On 11th January 1925, Baba wrote to Ghani: “Since the last nine days I am again sustaining on pure water, and though a bit weak am healthy and energetic, thank God.”
Dr. Ghani arrived on 12th July 1927, with new cricket bats and balls for the schools, and was appointed as a teacher in one of the Persian classes. While discussing the different institutions he was establishing at Meherabad, Baba disclosed, “My work at Meherabad is like digging numerous canals and placing as many people as possible on the banks, so that when the spiritual flood is let loose, they may benefit by having the divine overflow within their reach.”
During this period, Dr. Ghani was residing with his family in Lonavla. Ghani fell victim to a dishonest moneylender. Some property had been unscrupulously taken from Ghani by fraud and the man and his wife who had done this had been murdered on the same day. Ghani was falsely accused of their murder and he became so depressed that he decided to commit suicide.
On the night of Wednesday, 3rd June 1936, Ghani drank heavily and went to drown himself in Walvan Lake. But when he reached it, he felt dizzy and sat down, and then began thinking of his life. Disgusted with his plight, he started cursing the three Spiritual Masters he had known — Hazrat Babajan, Upasni Maharaj and Meher Baba! He bitterly swore, “Of what use is Meher Baba to me when I am surrounded by difficulties on all sides and he does not help me?
What sort of power does He have and what ‘Experience’? He is supposed to know all, but following him is useless!” Although Ghani had fully intended to commit suicide, after venting his spleen, he was lulled to sleep by the cool breezes.
Meanwhile, that very night, Baba became restless and suddenly left Meherabad early the next morning by car. Adi Sr. drove his Opel and Nilu accompanied them. They drove first to Talegaon where Baba sorted Amina and Abdulla Jaffer’s difficulties. They then went directly to Lonavla. When they reached Ghani’s house, he was not there, so they began searching for him. They came to the lake and found Ghani sound asleep on the bank. Baba awakened him. When Ghani saw Baba, he was amazed! He could not speak and tears welled up in his eyes.
“What’s the matter?” Baba asked him.
Stunned, Ghani haltingly murmured, “Baba, I have abused you so much … Yet you love me so much!”
“Your abuse brought Mme here,” Baba gestured. “It was sweeter than nectar to Me! Compared to words of appreciation and praise from hypocrites, curses from my lovers are much sweeter!” Ghani burst out weeping and Baba embraced him.
On 12th March 1937, Baba found out that Ghani was studying a book to learn how to read people’s minds. In a teasing mood, Baba asked him, “What will you do when you learn this?”
Ghani replied, “I will go to Japan and earn a lot of money.”
Baba spelled out, “Your idea is splendid, but why are you so selfish? Did you ever think of helping Me? I am in dire financial straits at the moment.”
So Ghani said, “If you give me the power to read minds, I will give you 50 percent of whatever I earn!”
“All right,” Baba agreed, “but for you to gain that power you will have to remain on milk for one year!” Thereupon, Ghani was christened Professor Ughansi — meaning the “Lazy One.”
Ghani consented to the fast, and at the Meher Mandali Maintenance Trust meeting in the evening of 16 March at Rahuri an agreement was drawn up between Baba and Ghani. Its conditions were:
For one year Dr. Ghani should take nothing but two glasses of milk — with or without sugar — one glass of tea and any amount of water every day.
He should smoke not more than five cigarettes per day.
He should not go out of the compound [at Rahuri] under any circumstances.
He should not ask for money except for Baba’s work.
This agreement begins from the 1st of April 1937 and ends on the 31st of March 1938. On 31 March 1938, Baba promises to give Ghani the two things he wants, clairvoyance and clairaudience, and will send him to Japan as Professor Ughansi, and also make him so advanced spiritually as to do Baba’s work over there until Ghani is Realized.
Jalbhai then mentioned this point, “We are all well aware of the good doctor’s penchant for fine food. Suppose he dies within this period. Who will pay his funeral expenses?”
