Sylvia, my wife at the time. It must have been 1997 or 1998. We were approaching the Trust Office in Ahmednagar after alighting from a public bus that we'd taken from Poona. This little guy who had been tending to some of the plants in the garden spotted us and greeted us with a most welcoming smile and showed us into the office where we made arrangements to stay in the Pilgrim's Quarters at Meherabad. He seemed so genuinely happy to see us and asked all about where we'd come from. We assumed he was the gardener and it was only later that we realised he was Baba's nightwatchman and one of his mandali.
Even back then his health was not good. Before leaving India, we visited him briefly in a hospital, in Ahmednagar I guess, where he had been admitted for observation. My last contact with Bhau was in Singapore in 1999 when he visited for a few hours on a stop-over on his way back to India from America. Sylvia and I were having marital problems at the time and he gave each of us an Indian name whose meaning he felt might create harmony between us. I can't remember what those names were now but they related to nature (rain, soil, growth, fertility or such like). It's a pity that I didn't write down more about the events at the time but this was in the days before blogs. However, it wasn't our destiny to stay together and by the end of that year it was over between Sylvia and myself.
Reading Lord Meher, it's funny to read of the torments to which Baba subjected Bhau. Of course, Bhau did not find them amusing but he endured them and it was all part of Baba's relentless demolition of his ego. In the end, Bhau has left humanity an extraordinary and priceless account of the Avatar's life on Earth. Once I finish I think I'll start reading it all over again because there's so much exquisite detail that it makes you feel like you are really there as the drama of Baba's advent unfolds. In the end, my first impression of Bhau was right. He is a gardener, Baba's gardener, and with Lord Meher he has planted a garden that will continue to grow as the centuries unfold.
Even back then his health was not good. Before leaving India, we visited him briefly in a hospital, in Ahmednagar I guess, where he had been admitted for observation. My last contact with Bhau was in Singapore in 1999 when he visited for a few hours on a stop-over on his way back to India from America. Sylvia and I were having marital problems at the time and he gave each of us an Indian name whose meaning he felt might create harmony between us. I can't remember what those names were now but they related to nature (rain, soil, growth, fertility or such like). It's a pity that I didn't write down more about the events at the time but this was in the days before blogs. However, it wasn't our destiny to stay together and by the end of that year it was over between Sylvia and myself.
Reading Lord Meher, it's funny to read of the torments to which Baba subjected Bhau. Of course, Bhau did not find them amusing but he endured them and it was all part of Baba's relentless demolition of his ego. In the end, Bhau has left humanity an extraordinary and priceless account of the Avatar's life on Earth. Once I finish I think I'll start reading it all over again because there's so much exquisite detail that it makes you feel like you are really there as the drama of Baba's advent unfolds. In the end, my first impression of Bhau was right. He is a gardener, Baba's gardener, and with Lord Meher he has planted a garden that will continue to grow as the centuries unfold.
