By Wayne Myers

“It was necessary that it should happen in America. God willed it so.”

Hearts of Avatar Meher Baba followers around the world were pierced with shock and grief at the news. It happened in the midst of Meher Baba’s historic trip to the United States in 1952.

It was just days after Meher Baba’s first visit of a month’s stay at Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Meher Baba had arrived there from India on April 21st accompanied by six women mandali and six men mandali (close disciples).

At Myrtle Beach, numerous followers met Meher Baba for the first time. Some had been longing and waiting for this moment for years. Hearts were intoxicated by Baba’s Love and Divine Presence. Lives were transformed.

Hearts were also longing and waiting to meet Meher Baba on the West Coast. On May 20th, Meher Baba and His mandali departed Myrtle Beach in two cars on a driving trip across the U.S. from Myrtle Beach to Meher Mount in Ojai, California, for a planned nine-day stay. 

On the morning of Saturday, May 24, 1952, Meher Baba and four of His women mandali suffered a severe automobile collision with an oncoming car just west of Prague, Oklahoma.

“Baba was thrown out of the vehicle. His head bleeding and His left leg fractured…Baba had previously prophesied that He would shed blood on American soil, and here He was bleeding profusely.” [2]

Mehera J. Irani and Elizabeth Patterson (Baba’s driver) sustained critical injuries. Meheru Irani and Mani S. Irani sustained serious to moderate injuries.  As a result, Meher Baba did not reach the West Coast and Meher Mount in 1952.

In a statement, Meher Baba declared, “The personal disaster, for some years foretold by me, at last happened while crossing the American continent — causing me through facial injuries, a broken leg and broken arm, much mental and physical suffering. It was necessary that it should happen in America. God willed it so.” [3]

“I am happy. It is as I wanted it.”

Four and one-half years later on December 2, 1956, Meher Baba suffered a second and extremely severe automobile accident while traveling with four of His men mandali near Satara, India.

“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…Baba was bathed in blood, his tongue was torn, his hip bone fractured, and he had abrasions on his forehead, nose, cheeks and legs.” [4]

Of the mandali, Dr. Nilu was killed. Eruch Jessawala, Pendu Irani and Vishnu Deorukhar all sustained serious injuries. For Meher Baba to stand unassisted or walk freely ever again would be a rare occasion. He suffered intense physical pain for the remainder of His life.

A few days after the 1956 accident, Meher Baba “…traced a circle on the spot of the fracture with his finger and gestured, ‘The suffering of the whole universe is concentrated on this little spot. This is a tangible expression of the universal suffering I bear…I am happy. It is as I wanted it.’" [5]

One of Meher Baba’s biographers, Naosherwan Anzar of Beloved Archives, summarizes:

“Like Jesus. Like Buddha. Like Muhammad. When the Avatar comes to earth to live amongst men, He too must suffer. He too must bleed…The Avatar will have His crucifixion. But His work must go on. That is the Divine will.”  [6]

“Why does the Avatar suffer?”

Meher Baba conveyed this explanation about His Avataric suffering.

“Why does the Avatar suffer? Man enjoys or suffers in the illusory world depending on his karma. The Avatar is beyond all karma. He does not take upon himself the karma of the world. Nor does He become bound by it. But He takes upon Himself the suffering of the world which is a result of its karma. Humanity finds its redemption from its karma through His suffering, e.g. illness, humiliation, accidents, etc.

“The Avatar has a universal mind. As God, He sees all souls as His own. He sees Himself in everything and all minds are contained in His universal mind. Feeling Himself as one with all in all, He suffers infinitely for our limitations, ignorance, and physical, mental, and spiritual suffering. His outward physical suffering is only a token and sign of His enormous physical burden. The total volume of the suffering of billions of human minds in existence is beyond imagination. His physical suffering is a divine redemptive exchange for our suffering.” [7]

“Begotten of My Compassion”

In a message to His followers in 1958, Meher Baba said, “My suffering is daily becoming more intense, and my health is daily growing worse, but my physical body continues to bear the burden of it all...I expect from you a deep understanding of my self-imposed suffering which is begotten of my compassion and love for mankind.” [8]  

From a circular issued by Meher Baba’s secretary Adi K. Irani in 1965, “Meher Baba says that his Universal work has increased many fold and his Universal suffering has also increased proportionately, and this is now telling greatly upon his physical health. But Baba also says: … ‘What could be more glorious than my suffering for all humanity!’" [9]

“His suffering is puzzling and difficult for many to understand.”

