At five o'clock in the morning of Wednesday, 22 December 1926, Arjun breathed his last, remembering Baba to the end. This simple owner of a tobacco shop in Kasba Peth had surrendered his life to his favorite customer and served him with all his heart until the end.
Arjun was only 31 years old and the father of a newborn son. Although he had had some recent stomach problems, none of the mandali thought he would die and they were deeply saddened.
Receiving Ghani's telegram about Arjun's death, Baba remarked to the mandali, "From my standpoint, it is good that he died. He was seeing me in my real form for three days before his demise, and he is now with me. He has been given a great [spiritual] push."
Baba sent Ghani a telegram, giving instructions concerning the last rites. Accordingly, Ghani took Arjun's body to Poona where his funeral was held.1
On the day Arjun died, Dr. Bhiwalkar came personally to Bombay by car to convey to Baba a detailed report of Arjun's final hours. When Bhiwalkar arrived, before he could say anything, Baba asked him, "What was Dr. Nanji's fee?"
Dr. Bhiwalkar was astonished at this question and when Baba asked the reason, he said, "Baba, you are Master; you know everything! Nothing is hidden from you. Of this I am fully convinced. The fact is that just before my departure from Lonavla, Dr. Nanji asked me about his fee, and no sooner do I set foot here than you question me about it. I was hesitant to mention it to you as I have come to apprise you of Arjun's last days." He then told Baba the details of Arjun's demise. Baba was very pleased with his loving care of Arjun to the end and had Dr. Nanji's charges remitted by money order.
The desired bungalow could not be arranged in Talegaon by Ramjoo. In the meantime, on 23 December, Rustom arrived from Ahmednagar and suggested that Baba return to Meherabad. Baba surprised the mandali by accepting Rustom's proposal and accordingly preparations began for their return. "It was the last place that anybody in the mandali ever expected to go back to," Chanji wrote in his diary. The matchbox work was stopped, sparing Afseri the bothersome task of carrying the basket of matches on his head every day.
At ten o'clock at night on 24 December, after a stay of 20 days in Bombay, Baba with the men and women mandali left for Ahmednagar by the Delhi Express (train), reaching Meherabad the next morning at nine o'clock.
As soon as they had settled in, news was brought in the afternoon that Dr. Karkal, who had managed the hospital, had died of pneumonia. Thus within a month of leaving Meherabad, two of Baba's close disciples, Arjun and Dr. Karkal, had come to Baba.
Footnotes
- 1.Fifteen years later, when Sidhu's epileptic son went into a coma and died in Bangalore in May 1941, Baba said that the boy had been Arjun, who was now with him again. (Donkin's diary, 19 May 1941.)