[Tavern-Talk] HEART TALK: William Donkin's Diaries 9

Fri Jan 11 02:23:44 GMT 2008

HEART TALK - Donkin's Diaries: Ninth Installment

11/1/40

Last Sunday Nilu and I went with Padri and Navroji to the Centre site
at Byramangala to consider sites for sewage disposal. There seems to
be plenty of room for all this though we must keep the sewage far from
the wells, from which we shall get our water.

I also stood on the iron spike which Baba personally drove into the
ground to be the centre of the Centre building, which is Baba's own
house, of the entire Meher Baba Universal Spiritual Centre. The
building is just starting now, though they have still to fetch water
from a mile away at the river.

Another comic tale when Baba was at Rahuri Dr Ghani was made to fast
for 3 months on water only; after 2 months Baba said he would die, and
as Baba did not want to pay the cost of Ghani's funeral, he made Ghani
beg from the Mandali for the price of a coffin. He got about 60 rupees
and a man was called in and a coffin made. Then Baba said he would
undergo the funeral instead of Dr Ghani, so Baba sat in the coffin,
and was carried round the ashram grounds, with Ghani walking behind
the coffin chanting some Arabic chant which they sing at funerals.
Then Baba got out of the coffin and told Ghani he would not die.

In the first place the fast had not been undertaken because at the end
of it Ghani was going to be given clairaudience and clairvoyance by
Baba and was going to practice in Yokohama under the name of Ugansi,
which means 'lazy one'. Ramju even made up a legal document about the
sharing of profits at Baba's order. At the end of it all Baba told
Ghani it had been all a ruse to make him fast for his own good, which
up till then he had not done! What methods Baba uses!

There was a Centre Committee meeting last night, a quarrel between
Ghani and Jal Kerawala, who is Vice Chairman, and between Padri and
Byramshaw at the close: Byramshaw can be very stupid at times.

21/1/40

Last Monday morning we all left with Baba for Hassan; Baba in
Elizabeth's car with the invisibles, Jal driving the 'Auburn' with
European ladies, Byramshaw having gone ahead to arrange about
accommodation the previous day with Gustadji.

Hassan is 115 miles from here, N.W., a fairly good road. We had lunch
by the roadside, Baba cracking me up no end. I was driving the bus as
usual, with Kaka and Eruch beside me.

Baba and the ladies stayed in the Travellers' Bunglaow in Hassan, a
pleasant place, and we men in the Musafir Khana: quite comfortable.

We saw a lot of Baba every day and he was in very good mood joking
with us, and sitting with us for hours; all very pleasant indeed.

The day after arrival we went to Shravanabelagola some 35 miles E of
Hassan. Here on a granite hill 600 feet high, on its top, rising out
of a temple yard is a 60' solid granite carving of Gomateshwara, the
Jain master: it is one piece of stone and beautifully carved. Baba
says he (Gomateshwara) observed great penance at this place.

The second day we went to see the temples at Belur and Halebur, carved
with the most elaborate and beautiful carvings, really an amazing and
wonderful sight.

The third day Baba had diarrhoea in the morning and was not too
bright, but we went through Chick Mangalore to the Baba Budhan hills,
about 5500 ft high. A lovely road climbing up through dense jungle
with occasional coffee plantations, and superb views high up over
endless valleys of dense wild jungles full of elephants and tigers.
Baba very perky and happy up there, cool fresh streams, and green
mountain slopes. We had picnic at rest-house on top, and after lunch
Baba took us down to see Baba Budhan's tomb - a low roofed cave: Baba
kept on pushing our heads down to avoid our bumping our heads on the
rocky ceiling.

Baba Budhan apparently buried himself alive in this cave, while in
Samadhi, and he was the first man to introduce coffee from Arabia into
India. Apparently travelers in the jungle still sometimes see him when
they are lost, though he is dead several hundred years ago.

On the return journey we picked up a mast in Chick Mangalore, who
babbles to himself all the time, everything is Shariat this and
Shariat that - he has nine lakhs of wives and nine lakhs of children
all in Shariat. So Baba has named him Shariat Khan. He called Baba
King of the world.

Plenty of larks with Baba the last day at Hassan, a rest day, he
teasing all of us in turn; good fun.

We got back yesterday after a pleasant drive home again, Baba rather
tired: he seemed peeved when he found Dr Ghani asleep at 2:15 in the afternoon.

4/2/40

I got back on Thursday night from Madras: I stayed there 8 days in
Ayengar's house in Saidapet, and went over various hospitals, seeing
cases of kala-azar, leprosy, yaws, eye diseases, and venereal diseases.

I also saw several cases like our Mastan, one of the masts here, with
anaemia and oedema of legs and asertes, curable with iron only in
larger doses: This is rapidly curing Mastan now, so trip to Madras has
had its uses too. I didn't much like Ayengar's house; rather dirty,
but they looked after me very well.

Now that I am back Baba is most of the day in his new hut in the
garden at The Links, made of bamboo and straw, very cool and pleasant.

Baba looking well and rather mysterious yesterday, his eyes like dark
pools, beautiful to look at.

To-day he seemed in a preoccupied mood and started teasing Nilu,
making him rather upset; teasing him about his love of food, and that
neither he nor I were anyone. He gave Nilu a brick and told him
jokingly to eat it.

Often too when Nilu and I are called to Baba about some sick person
Baba gives me some fruit - say, a banana, and gives Nilu the skin, or
at times he'll give Nilu some gift of food, and then tell Nilu to give
it to me, or to someone else in the room, all as a joke for all.
There's no doubt Baba can be very irritating at times, pretending not
to hear what one says, or teasing one about nothing rather unjustly,
but all of it because he wants to try to upset us: for his own reasons
of course. These little games of mood which he plays with us are
really very funny when done with someone else, he makes them look such
a fool, but when done on oneself it is not such a joke, of course. But
everyone gets their turn. But all this really makes Baba all the more
loveable; his moods change so fast from one individual to another, and
from one instant to another. And as time goes on one gets a sort of
solid feeling of his greatness in all things, which grows on one day
by day and binds one faster to him.

There has been a bit of a dust-up because Col. Irani came down while I
was in Madras, and gave 2 anti-Baba lectures, very sarcastic and
stupid, and really rather a flop.

The building supervision people, Padri, Pendu, and Navroji are at the
site now, living there in the temporary house: Masa is cooking for
them. They come back on Sundays, and so are here to-day.

10/2/40

Baba very chirpy these days, teasing people in a light handed sort of manner.

Yesterday I went over about hospital affairs to see him in his hut and
he was hitting us all in a light hearted sort of way with a long heavy
pencil; over the ear, at the back of the neck, on the hand, or
anywhere he could reach. He also played catch with a sweet lime with
me, and when I asked for a special book on surgery costing about 35
rupees, he made me give Vishnu a promissory note for R3,135 in March;
so I must write to my Bank for a new cheque book.

The day before I told him that the more I saw of the Victoria Hospital
the more I'd like to burn it down, and he said do, by all means (burn
it down), and on his asking me who the boss was there, he told me to
string him up and hang him! All in good fun of course; he periodically
tells me to strangle his mother when she makes a nuisance of herself.

===================================

Jai Beloved Baba!
Archives Team
Avatar Meher Baba P.P.C. Trust

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