They believed they had carved a special niche for themselves in Paradise by killing this kafir [infidel or heretic] and safeguarding Islam's sacred truth.
In spite of being left to die in a nameless grave, Gulrukh did not die. She could not die, because her responsibility for manifesting formless God in form was not yet fulfilled. It is not known how she survived this ordeal, but around 1900 she managed to return safely to Bombay, over 1,000 miles south, where she lived on the sidewalk of a street called Chuna Bhatti near Sion.
Years later, the Punjab regiment was transferred to Poona, and when these same soldiers saw Babajan alive there, their pride and ill-formed conceptions were completely shattered. They then understood that it was not Babajan who was the unbeliever but they themselves. Overcome with repentance for their horrible deed, they fell at the Master's feet seeking forgiveness. As long as the regiment remained in Poona, the soldiers came to pay their respects to Babajan frequently. Some of the soldiers became her devotees and served as bodyguards.1
In Bombay, Gulrukh wandered about the Pydhonie locality particularly. Gradually, her fame spread and many believed her to be a Qutub. The Mohammedans began referring to her as Hazrat , meaning Your Highness, and began worshiping her as Babajan .2 Occasionally she would meet with saint Maulana Saheb of Bandra and with saint Baba Abdur Rehman of Dongri. She would lovingly address them as "my children," and it was glorious to see how happy the ancient woman was in their company. Later, Babajan was to bestow God-realization upon both these saints.
In April 1903, Babajan sailed from Bombay on the SS Haidari on her second pilgrimage to Mecca. Although every moment Babajan was absorbed in her blissful state, aboard ship she acted quite normal. She would lovingly converse with the other passengers, reciting couplets from the Persian poets Hafiz and Rumi, and expound in simple terms about the deep mysteries of the Absolute.3 All were attracted to the old woman and eager to listen to her speak, including the crew, with whom she spoke in English.4
One unusual incident occurred during this voyage. It started raining heavily and a massive storm arose. All were terrified. People panicked, convinced the ship was about to sink. Just then, Babajan appeared on deck, seemingly unmindful of the danger.
Footnotes
- 1.According to Baily Irani, one of Meher Baba's childhood friends, all of these soldiers perished in the Dardanelles during World War I.
- 2.Baba is a respectful Urdu term for any older man or fatherly figure. With the suffix jan, it literally means dear father, and is often used to mean grandfather.
- 3.Hafiz is the pen name of Shams-ud-din Muhammad, a 14th century Perfect Master (1320–1389), considered the greatest writer of Sufi ghazals and one of the finest lyric poets of Persia. The Divan of Hafiz, his collection of poems, is widely regarded as a masterpiece. Jalaluddin Rumi (1207–1273) was also a Perfect Master poet and is the founder of an order that is known as the "Whirling Dervishes."
- 4.Among the passengers aboard the SS Haidari were Noor Mohammed Kasam Mitha, Seth Saleh Mohammed, and a professor at Deccan College (Poona) named Hyder Ibrahim Sayani, his mother and brother.