Eruch began a search to locate this former prince in the Mud Fort locality of Hyderabad. The man was well known, but since he was without a place of residence, he could not easily be found. Eruch at last approached the proprietor of a small shop who said, “He is here, lying sick on the verandah.” Eruch went to him. He was lying on a broken-down cot, which someone had given him. Nearby were a few matchboxes and beedies piled on top of an empty wooden crate — the extent of his worldly possessions. His wife had gone to a free municipal dispensary to bring medicine.
Eruch left at once and brought Baba, Pendu and Baidul. Eruch gently told the man, “My elder brother has come to help you. He will give you a good sum as a gift of love, and we will be grateful if you accept it.”
Suspicious, the man asked, “From where have you come, and why do you wish to help me? With what motive?”
“Please do not ask such things,” said Eruch. “Accept the gift as God’s mercy; that is all we ask.”
After much persuasion, the man agreed. Baba was in a hurry to finish everything, but Eruch said, “Baba, let’s wait until his wife comes. There are many people about and someone might steal the money.”
Baba replied, “Yes, money is such a thing that people in his condition cannot afford to be careless with it.”
Baba approached the man to wash his feet. The sick man wanted to get off the cot and stand up. Although he was told not to do so, he would not hear of it. Baba washed and placed his forehead on his feet and gave him Rs.500 as his love gift.
Seeing the stack of notes, the man was so overcome he fainted. Seeing the man fall, the people who were watching began verbally abusing Baba and the party. They charged that because of the presence of Baba and his men, the man had become more ill and died.
A ruckus was raised. As a crowd gathered around them, Baba, Pendu and Eruch lifted the man and laid him back on the cot, and Baba began fanning him.
“Inform the police immediately!” The crowd demanded. “These are dacoits! They have poisoned the poor nawab! Don’t let them escape!” Eruch tried to pacify them, but to no avail.
At this point, the wife returned with the medicine. Seeing her husband unconscious, she started weeping and wailing. Loudly she shrieked, “I have been deprived of everything in this world! Only my husband was left with me, and now you have snatched him away!”
Eruch tried to calm her, “He will come around soon; he’s not dead. Do not be distraught. He has been given a large sum of money. See that it is kept safe and spent on his treatment.”
The man slowly opened his eyes, and tears flowed. “Why do you abuse these good people?” he asked his wife. “These men are the angels of God! Do you know what they’ve done?” The woman started offering her thanks for the timely help.
Eruch told her, “It is God’s grace. Thank Him!” Baba had quickly slipped out the door so suddenly; some still thought he was in fact guilty of a crime.
Tremendous efforts were involved in seeking out such families; inquiries were made on all sides. To contact them and help them was difficult, but the God-Man’s love is great for those who really suffer, and he himself underwent much hardship to find and help them.
Those who received monetary help were informed that what was given to them was not given as charity. It was a gift to them so they could rehabilitate themselves and regain their material stability. In accordance with the fulfillment of the objectives of the New Life, Meher Baba’s name was not disclosed to anyone, so that the recipients could not make obeisance to him.
Arriving Bombay at Bindra Baba directed Eruch to take a bath. Eruch insisted, “You should bathe first, have your lunch — then I’ll have mine.”
So Baba had his bath and food and ordered Eruch again to go and bathe. Eruch replied, “After I’ve given you the Hewlitt’s Mixture [for digestion], I’ll go.”
“Don’t worry about that, just have your bath; I’ll take the mixture myself,” Baba insisted.
Gaimai intervened and disapprovingly corrected her son, “Why don’t you do as Baba says? Go have your bath.”
Eruch left reluctantly, and Baba went to take his medicine. Manu, Eruch’s sister, said she had a bottle with her, and she would bring it. “Do not bring it — it’s here,” Baba replied. He opened his traveling bag, but when he took out the bottle, it slipped from his hand and broke into pieces. Sitting down, Baba began picking up the glass and Gaimai came running, and insisted that she would clean it up.
Returning from the bathroom, Eruch remarked sardonically, “I knew something would happen! That is why I did not want to go for my bath.”
“Go away!” Gaimai scolded. “What does it matter if a thousand bottles are broken?” Baba kept quiet and looked guilty, as if he had been caught committing some transgression. The fact was, Baba did not wish Eruch to go for his bath, and Eruch knew it. The broken bottle was his ploy to teach Eruch to follow the dictates of his heart.
But the episode did not end here. A few drops of the medicine had splashed on Baba’s coat. “There are spots on my coat,” Baba complained. “What will Mehera say?”
“Don’t worry, we have another coat,” Manu said.