So Baba directed Ghani to beg one rupee from everyone, obtaining Rs.40. Baba handed the sum to Dhake with instructions, “If Ghani dies on 27 th April 1938, use this Rs.40 to pay for his last rites.” The odd agreement was signed the next day by both Baba and Ghani before the mandali.
Ghani began fasting on milk from the 1st of April 1938, but within two days he started complaining, “Baba, it is too hard to drink only milk. My sweat smells of milk, my breath smells of milk and I am even urinating milk!”
“It’s only for a year!” Baba replied. “Think of how much you will earn after that — and that will help Me also! Have a little patience and complete the fast.”
Just two days after this, Ghani felt so weak he was unable to get out of bed. He entreated Baba, “This agreement will be the death of me! Forgive me and let me take food.”
But Baba replied, “Remember your part of the bargain. You signed the agreement before witnesses. I promise to stick to My end. Exactly after one year I will give you the powers you want. But if you break your promise, don’t blame Me!”
“But I will die!” moaned Ghani.
“I have a solution so you won’t,” proposed Baba. Calling Dhake, Baba sent him to Ahmednagar with instructions to have a funeral bier built and to bring it to Rahuri as soon as it was ready. Dhake did so, bringing the coffin platform after a week or so.
On the afternoon of 20th April 1938, Baba dressed Ghani in a kafni made of old gunny sacks and put a turban made of straw on his head. He then asked him to recite lines from the Fatiha — the Islamic oblation for the dead
Raising his hands toward the sky, Ghani recited the prayer in earnest and Baba, too, joined in. Thereafter, Baba laid Ghani on the bier which the mandali lifted on their shoulders. Baba urged Ghani to sing the song of the funeral procession very loudly. Ghani slowly chanted, “La ilaha illallah, Muhammad-e-Rasool Allah!” (There is no god but God, the all-merciful, and Muhammad is His Prophet!)
The bier was carried around the Rahuri ashram by the men and, when it was put down, Baba declared, “Now Ghani won’t die as foreordained (on the 27 th).”
Despite Baba’s pleas, Ghani had broken his fast within six days and Baba remarked, “What am I to do now? I promised to give you powers and also to keep you alive! But now that you have not adhered to your promise, what is to be done? Had you earned much money, I would have been happy for I would have gotten half! For that reason I was helping you.”
“Enough of this!” cried Ghani. “Had you really wanted to help me, I would not have passed through such horrible times. In fact, I really was about to die.”
Baba gestured incredulously: “What are you saying? I was helping you!”
“I understand you now, Baba. You would never help in something like this. You are Perfect God and very, very shrewd! May God save one from a God like you!”
Baba broke into a smile and laughed silently. Embracing Ghani, He gestured, “Don’t worry, Professor Ughansi; I am always with you, and you are very dear to Me.” Such was the Master’s humor. Baba then left for Nasik.
Dr. Ghani was fond of solving crossword puzzles from the Illustrated Weekly of India. After completing a puzzle, he would mail it in to enter the contest. Two or three times he won small cash prizes, which he kept a secret.
Once, when Ghani was busy solving the weekly puzzle, Baba came to his room. Looking up, Ghani tried to hide the magazine under his mattress and Baba asked him, “What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” he replied.
Baba walked over and took out the magazine. Looking at it, Baba remarked, “What was there to hide? I will help you, and if we win, we will split the prize 50-50. I too need money!”
Quite seriously, Baba sat down and they began working out the crossword together. After solving it, Ghani submitted it. A week before the results were to be announced, Baba began asking Ghani about it daily. When the results were finally declared and the correct solution published, Ghani found that they had missed the prize by not less than eleven mistakes. Complaining to Baba he said, “When I was solving the crosswords alone, there would be two or at the most three mistakes.
Here there are eleven!”
Baba joked, “So, you are still interested in solving such things? When I, in spite of being God, committed so many mistakes, you should realize that it is not so easy to solve them and only gets you into more difficulties.”
Baba told the mandali:
This is a unique occasion. Dr. Ghani, all through the 22 years he has been in My contact, used to tell Me, “Prior to my spiritual benefit, does something that will benefit me materially!”
