The Four Pillars of Meherabad

Vishnu came into Meher Baba’s contact as a teenage boy in 1918, and from the days of Manzil-e-Meem in 1922, he was always with Baba. His almost forty years of service, love and obedience to the God-Man were as close to perfect as perfect can be described. His mother, Kakubai, had died in Meherabad, and now Vishnu had laid aside his body at the Beloved’s side. Vishnu was incomparable in forbearance, and Baba was always pleased with him. Even under the most trying circumstances, he would never utter a word of complaint, and he put up with every hardship. Vishnu was called “One of the four pillars of Meherabad,” along with Adi, Pendu and Padri. Among the men, he was sorely missed.

The above is a quote from this source. In reading “Lord Meher” it’s sometimes difficult to clearly distinguish between the different mandali. I’m prompted in this post to explore the life of this pillar of Meherabad, using Meher Baba’s Life and Travels as my source of information. Vishnu Deorukhar was also known as “Bazaar-Master,” because he did the marketing for many years at Meherabad, Meherazad and other headquarters. Figure 1 shows a photo of him. The text following is taken from the just quoted source and is reproduced in full because it’s difficult to read on the actual site. I took a screenshot of the text and then used Google Keep to grab the text from the image. It did a good job and I only needed to make a few minor corrections.

Vishnu
Born : 21st June 1903
Died : 13th May 1962

When the disciple is ready, it is said, the Master appears. Vishnu Deorukhat, later known as “Vishnu Master,” must have completed his preparations in previous births, since he met Baba when just a boy of fifteen, and remained His permanently. The year was 1919, and the place was Poona. Vishnu lived with his mother just across the street from Merwan’s toddy shop located in the Kasba Peth district, a neighborhood near the river inhabited by poor fishermen. In these days, Baba would perform arti in a small room adjacent to the shop that He had established as a temple, and after prayers He gave gave prasad to all-comers. Baba was drawing many of His earliest disciples to Himself at this time.

One day while Baba was distributing prasad, a boy came forward, holding out his hands. Before he could leave, Baba asked him, “Where is your father!” Young Vishnu told Baba that his father had died and that he lived with his mother. Baba told the lad, “From now on I am your father” With these words Baba sealed the connection, which proved to be lifelong. Soon after this Vishnu’s mother, who was cooking Baba His lunch each day, complained that her son was associating with a bad group of boys and going to movies. Immediately Baba set off to the neighborhood theater, caught the boy, and slapped him several times. Shocked, Vishnu protested that he had bought the ticket with his own money. “But did you ask me if you could go to the movies? Baka scolded him. “Didn’t I tell you that I would be your father!”

From that time on, Vishnu knew that he could not do anything without Baba’s permission. Four years later, in early 1923 Vishnu was called to join Baba as one of His mandali at the Marsil-e-Meem in Bombay; and a year after that he came to live with Baba at Meherabad. During this period Baba designated Vishnu as bazaar-wali responsible for shopping and keeping the accounts. And this duty stuck throughout the years, whether Baba was on tour, in Meherabad, in Meherazad, in Guruprasad, or other places.

Vishnu accompanied Baba on His first trip to Persia in 1929 and during His sensational, high-profile visit to the West in 1932. On other tours during this phase of Baba’s intensive world travel, He assigned Vishnu the duty of sending Him a daily telegram reporting on the routine activities and health of the mandali back in the ashram. If Vishnu happened to miss a day, Baba would demand, “What happened! Why hasn’t Vishnu sent the telegram! And Baba would have His own telegram sent out asking the reason for the lapse.

From the mid-1920s until he passed anang, Vishnu was closely associated with Meherabad. Indeed, he was one of the “Four Pillars of Meherabad,” along with Padri, Pendu, and Adi Senior. Baba give them this title in the great meetings in August 1949 in which He announced the New Life. During those meetings Vishnu came forward as one of the “yes-walis” and set out with Baba as one of His twenty companions on October 16.

