Meher Baba Life Timeline: 1925-1935
 |
1925 |
January: return to Meherabad; resident mandali grows to 40; Thursdays and holidays public darshans.
March: open hospital and dispensary at Meherabad as well as hermitage for lepers and destitute; opens co-ed primary school with free education, food, clothes for children of all religions and castes, mostly Harijans.
July 9 at 8:30 pm he announces:
“I am now going. From tomorrow I will not speak for one and a half years. All of you must take care of your health, and remember, when any of you go out of the Makan during the night to attend to your needs, always carry a lantern with you. Beware of snakes; I will do anything to help you in other difficulties, but I will not help you if you are bitten by a snake.”
July 10 begins silence
July: staying in his Jhopdi at Meherabad; wrote in his “book” daily at the beginning of his silence.
October shifts to “table cabin” under neem tree by the road; continues writing in book and giving darshan to visitors in front of the cabin.
November 19 lights dhuni fire in response to villagers’ plea for rain – 15 hours of rain ensues; beginning of monthly lighting of dhuni fire on the 12th of the month.
Sai Darbar hall built near post office to accommodate large crowds coming weekly for darshan; Marathi arati sung in his praise.
|
| 1926 |
composes Bujave Nar Gujarati arati – both Gujarati and Marathi arati’s sung
Around 500 people living at Meherabad; a few dozen dedicated mandali living under Baba’s strict orders. Mandali worked in school, hospital as well as being involved in games and sports.
March Baba moves into box cabin in Sai Darbar hall; May begins two-month stay in water tank room on the hill.
October Baba dismantles Meherabad and relocates to Lonavla; makes arrangements for needs of those living under his care at Meherabad; November returns to Meherabad and rebuilds; starts Hazrat Babajan school for boys.
|
| 1927 |
Stops writing; begins using alphabet board — May opens Meher Ashram for boys and shifts it to Meherabad hill; October 170 boys enrolled (14 from Persia) — women mandali living in enclosed compound on the hill. December starts staying in crypt room
|
| 1928 |
January love outburst sweeps through Meher Ashram; Baba forms Prem Ashram for advanced meditation and retreat. Baba remains in crypt room until end of February; fasts until end of April.
March: sends Rustom to UK to bring boys from the west fo the Prem Ashram; can’t bring any boys but meets Meredith and Margaret Starr.
April: Hazrat Babajan comes to Meherabad, meets Baba and school boys at the railroad tracks.
June-Nov.: Toka – entire Meherabad colony and schools shifted to Toka — July: Meredith and Margaret Starr come for 6 months — November: Toka ashram dismantled; most boys sent home; most mandali sent elsewhere; Baba and core Prem Ashram boys and mandali return to Meherabad Hill.
|
| 1929 |
12-day walking tour of a few cities in the region – Baba in crypt working with Prem Ashram boys for five months — in May and July-August two bus tours (Hardwar, Rishikesh, Kashmir)
Sept: with 18 mandali by steamship to Persia – Qom, Isfahan, Yezd – return by bus through desert
Nov: move to Nasik
|
| 1930 |
March: mass darshans in South – Madras, Mysore, Nilgiri Hills, Bijapr, Sholapur — May: 2 week fast in Panchgani cave in Tiger Valley — two month trip to Kashmir – Nasik – Lonavla (giving darshan) — new “Panchgani cave” in Meherabad hill — meets Paul Brunton
|
| 1931 |
June: with 5 Mandali to Persia incognito – working at great mosque at Meshed
Sept: sails from Karachi to England with Rustom, Chanji and Ali on SS Rajputana – meets with Gandhi who is en route to Round Table Conference – three weeks meeting new disciples – from England to Constantaniople, Milan, Genoa and then to New York – Harmon on Hudson (one month-3 weeks) followed by 1 week in New York – attracts hundreds of disciples including first close western mandala – returns to India early 1932
Sept. 21: Hazrat Babajan drops the body – reported to be 125 years old
|
| 1932 |
March: first world tour: returns to England – “Message to the West” (“like beads on one string”) – interviewed / newsreel film – {Sheriarji dies} – to Paris, Lugano, New York – “Message to America” (“America has Tremendous Energy”) - Chicago, Hollywood (Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Tulula Bankhead, etc – promised breaking of silence in Hollywood Bowl), then to Shanghi, Nanking, Singapore, Bombay.
After 24 hours in Bombay giving instructions to close Mandali returns to Europe – Marseilles – Venice (gondola & St.Mark's square) – Assisi (seclusion in cave of St. Francis) – Milan, Paris, London, Egypt, Sri Lanka and return to India
|
| 1933 |
first western disciples to India – April: ten Western disciples (9 women & Quintin Todd) called to India – proposed 6-month tour cut to 3-week tour of north India and they are sent back — July: 5th visit to the West – select western disciples in Portofino — 6th visit Sept: London – Oct. month in Spain- returned to India
|
| 1934 |
7th visit to West – Paris, London, Zurich (Fallenfluh)
8th visit to West & 2nd world tour: London, New York, Hollywood (began work on film project in Hollywood – Vollmoeller, Mercedes DeCosta, Garrett Fort )
At Meherabad, for some time women mandali had been in seclusion - raising and caring for various birds, bunnies and other animals (“the zoo”)
|
| 1935 |
January 1935 left Los Angeles to Vancouver, Hawaii, Yokohama, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Colombo and return to India– moves ashram from Meherabad to Nasik – Baba recovering from health collapse from cold winter in the West – working with Eastern disciples / writing to Western disciples
|
ROSE & NIGHTENGALE HOME
|
