Sheriarji's body was taken to the Tower of Silence in Bombay.1
Baba's childhood friend Baily had been helping Memo look after Bobo in Poona. He related:
During Sheriarji's last illness, Mataji [Shireenmai] did not have much faith in the doctors at Poona, and therefore it was arranged to have him shifted to a hospital in Bombay. On the day Sheriarji was taken to Bombay, I lifted him from his bed like a flower, carried him down the steps of his house, and made him lie down in a waiting car; and in the same manner, at the train station, I lifted him from the car to a stretcher, which was carried by coolies to a train compartment. I laid him carefully over a mattress that was spread there.
At that time, taking both my hands in his warm hands and pressing them lightly, Sheriarji apologized for all the trouble I had taken for him. Then, after thanking me for all the service I had rendered, he said, "I am not hopeful of seeing you again. I am getting myself admitted in the hospital at Bombay only to surrender to death. Convey to Baba that I remembered him; also convey my love and my salutations to him. You too accept my last salutations, and always stick to Baba with politeness and respect. He is the only One to help and benefit you. You have my blessings for that."
As Baily relates, Baba's father had always been aware of the high state his son had achieved:
Years before, Sheriarji had started referring to Baba as Khuda Rashida , a Farsi phrase that means, "One who has reached God." Thereafter, in all his correspondence with Baba, he would begin by writing on the top of the page Khuda Rashida Farzan which means God-realized Son. On one occasion, Sheriarji, emptying his heart to me, said, "What I had tried to gain [spiritually] through so much hardship, Merwan has already gained. From my early childhood till I got married, I had spent my life with the sole aim of realizing God. For that I have suffered a lot and got a lot of experiences, but I could not achieve that single goal of mine. And that is because it was not in my destiny, but it was destined to my child. I sowed the seed, but the fruit was reaped by my son, and this is my great happiness. Being a family man, this joy is no ordinary thing for me. My mukti will be obtained at the hands of my Khuda Rashida Farzan. Through him, we, his parents, will become one with God and reach that ultimate goal. For me now, my death too will give eternal peace. And I am only awaiting that."
Footnotes
- 1.A joint memorial to Sheriarji and Shireenmai was later erected on Meherabad Hill near Meher Baba's Tomb.