After the New Life Vishnu continued in his role as one of Baba’s resident mandali. He was one of Baba’s fellow-travelers when He met with His second automobile accident in Satara in December 1956. When Eruch regained consciousness and staggered out of the car with broken ribs in the accidents immediate aftermath, he asked Vishnu, who was the least hurt, what had happened. But it seems that Vishru had experienced a vision of Baba in His universal body, surrounded by effulgent light. Stunned by what he had witnessed, Vishnu could only speak to Eruch about the radiance of Baba’s face, who had appeared to him like Krishnu triumphant on the battlefield of Kurukshetra! Perhaps Baba had granted him some glimpse of the inner dimensions of His Avataric working on that momentous occasion.

Though Vishnu did not often stay at Meherabad, when Baba shifted residence to Guruprasad in Poona in the summer months, Vishnu accompanied Him there. And so it came to pass, one afternoon in 1962 shortly after the usual Sunday darshan gathering had dispersed, that Vishnu passed away after a heart attack. Informed by Goher of what had happened, Baba came from His room and sat by His old disciple, who had worn out his life in his Beloved’s service, for a full hour. “Never before have I sat near the body of any of My mandali as I am doing today by Vishnu,” Baba commented.”He is most fortunate. Vishnu is now merged in Me.”

A “smallish man of regal bearing” as Mani afterwards described him, Vishnu kept a low profile among Baba’s mandali, but was one of the stalwarts in His work. His body now tests in the men’s graveyard in Lower Meherabad next to the grave of his fellow disciple and longtime friend Nilu.

The author of Meher Baba’s Life and Travels makes the odd statement on the site that Meher Baba claimed the Vishnu was Napoleon Bonaparte in a previous life. However, a reading of Lord Meher (page 2209 online edition) makes it clear that this is not the case. What Baba actually said was:

Meanwhile, at Laksar, the men mandali had to change trains with Chatti Baba, who refused to board it. The train was about to leave when Vishnu thought of this trick: He told the mast, “We are trying to take you back to your native place, but we can’t, if you won’t board the train.” The ruse worked and Chatti Baba happily climbed on board. When Baba heard of it, he laughed, and joked, “Vishnu is short and does all the work of marketing and travel arrangements. But now I see that not only does he look like Napoleon and labor like Napoleon — even his brain works like Napoleon’s!”

A Centenary Month

I was reminded yesterday that it was in January of 1922 that Meher Baba left Upasni Maharaj's ashram to embark of His Universal Work. Here is a description of what happened during that momentous month:

As the six-month period drew to a close and it was becoming evident that Meher Baba was soon to depart from Sakori, Upasni Maharaj would tell those who came for his darshan, “Go to Merwan! I have given over my charge and authority to him. Meher now holds my key.” (Upasni always referred to Meher Baba as Merwan.)

On another occasion among a group of his disciples Upasni told them, “Whatever I had gotten from Sai Baba, I have handed over to Merwan. If you want what Sai Baba gave me, go to Merwan.”

Later, when a large gathering of disciples, including Durgabai, were present, Upasni looked at Durgabai and pointed to Merwan, saying, “This lad will shake the whole world!”

Another time when Upasni’s disciples from Kharagpur and Nagpur had come, Upasni interrupted his discourse and pointed to Meher Baba, remarking, “Up to now, no Guru has opened a college of dnyan (spiritual or divine knowledge), but he will soon do so.”

Late in 1921, Gustadji was called to Sakori. Upasni Maharaj and Meher Baba were seated together, and Upasni solemnly told Gustadji, “I have made Merwan perfect. From now on, hold on to him.”

Sadashiv was also called to Sakori in 1921. On one occasion he was sitting with Upasni, who suddenly started shedding tears and uttered, “Merwan now has all that Sai Baba gave me. Everything has been transferred to him now… . The whole burden is on his shoulders now!”

Finally, Behramji was called to Sakori in late 1921 to see Meher Baba. Upasni took Behramji aside and told him, “Your friend is now perfect. Always do as Merwan says and obey him implicitly.”

