To: All Dear Ones
By email:
Date: 21st February, 2002
Subject: Birth, Death and the Dream: This Year's
Amartithi and the Dear Ones Who Have Departed
From Bhau:
This Amartithi went off very well, but there were
three deaths, all caused by heart attacks, and two
serious accidents.
The initial death was that of Khoda Bakhsh from Iran.
He was a Zoroastrian, and despite much opposition from
his own community and that of the Muslims, Khoda
worked tirelessly for Baba. Feelings against him were
so extreme, he had to leave his home town and move to
Tehran. In fact, those against him went to the extent
of telling him, “If anything happens to you, none of
us will help you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Khoda replied, “I am going to see
my Father, and He will take care of me.”
Khoda would often come to Meherad for the Amartithi
celebrations. This time, when he reached Bombay, he
told his wife and others, "If I die at Meherabad, my
body should not be taken back to Iran. I should be
cremated at Meherabad."
After Khoda expired, I took Khoda’s wife to the
Samadhi and prayed for him, and on the 30th of
January, I escorted her on a full tour of the new
pilgrim site. I also appointed her pandal inspector,
and asked her to find any defects in it. She was so
happy, she would examine the pandal, as if she were
inspector. The contractor did indeed pay attention to
her. She felt so happy, On the 31st of January, I
brought her on stage to sit with me. She left
Meherabad with joy, and she felt touched with Baba’s
love.
She also suffered along with Khoda Baksh because
people were criticizing Baba. Now, she will do the
same work that Khoda was doing.
40 to 50 people from Iran, Zoroastrians as well as
Muslims, came this year, and I felt great joy to see
them in such good spirits. From the stage on the 1st
of February, I gave a standing invitation for all
Irani Baba lovers to attend Amartithi. They were
very, very happy to hear this announcement.
The second death was on the 28th of January. Sri
Prakash Rao was from Vijayawada, in Andhra Pradesh.
When I was on my Andhra tour in October, he had wanted
to see us in Vijayawada the night we came in on the
train, but it was not possible for him. So he came to
Hyderabad and met us. He was not very old, only sixty
nine, but his health was not good. He was working as
a volunteer during Amartithi and was coming back from
Upper Meherabad to Lower Meherabad, when he died in
one minute. No doctor was able attend to him; they
could attend only to the death certificate.
The third person was Akarte, from Arvi, Maharashtra,
who had also had come to the Amartithi celebrations as
a volunteer.
Khoda Bakhsh was cremated at Meherabad. Because their
relatives wanted their bodies, Prasad Rao and Akarte
were sent to their respective homeplaces.
How fortunate and blessed they are that they expired
while working for the Beloved!
This time I did not handle the arrangements for these
pilgrims. In the same way that Baba had appointed
Padri Kaka to handle the work of Khandya, that is,
giving shoulder to (carrying) the dead body, I
appointed Jal Dastur to take care of the procedures.
Since Jal was doing this work, I was happy. I took
part in the funeral of Khoda Bakhsh and prayed for
Arkate. I also consoled all of his relatives from
Arvi. But Prasad Rao was taken away at night, so I
could not see his body.
Last year at Meherabad, only one woman (from Lucknow)
died on 31st of January, and one person from Bombay,
Gulab Das Panchal, died on the 10th of July, Silence
Day. We cremated him while keeping silence. He must
have been suffering because of his longing for the
Beloved, and at the end, he became silent for all time
and the example for keeping silence on the 10th of
July. How peaceful he must be!
One person from Andhra had also died in 1999. So it
appears these individuals are getting liberation, and
it is a great thing. They are the very fortunate
ones. In fact, their names may be inscribed in the
Memorial Tower.
It is a joy for Baba lovers that they are not afraid
of death and feel a great joy when anyone dies here.
Up until now, people have died of heart attacks. It
is good that they haven't suffered, but die
immediately. Fortunate they are. But the fact that
pilgrims feel those who die at Meherabad are really
fortunate will cause us a problem. It seems that Baba
lovers are contemplating dying at Meherabad during
Amartithi.
But only those people who are destined to die at
Meherabad will die here. If people start coming just
to die, it will not happen. Even if you are old,
diseased, disabled or weak and come with the
intention of dying, if it is not destined, you will
not die.
*******
These deaths reminded me of a talk that I gave at the
Pilgrim Center on the 28th of January. M.A. [Anita
Denison] was especially moved by this talk, and it
seems appropriate to include it here.
“Who Am I?” No one can say when this Whim came,
because there is no existence of time. So when this
Whim came, Creation started. We all know, and we
believe that all kingdoms are there: Gas, Stone,
Vegetable, Worm, Fish, Bird, and Animal. But we don’t
know what they are, or how they have come into
Creation.
