Meher Baba Australia June – August 2020 Meher Baba Australia ‑ Divine Song

Meher Baba Australia June – August 2020 Meher Baba Australia - Divine Song Sarah McNeill The legacy of Meherabad’s early history preserves in the pale light. Daulatmai, who was standing near the memories from the ground-breaking years before Meher window, turned quickly and whispered, “Baba is dancing!” Baba began his silence in 1925. At the time when the They all rushed to the window to see. Just for one second, they women mandali were first called to join Baba, while they saw Baba’s figure in the dawn light, do a few very graceful occupied the old Post Office building near the railroad that movements and gestures. “He looked very sweet and beautiful separates Lower and Upper Meherabad, Baba used to walk in a white sadra, his hair loose, with his very slim face, and over to visit them almost every day and those were times he was singing beautifully. It was a Hindi song, ‘Apne maula especially treasured by Mehera after he took silence and ke mein jogan banu’ … a song about one who has renounced she missed so much the sound of his voice and above all, everything for God.” 1 his singing. Her recall of one particular incident gives this There are many accounts from others who heard the indelible picture: sound of his voice in the early years and who remembered … one morning, they were up at the crack of dawn, hearing him sing. Khorshed, who lived with her parents … when Daulatmai said, “Wait, wait. Baba is singing a in Bombay, tells how they were instructed by Baba to visit different song today. Can you hear him?” They stood and him daily at Manzil-e-Meem, … where she had the joy of listened … and they could hear Baba clearly … they heard hearing him speak and sing for more than three years before Baba’s voice coming nearer, and from afar, they saw his figure he began his silence. She was the only mandali at the end of Meher Baba relaxing on a dholak with Gustadji, circa 1920, Kasba Peth, Poona. Photographer not known. © Meher Nazar Publications. 2 June – August 2020 the 20th century who could remember Meher Baba’s indescribably beautiful voice. (…) Baba said, “Khorshed, look, I just composed this song. It took only ten minutes, Now I will teach you the song because I want you to sing it for me.” So Baba began singing “Premne seema …” As he sang, I would follow. Baba gave me the melody which is the same as “Ishtiake”. Baba said, if anyone sings this song every day, it’s like a prayer.” That song is called “Jalva Giri”. It is about love. “Premne seema” means, Out of everything in the world, the greatest thing is love. Part of the song, roughly translated, says: All the world is connected by love. Even little things are connected by love. Everything is drawn out of God’s love. Flowers open for God’s love. Whatever troubles or difficulties arise bring the lover closer to God. In love the king and the commoner are just alike. Even the king is brought low in love. When love is there, one is always humble Because love is most important. In those days, Baba was still speaking and singing. His voice was especially loving and beautiful. And Baba loved music. Many times he would have professional singers come and perform. He liked bhajans, but his favourite Meher Baba outside Manzil-e-Meem, Bombay, late 1922-1923. Photographer: songs were the qawwals. Baba appreciated the Asthma. Colorized by Cherie Plumlee. © Meher Nazar Publications. great love for God expressed in these songs.2 In fact, in the street Butler Mohalla, where Baba grew for his friends called ‘The Cosmopolitan Club’. Music up in Poona, it is said the neighbours would rise early, and singing were included as part of members’ Sunday to make sure they didn’t miss hearing Merwan sing his activities, and his friend Baily, whose later diaries describe morning prayers. Pendu, whose family also lived close by, much of those early years, outlined details of one such likewise recalled such moments from those days: session: In my childhood, Baba used to sing Persian poems in praise Without the accompaniment of ‘tabla’ or ‘harmonium’, just of God very loudly at the crack of dawn. Every morning at by playing his ‘dholak’ with both hands, he would sing the five a.m. I remember hearing his voice as I was sleeping in my Urdu, Gujarati, Farsi songs and ‘shayaris’ so melodiously that bed. No one in the neighbourhood would complain about it members would start swaying in the midst of the song and disturbing their sleep because they liked the song and his voice. several members