“I do not want another one,” Baba insisted.
Turning to Eruch, Baba was plaintive. “What should we do now? What will Mehera say when she sees these stains? How pained she will feel when she finds I’ve been wearing a coat that has been soiled. You know how very particular she is about my clothing.”
Eruch said, “It’s all because I went for my bath. I do not know how I let you convince me.” Baba laughed and Manu hurried in carrying a similar coat. Baba put it on, so the stained one could be cleaned. He then went to Baba House.
Eruch and Baba rode in the front seat, and Vishnu, Pendu and Nilu at the back. On the way, Baba instructed Eruch to drive slowly, since he wanted to reach Satara in the evening and there was plenty of time remaining. Pendu explained: “Every time Baba left for somewhere, he used to tell Mehera what time we would be back. In this way, the women were free to do their own work. Otherwise, they would be anxious, not knowing what time Baba would be returning. So that day Baba had told them, ‘I am coming back this evening, but not before six.’ We had no idea what time Baba had given to Mehera. Baba liked fast driving, to reach soon, so Eruch used to drive fast.”
When there were only a few miles left to Satara, Baba asked Eruch the time. Baba said he must not reach before six. Eruch stopped the car under a tree and said, “Let’s rest here. We’ll play some cards or a game to kill time, because it’s too near now and we’ll reach before six.”
Baba said to continue, so Eruch began driving very slowly. Baba didn’t like it. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked. “Why aren’t you going fast?”
Eruch replied, “You asked me not to reach before six and you don’t want to wait here.”
“No, drive as usual.”
Baba had moved from the front to the back seat, changing places with Vishnu and Pendu. At 5:05 P.M., fifteen miles outside of Satara, Baba had the car stopped and switched places again; he again sat in front with Eruch, while Vishnu, Pendu and Nilu were at the back. Baba’s fingers were working continuously, indicating his serious mood.
Eruch now was apparently driving too fast, because Baba warned him to slow down. They drove on and neared Udtara, twelve miles from Satara, where Baba had played cricket with the mandali and other lovers a year and a half before. Baba pointed ahead to the spot and recalled the day.
In evening, almost directly opposite where they had played cricket, as Eruch was reading Baba’s gestures, the steering wheel suddenly and inexplicably went completely out of control. The car swerved, dashed against a stone culvert and landed eventually in a shallow ditch on the other side of it. All the men in the car, including Baba, were seriously injured. Baba was bathed in blood, his tongue was torn, his hip bone fractured, and he had abrasions on his forehead, nose, cheeks and legs.
Early in the morning of Tuesday, 25 February 1958, the men and women at the sahavas began meditating and singing devotional songs and the arti — illuminating Meherabad with the light of Wine. To take Baba to the pandal, an open convertible car had been procured for the occasion and was also decorated in the shape of a boat. It was driven by Laxman Malvade of Arangaon. The entire sahavas group walked about half a mile up the Ahmednagar road to receive Baba. The Arangaon villagers formed into a long procession of singing and dancing. The Arangaon lovers had returned from Toka with the sacred river water, and the entire atmosphere reverberated with hearty shouts of Baba’s Jai!
Meanwhile, at Meherazad that morning, Baba had not cleared his bowels. After driving some distance in the car, Baba indicated to Eruch that he had to use the toilet. “Should we stop at Adi’s (Khushru Quarters) on the way?” Eruch asked.
“No,” Baba gestured. “Just hurry and drive straight to Meherabad.”
Again on the way, Baba indicated he had to go to the toilet urgently. “We can stop at Akbar Press,” Eruch suggested.
But again Baba said no. “On reaching Meherabad, I will proceed straight to my room and use the potty there; don’t allow anyone to come inside.”
Eruch was driving as fast as he could, but at 7:30 A.M., about a third of a mile from Meherabad, they were met by the cheering and cries of Baba’s lovers, who had come forward to receive him. Eruch blared the horn, telling people to move out of the way; but the only response he got was: “Avatar Meher Baba ki jai!” And again and again, louder: “AVATAR MEHER BABA KI JAI! AVATAR MEHER BABA KI JAI!”
Baba’s car was surrounded. Eruch went on honking and shouting for people to please move and allow the car to proceed, but Baba gestured to him to keep quiet and not mar their enthusiasm. “Once in this life, they get such an opportunity,” Baba remarked. And the car inched its way forward. The greatest joy for the lovers was thus a torture for their Beloved!
