We will not meet again. Now Merwan, you have all the work and powers of the great Sat Purushs [the five Perfect Masters]. They are all focused in you. I leave everything to you."
And so saying, he folded his hands in reverence, and I felt moved. I presented Maharaj with a box of my lockets, which he surveyed with deep thought.
Baba concluded:
I will speak any day from February 15, 1942 to February 15, 1943, unannounced. It will be when all the world has gone to the dogs! And Maharaj will at the same time leave his body. It will all automatically be so. But I shall speak unannounced. You won't know even a day or an hour ahead. In the future, there will be infinite suffering for me physically, too.
No one dared ask Baba more; but when they reached Panchgani, the mandali persuaded Vishnu (the usual "stooge" in such matters) to ask more about his meeting.
Baba elaborated slightly, "I can bring down the stars ... I now have full powers ... Maharaj has handed over his side of things to me."1
Age was awed by the significance of the meeting and wept with joy. "Baba was meeting his Master, Upasni Maharaj, for the first time in nineteen years (since the time of Manzil-e-Meem, on 15 October 1922). The infinite Ocean was meeting its reflection! — but it was to be their final meeting in physical form."
At the beginning of October 1941, Baba had directed Chanji to write to Meherjee Karkaria in Iran and arrange for himself and the women and men mandali to travel to Iran at the end of November. Baba intended to stay at Bandar Abbas for a month, and then after the winter, somewhere in the interior of the country for two to three months. Meherjee had written back accepting responsibility for making all the arrangements and enthusiastically welcomed Baba to come. But after considering the cold climate at that time of year in Iran, as well as the water at Bandar Abbas being unfit for drinking, Baba changed his mind and instructed Chanji (who arrived in Panchgani for a few days on 19 October) to inform Meherjee by telegram that plans were canceled.
While this was occurring, Baba had also been directing Margaret Craske to write to Elizabeth Patterson about the possibility of traveling to America.
Footnotes
- 1.On a later occasion, in 1954, Meher Baba explained that during their final meeting, Upasni Maharaj had requested him to watch over Sakori, Godavri Mai and the kanyas.