MY DESTINY ENTIRELY IN BABA'S HANDS

Nariman and I reserved tickets to go to Ahmednagar by the night train on 4th December, 1957. That afternoon our driver took me in the car to do some last-minute errands, all of them having to do with Baba's coming visit to Bombay. I was in the back seat with two photos of Baba in silver frames that I was taking to be polished, reading over my list of errands, when suddenly the car crashed into a pole, throwing me forward so that I hit my head against the front seat.

The sound of breaking glass was so loud that I thought every window in the car must have shattered. Stunned and barely able to think straight, I sat quietly for a minute, taking Baba's name. With the impact of the crash the two pictures, which were in a leather bag on the seat, had fallen to the floor, and the glass in the frames had broken into a hundred pieces.

A crowd had gathered around the car. Someone helped me to get out and directed me to a shop nearby so I could call Nariman at his office to tell him what had happened. He came quickly with his brother Behram, who took me home.

When I later inquired about the condition of the car, I was surprised to learn that not a single window had been broken. That seemed unbelievable, as the glass breaking in those two small frames could not possibly have made so much noise. It was as though Baba had directed the impact of the accident into those two picture frames.

The accident took place at about 4:00 in the afternoon. When Nariman and I boarded the night train at 9:00, I was still very shaken. Although I had escaped with only a small bruise on my forehead, I found it very difficult to sleep on the train. As soon as we arrived at Meherazad, we went into mandali hall, where Baba was waiting.

After embracing Nariman and me, Baba asked, "Did you sleep well?" When I said I hadn't, Baba looked concerned and asked why. I had not planned to tell Him about the accident immediately, but having been asked, I narrated the previous day's events.

Baba abruptly turned to Goher asking, "At what time did I have the prayers said yesterday?" She replied that they had been said at 2:00 in the afternoon.

Baba then sent me to the women's quarters to have tea and relax, directing Goher to tell Mehera and Mani what had happened. I was warmly embraced by both of them, and they were quite startled and concerned to hear about the accident; even the word itself must have brought back their painful memories of Beloved Baba's accident just a year earlier.

An hour later while we were eating lunch, Baba turned to me and said, "You have no idea what you have been saved from!" After a pause He repeated to the others, "You all have no idea what Arnavaz has been saved from!" Then He told me, "I saved you once and I saved you a second time." After lunch Baba instructed me to rest.

While I was lying down, Goher came to tell me what had happened at Meherazad the previous day. Baba had been very upset. While normally He would retire to His bedroom on the first floor of the big bungalow at 5:00 or 6:00, that day He retired at 2:00, telling Mehera to pray and giving His own words for the prayer. Everyone present could see that Baba was restless. They could sense that He was doing intense work and felt He was saving someone from disaster.

Since Dr. Harry Kenmore had been flying to the United States from India at the time, they all thought that his plane was in danger. Goher said, "We didn't suspect it was you Baba was saving from a fatal accident."

A year earlier, while Nariman and I were on a holiday trip, we had met a man who was interested in palmistry. He had read the palms of several people staying in the hotel, and one day he asked to see mine. I had never allowed anyone to read my horoscope or my palm because I knew that my destiny was entirely in Baba's hands. He could change it the way He liked and mould it the way He wanted. What was the point? Knowing the future creates unnecessary worries.

The man who wanted to read my palm assured me he would not tell me what he saw, but after looking at it he gently asked, "Do you drive a machine?"

I asked, "What machine?"

Then he joked, "Airplane." I was very surprised and puzzled. He laughed and said, "What I mean is, do you drive a car?"

I said, "No, I have not learned driving." He asked me if I intended to learn to drive.

When I said, "Never," he told me, "Look, now that you have told me that you are never going to learn to drive an automobile, I am telling you never to drive one in your whole life, because if you do, you will have a fatal accident!"

At one time I had started learning to drive, but immediately after Baba's accident in the United States, I stopped, feeling that the permission Baba had given me had clearly been extracted from Him, and He did not wish me to drive a car. When I remembered this man's words, I understood how Baba's love and compassion had saved me, changing my destiny.