When Baba observed him, he remarked, "Nelmes will be free of all pain by tomorrow morning." Pendu and Padri nursed him the whole night, but Nelmes expired the next morning and, true to Baba's words, was relieved of all suffering.
Baba had become so annoyed with Bal and chose Nelmes to serve in his place so that Nelmes would have the opportunity to be by Baba's side continuously near the end of his life. As Age noted, "The Master is God and eternal love in human form. Can anyone fathom the depth of his compassion?"
After the police and the civil surgeon were summoned, Rustom brought a coffin and Nelmes' body was taken in a truck to the Christian cemetery near Bhingar, where his final rites were performed. A few of the men mandali attended the funeral.1
Meanwhile, Baba fasted the whole day and did not even drink water; he attended to his usual chores, which included cleaning the Jhopdi and sweeping it and the verandah.
When the mandali returned in the evening, Baba remarked, "Although Nelmes has left his physical body, his mind is still alive. Very soon this mind will take another suitable gross form, and he will definitely come in my contact again."
The following is a wonderful example of one of the ways that Meher Baba works. It illustrates how the Master would sometimes encourage the very thing he wished to do away with. In such a way, he made the mandali experience for themselves the uselessness of certain religious habits and customs, causing them to automatically cease their former ways.
People make a fanfare of holidays in the name of religion, but they forget its essence. To do away with such outward display, in the early days at Meherabad, Baba encouraged the Hindus among his mandali to observe their religious days with much pomp and enthusiasm. This naturally disturbed the Muslim and Zoroastrian mandali. Baba wished to create a situation whereby the mandali themselves would distinguish between the real and the artificial — the spiritual and the ceremonial.
On Wednesday, 29 July 1925, Baba instructed Arjun to arrange for a seven-day celebration of Lord Krishna's birthday. That morning Rustom secretly called a meeting between the Parsi and Irani mandali, who complained that Baba was siding with the Hindus in celebrating their religious festivals while he usually canceled their own Zoroastrian holidays. Baba was very upset when he found out about the meeting and called all the men before him.
Footnotes
- 1.The official cause of death was listed as "blood poisoning." Nelmes was buried in an unmarked grave; no stone was placed on his grave. It was simply numbered H.H.6 in the cemetery's record.