MEHERABAD DIARY Judy Stephens

#164A 1-8 March 2013 Jai Meher Baba to you all! Friday 1 March 2013. I hired a driver for my car. Coocoo and I went to Pune for a couple of days. I picked her up at the Samadhi since it was her day to clean Mani's shrine and Baba's Room. We then took the back road to the Pune-Ahmednagar highway. The short area of the back road, between the by-pass and the MPR road, has now been paved. The by-pass had never been complete because of politics in the Arangaon village. So, it ends at one point and restarts the other side of the road that passes in front Lower Meherabad. I guess the government gave up and decided to connect the by-pass end to the MPR road. It is nice to have that area paved, but it means we now have all those big trucks using the MPR road. That will soon become a problem as the word of it is spreading. Coocoo and I had breakfast at the Yazdan Café. I was so happy to find they had reopened! We had toast-butter (that is how they say it) and tea. Coocoo went to visit her sister, and I went to see the movie Zero Dark Thirty at the Inox Theater. When it was over I went back to the apartment I was staying at, a Baba Lover owns it. We ended up talking about Baba late into the night. Saturday 2 March. I slept late; it felt wonderful. I went to Dorabji's to buy some food and meet Coocoo there. We then headed back to Meherabad. I always look forward to getting home. When we reached the MPR road we stopped at Jaloo's store to pick up the fresh bread made from the New Life Bakery at the Bowling house. Near Jaloo's store I saw a baby antelope with a dog collar on. I asked Jaloo about it. He said the sheep-owners across the way had given some ridiculous story of how they got it. The deer acted like it was part of the sheep herd, and the dogs didn't seem to bother it. I hope it gets free. There was a musical concert at the MPC in the afternoon, but I was too tired to go. Sunday 3 March. I went up the hill to take darshan when the Samadhi doors opened. I then went for a power walk before returning to my room so I could work on the quilt. Meherazad is closed for pilgrims until July, so I had the morning off. In the afternoon, I put on my sari and drove to Bhauji's Chat with two other residents from Meherabad. When Bhauji came in he looked so cute with his suit and suspenders. He had a pink rose on his lapel. --photo of Bhauji Bhauji said something interesting. He said he had been given the authority to take our sanskaras with him when he goes. He was talking about we who were in the room. However, now that I think about it, maybe he also meant those who he is in touch with all the time. Regardless, it sure would be nice to be free of sanskaras that keep us from experiencing more of our Beloved Baba. When Rama came in I had a photo of her and me together. I don't think I had any taken in the past and so I had one of the 'Chatters' in the room take some for me. --photo of Rama and me Monday 4 March. I went up the hill early to clean Mani's shrine before the Samadhi doors opened. I then went to clean Baba's Room. The person whose turn it is to clean this Monday was out of station. So I did it for her. I noticed while crossing the railroad tracks there is another pair of tracks laying along side the ones being used. I don't know if the tracks are to be replaced with the new ones or if they will be added as a second rail. With the poles holding the electric wire all along one side of the tracks, it looks like there will be an electric train in the near future. --photo of the extra tracks and poles with wire Most of the day the Internet service was down. I spent a lot of time at the page house working on the design of the quilt. The days are getting hotter and hotter. We have to darken the windows in the late morning to block out the heat. Tuesday 5 March. I went up the hill early to clean Mani's shrine before taking darshan in the Samadhi when the doors opened. I then went to Baba's Room to clean. The Cabin Room is daily opened right after the Samadhi doors are opened. So, I always take darshan first. I like being one of the first in the Samadhi each day. It is my 'Good morning' to Baba each day; a most lovely way to start the day! After cleaning Baba's Room I went for a power walk to the MPR and back. The mornings are so lovely and cool and quiet. While on the walk I saw a couple of rabbits bounding around. After breakfast and doing the laundry, I drove to the Trust and parked. I took a rickshaw into the bazaar to buy white material for the base of my quilt. On this white material I make a grid of lines six inches apart, then I make them horizontal six inches apart. Basically, they are six by six inch squares. These allow me to measure out the spacing of what I designed. I draw on the material the whole design. From there I trace sections of the design on other material. It is these sections I work with. One of the shops I went to for the material is also a sari store. They had a sale and I found myself looking at the beautiful saris. Of course I ended up buying one. It was so beautiful! I wear the saris each Sunday to Bhauji's Chat. In the afternoon I did not have Samadhi duty for the first time in many years. I decided I would rather do the Samadhi duty in the morning on Mondays and Tuesdays because I am up the hill almost every morning at that time. It made more sense to do the morning duty and have the whole afternoon free. Also, in the morning I would be there for the whole Arti, not just the prayer. That means I would be there for all the singing. Wednesday 6 March. I went up the hill early to take darshan in the Samadhi when the doors opened. The weather is so nice and cool in the morning, and this is the time I like to do a power-walk. After taking darshan, getting my flowers, which I leave in the Caretaker room until I return from my walk, I headed out back where there is the pathway to the MPR. I am now focusing on the quilt I'm making for my granddaughter who has just turned seven years old. I have eight grandchildren. Each one gets a special designed quilt when they turn seven. Because this grandchild is a girl I can get as fancy as I want. She loves the glittery India trimmings. After breakfast I drove to the Trust and parked my car. From there I took a rickshaw into the bazaar to buy blue material I will need to make a sky on the quilt. To me it is fun going into the material shops, as India is known for its exquisitely designed materials. On the way back to the Trust I stopped at Meher Tailor and left a choli (sari top) and slip with Anil so he could use them as a pattern to make ones for the new sari I had bought. I then went back to the Trust to get my car and go home. Almost all of my free time will now be used in making the quilt. Thursday 8 March. I went up the hill early to clean Mehera's shrine. I took darshan when the Samadhi doors opened. Then I put the cover on Mehera's shrine and went for a power walk. I always am so delighted when I see an antelope out back. Today there were two antelope near the path up ahead of me. I stopped, hoping not to scare the antelope so I could watch them. Unfortunately, one of them sensed me and bounded away. The other quickly followed behind. There are a lot of the rock towers along the path again. I took some photos with my IPhone camera. ---photo of rock towers I drove to the Trust and took a rickshaw into the bazaar to buy blue material for the back of the quilt. I then went back to the Trust and walked to Bhauji's room. His room is small, yet there were about fifteen people sitting. One of those sitting was a resident named Prema Camp. She said when she was young she never cared for Elvis. But, once she came to Baba she now finds there is one song Elvis sang that she loves and sings all the time. This pilgrim just recently turned 70 years old. She asked Bhauji if she could sing her song to Baba for him. Bhauji said yes, and she sang the song, 'Falling in Love With You'. It was sung with such feeling you could feel the beauty of her love for Baba. It was so touching, as that truly is a song to Baba. Bhau so lovingly encourages people to sing or dance. One Iranian woman sang while another danced to the singing. The dancer was so graceful, it was obvious she had training. Again, Bhauji keeps telling us he is going on 15th March. On the way home I stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Sweet Home. I had a masala dosa — yummy! In Beloved Baba's sweet love, Judy