“I will be with you all who gather for My birthday to celebrate My being among you. I am wherever My lovers are. I give my love blessing to each of my lovers.”
— Avatar Meher Baba
AVATAR MEHER BABA in Andhra, India, in 1954. (Colorized by Jim Kirkpatrick) Courtesy of Meher Nazar Publications, Ahmednagar, India.
On February 25th, Avatar Meher Baba’s birthday is celebrated at Meher Baba centers, gatherings, in homes, and in hearts around the world.
In honor of Meher Baba’s Birthday, here’s a delightful story shared by Mani S. Irani, Meher Baba’s sister and close disciple, in the Family Letters in 1963. In her letter, Mani is referring to long-time disciple Feram Workingboxwala.
The excerpt from the Family Letters:
Feramroj, an old Baba-lover who is one of the main pillars that sustains Baba’s office at Ahmednagar, is a thin man whose looks belie his age and whose serious demeanour fails to hide his inexhaustible store of wit.
One of Adi’s* helpmates for years, he always has his nose to the grindstone of Baba-work. On Baba’s Birthday this year [1963], the deluge of telegrams and cables to Baba came from all over the world and lasted for nearly a week!
This has been too much for the small and meagerly staffed Telegraph Office [T.O.] at Ahmednagar, and an extra rush of work for Feram who was kept legging it to the T.O. all day long for confirmation or correction of the speedily deciphered contents, or to check the accuracy of the reply-paid forms.
Feram’s note to Meherazad** spoke volumes and I can't help reproducing it here:
"My dear Eruch***, the local T.O. is in a hustle and bustle, as also, I hear, the Poona T.O. Even Bombay is wondering who Meher Baba is, because for an individual this rush of cables and telegrams is unprecedented.
“The local T.O. is hard pressed and the clerk told me that for the last few days they are dealing only with ‘Meher Baba’. So much the better, as their sanskaras+ will be lessened.
“Even with my over-growth of hair on the chin, I was sirred and stooled (meaning I was addressed as 'Sir' and offered a stool to sit on, which is a rare honour for a shirt-pant-sandalled individual as I am). But I am not flattered because I have had no rest! However I look forward to better days."
“I have come to sow the seed of love in your hearts, so that in spite of all superficial diversity which your life in illusion must experience and endure, the feeling of oneness through love is brought about amongst all the nations, creeds, sects and castes of the world.”
— Avatar Meher Baba
Notes
*Adi K. Irani (also known as Adi Sr.) was Meher Baba’ secretary. **Meherazad, India, was Meher Baba’s final home. He lived there with His mandali, close men and women disciples. ***Eruch B. Jessawala was one of Meher Baba’s closest disciples and primary translator of Meher Baba’s gestures and use of the alphabet board. +Sanskaras: (Vedanta) Impressions. Also impressions which are left on the soul as memories from former past lives, and which determine one’s desires and actions in the present lifetime.
Sources
Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, pg. 5263, accessed February 18, 2025. (c)Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.
Mani S. Irani, 82 Family Letters to the Western Family of Lovers and Followers of Meher Baba, page 160. (Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Press, Inc.) (c) Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India.
On Easter Sunday in 1933, Avatar Meher Baba was traveling in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) with a group of His On Easter Sunday in 1933, Avatar Meher Baba was traveling in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) with a group of followers.
He visited a Christian chapel with the group and remarked:
“All worship returns to Me. The sigh within the prayer is the same in the heart of the Christian, the Mohammedan or the Jew. They are all indivisibly longing for the same God.”
In January 1965, Avatar Meher Baba’s niece, Shireen Irani (now Bonner) traveled from London with her father, Adi Irani (who was Meher Baba’s brother and known as Adi Jr.), and her mother Franey to Meherazad, India, for Meher Baba’s darshan (His blessing).
At that time, Shireen was seven years old, and according to accounts in Lord Meher, was quite intelligent and precocious.
Shireen asked, "’Baba, I know we are born again and again, but you are God; so how is it that you get born?’"
Amartithi — January 31st — marks the day in 1969 when Avatar Meher Baba dropped His physical form. Followers around the world gather to celebrate this day. Why? Here is a sample of personal reasons given by some of Meher Baba’s followers.
The following was written by Eruch Jessawala, one of Meher Baba’s close disciples, in the months after Avatar Meher Baba dropped His physical form on January 31, 1969.
Meherazad [Meher Baba’s home] is pleasant and peaceful, but we feel that everything is vacant. It is like feeling some presence in a vacuum, feeling ourselves, so to say, in a vacuum.
In the midst of our duties we sadly miss the familiar phrases ‘Baba wants you’, ‘Baba said so’, ‘Baba wants you to do this’. These phrases are no longer heard nor are they said.
We don’t feel Baba’s absence, but we surely miss Him. And we miss His silence too, because we found His silence wherever Baba was. Baba and His silence were inseparable for the last 44 years.
“Throughout the ages men have been deeply involved in the struggle for peace and happiness. It is this struggle that lands them into chaos and misery. If men were only to become conscious of the fact that peace and happiness are not to be fought for but to be sought for within oneself, they would abandon their fighting and be at peace with themselves and the world.” - Avatar Meher Baba
Meher Baba states, “The basic causes of the social turmoil that often precipitates into war, may be found in the individual, the social whole, the functioning of maya [illusion] and in the very intent of God’s will.”
In the booklet, Meher Baba on War, He gives the world a profound explanation of war and its spiritual significance. He succinctly lays out the causes of war, the various ways the limited mind tries to comprehend it, and our responsibilities in understanding and dealing with war.
Avatar Meher Baba embarked on a phase of His work known as the New Life on October 16, 1949.
