WHERE ARE THEY?

 
I have naturally revered and loved the Perfect Masters of Beloved Baba's time, more so the ones with whom I have had a special connection: Upasni Maharaj whom I would visit with my family when I was little; Narayan Maharaj whom I met just once when I was 11 years old but who has been, during His lifetime and later in my dreams, a guardian angel over me; and especially the adorable Babajan whom I met many times under Her old neem tree in the Cantonment.

I also met Her a few times under the large mango tree in Bund Garden, where years later Baba used to stop to give darshan to His lovers when departing from Guruprasad to Meherazad after our yearly visit to Poona.

As I said, it was natural to revere and love the Perfect Masters of our Beloved's Advent. But, unlike some Baba-lovers, I was never eager to know the whereabouts of other Perfect Masters. So it was really quite funny that some time after Baba dropped His body, He should come into my dream and ask me if I knew where the present five Perfect Masters were!

He stood facing me, His eyes bright with excitement, saying clearly in Gujerati, "Do you know where the five Perfect Masters are?"

I said, "No, Baba, I don't."

He said, "Come, I'll show you." And strode over to my side. I could no longer see His face. I could see only the wide sweeping movements of His beautiful hands as He displayed this tremendous drama before my eyes.

Baba said, "The Perfect masters are in deep monasteries, which is why you cannot see Them. I'll show you were They are."

He clapped His hands, a clap which seemed to cover the whole sky but made no sound. Right after the clap, there appeared a range of mighty mountains before us, showing clearly that the habitat of one of the Perfect Masters was in the Himalayas, in India.

Baba looked very pleased with the revelations He was making, and now and then cast a glance at me to see if I was properly impressed. I was indeed much impressed as the second place revealed Egypt, the land of the Pharaohs. There before me stood the pyramids where Baba had stood when He visited Egypt.

The seat of the third Perfect Master was a surprise for me. As Baba pointed towards the sky, I saw Mt. Fuji with its snowbound peak, and I knew that one of the Perfect Masters whom Baba spoke of as being in "deep monastery" was placed in Japan.

To show me the habitat of the fourth Perfect Master, Baba and I had to walk over some rough terrain till we stood before a towering wall of sheer rock. We had to bend our necks way back to be able to see some apertures in the rock which I understood were used for bringing in domestic supplies. This place had a profound effect on me, and I knew without a doubt that this was Greece.

By now I was pretty much caught up in this drama of our Beloved, and was eager to know of the fifth Perfect Master. Suddenly feeling no movement beside me, I looked up at Him as if to say, "Where do we go from here?" and found that Baba was striding away, far ahead. Try as I did, I could not catch up with Him, and woke up.