And I did something that made his material life worse and worse, by and by, though I told him then his worries would be lessened to some extent. Soon after, he was on the point of being prosecuted for murder, and his brother Abdur Rehman became very nervous. It was so funny — beyond words. He (Ghani) acted like one stranded between the third and fourth planes! He was constantly in a dazed state of mind. I questioned him and his answers were vague. I told him to leave everything to Me and to do as I say. “Don’t write,” I told him. No sooner he goes out, than he writes wonderful letters to friends saying he is doomed and would have to meet a very unhappy fate!
Later on, Ghani lost all hopes of his material worries getting lessened. But this murder proved a blessing in disguise. The properties he would have lost, he received back miraculously. So, for the first time Ghani feels some of his worries lessened. That is why he gives us this party tonight.
Once when the mandali were sitting with Baba in Hyderabad, Ghani said something which infuriated Baba. Baba asked Kaikobad, “Would you do as I tell you?”
“It is the sole reason I’ve joined you,” Kaikobad replied earnestly.
“Then give Ghani a good hard slap!”
Kaikobad looked momentarily puzzled and said, “But Ghani is one of your oldest mandali … How can I slap him?”
Baba’s anger turned on him: “Do you know who I am? By saying this you have not slapped Ghani, you have slapped Me!”
“When did I slap you, Baba?”
“By failing to carry out My order, you have given Me a sharp slap! Had you really slapped Me though, it would not have pained Me as much as your disobedience. By disobeying Me you have wounded My heart so deeply, the pain will always be there and will never go away.
“You repeat My name 100,000 times a day, but what value does your penance and prayers have when you don’t value My words? Before my order, nothing is superior! And if you don’t realize that, thousands of years of repetition of My name will not help you. What is the use of your staying with Me?”
Baba then walked away, leaving Kaikobad red in the face and restless inside. Baba soon returned, and Kaikobad inquired, “If I had slapped Ghani, how much it would have pained him. Are we not to consider the feelings of others?”
Baba snapped, “That means you consider his feelings and your own superior to My order?” Turning to Ghani, Baba asked, “Would you have felt bad about it?”
Catching Baba’s drift, Ghani replied, “No, I would not have felt bad in the least, but I feel very bad about Kaikobad’s disobedience to you.”
Kaikobad said, “I will slap him now.”
But Baba gestured, “What’s the use? The time has gone. You thought of Ghani’s pain, but not of Mine. You wanted to be in his good graces, but he himself has disapproved of your attitude.”
Addressing the men, Baba made these remarks: “If you want to be in the good graces of the world, you cannot live for Me. But if you try to stay in My good books, the world will fall at your feet.”
Turning to Adi Sr., Baba asked, “Would you give Ghani a slap with your sandal?”
Adi replied, “Baba, if you were to ask me to give him ten slaps, I may give him 12!”
“That’s the spirit!” Baba motioned.
“Did you hear what he said, Kaikobad?” And Kaikobad nodded glumly. Later Baba took him aside, discussed the matter with him sweetly and caressed him, and Kaikobad wept.
Knowing Mahatma Gandhi’s rather orthodox and conventional trend of mind, Baba had never intended Chanji to give Gandhi the article “The Avatar.” To remedy the situation, on the same day Gandhi wrote to Chanji, Ghani was writing Chanji on Baba’s behalf:
Meherabad
24 June, 1939
Dear Chanji,
Shri Baba has received your letter and telegram. He has asked me to convey thus:
“Why have you offered to Mr. Gandhi the first article, ‘The Avatar,’ for translation? It is personal, and Mr. Gandhi is not likely to commit himself by translating that article. I had expressly told you to give him the article ‘Selfishness.’ Now that you have bungled, I don’t think Mr. Gandhi would be interested in other articles even, thinking them to be of the same personal tone and caliber.
“Anyway, try once again and give him the article, ‘Selfishness.’ ”
I shall write the article on Shri Baba for the Times of India, after consulting him.
Yours sincerely,
(sd.) Abdul Ghani Munsiff
P.S. He (Gandhi) would not have refused other articles, but the only one he has any excuse to refuse is the first article, ‘The Avatar.’ The opportunity is lost and reaction is likely to set in.
