Your Friday photo is in honor of National Visit the Zoo Day…

“Wherever we landed, Baba invariably took us to the zoo,” said Mani S. Irani, Meher Baba’s sister. [1]

 “We used to think it was for sightseeing, but it wasn’t only that.” Baba was doing his work with animals and, as usual, he did it deftly and quickly. “Baba once or twice walked so fast that we hardly had time to see the animals.” [2]

Meher Baba and His disciples also collected various animals that stayed and traveled with them. His followers referred to them as the Meherabad zoo, wherever they were staying. (Meherabad is where His Tomb Shrine is located and where He and His disciples lived in the early years.)

The following 1951 photo is of Meher Baba with Begum*, one of the pets in the Meherabad zoo.

Animals came and went in the Meherabad zoo. Various descriptions include: a gazelle, a peacock, a lamb, a white rabbit, some geese, five dogs, three monkeys, and an assortment of pet birds. The zoo was augmented with mixed-breed puppies, Bingo and Jingo. [3]

Another time, besides the goat, monkey, cats, dogs, birds, the Meherabad zoo included two pigs, Nutty and Gutty; a rabbit, Snowy; a lamb, Mary; and a gazelle. [4]

“Baba was so concerned with animals,” Mani continued, “the last thing he did before going down the [Meherabad] hill in the evening was to visit the animals, to go to each one’s cage, to each animal and pet, before sleeping.” [5]

Meher Baba showered much love and attention on the pets in the Meherabad zoo.

“Baba could be strict with his own people [about the bazaar list],” Mani observed, “but the animals could have what they wanted. One could order what was needed for the pets. Later, we found people were ordering things not just for the animals but for themselves.

“For instance, we were permitted to order nuts for the monkeys, but Kitty [Davy] kept ordering more, as people kept eating them up. So much was being ordered for animals. This one was ordering that for the lamb; this one things for the dogs. Our mouths watered with what the animals were being fed!

 “One day [at Bangalore], there were raisins on the bazaar list. Baba said, ‘What’s this? Raisins for which animal?’

“It turned out that Nadine [Tolstoy] thought that since everyone was ordering different things for the animals in their charge, why not something for hers? She ordered raisins – ostensibly for the cat!” [6]

Footnotes

[1] David Fenster, Mehera-Meher: A Divine Romance, Volume II, pg. pg. 71. (Ahmednagar, India: Meher Nazar Publications), E-Book Edition: April 2016. (c) 2003 by David Fenster.
[2] Ibid., pg. 71.
[3] Ibid., pp. 53, pg. 486.
[4] Daivd Fenster, Mehera-Meher: A Divine Romance, Volume I, pg. 494. (Ahmednagar, India: Meher Nazar Publications), E-Book Edition: April 2016. (c) 2003 by David Fenster.
[5] Ibid., pg. 494.
[6] Ibid., pg. 493.

Photo

Avatar Meher Baba and Begum, the pet horse., by Faredoon (Padri) Driver, February 15, 1951, in Mahabaleshwar, India. (c) Meher Nazar Publications, Ahmednagar, India.

Story

"Begum, The Little Lady," by Mehera J. Irani, from Baba Loved Us Too, pp. 95-100.