STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

 
Back in January of 1961 I had received a confidential letter dictated by Baba with a warning never to mention the contents, particularly to Mehera, when I visited either Meherazad or Guru Prasad:

My dear Arnavaz,

Yesterday ... Baba informed me that He had already told the women now living at Meherazad that in case Mehera survived after He dropped His body — which may not at all happen — then Mani, Goher, Meheru, Naja and Rano should continue as far as possible to live together with Mehera, whether ... in Meherazad or on Meherabad hill....

Baba ... also wishes you to stay as far as possible with Mehera as long as she lives and wherever she prefers to live.... (Of course, in the remote eventuality of Mehera surviving Baba.)

... [H]owever, Baba gives you full permission to be with Nariman at Bombay or elsewhere as and when you or Nariman would want it to be so. But, Baba says, He would want you most of the time to stay with Mehera, and now and again pay visits to Nariman — and Nariman too can now and again pay visits to you to the place wherever you are with Mehera ... in which case Nariman will be staying with the mandali as usual, for some of the mandali have been instructed to be near at hand as now.

Baba wants you to show this letter to Nariman and to keep this strictly confidential. Baba also wishes you to show this letter to Katie, as she too has received instructions on the subject. You must not let anyone else know of this, and Baba wants you to remember NOT to mention anything of this to Mehera if you happen to visit Meherazad or Guruprasad in the near future.

Baba wants you to write an acknowledgment jointly with Nariman, and He does NOT want either of you to feel in the least worried over anything untoward happening, for nothing is going to happen that is beyond the knowledge of your Beloved Baba. Baba's health is steadily on the side of a very gradual improvement, and He wants me to send His LOVE to you both, who are dear and close to Him.

P.S. Baba expressly wants me to add: "Don't think about this unnecessarily. You may all die before Me." This, of course, is just what came out while we were talking, and Baba expressed His wish.

Nariman and I considered Baba, Mehera and the mandali to be our family; still we were honoured by Baba's request, and we had written back immediately telling Baba that of course we would do as He wished. At the time I had momentarily wondered what Nariman would do if I went to live at Meherazad. Then, five months after Baba dropped His body, Nariman completed the sale of his factory and joined me in Meherazad, and I realized that Beloved Baba had laid the groundwork for both of us to live there. Although we kept Ashiana and periodically spent time in Bombay, we lived in Meherazad most of the time from then on. Along with Goher I assumed responsibility for the running of Meherazad since there were no Baba lovers to help us and very few servants at that time.