Jehangu Sukhadwala

JEHANGU SUKHADWALA

Jehangu Sukhadwala was married Beheram’s daughter Gulnar. He was daily visitor to Guruprasad.

Some of his interaction with Meher Baba is described as below:

Baba fixed the date for the wedding of Jehangu following October 1959. Beheram’s wife Perin told Baba, “Gulnar has doubts about Jehangu’s love for you. If he doesn’t love you, it will be a matter of lifelong misery for her.”

Baba assured her, “Jehangu has a very old and longstanding connection with Me. Gulnar should not worry.” And, as time went on, Jehangu did begin loving Baba as if he were an old-time lover.

At the same time another person came. Baba asked Jehangu to take him to the station. Jehangu replied, “Dadi has a side car to his scooter and can easily take both.”

Baba sternly rebuked him, “Just does the work I have given you, and Dadi will do his. It is not necessary for you to make suggestions to Me.”

Jehangu and Dadi did as Baba asked and then returned to Guruprasad. Very serious, Baba inquired whether they had carried out His instructions. Both replied that they had, which pleased Baba. The next day the subject of Dadi’s going to America for further studies was settled, and after a long search Jehangu at last landed a good job. Both young men credited their good fortune to Baba’s orders the previous day.

Jehangu Sukhadwalla would come whenever he could, and thus things were always busy, if not hectic. Jehangu had been transferred to Bangalore the previous December, and moved there with his wife Gulnar. Jehangu relates how they happened to return to Poona:

In 1959, on receiving my transfer orders from the Air Force, Gulnar and I conveyed our reluctance to beloved Baba and expressed our desire to stay and continue working in Poona. Baba told both of us, “Happily proceed to Bangalore and take Me with you. My nazar is on both of you.” Baba gave us an autographed copy of Stay With God before we left for Bangalore.

Our stay in Bangalore was very uncomfortable as the conditions were deplorable and there was an intense effort on our part to return to Poona. I sent a cable to Baba asking for His permission to resign from my job. Baba cabled this reply: “Do not resign. Leave all to Me.”

Miraculously, we returned to Poona in three months.

When I met Baba in Guruprasad in April 1960, He was happy to see me back in Poona, and remarked, “God’s will has prevailed

I told Baba, “Your will has prevailed.”

Baba, with a sweep of His hand, pointing to everyone sitting before Him in the men mandali hall in Guruprasad, stated, “If My will were to prevail, I would have liked to turn all of you into lepers!”

Beheram’s wife Perin came with her sons Sohrab and Rustom, her daughter Gulnar and Gulnar’s fiancé Jehangu Sukhadwalla. (Baba took a “holiday” from His work with Kaikobad that day and from washing the feet of the poor.) Baba had approved the match and fixed the date of their wedding for 16th October in Bombay. He remarked to Jehangu, “You are really lucky to have found Gulnar, for through her you have found Me!”

As they were leaving, heavy rain showers fell — an auspicious sign and tangible proof of Baba’s blessings for the couple. Because of the downpour, their departure was delayed by two hours as the nallahs (streambeds) that intersected the road were overflowing.

In 1960, Jehangu Sukhadwala was working at the Poona airport. One evening as he was riding home on his scooter, he hit a pothole in the road and his brakes jammed. He was flung to the far side of the road, and his scooter went flying in the opposite direction. He emerged unscathed, and he attributed it to his crying out Baba’s name with all his heart.

The next afternoon, when Jehangu excitedly recounted his “miraculous” escape to Baba, saying it was He who had saved him, Baba corrected him: “It is not My miracle. I do not perform miracles! You say that at the time of the accident you were wholeheartedly remembering Me. So, call it the miracle of My name.

“When everything goes wrong, the mind becomes helpless and it has to rely entirely on the heart. These are the moments when you resign to My will and so rely solely on My help. When you leave all to e, I dare not care not, and you are relieved from the predicament.”

Preparations in Poona for the East West gathering in December 1962 had started a few months before. Jehangu Sukhadwalla along with others coordinated for Westerners’ stay in different hotels.

Before Baba’s arrival at Guruprasad each year, Meherwan, Gaimai and Manu Jessawala, and Jehangu and Gulnar Sukhadwalla would have the palace cleaned and everything prepared. However, no one was allowed to be present to receive Baba when He arrived, except for Meherjee, Meherwan and Jehangu.

When Baidul was diagnosed with typhoid on 26th August 1965, Jehangu, Gulnar and their daughter Mehernaz were permitted to come to Meherazad on the 28th.

In the morning on 5th June 1966, Beheram’s family came to Guruprasad for Jehangu and Gulnar’s daughter Mehernaz’s navjot ceremony. The child’s sadra, kusti, cap and new clothes were arranged on a steel platter in front of Baba. Baba handed her the sadra and kusti, and also a piece of paper on which was written His message (the same one given to Jim Mistry’s sons at their navjot ceremony six years before) about being free from the superfluous binding of shariat (religious tradition). It was read out by Eruch, and then Mehernaz recited the Master’s Prayer and went to the women’s side, where Mehera dressed her in the sadra and kusti.

On 29th January 1967, Meherjee arrived at Meherazad with Jehangu and Meherwan (who had come to stay for his annual month’s visit). On 5th February, Baba stated:

I am both divine and human. Those who live with Me feel more of My humanity than My divinity. Those old and new ones who come and see Me for a while see more of My divinity than My humanity. But those who stay with Me will, in the end, not only feel My divinity but will also experience it.


Resources

References/Images from: Various Lord Meher volumes, discontinued website's ambprasarkendra & love-remembrances, images and dates, stories etc from respective copyright owners websites or publications used with permission - i.e. In His Service, Glow International, MeherBabaTravels, MSI and MNP Collections, from AvatarMeherBabaTrust, BelovedArchives websites and from various other website sources, Books, journal etc. More information where ever available with us like letter scans, stories etc are added. Kindly feel free to Contact us with any updates, photos or corrections etc.
Links to Baba's Mandali pages

Links to Baba's Close Disciple's pages