Lord Meher, the 20-volume biography of Avatar Meher Baba. !! All 6,742 pages of Avatar Meher Baba’s Biography “Lord Meher” are currently also available online. For those who would like to buy a Print version the same can be ordered though the available Book Sotes. In October 1968, Baba gave instructions to write a biography and He wanted the life of the five perfect masters included in this book. After Baba dropped the body in January 1969, Bhau collected material for the biography. From September 1971 to December 1972, Bhau wrote the Nothing and the Everything, Lord Meher, and other books. Bhau worked 15-18 hours a day, writing like a machine, and not thinking about what he was writing…
Below is the original introduction to Lord Meher by the author, Bhau Kalchuri.
MY FATHER,
Your terrible suffering on the night of January 24, 1969, is always before my eyes – the night you asked me to write your biography in verse. You took upon your delicate flower-like body the infinite burden of universal ignorance, so that the rays of Awareness would gradually shine on each kingdom of evolution. But the weight of that heavy load was crushing every part of your body to pieces. Your slightest movement caused painful electric-like shocks that I saw as spasms. It is simply impossible to measure, calculate, or imagine the degree of your suffering.
In this critical condition, by slowly moving your fingers you spoke to me, “I am giving you very important work. You must write my biography in verse.”
As you were gesturing, I watched you bear the painful jerks caused by moving your fingers. Your body lifted from the bed in spasm after spasm and fell back down. My heart was breaking, so I pleaded, “Baba, why instruct me about the book now? Wait and tell me when you are better.”
But you kept gesturing, suffering constant spasms throughout. Haltingly, for almost thirty minutes you gave me instructions: “Write 800 pages. Write in a simple and attractive way. Make it very interesting. Use four types of meters. Write 100 pages about my manifestation. I will give you the meters and also tell you about my manifestation later. Do not worry, I will explain everything to you.”
I could only watch and listen. My heart refused to question your instructions, so as not to prolong your agony. I only wished you to stop gesturing just then, so the spasms would cease. How could I know that, after a week, your body would snap its physical connection with this world, and that I would be forced to carry out your directives with tears of grief in my eyes?
You once told me to bring a copy of the Ramayana by Tulsidas, and read to you a few pages of couplets. I remember you told me, “You will write better than Tulsidas.”
But with your departure, everything in life now seems empty; though at times I feel the rays of your presence, they are few and far between.
I was left in shock, and because of this, I remained inactive for some time. Francis told me, “Baba did not give you the meters, so you are freed from his order and need not write.”
But I wondered if this were true. Then one night you fulfilled your promise by prompting me to make a beginning. You came in my dream and whispered, “You want the meters, here they are! Take them!” You pointed to a blackboard filled with writing.
I woke up before I could read the writing; but, I knew then that you wished me to write. And so I began collecting material. I spent two and a half years engaged in this, and after studying all that I have gathered, I am starting the work you gave me. I know that what you asked me to do, you yourself will do. I am only the medium; giving this gross medium life is left to you.
You had indicated to me that you wanted a very detailed biography in prose, so before I write your life in verse, I am starting with this. I am confident that this work has your blessing. I know that you will grant me the strength to complete it under the circumstances I am facing.
My Father, I am yours as I am. You are everything to me; there is none else! May my every breath breathe your pleasure, so that the impact of what you asked me to write will be felt.
Bhau
Meherazad, 1971
Editor’s Foreword
Although Lord Meher was written and edited after Meher Baba dropped his body, its genesis began three months before this, in October 1968. Keshav Nigam, a Baba lover from Hamirpur, was staying at Meherazad for a meeting Baba had convened. “Baba’s biography in Hindi is essential,” Keshav observed one afternoon to Bhauji. “People are anxious to read it in Hindi.”
Bhau did not pay much attention, but Baba himself broached the topic when he persisted later that day in asking Bhau what Keshav had said.
“Keshav said that your biography should be written in Hindi,” Bhau informed him.
Baba concurred. “Yes, he is right. It should be there.”
Bhau kept quiet. He knew if he agreed, Baba would ask him to write the biography. Baba, too, did not say anything further. A few weeks later, however, Baba asked Bhau to bring a copy of the Ramayana, the famous epic poem of Ram’s life by Tulsidas. Baba opened the book at random and instructed Bhau to read a few couplets aloud. After Bhau had read from various parts of the book, Baba declared, “You will write better than this!”
But it was not until 24 January 1969, seven days prior to Beloved Baba dropping his body, that he gave Bhauji implicit instructions to write his biography. In Bhau’s introduction, he writes touchingly about the scene in Baba’s bedroom that night. Baba was in a critical condition. Amidst his frequent spasms and “jerks,” as Bhau describes them, Baba managed to convey:
“Listen carefully to what I say. I am giving you very important work. I want you to write my biography in verse.”
Bhau tried to stop Baba, as the strain of gesturing was causing more spasms, but Baba continued to give instructions. Baba also told him: “Include the lives of the five Perfect Masters and my father’s life at the beginning.”
Bhau listened quietly and did not interrupt. This was to be the last order that Meher Baba ever imparted to him.
Bhauji completed the manuscript for Lord Meher in January 1973, and he began translating it to Feram Workingboxwala, who typed it into English. The manuscript was given to me for editing soon after I moved to India in June 1975.
Editing Lord Meher has been a task of great privilege and constant joy. There is no other book about Meher Baba (nor is there likely to be one anytime soon) that so thoroughly and accurately chronicles Meher Baba’s incredibly active life and work from beginning to end.
While working on Lord Meher, I was struck by the “biblical” nature of the narrative. One is swept up by the sweet stories, alluring tales and fascinating personal accounts of meeting the Ancient One, much of it written in an easily read, conversational form. The personification of this Avataric age as a witness named “Age,” who frequently comments on the events described, lends a poetic touch to the narrative. Bhau has truly fulfilled his Beloved’s command by making the account of Baba’s life on earth both “interesting” and “instructive.” In addition, he has included a wealth of unpublished discourses given spontaneously by Baba, which take on added meaning when read in the context in which they were given. Through learning more about our Beloved’s life — and especially about his way of working with his mandali — we are inevitably brought closer to him.
One night in the late 1960s, Baba told Bhau: “Even if people criticize or find fault with your writing, you should not mind. Just write for me, because I have asked you. This much remember, I tell you honestly, I like your writing. Even if the whole world goes against you, don’t care. Let them say whatever they wish. I have asked you to write, so you should do so. When I am pleased with what you write, what more could you want?”
What a blessing and what fortune to be involved with a project that has Meher Baba’s divine sanction! Baba’s guiding hand was felt, both by the author and by myself, from the book’s inception. This is the true source of Bhau’s inspiration. The power and strength of what Bhau has written has its origin here.
Lord Meher is a book destined to become a classic in the sense that readers will return to it time and again. The profusion of detail contained in it makes a single reading insufficient. It is a book that will be read over and over again, as, without a doubt, it contains the greatest story ever told.
David Fenster
Ahmednagar, 1985
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