Beloved Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai!

From Bhau:

Trust Office
Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India
Friday, 8th November, 2002

I received all the loving emails you dear ones sent concerning Aloba, and the messages you have expressed are appropriate. Dear Ali Akbar Shapurzaman, Aloba, passed away on Tuesday, the 13th August, 2002, at 1:15 p.m., and he is now with Baba.

[Note: Aloba was in Inlaks Hospital, in Koregaon Park in Poona (across from the Osho ashram). The hospital was founded by Sadhu Vaswani. Coming next week will be Bhau's account of Baba's meeting with this Maharashtrian saint.]

Pictures of Sadhu Vaswani are scattered throughout the hospital, and because Sadhu Vaswani himself was a vegetarian, the hospital only serves vegetarian food.

>From August 5th [2002], I was in Jehangir Hospital, where last year I had my triple bypass operation. Before he died, Aloba and I would talk on the phone every day. I would ask him how he was doing.

"Terrible!" Aloba would complain. "This hospital food is killing me! Killing me, I'm telling you!"

So I suggested to him, "Why don't you have some food brought from outside?"

"No, I cannot do so."

"Why not?" I asked.

"There is a rule in the hospital. The patients are not supposed to eat outside food. If I do, and the hospital staff ask me, I will have to tell them. I cannot speak a lie."

When I was in Inlaks, the nutritionist was incredibly accommodating in preparing food for my restricted diet (no sugar, no salt, no fat, no fiber, no flavor, no texture), and after my dinner, she would pop by my room to insure that everything was cooked according to specification.

"Why don't you talk to the nutritionist?" I recommended to Aloba. "She'll fix good food for you."

"I cannot do that," Aloba answered.

The administrator also came to see me when I was in Inlaks Hospital. He asked, "How is the food?"

I answered him, "The food is not good. I don't like it."

"This picture before you is of Sadhu Vaswani, the saint. So you do one thing. Cover his picture and eat whatever you want," the administrator suggested. "Then Sadhu Vaswani will not be able to see you."

So I told Aloba, "Don't worry about the rule. It was not made by Baba for the hospital, but by Sadhu Vaswani, the saint. The staff will not ask you anything. At the most, they will ask you, 'Did you eat?' At that time you can say, 'I ate, but I did not like the food.' They will not ask you if you ate food from outside."

But, still, Aloba said to me, "I don't want to speak a lie. I will have to tell them."

Then one day, Dolly Kerawalla, Roshan's daughter, brought Aloba soup, which he drank and enjoyed.

During my phone call the last day before his surgery, though his voice appeared strong, Aloba sounded a bit nervous. I urged him, "You always tell people that Baba is God. So don't worry, and don't forget this mantra when your surgery is performed. Just go on saying, 'Baba is God.'"

The next morning, when I inquired about Aloba, he had already been taken to the operating theatre. He was given spinal anesthesia and thus remained conscious while the surgery was being performed. He continued to say, "Baba is God! Baba is God!"

Because he is a physician, Arvind Chopra, Jangoo's son-in-law, was in the operating theatre. Aloba was talking and talking, saying "Baba is God!" and other things

When the surgeon was about to close the incision, he complained that he was disturbed because Aloba was continuously saying, "Baba is God." He requested Arvind, "Please ask your patient to keep quiet, because we cannot concentrate on the surgery."

So Arvind requested Aloba, "Now you keep quiet, because the surgeon is disturbed."

"All right, I'll stop," said Aloba. He kept quiet and closed his eyes. But after some time, as soon as the surgery was over, again he opened his eyes and said loudly, "Jai Baba!"

His blood pressure dropped, and though the doctors arranged a lifesaving apparatus to help him breathe, it had no meaning, as Aloba had already joined Beloved Baba.

The surgeons had asked Aloba to remain silent, and silently, he joined the Silent One permanently.

So the last words Aloba uttered were, "Jai Baba!" Now his Jai Baba voice has spread all over the world.

Though I had been staying in the hospital, I would get reports of everything happening in Meherazad, Ahmednagar and Meherabad.

Aloba's body was immediately taken to Meherazad and kept there. The Meherazad Mandali and some who were with Aloba stayed with his body in Mandali Hall. The following day, [Wednesday, August 14th], his body was taken to Baba's Samadhi at 7:00 a.m. After prayers were performed, his body was brought down the hill to Mandali Hall at Meherabad, where it stayed until 1:00 p.m. His internment took place at 2:00 p.m.

More than 1,000 people, including many Iranis, had come from all over to attend the programs which the Sufi group were performing. Many people of India also came as soon as they heard about Aloba's departure. It shows how people liked him and loved him.

So dear Aloba's departure took place in a very joyful and enjoyable atmosphere. All the people joined the internment, and just after this, the Sufi performance began, which was beautiful.

Nevertheless, we miss Aloba. When the time would come for pilgrims to go back to Meherabad, he would ring the bell and say, "Collect your belongings and go. Don't forget anything!"

Now we will not see him, but we will miss his bell. If anyone takes up Aloba's duty and rings the bell, the charm will not be there. It will be dry.

Till the end, he remembered Beloved Baba. He said "Jai Baba" to the world and departed. It is really fortunate that he suffered only for a short duration. He must have reached the Beloved in no time. And now he will be very, very happy. It is a great thing that Aloba has won the battle of the material world.

He waited and waited and waited, and he could not wait any longer. He waited and waited to join Baba, and at last he joined Him. Aloba was the one who wanted not to die, but for the last few years, he was feeling that he would die. He was not happy. Then a change took place in him, and Beloved Baba fulfilled his wish.

Dear Aloba passed away like a hero, and we feel very proud of his love for the Beloved. He was not a honeybee, but honey itself. His passing away to Beloved Baba is great fortune for him. He was very close to Beloved Baba, as well as to all the Mandali. His simple behavior was a great gift to his dear ones, and though we are not talking about philosophy, he was setting an example of simplicity.

Aloba's life is not there for him, but he has become His. He's now happy and cheerful; he will enjoy bliss. I think he will not come back; he has joined Baba permanently and will be with the Beloved eternally.

How fortunate he is! And therefore, we must bow down to him for his love and obedience to the Beloved.

With all love and Jai Baba to you,

In His Love and Service,

Bhau

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