ChaptersChapter 39Page 5,115

Chapter 39: No Drugs

1965Page 5,115 of 5,444
Adi Jr. left on 15 January 1965 to return to London, but Franey, Dara and Shireen stayed in India until the first of March, and they were permitted to come to Meherazad a few more times.
From 1964 onwards, Amar Singh Saigal gave talks in Hindi on All India Radio from wherever he happened to be. His talks were broadcast from stations such as Delhi, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Patna, et cetera. Bhau would write these speeches for Saigal, and then mail them to him from Meherazad. Because of certain controversies though, the Indian government had banned the broadcasting of any matters concerning living saints or gurus, so Bhau would fashion the speeches on such general topics as honesty, integrity, brotherhood and love, weaving Meher Baba's sayings throughout. Baba and all at Meherazad would listen to the talks on the radio, and it was a thrill every time Saigal would say: "... and Avatar Meher Baba says ..."
Saigal came to Meherazad to see Baba at 1:30 P.M. on 8 January 1965, and later that evening, Saigal gave a talk at the Ahmednagar Center. The following evening at 9:00 P.M., he addressed a huge crowd at the Gandhi Maidan (square) in the city.
Adi Sr. had brought Saigal to Meherazad in his car, along with N. V. Ramanaiah of Guntur, and Ramakrishnan and Bhavsar of Poona. Ramanaiah had first had Baba's darshan in Guruprasad, in January 1959, and since then had been a regular visitor to Baba whenever the opportunity arose. He was anxious to expand the work of the Guntur Center, which had opened a little less than a year previously, and Ramanaiah had been to Poona in December to get advice from Ramakrishnan in regard to the working of the Poona Center, and to collect some literature. At that time, he had requested that Ramakrishnan have Baba bless a photograph taken by Meelan Studio, and to send it to him for their center in Guntur.
Instead, Ramanaiah received a telegram informing him that Baba was calling him personally to Meherazad.
Baba touched the photograph and remarked, "This is a unique instance, my blessing my own photograph. I will be coming with you back to Guntur and I myself will do my work according to my own plans."
This photograph was subsequently installed in the center on Baba's birthday that year.
A ten-person contingent of Baba lovers from Navsari, led by Hoshang Bharucha, met Baba at Meherazad at 11:00 A.M. on Sunday, 10 January 1965. Rustom, Sohrab and Sheroo were also visitors that day. Bal Natu also arrived and was permitted to stay at Meherazad for ten days.
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