(sd.) M. S. Irani
P.P.S. Illaj (remedy) suggested by Baba:
“Take all the articles of Baba to Mr. Gandhi and tell him that ‘The Avatar’ article is the only personal article by Shri Baba. All the rest are impersonal, spiritual and philosophical. Mr. Gandhi should have the choice of any of them to begin with.
His acquittal came sooner than expected, and he attributed it to the night in Bangalore when he had first disclosed to Baba his troubles. Baba was in seclusion at the time and Ghani was on night watch. Baba asked him, “What are you thinking?” Ghani told Him every detail of the false charges being brought against him.Dr. Ghani had a wife and children to support, but he never paid much attention to his homeopathic practice, and by 1946 he had fallen deeply into debt. While he had stayed in Bangalore with Baba in 1940, some unscrupulous persons in Lonavla had falsely involved him in a murder case. The case was taken to court, where it dragged on for years. Ghani had to spend a lot of money on lawyers for his defense, and because of this, he had incurred substantial debts.
Baba replied, “You should have told Me before. Where was the necessity of getting scared and going into debt?
The whole thing is stuffless! Those who have involved you will themselves get entrapped; you will go free.” And that is exactly what finally transpired. Ghani was acquitted, and the accusers became the accused and were found guilty of the murder.
In 1946, Ghani wrote this news to Baba and asked what to do to clear his debts. Baba thought of a scheme he called the “Boja (Burden) Fund.” In fact, Baba subsequently sent Don to England and America to collect enough money to pay off Ghani’s debts. 6)
In 1947, Baba remained in seclusion for 16 days. Throughout this seclusion, Baba did not sleep at His usual time, but gave Dr. Ghani the duty of reading the poetry of Hafiz to Him during those hours. Ghani would start reading Hafiz’s ghazals in the late evening and stop at 4:00 A.M., when Baba would sleep until six o’clock. He only ate one meal a day. During the last week of His seclusion, Baba fasted on fruit juice.
Dr. Ghani was staying with Baba in Mahabaleshwar. He was joking with Baba on 22nd May 1947 and, when he said something in a lighter vein about Baba, Baba at once composed this rhyme about Himself, titled later “Baba is Fire!”
When you feel cold
And sit near the fire,
It drives out your cold
And makes you perspire.
When you feel hungry
And cook on the fire,
It gives you your food
For which you aspire.
But if you, like a fool,
Try to play with the fire,
It may burn you so badly
That would make hell admire.
Ghani and his son Hamid saw Baba on 18th June 1948. One day while sitting in the Ice Factory Bungalow with the mandali, Baba appeared in a good mood. Ghani would never miss the chance of availing himself of such moods, and would lightly complain about something so that Baba would reveal some explanation about the inner path or God.
Meanwhile, at the Ice Factory bungalow Dr. Ghani continue to work on the esoteric points given by Baba (for God Speaks), but in his usual lackadaisical way was taking his time over it. Finally, Baba dictated an agreement which He made Ghani sign before witnesses, promising to finish the book by the end of May 1948. Part of the agreement was a poem by Baba about Ghani:
He swears by everything he holds dear and near
That he will stay here without the summer fear
And not asking for beer
And finish this book or out he’ll clear!
Jesting, Ghani told Him, “Baba, no doubt, you are God; but what have we earned from being with you all these years?
You have trapped us in such a way that we are neither here nor there!” He went on teasing Baba to elicit an interesting discourse; but this time Baba gave him such an explanation that Ghani felt giddy!
Glancing around, Baba asked Kaka, “Why are you sitting behind? Come in front and answer this egg-headed idiot!”
“I do not wish to enter into any disputes,” Kaka said.
“Are you afraid of Ghani?” Baba asked.
“I’m not afraid of even his father!” Kaka responded hotly.
“Then come and reply to him,” Baba ordered.
Kaka came forward, and there ensued such an argument between the two that it eventually turned into a verbal free-for-all.
