Kaikhushru Esfandiar Afseri, later called Raosaheb, was a Persian who came to know of Meher Baba through two fellow Iranis, Ardeshir and Behramji. In 1922 he went twice to Manzil-e-Meem in Bombay for Baba's darshan and was turned away both times. Bitterly disappointed, he resolved never to approach Baba again. Then Baba appeared to him in a dream: "In the court of a Sadguru, one should lead a dog's life! Even if you are thrown out, you should come back again and again, begging to find the entrance." Restless after the dream, he met Baidul, who brought him to Baba at the Bharucha Building in Bombay in 1924. Asked what he wanted, he replied, "To remain in your darbar!" Baba told him to be ready to come the moment he was called.
About a year later Baba called him to Meherabad, where he began living with the mandali, doing night duty at the hospital and writing about Baba in Persian. In 1927, when Baba gave the ashram officials titles, Afseri was named Raosaheb, manager of boarding. He taught conversational Persian in the Meher Ashram school, kept the ashram's lanterns, and above all took charge of the Persian boys of the Prem Ashram, among them Aga Ali and Ali Akbar (later known as Aloba). During the boys' intense spiritual experiences he alone of the mandali was permitted to sit near Baba with them, and he read Baba's messages to them in Persian.
In February 1929 Baba chose him as one of five writers. His book Kashful-Haqayaque (The Revelation of Truth) was the first book published in Persian about Meher Baba and the Meher and Prem Ashrams. Raosaheb travelled widely with Baba: on the 1929 journey through Persia Baba described him as "our general manager, handling everyone with firmness," and he arranged the buses, telegrams and lodgings. He went with Baba to Kashmir in 1930 and to Persia again in 1931, and in 1932 he was one of six mandali sent to China.
Life with the Master tested him. In 1930 he offered to sell his restaurant in Bombay to raise money for Baba's work, but returned a day later than Baba had ordered, carrying almost Rs.5,000. Baba had the notes thrown into the fire and told him, "I don't want lucre; I want love!" By 1937 Raosaheb had moved back to Bombay, coming to Meherabad only occasionally; Baba later said that he had left because of differences with the other mandali, not because of Baba. Baba kept writing to him, and in 1942 Raosaheb, who had moved to Lonavla, was overjoyed to serve by arranging food for the mandali during Baba's stay there.
At the 1958 Meherabad Sahavas Baba called him "an old, old friend of mine in a new disguise. He loves me intensely," and had him recite Hafiz in Persian from the stage. In 1964 Baba granted his request that his body be buried at Meherabad after his death. When Baba's body lay in the Tomb in February 1969, Raosaheb, who had once controlled the Prem Ashram boys in their ecstasy, wept and knocked his head against the stone walls of the Tomb; Baba had once told him that he would die only after Baba dropped his body.
