[Tavern-Talk] HEART TALK: More Original Letters Introduction

[Tavern-Talk]

HEART TALK: More Original Letters Introduction

We now begin a series of letters from Chanji's collection of Baba's
correspondence that is completely different to the last series. These
letters are mostly to Baba from Chanji, Jal Kerwala and others, and
not only give a glimpse of the range of matters Baba covered in
correspondence but also how He dealt with correspondence.

The first letter in this series was written in 1926 and Baba has
corrected Chanji's draft, both by crossing out parts He did not
approve and by adding changes in His own handwriting.

On 1st January 1927 Baba wrote this message: "I intend to stop
writing from tomorrow. It is not definite when I will resume writing
or speaking. I may start again after some days, some months or even
some years."

The remainder in this series are from the late 1930s and early 1940s
after Baba had stopped writing, but was signing His name. Prior to
his death in 1944, Chanji was the one primarily responsible for
handling Baba's English correspondence. Meherwan Jessawala recalls
the procedure in those days: Baba would have the correspondence
read out to Him and would give points for the reply. Baba would
make these as short as possible as He did not want to waste time. If
Chanji was not there, Mani would read out the correspondence, Baba
would dictate short remarks which Mani would note on the letter, and
she would then send them to Chanji who would compose a more
detailed reply. Depending on who was with Baba, Vishnu and others
would also sometimes fill in. Vishnu handled the Marathi
correspondence as well. Where important, Baba would initial or sign
the notes on the correspondence, so that Chanji would know that
Baba had given His approval.

Except for the first letter, all of these letters have been signed or
initialled by Baba, and many have notes of Baba's dictated response
beside them. While the transcription conveys the content of the
letters, it cannot communicate how they look. For this you will need
to go to the facsimile of the posted letter via the link.

A little additional information: With all the travelling for and with
Baba, and having no files, cupboards or place to store the papers, and
no time to organize them, keeping Baba's correspondence in this
period was no joke. Following is an excerpt from 'Lord Meher'
describing Chanji's work with the papers and their subsequent filing
after Chanji's death in 1944 in Kashmir.

Chanji's Life had been so hectic attending to Baba's work that he had
not had time to arrange all his diaries, notes and letters. He would 
jot down things and simply collect it all, storing it in his trunk.  
Eruch and Adi Sr. had been sorting through some of his things while
in Bangalore during 1940. After Chanji's death, all his trunks were
brought to Meherabad from Bombay, and Baba assigned the duty of
arranging and putting them in order to Feram Workingboxwala.

For Feram, going through Chanji's letters and notes proved a tedious
and tiresome task. For one thing, Chanji's handwriting was at times
microscopic; for another, he was in the habit of taking down Baba's
explanations on any scrap of paper handy, and would often not date
the entries, or he would simply put the day and month with no
mention of what year. Feram was able to complete the work,
organizing it as best he could in nine months. And thus, Feramroz's
(Chanji's) legacy was deciphered and straightened out by Feramroj
(Feram) - who became known as the record keeper.

After Chanji's demise, Adi Sr. had become Meher Baba's official
secretary and was handling the duty of correspondence between the
Master and his followers. Feram would assist Adi in keeping all Adi's
correspondence and accounts organized.

The first letter in this series will be sent next week.

Jai Meher Baba! 
The Archives team, Avatar Meher Baba P.P.C. Trust

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

Other Heart Talk letters can be selected at:
http://www.ambppct.org/archives/collections/written_materials/correspondence/heart_talk.htm

To learn more about the Avatar Meher Baba Trust Archives go to:
http://www.ambppct.org/archives