would utter in praise, “Wah, wah, Merwan” They would say,“Ah! Merwan is singing”.3 and “Sabash, Merwan!”4 While at secondary school, Merwan formed a club Continued on next page 3 Meher Baba Australia - on the afternoon of the day they were due to leave, Merwan began singing with great fervour. His singing was so beautiful it captivated their attention … the sweetness of Merwan’s voice brought other guests out of their rooms. Everyone enjoyed Merwan’s singing so much they requested that he sing another and another and he continued singing ghazal after ghazal. An elderly gentleman was so affected that he complimented Merwan as he patted him on the back. “The glow on your face while you sang, and the ghazals you yourself composed to the glory of God, lead me to believe that someday you will be a great man whose name will be known throughout the world.”5 Upon their return to Poona, Shireen, seeing that Merwan was recovering from his former apparent inertia, made it clear she expected him to find a job, and Merwan went to work in his father’s toddy shop in Sachapir Street. There, as well as the daily chores, he also he used to sing, especially when a poor or destitute alcoholic came into the shop begging. At times, a customer became intoxicated from too much to drink and Merwan would sit with him and sing Tukaram’s abhangs (devotional songs). The drunkard would merrily join in, clapping his hands and singing along and in this way the toddy shop truly became a Tavern of Song, with Merwan as its keeper, distributing the wine of love to all who came 6 Mehera once remarked that this was her favorite photograph of Baba. there. Circa 1926-27, Meherabad. Photographer not known. Hand colorised by Then, when the period of his descent was Meelan. © Meher Nazar Publications. coming to an end and Merwan was spending The story of the later years, leading up to Babajan’s kiss time with Upasni Maharaj, Adi describes seeing him at and the agonising period of his subsequent descent from Sakori singing aloud as he went about his work. the state of God-Realisation back to normal consciousness, He moved about talking and singing as though he wished is documented by several of the friends who stayed close to to conceal from others his oceanic depth of experience. He had him at the time – Baily, Khodu, Lattoos and Behramji – a beautiful voice, strong, rich and resonant. … Meher Baba and so it was natural for them, when Merwan expressed spent time each day in arduous work. In the heat of the day, his intention to visit the ancient Zoroastrian fire temple when work was done, Merwanji could be heard singing. The in Udwada, that they should all travel together. Staying sound of his voice would carry across the fields and be heard at a local guest house and attending the fire temple each by the villagers. All who stopped to listen, held by the music’s morning for prayers, they would relax afterwards under vibrant intensity, would feel a deep love for this new disciple the shade of palm trees or take walks along the beach, and of Maharaj.7 4 June – August 2020 It’s an image of Baba as a young man singing his heart out for all to hear. Such occasions delighted local villagers. All would stop to listen to his song. At those moments when he was moved to sing, his melodious voice would fill the rural solitude of Sakori. Song after song would pour from him as if sweet echoes from the waves of the Divine Ocean filled the air. Listening to him too, Upasni Maharaj would occasionally shed tears of joy in testimony to the divine bliss of Meher’s songs.8 We feel it as a loss that the phonograph and sound recording techniques, then in their infancy, could not have been deployed to capture for posterity the sound of Baba singing – but have to accept that such a loss was also his wish. It is said his voice stirred the spirit of those who heard him sing, urging them to love God. Some said, His voice carried like waves … and all things would merge in its sound. … There are no words to the Divine Song. The singer utters the story in the language of song which only he and those who heard it can understand.9 Part of Baba’s legacy to us all now is surely the gift of singing bestowed on many of his lovers down the years – and we hear the music of Divine Song in all the songs sung for him wherever Baba Meher Baba gestures silence, 27 December 1950, Mandali’s quarters near the Aga Khan’s bungalow, Mahabaleshwar, India. Photographer: Padri. Hand colorised by lovers gather to praise his name.

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