Naval then gave him Baba's address and they left. Reading the address, the man's distress dissolved into rays of hope.
Who was this man sitting so forlornly on the beach? He was a man so distraught that he was about to commit suicide by drowning himself in the sea. Why? He once had a beautiful wife, whom he loved dearly. He was completely devoted to her and sacrificed much for her happiness and comfort. Although he had complied with her every wish, she left him for another man — his best friend. It drove him to the depths of depression and he could no longer bear his misery. That day, he had come to the shores of Chowpatty Beach to end his life.
People commit suicide every day, but the Savior did not allow this suicide to happen. On the pretext of taking a stroll, he had come to the seashore and lifted the man's heart in his hands. At that moment, the man was given a new life and eventually proved an invaluable medium for the Master's work. He was Framroze Hormusji Dadachanji and he would become Meher Baba's first secretary.
Dadachanji was born in Bombay on 23 November 1892. Educated in Parsi schools in Bombay, he went to college for a year in Karachi and then learned shorthand and typing, and worked for Greaves Cotton Company in Bombay. Four years later, during World War I, he enlisted as a journalist on the hospital ship Takada . He got married in December 1916.
After the war, he worked at various jobs as a salesman, accountant and correspondent with different Bombay companies. He also worked as an advertiser and manager of movie theaters and eventually owned one cinema in partnership — the Madeleine Theater near the corner of Grant and Lamington Road. His partner was his best friend, who had an affair with his wife. The affair led to a divorce in 1920 or 1921, which was quite scandalous at the time.
The morning after the incident on the beach, Baba impatiently paced the floor and later asked Naval to go to Dadachanji's house and bring him. Dadachanji came, narrated his woes to Baba, and sobbed uncontrollably at Baba's feet.
Baba took him in his arms, patted his cheeks, and told him, "Leave everything and come to me."
Dadachanji, 31, began visiting Baba regularly and was nicknamed Chanji . After some years, Chanji was reconciled to the turn of events in his marriage which had driven him to despair, because it was his despair that had led Baba to save him.