Memo came to Meherabad a few days later. She was disturbed, for she had found it shocking when she heard that Baba had distributed sweets to all when Jamshed died, and asked in a critical tone, "Merog, did you have to distribute sweets when your brother died? Do you know how disrespectful it looks and what some people in Poona are saying about you? Your brother dies and you distribute laddoos!"
Baba calmed her with this reply: "Mother, if you could see Jamshed as I see him, you would not only have distributed laddoos but pedahs [a more expensive sweet]!"1
Baba also explained to Ghani (in a letter dated 13 March): "As regards the death of Jamshed, you know me better than one to feel for such matters. Thousands and thousands of such brothers of mine daily die and are born, and in my sight none dies and takes birth. That day I was in the jolliest mood and mind. The jolliness was not feigned."
A short time after Jamshed's death, his wife Khorshed began staying with the women mandali at Meherabad. She had lost both her parents, and her maternal aunt was trying to persuade her to marry again. Baba intervened and gave her shelter in the ashram.
Khorshed and Jamshed had had no children except one baby boy who had died at birth. Another of Baba's followers, Behramji's uncle, Jamboo Mama, shared a similar fate. He and his wife had lost an infant son. Jamboo Mama himself died after a brief illness, at a relatively young age. Baily was present at his funeral and reported that there was a large turnout because Jamboo Mama was a beloved figure in the community: "Jamboo Mama was loved and admired by everyone — whether rich or poor — of all castes and communities. To find such a brave, sympathetic, enthusiastic, jolly-natured person, who was merciful like a parent to the needy and the poor, is very rare."
On 4 March Baba made these remarks:
Animals have instinct and humans have intellect, but those drawn to me are drawn by inspiration. They smell the fragrance of my taffy shop [love] and are attracted to it.
If you snap your connection with the world, you become free of all worries. However, if you maintain any deep connection, worries will surmount you. Bindings are like hair: The more you allow the hair to grow, the more you have to clean it, oil it and comb it. Similarly, worldly involvements are always full of unnecessary problems and difficulties and are the cause of continuous anxieties.
On Sunday, 21 March 1926, a holiday was declared, celebrating the Persian New Year of Jamshed-e-Navroz . Baba distributed jalebis at six in the morning as prasad. Seated in the cabin in Sai Darbar, the women mandali went first for Baba's darshan, followed by the men.
Footnotes
- 1.In 1956, Baba revealed: "My brother Jamshed loved me very much. He was mad with love for me. Once he was so full of love for me that he could not contain himself. The vein here [on his head] snapped and he dropped his body, but just before dying he shouted out loudly: BABA! He has come to me. He is now with me eternally."