Although Meher Baba’s early disciples had a strong conviction and faith in him, hearing these words directly from one as great as Upasni Maharaj impressed these young men profoundly. Each man returned to Poona and repeated Upasni’s words that Meher Baba was perfect – a Sadguru – to several others, and this information gradually spread throughout Poona.

The day finally came that our Age had long awaited – the Avatar’s divine mission was to begin. In January 1922, Meher Baba was destined to leave Upasni Maharaj and Sakori and begin his Universal work. A few minutes before his departure, Upasni Maharaj called him into his hut and with folded hands proclaimed, “Merwan, you are Adi Shakti – the Primal Force! You are the Avatar – the direct descent of God!”

Meher Baba wept tears of bliss and bowed down at the feet of the Perfect Master. Upasni Maharaj held him in his arms for a long time and also wept, “Ah, Merwan! My dear Merwan!” There were no words left to express his love. Tears flowed as he let him leave the hut.

Meher Baba said goodbye to all those gathered outside the hut and swiftly climbed into a waiting tonga. However, his departure was delayed when Upasni Maharaj’s women disciples rushed forward to kiss his feet and have his darshan. Within seconds, the tonga galloped away to the train station. Meher Baba then took a train to Bombay. *

* It is not certain whether Meher Baba was alone when he left Sakori for Bombay, or if he was accompanied by one of his disciples from Kasba Peth, such as Gustadji, Baily or Beheramji, who may have been called to Sakori during this period in January 1922.

So this month marks the centenary of the real beginning of Baba's Universal Work. Baba dropped his body on January 31st of 1969 so he was active for 47 years in his physical form and it has now been 53 years that he has remained active in a non-corporeal form. A reference to "100 years" is made in Lord Meher. To quote:

The Westerners were called to Guruprasad for a final meeting on Monday morning, 5 November 1962, ... He informed them, "Tomorrow is the day for your trip to Ahmednagar to visit my final resting place at Meherabad, and my residence at Meherazad. I want you all to go, health permitting. Meherabad, where I will rest after dropping my body, is now like a desert. After 100 years it will flourish into a place of pilgrimage. People from all over the world will want to visit it in their lifetime. It has a definite atmosphere. Meherazad is now my residence. Mehera looks after the garden."

So in 2062, Meherabad will be a place of worldwide pilgrimage. Baba also made reference to "100 years" in the context of his remaining active for that period of time following his physical death. During that period He said, the five Perfect Masters will remain obscure and only afterwards will they become active. That would take us up to 2069.

Hafiz

The thought struck me recently that it was time to get serious about spirituality. I realised that I spend most of my time: 

• working on mathematical or programming problems
• reading books or articles on history, geopolitics or about famous people
• walking and exercising
• eating, sleeping etc.

I asked myself how much time do I spend in "spiritual pursuits", a term that for me means reading material dictated by Meher Baba or about Meher Baba. The answer was simply: not much time at all. On the other hand, I know a Muslim who prays seven times a day, two more than the recommended five, and often for quite lengthy periods of time. This contrasts quite sharply with the meagre time that I allot to my own spiritual pursuits.

By way of addressing this deficiency, I was recently reading additional commentary added by Meher Baba to God Speaks (identified as God Speaks Supplement to Part 2 of God Speaks) where he spends a lot of time discussing Sufi terms and occasionally quoting from Kabir, Rumi and Hafiz. I checked my library and found I had a copy of The Purity of Desire by Daniel Landinsky (with Nancy Owen Barton) which contains a 100 poems of Rumi. A reviewer wrote of this book:

The first full-length volume of Rumi's cherished verse by bestselling poet Daniel Ladinsky. Renowned for his poignant renderings of Hafiz's mystical texts, Daniel Ladinsky captures the beauty, intimacy, and musicality of another of Islam's most beloved poets and spiritual thinkers. In collaboration here with Nancy Owen Barton, and with learned insight and a delicate touch, they explore the nuances of desire—that universal emotion—in verse inspired by Rumi's love and admiration for his companion and spiritual teacher, Shams-e Tabriz. These poems thoughtfully capture the compelling wisdom of one of Islam's most revered artistic and religious voices and one of the most widely read poets in the English language.

