NIGAM KESHAV NARAYAN & SUDHA
(Born 16th June 1909 – Died 08th February 1987)
The spark of Baba’s love had touched my heart deeply, so that I was getting closely drawn to Him. A great desire to serve Baba every moment was surging in my heart. Baba had become the be-all and end-all of my life although I had not yet physically met Him. His work appeared to me to be the only real thing worth doing and all else appeared to me false and illusory.
I longed for Baba’s physical contact which I began by writing a letter to Him every morning after reaching Rewa. I did this from 26th September ’48 to 10th October 1948. I received a reply to some of these letters from Baba’s Secretary Adi K. Irani that contained the reply to my letters from 26th September to 4th October 1948. Baba had expressed His happiness at the contents of my letters and permitted me to write letters to Him once or twice in a month.
In his letter Adi K. Irani informed me, “He (Baba) tells you and your dear wife not to worry about anything. He has His ‘NAZAR’ on you both and your children.” How happy were we to have received from God Baba His Divine ‘NAZAR’! — a ‘NAZAR’ for which the aspirants so fervently long and for which saints and yogis practice penance for ages and ages.
Baba’s assurance of ‘NAZAR’ was clarified to me by an incident. Adi K. Irani’s envelope which was addressed to me in English was pushed in through the door of my house by the postman on 10th October 1948 along with other letters. My 8 years old daughter Meher Prabha and 4 years old daughter Meher Jyoti brought all those letters to me shouting with joy, “Meher Baba’s letter, Pappa! Here Meher Baba’s letter!” Though none of them knew English at all, yet they sorted out from the lot Adi’s letter, which was addressed in English. When I opened the envelope I found that my both daughters had truly sorted out Baba’s letter, and this made me feel how Baba’s ‘NAZAR’ was on my whole family!
Bearing the seal of Baba’s Divine ‘NAZAR’ on me, I started my office work and Baba’s work simultaneously at Rewa. Because Vindhya Pradesh province was still in the making and in the early stage of organization, I had not much office work to do and hence I had ample time at my leisure. So I used to devote much of my time in telling people, who came into my contact, about Meher Baba and give to them Baba’s literature whatever I had. And, at home I used to translate into Hindi the book Avatar by Jean Adriel, for which Baba had already mercifully permitted me while I was at Now gong.
On 18th of November 1952, that day the footprints of the Avatar fell on the land of Hamirpur town. Humanity at large rushed and gushed to have His Darshan. Upto the 27th of November Meher Baba gave His Darshan to the public at Hamirpur town, Inghota, Sumerpur, Meherastana-Mahewa, Mahoba, Moudaha, Kulpahar, Panwari, Rath, Nauranga, Jarakhar, Dhagwan, Amarpura, Dhanouri and Bandwa.
Thousands and thousands of men, women and children took Baba’s Darshan, received His Prasad, and listened to His messages.
At village Mahewa there was no suitable place for Baba’s stay, so we constructed a small Kacha (mud) hut for Him within 10 days after returning from Meherabad. It was erected on a raised mound standing in the midst of wilderness away from the village. A short account of this Kuti (hut) has been published in the ‘July-August’ issue of the Meher Pukar, in 1960.
Baba felt very pleased to see this hut. On that mound outside the hut He washed the feet of fourteen boys, each of fourteen years of age, put His head upon their feet and gave fourteen rupees to each one of them in the morning of 22 November 1952.
During the Darshan programme on 22nd of November Baba wanted to specially see my wife and children. They appeared before Him in their garb of poverty and hardship. Parvardigar Baba looked at them with deep mercy, and I felt as if He bestowed upon them something indescribably precious. He asked in a mysterious manner the age of my infant daughter Meher Sri!
In the afternoon of 22nd November 1952, Baba gave His Public Darshan in Mahewa where I offered to Him the welcome address on behalf of the “Cosmic-Meher-Family”. Baba was pleased to hear it and He drew me to His heart. He also walked into the village and gave Darshan to many families in their homes.
In the morning of the 23rd November 1952 during the Mandali meeting in the courtyard of Meher-Astana I read out to BABA for the first time the lines of Meher Chalisa. Baba was moved to hear them and asked me astonishingly, “Have you composed these lines?”
I said, “Yes.”
Baba said again, “I feel touched by them; they have touched my heart deeply!” Baba’s whole Mandali also felt greatly moved by it.