“Baba ends His Old Life of cherished hopes and multifarious activities, and with a few companions begins His New Life of complete renunciation and absolute helplessness…,” Meher Baba declared.
Meher Baba and His 20 companions, including four women, wandered from place to place begging for food. While begging Meher Baba wore a green turban and a white kafni (robe) and walked barefooted. He had an ochre-colored satchel and carried a brass pot in the right hand.
“While almost all are puzzled by Baba’s New Life, they are also fascinated by it,” said Bal Natu, a close follower of Meher Baba.
February 25th marks the birthday of Avatar Meher Baba, born Merwan Sheriar Irani in Poona (now Pune), India on February 25, 1894. Every year on this auspicious day, followers of Meher Baba gather to celebrate His Advent.
This birthday message was given by Meher Baba for His 75th birthday in a family letter dated January 26, 1969, just days before He — the deathless one — dropped His physical form on January 31, 1969.
On January 31, 1969, Avatar Meher Baba — God in human form — dropped His physical form. Even though, in hindsight, Meher Baba had given hints to His close disciples (mandali) that He would leave His body, they were surprised and grief stricken.
This story takes place soon after Meher Baba dropped His body, and the mandali were dealing with their heartache. Mani S. Irani, Meher Baba’s sister, shares an incident that helped her with her grief.
Sixty years ago, from November 1 - 4, 1962, Avatar Meher Baba’s momentous East-West Gathering was held at Guru Prasad in Pune (formerly Poona) India.
At Meher Baba’s invitation, several thousand Easterners and about 160 Westerners answered the call to receive Meher Baba’s darshan andbe in His company.
On September 20, 1962, “a circular was sent to all in India, Pakistan, Europe, America and Australia who would be attending the November East-West Gathering, informing them of certain last-minute instructions for their visit.
“The lovers were told that: ...they should come with the sole idea of enjoying Baba's presence collectively, and NOT hope or want to ask for any individual personal attention or guidance from him regarding any matter concerning themselves, or their families and friends, or in connection with Baba work or group and center activities. No question should be asked, spiritual or otherwise.
“Baba says that this November gathering will be uniquely different from any of the past sahavases or darshans, and he therefore stresses that any expectations other than just being in his presence would be an intrusion into the atmosphere that Baba desires, and would cause the person thus intruding to lose the real benefit of being in Baba's presence.”
“We are all meant to be as honest as God, as loving a God, as happy as God: and only the Christ suffers for humanity, although He is the source of all happiness. You see Me in this physical form, but every moment I am crucified. Only those fortunate ones know this. I suffer as no one could suffer. I suffer because I love.”
“The ideal prayer to the Lord is nothing more than spontaneous praise of His being.
“You praise Him, not in the spirit of bargain but in the spirit of self-forgetful appreciation of what He really is. You praise Him because He is praiseworthy.
“Your praise is the spontaneous appreciative response to His true being, as infinite light, infinite power and infinite bliss.”
“The meaning of forgiveness is to forget the insult. When you remember it, how could you have forgiven it? After forgiving, you should not remember the incident or hold anything against him.”
Meher Baba continued, “Today is New Year’s, and you should make a resolution to forgive and forget. Only by forgetting can you truly forgive. Otherwise, what is the use of merely saying the words, ‘I forgive you’? It must be from the heart.”
The eloquent whimsy of the poem “Song of Nothing” from Bal Natu’s book, More Conversations with the Awakener, resonates with me — it reminds me to remember the Divine in simple ordinary moments, just because.
Its lightness in spirit is uplifting, cheerful, and joyful given that I spend more moments than not navigating the habitual complications of thought, reaction, and feeling.
Meher Baba’s birthday — February 25th — has always been a joyous occasion and very close to my heart.
Not only does it mark Meher Baba’s manifestation as the Avatar of this Age, but it is also a commemoration of the gift He bestowed on us by allowing us to open our hearts to His love…and to each other.
Meher Baba’s 1967 birthday message resonated with me so much because it is such a strong reminder ('“in this age of mess”) that as much as we would love to get together to celebrate His birthday, what matters the most is that we know that on February 25th and every day of our lives, He is our constant companion.
“On the 25th of December we were all assembled at Nasik with Baba for one of the most blessed of all Christmases. We were thrilled to be with Baba again and on Christmas Day re-created the true festive spirit.
“Baba sat toward the middle of one side of the long narrow table, His plate encircled with many gifts brought for Him from the West. With child-like curiosity He carefully and methodically untied the parcels; then with a smile and often a twinkle, selected and presented to each a treasured gift. A few had been earmarked for special persons. We noted Baba preferred to make His own choices.
“After Baba distributed the Christmas surprises amongst us, He said…
In the time of a world pandemic, protests against ongoing racism and social injustice, economic disruption, and human rights violations, the divisions in our society are all the more evident.
During another tumultuous time in world history, World War II (1939-1945), Avatar Meher Baba gave a series of talks or discourses to political leaders in India and to His followers all over the world. The following is an excerpt from those discourses:.
As we learn to navigate the uncharted territory of the current global pandemic, how very fortunate we are to have Meher Baba watching over us.
Throughout His lifetime, so often Meher Baba would go into seclusion, leaving His lovers all over the world to discover the power of their inner connection with Him. Even for those of us who never met Him physically in this lifetime, He continues to make His presence felt by us in ways that seem so personal.
This connection could be a timely reminder in an unexpected email from a close friend or perhaps a post on Facebook or Instagram. Suddenly, we are re-awakened to His presence in our lives – no matter how caught up in thoughts of toilet paper and hand sanitizer we may become.
