Growing up with Meher Baba (Page 9 of 10)

We stayed in Myrtle Beach for some time, and finally everybody was well enough to travel on up to New York where they were to see more doctors and receive further treatment. We went to New York by train. When we came into Pennsylvania Station, I was to go with the girls in a special room, because, you have to remember, the men Mandali were not allowed to communicate with or see Mehera. She had been in seclusion for many years. So we went on this very circuitous route, and we were then finally shown onto an elevator that was going to take us up to another level, where we were then going to find the cars to go to Scarsdale. The elevator went up one floor, the doors opened, and there, facing into the elevator, were the Mandali. The plans, as usual, had gone awry. The doors shut and everybody, in shock, rode up to the next floor. I couldn’t believe it! We finally got ourselves loaded into cars and then got the girls out to the house in Scarsdale where they were staying.

While we were in New York I got to drive Baba to some of the doctors’ appointments and other appointments. Marion Florsheim, “Energy” as Baba called her, did the other half of the driving. We had a continuous route that went back and forth from Scarsdale to New York, to various doctors, and to the apartment that we lived in, where Baba later held His Sahavas.

On one of the trips to Scarsdale I was going to pick up Baba to bring Him to an appointment in the city. As I was driving out there, I saw a little bird fluttering in the middle of the highway. It was obvious that a car had struck the little bird, so I pulled my car over to the side of the road to see if I could pick it up and help it in any way. And as I touched it, it died. So I got back in the car and went ahead to pick up Baba. As we came to the same place, going back into the city, I asked Him, “Baba, when you hit a little creature with a car and kill it, who is it that gets the sanskaras from this? Do they go to the person? Does that person pick up that little bird’s sanskaras as karmic obligation?” Baba said, “Yes, unless I am in the car. If I am in the car, then I assume the results of the karma.”

Anyway, there was much going back and forth between New York City and Scarsdale because, among other things at that point, Murshida was once again with Baba sorting out the future of the Sufi Order.

Meher Baba at the East-West Gathering in Poona in 1962. Photo by Aneece Hassen.

I drove Murshida up to Scarsdale and I remember sitting in the room as Meher Baba was talking carefully and in detail to Murshida about the Sufi charter which He drafted. They went over every single bit of it, how this was to be, what kind of things could be done. We had, for instance, the Universal Worship Service, and Baba said, “No, there is no such thing.” So that was wiped out. They had, in the old days, lots of Sufi practices which we were bound to observe, and He got rid of all those — no practices. Baba gave us only two practices: one was the repetition of His name, and the other a meditation on Him that he expected us to do each day. He put attention on the charter down to the most minor detail and said that the Sufi Order should last until He comes again. Murshida asked Baba about the illumination the Murshid should have to guide his mureeds. Baba said, “Now, the Murshid has not necessarily to be one with God, but must necessarily have the highest illumination: vision of God. All this will be in the charter. The sixth plane is the plane of illumination, when one sees God everywhere, within and without.”

Someone asked Him, “When Murshida does have to give up the body, can’t you see to it that we have an illumined Murshid?” Baba answered, “You don’t know what you are asking. But God and I will fight it out and I promise you that you will have an illumined Murshid for the next 700 years until I come again.” So with this He ensured the future of the Order.

Meher Baba took the charter with Him back to India and later on mailed it to Murshida with His signature, and it has been our charter ever since. He said that He wanted the principles of the Order to spread, and since they are very beautiful, perhaps they will. In any event, He took meticulous care tending to it, saying, “I love Sufism with all my heart.”