In the afternoon of 24th November, on the way from Mahoba to Rath I got the opportunity to sit in the car with Baba. On the way Baba said to me, “You must go to Delhi with me.”
I replied, “I will surely go, and if you so order I am ready to be with you always.”
Then Baba said “I know that. I have that in mind. You are one of the few whom I think necessary to be near Me for My work.”
Baba asked Keshav’s wife Sudhadevi, “What do you desire?”
Keshav thought his wife might ask Baba for a son, since they had lost all four of theirs. He knew that she longed for at least one son. Instead, Sudhadevi replied: “Since you are found, Baba, everything is found. Now I don’t wish for anything.” Baba was very pleased with her response.
A Keshav Nigam began the introductions. He first introduced the boy Singh, who had accompanied Baba to Andhra and subsequently had run away from his home to join Baba in Dehra Dun. Baba asked Keshav if Singh was behaving normally now. He replied that there was still something lacking.
Baba asked Singh, “Do you know what real love is like?” and then explained, “The flame of love within does not even give out smoke for others to see. When you love me, you burn within yourself, and yet seem cheerful with a broad smile upon your lips. You bear the pangs of separation calmly and quietly. Even a sigh of the pangs of separation is an insult to that love!
“Attend to all your duties; you can still love Baba by dedicating all your good and bad to me. Just as you cover your body with clothes and forget all about the dress you wear all day, similarly dress your soul only once in a day with thoughts of Baba, and Baba will then be all the time with you, even without your paying any further attention.”
The youth did as Baba instructed.
The spark of Baba’s love had touched my heart deeply, so that I was getting closely drawn to Him. A great desire to serve Baba every moment was surging in my heart. Baba had become the be-all and end-all of my life although I had not yet physically met Him. His work appeared to me to be the only real thing worth doing and all else appeared to me false and illusory.
Bearing the seal of Baba’s Divine ‘NAZAR’ on me, I started my office work and Baba’s work simultaneously at Rewa. Because Vindhya Pradesh province was still in the making and in the early stage of organization, I had not much office work to do and hence I had ample time at my leisure. So I used to devote much of my time in telling people, who came into my contact, about Meher Baba and give to them Baba’s literature whatever I had. And, at home I used to translate into Hindi the book Avatar by Jean Adriel, for which Baba had already mercifully permitted me while I was at Nowgong.
Keshav Narayan Nigam did lot of literary work of Meher Baba of compilations Hindi translation & broachers. Some oh works are titled as under.
Article Sources or References:
Meher Chalisa – Meera Kale and Group (16.16 Minutes / 14.70 MB MP3 Format) | Download
Keshav Narayan Nigam
Paperback 116 pages
$10.00
Keshav Nigam’s account of his long association with Meher Baba, from his time as a young law student from Hamipur, through a phase of political activism inspired by Gandhi, to his eventual encounter with Meher Baba in the early 1950s, when he became a tireless worker in Baba’s Cause.
“This book is a wonderful history told simply and honestly by a true lover of God. It will be of great interest to anyone connected with Meher Baba.” (from Eric Nadel’s introductory comments in the book.) Published 2006
Meher Chalisa
Meher Chalisa is a Hindi prayer consisting of 40 verses in praise to Meher Baba written by Keshav Narayan Nigam. Keshav ji recited this Prayer before Baba during Nov 1952, when Baba declared Himself to be the “Avatar of the Age” for the first time, through his alphabet board. This poem or praise was later composed as a musical tribute and sung in Baba centers every where. This above recording is sung by Dr. Meera Kale and group, and is available for free download in MP3 format.
Among Meher Baba’s many ardent lovers in Hamirpur district in northern India, Keshav Nigam (1909-1987) is one of those known as a “giant in Baba’s cause.” By profession a lawyer, before coming to Baba he had been a follower of Gandhi in the struggle against British rule of India and was imprisoned for political activism. He first heard the name of Meher Baba in 1942 but did not come to accept Baba as the Highest of the High till 1948-49. Among other tireless Baba work, Keshav made translations into Hindi of Baba’s messages, circulars, and discourses. Translating God Speaks at Baba’s order, he completed the work by dictating it to a helper, despite suffering severely from Parkinson’s disease, with shaking hands, impaired memory, and speech difficult to understand. He also translated Jean Adriel’s Avatar into Hindi. (It’s quite amazing how this book by a Western woman brought many Indians to the Avatar present in their own country — thanks perhaps to Keshav’s translation.)