Kaka began, “You are a eunuch to beg from Baba! Only eunuchs beg!” Kaka proceeded to quote Kabir. “Kabir has rightly said: What is given voluntarily is like milk; what is gotten by begging is like water; what is forcibly taken is like blood.”
“Who are you to teach me the couplets of Kabir?” Ghani retorted. “I am a hundred times more conversant with them than an unlettered man like yourself. I have liquefied and drunk them!”
“Then why do you talk like a eunuch?” Kaka demanded.
“It is you who speak as one, my friend. What is there in you — you are a fool and cannot understand me.”
Kaka proceeded to state a few choice opinions about Ghani’s genealogical tree, comparing his ancestry to certain four-legged creatures low down the evolutionary ladder, and Baba sat back enjoying it immensely. At last, Kaka’s words and tenacity “overpowered” Ghani, who kept quiet.
Baba stated, “Kaka has worked wonders today! Ghani is speechless — a miracle!”
Such arguments between the mandali were not a rare phenomenon. Baba would work through such heated situations to make the mandali unbiased, fearless, faithful and honest; and to make them keep only one thought in mind: to keep Baba’s pleasure in every situation.
Baba was particular to see that no one was more partial to one than to another. Where close friendships would begin to develop between mandali members, Baba would, by some means or another, create differences and fights between them. The mandali were all friends, but at the same time, they were open-hearted, so that no one’s faults remained hidden. If at all someone’s weaknesses were kept inside, Baba would resort to various means to bring them out in the open by creating fights and cleaning up the “dirt.”
Kaka used to give Ghani a plate of cream every day when they had stayed at Pimpalgaon together; yet in the instance cited above, to keep Baba’s pleasure, he exhibited more venom than love, and fought wholeheartedly. Despite this verbal battle, however, neither held any rancor against the other, and they carried on in Baba’s love. Baba would not tolerate “grudges” or hurt feelings kept inside. Everything had to come out — and in front of everyone. In this way, Baba would cause squabbles and quarrels among the mandali, to clean out their inner filth. Each felt as if he was walking on the edge of a sword — and Baba mischievously relished it all!)
In 1949, amidst the excitement and hurried preparations to depart, Baba asked Dr. Ghani — who was facing personal financial problems — to compose a ghazal, instructing him to “vent his spleen” on his Master. Ghani wrote a ghazal in the form of a jeremiad — a long and mournful complaint — and read it out to Baba at Meherabad on Thursday, 22nd September 1949.
Ghani was so indolent that he would at times go to sleep with his clothes on and even shoes on to save himself the trouble of putting them back on in the morning. To awaken him, Baba would come personally to his room and knock on his door.
Baba was in a splendid mood after working with Keshav, and asked Ghani, “Which is more difficult — to give up one’s life or to lose one’s life?”
Ghani replied, “To lose one’s life is harder.”
Baba agreed and further explained:
In pursuance of name and fame, and goaded by the applause of the expectant multitude, people have given their lives for a great cause, for their honor, their religion, their country. Even cowards have given up their lives under a sudden impulse, or on an uncontrollable provocation. Such a death is a matter of a few seconds.
But to lose one’s life is to die by inches. Every second, one suffers the poignant pain of ego elimination, culminating in utter resignation to the Divine Will. This dying can only be the lot of heroes, and they are very few indeed. Keshav mast is one such hero.
Ghani then entertained Baba from eleven to tea time, by reading from the works of Urdu poet Seemab.
Baba went to Meherabad, after meeting with the mandali, played cricket with them for a while. He came on the 16th, 17th, and 18th also, and spent all three days on the hill with the women.
Amidst the excitement and hurried preparations to depart, Baba asked Dr. Ghani — who was facing personal financial problems — to compose a ghazal, instructing him to “vent his spleen” on his Master. Ghani wrote a ghazal in the form of a jeremiad — a long and mournful complaint — and read it out to Baba at Meherabad on Thursday, 22nd September 1949. Baba then requested that Khak Saheb write a ghazal in reply, and the next day Khak Saheb delivered “The Saki’s” pithy rejoinder to Ghani, which pleased Baba very much.