We are all dreaming, and we only come to know about
the Dream by waking up from the Dream. In the Dream
we take birth; in the Dream we grow up, in the Dream
we do different things, and in the Dream we die. So
we forget Reality while in this Dream. And it takes a
long time to pass through each kingdom: Gas, Stone,
Vegetable, Worm, Fish, Bird, and Animal. All the
stages are in the Dream. Births and deaths are also
in the Dream. In fact, there is nothing like “birth
and death.” It does not happen: No birth, no death.
Only one Birth and one Death. When you come into
Creation, Birth is there. Death is when you become
one with God, become the Reality.
So in order to know Reality, we must wake up from the
Dream. How to wake up from the Dream? Only love for
God helps us to wake up from the Dream. If we have
this one thing, Love, one day we will definitely wake
up.
There are good dreams and bad dreams, happy and
miserable. Sometimes we are happy. Sometimes we are
miserable. But this is all a Dream. On the contrary,
what happens? When we are happy, we forget God. We
just want more and more happiness, more and more. But
when there is suffering, we say, “Oh God!” We
remember God.
So whatever we do, it happens because God exists in us
all. Without God nothing happens. We are in sound
sleep, and we just enjoy.
So how can we get out of that sound sleep?
If someone comes and gives us a slap, then immediately
we wake up! Or if we are seeing a happy dream, then
we want to prolong it and see it more and more. So it
goes on and on. It is really a good fortune that we
have come in contact with that One who wakes us up
from this Dream.
There are two states: Hell and Heaven. These two
states are also states of the Dream. We think that if
we go to Heaven, it is very good, and we will enjoy.
But these are temporary states. Really speaking, when
you go to Paradise, you really enjoy. Paradise means
above Hell and Heaven. Those who come in contact with
Him, those who remember Him, those who love Him, they
cross the limit of Hell and Heaven. There is no Hell
and Heaven for them.
Baba would tell us that when one of His lovers would
die that “so-and-so has come to Me.”
People would think, “How do people go to Him?”
Once, it so happened that many families had come to
Guruprasad. Children were crawling all over. Mothers
and fathers were feeling embarrassed because their
children were crawling here and there.
Baba looked at the parents, and He smiled. Baba said,
“You wonder how these children have come to Me? When
I receive a message that someone has died, and I send
the reply that they have ‘Come to Me,’ this is one of
the ways they ‘Come to Me.’”
There are three ways that people come to Him. Some
get Liberation, some get God Realization, and some
come back again to the Dream. But this Dream they see
in order to wake up! Those who get Liberation remain
in Paradise all the time, and those who get God
Realization become one with God, so they do not come
back.
When any Drop comes out of the Ocean, that is the
“Birthday” of the Drop. When it merges in the Ocean,
that is the end of the “Birth,” and it is the “Death”
of the Drop form. So there is only one Birth and one
Death, and in between, for ages and ages, there is a
long Dream. In this Dream, one passes through the
seven kingdoms and the human form, but these are all
illusory birthdays.
****
Also at this year’s Amartithi, one person fell while
he was loading a bus,. He was seriously hurt and
hospitalized. Because he was in a position to travel,
he was sent to his home in Andhra.
And Raphael Villafane was coming from Upper Meherabad
to Lower Meherabad on his motorcycle when he was
struck by a jeep. He, too, was sent to the hospital,
but was released. He is all right. I met him
yesterday, and now he walks.
These two accidental cases are not very serious, and
these individuals received a good Prasad from Baba, so
that they may remember Him all the time!
Though they were very good talks, the ones I gave on
Amartithi (on the 31st of January and the 1st of
February) were not recorded by Freeman I don't know
why he did not record them . Mother M [Misti ] and
Mother B [Barbara Brustman] liked them very, very
much, but now those talks are gone, gone with the
wind. [Note to Pilgrims: Did anyone record on tape
or video these talks? Please email
shiva2001@indiatimes.com if you did.] I also gave a
third talk on the 1st of February to the workers, but
as they wanted it given in Hindi, I delivered it in
that language.
Beloved Baba was very active during Amartithi. In
spite of deaths and accidents, thousands of people
felt His active presence in their hearts, and there
was joy all over. Though there were also tears, they
were tears of joy.
The Iranian lovers are still here, and they gave a
very good, very forceful performance yesterday at
Meherazad. They dance, sing and play the drums (which
are called, in Persian, Daph). This drum is quite a
new instrument in India, but it sounds very good. It
attracts all the noisy people and keeps them quiet!
So now Amartithi programs are over, and we are also
over all these deaths and accidents.
Work for the Birthday Celebration is starting,
including practice for the play RUMI.
In His love and Service,
Bhau
Trust Office
Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India
11th February, 2002
