"To His Disciples Meher Baba Says..." - A Poem by Mani S. Irani
By Margaret Magnus
Mani S. Irani (1918-1996), the sister of Avatar Meher Baba, was His second-closest woman disciple, joining Baba's ashram at the age of thirteen.
In those early years, Meher Baba traveled repeatedly for His work, always with chosen members of the mandali joining Him. The stress of continually shifting plans and places, required the mandali to become more detached from the world and to focus on Him.
In response to her life of training and being with Meher Baba, Mani wrote the following poem sometime in the 1940s.
Mani lived her life completely surrendering to His will. Her life of service and devotion is portrayed in The Joyous Path by Heather Nadel in which this poem was published.
MANI S. IRANI, Avatar Meher Baba's sister, pictured here in Mandali Hall in Meherazad, India, in the early 1990s where she would tell stories of her life with Meher Baba. (Sam Ervin photo.)
By Mani S. Irani
“To His Disciples BABA SAYS…. …. ….”
Do what I tell you, with love and zest:
Leave to me the entire rest.
Even failure does not mean a thing
When you have tried your very best.
Live in the world and play your part;
Renounce the world within your heart.
And in the life that comes and ends,
Strive for the end that has no start.
Fast when you’re hungry, eat when you’re not.
Keep cool as a cucumber when you’re boiling hot.
No matter what soup or fix you’re put in,
Don’t ever forget to prove a sport.
Have your feelings, but know them untrue.
Look sunbeams and smiles when feeling all blue.
Whatever the path I’ve chalked out for you,
Keep going; why stop to argue?
I shall give you what you wish, and more,
But not when you wish to get it, be sure.
To wait and wait, and just to wait
Is what you must learn to endure.
Don’t grumble and cry at your share and lot.
Don’t think I’ve forgotten and love you not.
Remember, what you get from the ocean of love,
Depends on the size of the vessel you’ve got.
When doubts and grief knock at heart’s door,
Tell them you don’t live there any more,
But slowly climbing blade-like steps,
Shifting to the seventh floor.
Note
The "seventh floor" in the last line refers to the seventh plane of consciousness where the soul experiences conscious union with God.
Source
Heather Nadel, The Joyous Path: The Life of Avatar Meher Baba’s Sister, Mani, Volume One (Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Foundation 2015), pp. 423-424. ©Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust. Reprinted with permission.