When group reached Narayangaon, they stopped there for a half an hour, and each had a hot cup of tea. Within a short time, they were on the march again. By now, the rain had stopped, and the October sun was beating down in full force.
The warm weather cut down their speed to two miles per hour. Baba and Ghani had blisters on their feet, to which Don applied gauze and adhesive tape.
Jokingly, Ghani said, “Don and Nilu totally led me astray. They said that Baba’s health was such that He would not be able to walk for four or five miles.”
Baba understood what Ghani was driving at, namely: “We should stop this walking business!” but He just smiled. Baba did not show the least sign of exhaustion, despite going back and forth between the men and women.
Sirur was only a third of a mile away when Ghani looked as if he were about to collapse. He found it hard to take another step. Baba lovingly approached him and motioned to Ghani to hold one end of Ghani’s walking stick and blindly follow, without thinking of the distance remaining, as Baba led him, holding the other end. Baba continued to lead him, encouraging him that they were almost there. But, nearing Sirur, it looked as if Ghani would drop. He asked for water. Baba directed him to rest under a tree for fifteen minutes, and then gave him a sip of water, sprinkling some of it over his head. Thereafter, Ghani felt refreshed and resumed the walk. Sirur was now an eighth of a mile away.
The same day He asked Ghani to write a poem about the New Life. Baba dictated the chorus and indicated to him to incorporate into the poem the chief principles of the New Life, such as obedience, suppression of anger, greed and lust, truthfulness, cheerfulness under all circumstances, et cetera. In fact, Ghani had gotten the inspiration to write a song on the New Life from listening to Baba play the dholak. Baba explained to him, “The poem will be sung as a prayer each morning before starting the day’s activities.”
In New Life Baba spontaneously dictated the following lines to Ghani (in Urdu):
We do not bother in the least what others think of us;
Our sole preoccupation is suffering and nothing else.
It is Allah for the Muslims, and Ram for the Hindus;
Night is the same as day, and morning the same as evening
And the only currency in Abdul Ghani’s pockets is that of poverty!
When Baba came to the companions on 9th November 1949, in the morning, Dr. Ghani was in the toilet. Baba sent for him, and he came as he was — unwashed and with his pants down! Baba and the others applauded him, loudly clapping their hands at his instantaneous obedience. Baba appeared very pleased. Ghani was then sent back. On the evening of 22 November 1949, Ghani joked to the companions in sarcastic fashion: “The meaning of the New Life is only this: To do routine things at odd times; to create a difficulty where none exists; to pull up with a jerk an otherwise smooth-going situation — all such things have gone to make what we have been calling the New Life!”
Baba overheard his remarks and asked Ghani to explain. Ghani amplified, “Look at the unearthly time for our morning tea — 5:00 A.M.! We have no religious devotions to perform so early in the morning, such as arti, puja, kusti-sadra, namaz, and yet, in this God-awful, biting cold weather, we are required to crawl out of bed, groaning, hissing, shivering and coughing, at 4:30 in the morning, just for the cold pleasure of a cup of tea and a chapatti (if available!) at 5:00 A.M. Really speaking, it should be called ‘mourning’ tea!”
Ghani’s remarks evoked hearty laughter from the men, and Baba, too, seemed to enjoy the fun. But while bidding good night, he unexpectedly turned to Baidul and ordered, “Tomorrow morning, tea should be served at 4:45 A.M., fifteen minutes earlier.”
The following morning, Baba again surprised everyone by referring to Ghani’s remarks about the awkward time for morning tea, “I did not sleep the whole night. The spontaneous laughter of all concerned over Ghani’s remarks set Me thinking. I wondered if the remarks of Ghani regarding morning tea, and the support of it by your delightful laughter, were all to be taken as a joke, or were you serious about it?
“If it was all a joke, then I was wrong in not appreciating the humor. If he was serious, and if you think the order for morning tea is unnecessary and meaningless, then it is not only criticism, but the most flagrant violation of the conditions of the New Life!”
