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Dear Meher Center Family and Friends,
Jai Baba from Meher Center. This week we are remembering the
extraordinary life of Mani S. Irani, Meher Baba’s sister and close disciple,
who spent her life lovingly devoted to her Beloved Lord and Master. Mani passed away this month on August 19th, 1996 at Meherazad, India. One of the great gifts that Meher Baba gave to the world was the continued company of His close disciples, who lived for years after He dropped the body in 1969.
In the following passage, Mani recalls an intimate time with Baba:
I had a special glimpse of Baba’s tremendous giving one morning in the mid-1960s in Baba’s room. You see, in the mornings when Baba would sound the all-clear bell, we women would then go into His room. From the time Baba retired late in the evening until the time in the morning when He rang the bell for us, we never entered His room.
There was always one of the men mandali there with Him, in turns as allotted by Him. So, one of the men was with Him all the time in the night.
So, in the morning, the bell would ring and I always love recalling that little electric bell sound—tring tring tringtringtring tring tring tringtringtring—going nonstop until we just dropped everything and went inside. Even as we were going, we would still hear it.
Now when we went into Baba’s room on the morning I’m telling you about, Baba was still reclining and Mehera reminded Him to do His exercises. Very simple exercises, to be done while you’re lying down, contracting the muscles of the feet, the calves, the thighs, the stomach, the arms, the hands and so on. Baba would do them, but hurriedly and each one just a few times, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-2-3-4-5-6. But when it came to the arm exercises, when He would open both arms out wide and then bring them into His chest, He just went on and on, as if He loved doing them. Mehera told me recently that at one time she counted up to a hundred— Baba had done that exercise a hundred times, at a time!
So, on this morning I’m speaking of, I was there along with Mehera and the other women in Baba’s room while He was doing these, His favourite arm exercises. I kept looking at Him, and then I suddenly realized, “Hey, what is this!” Because this is how He did them [and here Mani gestured, both arms outstretched and then coming in toward the chest and then going out again]: giving from the heart! Taking from the heart and giving, giving, giving. And it suddenly struck me very forcibly, as if the significance was revealed to me, “This is not exercise! He is just giving unlimitedly, giving out, giving out from His heart.” I sat there watching for a while bathed in this feeling, this unbelievable feeling.
And just as I had this absolute conviction, I looked up at His face, and saw He was looking at me. Our eyes met, and He had such a twinkle in His eye! And at the same time an understanding look, sort of, “Hmm! So now you know!” And that was all.
Every time afterwards when I would see this unseen giving of His, this Love that He was giving out of Himself, it seemed not limited to the room, it seemed like it was covering the world. It seemed like streams of His Love were forming rivers and the rivers were flowing everywhere from His Ocean into His Ocean. It gave me that majestic, mighty vision of what He was giving. He used material means for His real work, for the spiritual which is the lasting thing that He has come to give. So, in each little thing Baba did, you could see His Love, love for His creation, love for His world, love for all His loved ones, love for His
smallest circle of lovers. Nothing but love.*
In Baba's Love and Service,
Buz Connor,
For Meher Center board and staff
*The Joyous Path, by Heather Nadel, pp. 737-739.
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