After an hour halt in Cairo, they traveled on. There was a scheduled four-and-a-half-hour layover in Rome, where they were to change planes. Baba asked, “What are we going to do for three or four hours?” Don requested that the pilot radio ahead for a room in the Rome airport in which his patient could rest during the layover. Speaking in Italian, Don impressed them that he was a British doctor in charge of a very important person. He was under the impression that a room would be given at the airport. When they arrived, they were met by two attendants with a wheelchair who insisted on escorting Baba, though Eruch said he would push the wheelchair. They did not speak English, and only Don spoke Italian. They wheeled Baba onto a platform outside, and while Don went to check about the room, the mandali heard an ambulance coming, its siren blaring. It pulled right up to Baba. Two men very gently but firmly put Baba on a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance. Eruch verbally protested against what they were doing, but because of the language barrier they did not understand what he was saying. Eruch jumped into the ambulance next to Baba and they were driven to a hospital three miles away.
Baba was taken to a room in the hospital and a doctor came to examine him.
Eruch tried to explain, “He is not a patient! We only wanted a room in which to rest until our plane leaves. We have to catch a plane in a few hours, so we must be taken back in time.” After taking Baba’s temperature, the doctor and nurse left, and Baba motioned to Eruch to lock the door. They had a wash, and Baba laid down on the bed and covered himself with a sheet. Don, Nariman and Adi arrived, and after a couple hours they returned to the airport.
Baba was still in the wheelchair when he expressed an urge to urinate. There were no toilets nearby and, besides, the wheelchair would not fit into the toilet stalls. Eruch (who always carried an aluminum cup for such purposes) told the other mandali to occupy both side-booths of a telephone booth while he wheeled Baba into the middle one. They did so, pretending to talk on the telephone as Eruch lifted Baba, who urinated into the cup, which Eruch emptied into a toilet.
On 27 July 1961, Baba and a few of the mandali paid their respects at Babajan’s tomb. Gajwani and Siganporia had a two-hour audience with Baba on 1 August. Adi arrived that same evening.
During those days in Poona, Eruch used to spend the day at Guruprasad and return to Bindra House in the evenings. Baidul would also stay with his family at night. Naja would always stay at Bindra House to cook, as food for Baba and the women came from there. The men’s food came from Jal Dorabjee’s guest house. Once Eruch brought mangoes from Bindra House. They were delicious, but the next day Baba complained to him, “The mangoes are sour.”
Eruch replied, “They are sweet, Baba. I bought them myself after tasting them.”
Sending for Mani, Baba asked her whether they were sweet or sour.
Mani answered they were somewhat sour, and Eruch could only remark, “Well, perhaps they are.”
One day Baba remarked to Eruch about his mother and sister, “I was thinking of calling Gaimai and Manu to Guruprasad, but after consulting the women, they said that if I called them, I would have to call others also.” Eruch kept quiet and Baba added, “I am so guileless! All are fooling me!”
Eruch replied sardonically, “You are not guileless, Baba, but ghag (cunning)! You are ustad (masterful)!” Eruch’s remarks made Baba laugh.
Eruch and Don Stevens had gone out for a walk, as they would do every morning, but the Ahmednagar group had arrived fifteen minutes early. By the time Eruch and Don returned to Meherazad, Baba was already with them in front of mandali hall.
“Where have you been?” he asked Eruch, his eyes flashing with anger. Eruch explained. Baba asked, “But why weren’t you here when the singers arrived?”
Eruch said “The program was to start at ten o’clock, and it is only a quarter to ten now.”
“You should have been here,” Baba insisted. “You should know what I want.” On and on, Baba reprimanded Eruch. Don was mortified. “Good heavens, what have I gotten poor Eruch into,” he thought, as it was Stevens who had wanted to go out that morning, despite Eruch’s misgivings. “I really ought to bear some of the weight of this debacle,” he thought to himself.
Just as he had this thought, Baba turned on him and gestured, “Don, you have ruined my day!”
Baba said “Eruch is with Me, he loves Me, he works for Me wholeheartedly, but even for him it is not easy to obey Me.
Eruch interjected, “I just tell Baba we are helpless in this and all other matters. I found that out during my long stay of many years with Baba. I thought obedience was easy; but I did not know Baba would say ‘Get up’ and ‘Sit down’ at one and the same time! So I tell Baba: ‘I am absolutely helpless. I cannot obey you, I cannot love you!’ ”
Baba commented, “Eruch loves Me very much. He is My right hand; but obedience is a terrible affair. The apostles of Jesus also knew how difficult it was to obey Him.”
Eruch added, “We cannot please Baba even with obedience; so it is not obedience. Yet to please him is the aim of everything we do.”