Also at Baba’s order Keshav wrote his own autobiography in English, and Baba said the original was to be published no earlier than 2003. Thus, although written in 1970, My Life Story with Avatar Meher Baba by Keshava Narayan Nigam was published in 2003 by his daughter, Dr. Meher Jyoti Kulshreshtha, Lucknow, in the original English-language version as requested by Baba. (It had been published in Hindi translation in 1988.)
Why Baba does what he does is often a mystery, but could we not suppose that by asking this humble person, unknown to the world, to write his autobiography in English for future publication, Baba showed that he wanted people all over the world (English being widely used as a common language in world commerce and communication) to know about Keshav as an example of a true lover of God? Keshav’s own original Hindi composition, a devotional poem/song titled Meher Chalisa, is already well known to Baba-lovers, and since it pleased the God-Man, surely it will be known to the world in the future.
Why would Keshav Nigam be worthy to go down in history? Keshav Nigam’s birthplace, the village of Mahewa in Hamirpur district, U.P., was where, in 1952, Keshav directed the building of a clay hut for Meher Baba and his mandali to stay in, situated on a raised mound amid densely forested surroundings outside the village. Keshav named the place Meherastana — the Abode of Meher. Baba stayed there for the first time in November 1952. It was at this place, Meherastana, that on February 10, 1954, Baba publicly announced that he is the Avatar of the Age, by spelling out on his alphabet board for Eruch to read out: “Avatar Meher Baba ki Jai” (Victory unto Avatar Meher Baba) — words that will resound from the lips of his lovers for hundreds of years. In an extremely happy mood, Baba “told those gathered that it was the first time in this Incarnation He had openly and clearly declared Himself to be the Avatar. And from that day on, Meher Baba continued to assert His Avatarhood in public and in private” (Bal Natu, Glimpses of the God-Man, Meher Baba, 5: 9).
In a preface to Keshav’s autobiography, Erico Nadel wrote: “It was no accident that Meher Baba first publicly declared himself the Avatar before a small gathering of friends in a remote village by a fire in the middle of a long quiet night just after hearing Keshav’s poem, ‘Meher Chalisa,’ rather than, for example, as a media event on the cover of Time magazine.”
Lord Meher by Bhau Kalchuri reports that Meher Chalisa was recited just after Baba spelled out “Avatar Meher Baba ki Jai” for the first time. But in either case, we can still note that the Meher Chalisa was recited in close proximity to that momentous event, prior to which Baba told Keshav: “You have no idea what gift you are about to receive at this moment.”
Can there be any doubt that Meher Chalisa belongs among the great prayers and hymns to Meher Baba? Keshav Nigam recited the Meher Chalisa before Beloved Baba himself not only in life but also during the seven days when Baba’s body lay in his Tomb prior to interment. According to Dr. H. P. Bharucha’s account, Meher Baba’s Last Sahavas, Keshav stood in the Tomb and recited the forty verses despite his advanced illness.
Here we bring you Meher Chalisa in English translation and in a recording of a Hindi performance of the song by Meera Kale of Jabalpur (also on YouTube). The word chalisa means “forty,” and such forty-verse songs are a traditional type of Hindu prayer often dedicated to a deity (as in Hanuman Chalisa, Ganesh Chalisa, Kali Chalisa, etc.). The verses below are followed by a glossary of names and terms from the poem, arranged by verse number. The notes are important for understanding the verse if one does not know Hindu lore.
Mrs. Meera Kale, a superb vocalist trained in Indian classical music, is the daughter of Meher Baba’s old disciple R. P. Pankhraj. Her husband, Niket Kale, is the son of Murli Kale (one of the Prem Ashram boys, who later became Meher Baba’s New Life Companion), and the grandson of Kalemama (a member of Baba’s mandali from 1926). Niket writes on his site TrustMeher.org, where this recording is available for free download: “The Meher Chalisa is widely sung amongst Indian Meher Baba Centers and homes, along with Baba’s Aarti. This composition was always sung before Meher Baba and Baba liked it very much. It is presumed that Meher Chalisa … [is] sung in the same tune as have been sung before Baba.”
TAGS: MEHER CHALISA OF MEHER BABA COMPOSED BY KESHAV NARAYAN NIGAM AND SUNG BY MEERA KALE |