Mani S. Irani, Meher Baba’s sister and close disciple expressed this in The Family Letters:

“This aspect of Baba, i.e. His suffering is puzzling and difficult for many to understand — particularly those who try to attain faith through understanding. They argue that there is no need for Him to suffer if He is all Power. How, in fact, can He be suffering when He is all Bliss? Once Eruch [10] and I got to talking of this, and his explanation deeply impressed itself on me, Eruch said to the effect that:

“When man becomes God, he is released from the finite and merges into the Infinite. But when God becomes Man, it means caging the Infinite into the finite — the finite being the absolute opposite of the infinite.

“Bliss signifies Freedom, whereas suffering signifies bondage. Infinite Bliss therefore expresses absolute Freedom. Only the cords of Bondage (suffering) can hold down and restrain that Freedom (Bliss) into captivity within a Human form. Hence God Who is Infinite Bliss, binds Himself with suffering when He assumes human form. In short, God remains amidst mankind as man, only when He suffers Himself to be bound by suffering.

“This emphasizes what Baba has told us: ‘…the Avatar takes on bondage, and therefore (as God-Man) actually ‘becomes’ the role He has assumed and has to really suffer.’”  [11]

“So it was, so it is now, and so it will be.”

After the May 24, 1952, automobile accident in Oklahoma, Meher Baba spent a two-month recuperation period in Myrtle Beach and New York before departing America to return to India with stops to visit followers in London and Switzerland.

In both New York City and London, Meher Baba with His leg in a cast, in pain and great discomfort, welcomed planned occasions where several hundred more newcomers met Baba for the first time and upon whom He showered His Love. The testaments abound. 

In New York City, one follower who was wheeling Baba in His wheelchair “was overcome with seeing Baba in that condition. He asked, ‘Baba, why is it that the Avatar has to bear so much suffering?’

Baba answered, ‘So it was, so it is now, and so it will be.’” [12]

References

[1] Charles Purdom & Malcolm Schloss, Three Incredible Weeks with Meher Baba. (North Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Press), pg. 85. ©1979 by Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.
[2] Naosherwan Anzar, Meher Baba: From Boyhood to Godhood (Hamilton, NJ: Beloved Archives), pg. 433. ©2021 by Beloved Archives.
[3] Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher: The Biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba, Online Edition, pg. 3100, accessed May 14, 2022. ©Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust.
[4] Kalchuri, ibid., pg. 4132, accessed online May 14, 2022.
[5] Kalchuri, ibid., pg. 4137-4138, accessed online May 14, 2022.
[6] Anzar, op.cit., pg. 435.
[7] Betty Lowman & Shani Verchick, “It Happened in the Heartland,” Glow International (August 2005), p.16. Passage quoted was originally published in 1963 in a pamphlet, “We Smile, He Suffers.” 
[8] Kalchuri, op. cit., pg. 4345, accessed online May 14, 2022.
[9] Kalchuri, ibid., pg. 5123, accessed online May 14, 2022.
[10] Eruch Jessawala (1916-2001), a very close male mandali (disciple). Eruch served Meher Baba as His principal attendant and vocal interpreter of His silent gestures.
[11] Mani Irani, 82 Family Letters to the Western Family of Lovers and Followers of Meher Baba. (North Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Press) p. 134. ©1976 by Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India.
[12] Kalchuri, op. cit., pg. 3118, accessed online May 14, 2022.
[13] Irani, op.cit., pg. 158.

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