This review alerted me to the fact that he had also done some "renderings of Hafiz's mystical texts" and so I managed to get hold of a copy of his book A Year with Hafiz. As I began to read the Acknowledgements, I was in for a surprise. It begins:

I thank my teacher, Eruch Jessawala, with whom I spent a lot of time over a twenty-year period. I think he knew Hafiz intrinsically, more truly and deeply than anyone I have ever met. Not one poem of mine would ever have been published without his extraordinary sanction and a profound, rare insight he revealed to me about my work. And I thank his decades-old little bamboo walking stick—that Zen’s master’s baton—that I journeyed next to for hundreds of miles in India. It lays across my computer as I write. I think my every word leans against it and upon Eruch, in many ways. For he is now the hub of me, and I a spoke he moves.

He concludes his foreward by saying:

What can I say to my dear Master, Meher Baba, for all his help and guidance? Whatever truth, beauty, laughter and charm you may find here, I would say is a gift from him, the Avatar. 

So the person that I had more or less randomly chosen to render Hafiz turns out to be a Baba-Lover who was mentored by Eruch. How amazing! This confirmed to me that I was on the right track in my choice of elevating spiritual literature because Hafiz was Baba's favourite poet and who better to render the spirit of Hafiz's writing in English than Landinsky.

Daniel at Sheriar Press, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
https://www.meherbabatravels.com/books/authors-of-baba-contents/daniel-ladinsky

I was prompted to find out a little about him and found some biographical details on Wikipedia from which I've extracted the following quote about his early life and background:

Ladinsky was born and brought up in suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, where his father was a wealthy developer. He grew up with two brothers, and had a Jewish upbring as his father was Jewish, though he was also baptized as a Catholic, as his mother was Christian. After studying in small colleges, at age 20, he enrolled at the University of Arizona. During this period he came across the book God Speaks, by Meher Baba, and poetry by Rumi, both of which had a deep impact on him. At the back of the Meher Baba book, he found the address of the five centers dedicated to the spiritual master. 

Some time later, as Ladinsky recounted in an interview, intending to drive towards the Andes mountain, he took a detour of a thousand miles, and stopped the Meher Baba Center at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. There, he met the disciple Kitty Davy, then in her seventies, who had spent twenty years in India with Meher Baba. He stayed at the Center for a few months, when Davy advised him to go back to his family, and to find a job that would let him work with his hands. Back home, his father helped him join a carpentry school. 

He worked for a few years at a carpentry job, and thereafter joined his father's investment company. Unable to find fulfillment, he visited the Meher Baba Center in South Carolina again. Then, in 1978, Davy advised him to visit the Meher Baba ashram, at Meherabad, near Ahmednagar, India. There he met Meher Baba's sister Mani Irani, and his close disciple, Eruch Jessawala. Though Ladinsky's first visit lasted only two weeks, it started a process which continued with regular visits for the next two decades, and Jessawala became his spiritual teacher. He even lived in a nearby spiritual community at Meherazad for six years, working at the local free clinic and spending time with Jessawala.

His work is not without controversy as the following quote from Wikipedia illustrates:

Scholars and critics point out that Ladinsky's poems are originals, and not translations or interpretations of Hafez. Christopher Shackle describes The Gift as "not so much a paraphrase as a parody of the wondrously wrought style of the greatest master of Persian art-poetry" and Aria Fanil describes his contribution thusly "Ladinsky does not know Persian while his poems bear little or no resemblance to what Hafez has composed". That his poems are neither written nor intended to fall under the purview of literal and/or scholarly translations of Hafiz' work, Ladinsky states in each of his volumes.

He was born in 1948 so he is a year older than me. There is a detailed interview with him to be found on this site. Anyway, I've very little of his poetry and haven't formed any opinion of it whatsoever. I may like it, I may not. Let's see how things unfold.