The companions were taken aback by this interpretation, which evidently had given Baba a sleepless night. They assured Him that, although some of His orders were not always easily understandable, none of them considered them meaningless or unnecessary. Baba then dismissed the previous night’s episode as a joke, and the tension relaxed immediately.
But Baba had doubted the companions’ intentions, and so, as an atonement, He ordered each one to twist his ears, after which he remarked, “One sleepless night is worth the satisfaction that I now feel for the sake of the clarification of your mind and feelings.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Ghani was called to Mahabaleshwar for a week, for the purpose of entertaining Baba with jokes and poetry, before Baba entered seclusion. Ghani was sent this poetic summons:
If you are well
If you feel swell
If you have not gone mad
Or don’t say you are sad
Have no material loss
From servant or from boss
Not talk of Old Life
Or children or wife
But entertain me
With jokes and poetry.
Will pay both-way fares
Won’t listen to your cares
Then come for eight days
So Meher Baba says.
Do not give me pain
By asking material gain.
Talk of spiritual benefit
Will give you gober [cowdung] & shit
In New Life no responsibility
Of reward no possibility
In January 1951, Ghani mailed Baba this humorous response:
Received your loving letter.
I feel awfully better.
Is India getting dry?
It ne’er looked to me wetter.
A thousand thoughts & whatnot,
It looked almost a boycott;
Twelve months no (w)ink, no inkpot,
I could not get the upshot.
And Jal with dates a noting,
With Gadekar drowned in doting,
With Papa seemingly bloating
And Ramjoo meaningly gloating
This atmosphere, I was pretty sure
Could not very long endure;
De facto verdict for a cure
Could not ignore my stand de jure.
Accepting all your orders
Will come for dates & numbers;
On mind no madness — murders
Be damned the cares & thunders.
Hoping there are no blunders
I remain yours forever,
G. Munsiff
Baba’s reply:
After carefully your letter noting,
I feel like going a boating.
If any of my orders you break,
Your body on Ganges be floating.
Ghani had been called to Mahabaleshwar on 8 February, but he fell ill. He was then instructed to come for three days from the 12th, if he recovered. Baba wrote to him:
Well, cheer up, sonny.
Think less of money
And more of honey.
In Manzil-e-Meem the routine for mandali was; to wake up at 4 a.m. quick bath with cold water, prayer, and at 6 a. m. Breakfast and tea after that watering and rolling of the play ground area. Ghani was not in habit of taking daily bath and never a cold bath in morning so he adopted a peculiar mantra of “Shash, Shoo, Shoosh” followed by a peculiar hissing sound was all more prominent as he poured water on floor, never taking off clothes. This was discovered by others and promptly reported to Baba. One day Baba suddenly entered and caught him in the act of breaking the discipline of the ashram. Baba gave him a cold bath with His own hands.
During the period of Meher Baba’s stay at the Jhopri (on the outskirts of Poona), the coterie of his friends and admirers from Bombay (mostly Muslims) were enjoined to pay him a weekly visit, on the express understanding that they should first pay their respects and homage to Hazrat Babajan before coming to him or attending to some other engagements after alighting in Poona. This injunction was faithfully carried out in spirit and letter by most of those concerned.
Dr. Ghani had a wife and children to support, but he never paid much attention to his homeopathic practice, and by 1946 he had fallen deeply into debt. While he had stayed in Bangalore with Baba in 1940, some unscrupulous persons in Lonavla had falsely involved him in a murder case. The case was taken to court, where it dragged on for years. Ghani had to spend a lot of money on lawyers for his defence, and because of this, he had incurred substantial debts.
Dr. Ghani (60) passed away in Poona on 15th October, 1951. Baba instructed Adi Sr, and Ramjoo to be present at the funeral. On 24th August Baba paid moving tributes to His childhood friend.
Abdul Ghani wrote Urdu poetry under the name of “Munsiff” too joined Baba in 1921 and left an excellent record of diaries and Urdu poems (both published and unpublished,) Meher Baba has said: “All spiritual work is strengthened by opposition. It is like the shooting of an arrow from a bow; the more you pull the bow-string the further the arrow flies.”
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