Avatar in Ajmer
Avg.Hariprasad
Beloved Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai
Avatar in Ajmer
{Khwaja Saheb Chishti}
Chishti's exact birth and death dates are not recorded, but he is thought to have been born circa 1141–42 and to have died between 1230–36 in Ajmer, where his shrine is still a popular place of pilgrimage. Chishti established the first center of Sufism in India.
[LordMEHER Pg.323]
{1].
About 1904, Babajan returned to Bombay and soon afterward proceeded to Ajmer in northern India to pay homage at the tomb of the Sufi Perfect Master,Mu'inuddin Chishti, who established Islam in India.
Babajan returned to Bombay, and sometime in 1905 traveled east to Poona, where her beloved son was a growing child.
With her arrival in Poona, Babajan's days of traveling came to an end.
She settled in Poona permanently to fulfill her spiritual duty to unveil Merwan Sheriar Irani as the Avatar of the Age.
[LordMEHER Pg.8]
{2}. Sharh-e-Khwaja Chishti –Babajan School
The instruction in the Hazrat Babajan High School was adapted to conform to university regulations.
Baba's inner work in the students was being done simultaneously. Besides their regular courses, such as English, history, geography, and mathematics, spiritual subjects were also being taught from various mystical writings or scriptures.
The schedule for the three language groups of students — Marathi, Gujarati, and Persian — was as follows:
Mondays:
In Marathi, Gujarati and Persian — study of Meher Baba's discourses.
Tuesdays:
Marathi — Utterances of different saints and Sadgurus: Dnyaneshwar, Swami Ramtirth, Swami Ramdas (from the Dasbodha), Tukaram, Vivekananda.
Gujarati — Utterances of different Perfect Masters: Ghous Ali Shah, Swami Ramtirth, Vivekananda, Upasni Maharaj's biography (Sakorina Sadguru).
Persian — Utterances of Sufi and other Masters: Jalal al-Din Rumi, Ghous Ali Shah, Ibrahim Adaham, Muhammad Gazali, Swami Ramtirth, Vivekananda, other Persian writings.
Wednesdays:
Marathi — Selections from the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Sufi literature, verses of Zoroaster.
Gujarati — Selections from Dasatir, Ilm-e-Kshanoom, verses of Zoroaster on the principles of life.
Persian — Selections from Dasatir, Hafiz, Ghaznavi, Shams-e-Tabriz, Vashad-a-Niyat, Zoroastrian scripture.
Thursdays:
Marathi — Spiritual knowledge: Christian secret knowledge (Gnostic), Islamic secret knowledge (Sufism), Gatha's Gohar, Sufi literature.
Gujarati — Spiritual knowledge: Christian secret knowledge, Sufi literature, Islamic secret knowledge, Bhagavad Gita, Ilm-e-Izad (knowledge or contemplation of God), Kabir's poetry.
Persian — Spiritual knowledge: Tassavvo-e-Isbi, Tassavvo-e-Islam, Tassavvo-e-Kabir, Talimat-e-Sufi (Sufi teachings), Ilm-e-Ilahi (knowledge of God).
Fridays:
Same schedule as on Thursday.
Saturdays:
Marathi, Gujarati and Persian — Biographies of Avatars or Sadgurus: Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, Chaitanya, Khwaja Saheb Chishti, Ramakrishna, Tukaram, St. Francis Xavier, Hazrat Azar Kaivan (a Zoroastrian Perfect Master).
Persian only — The poetry of Naosar-e-Khushrav and Selavi. The accounts of God-realized persons: Negar-e-Shat-e-Khuda, Rasid-e-gan, Sharh-e-Khwaja Chishti.
Sundays:
Marathi, Gujarati and Persian — study of different religions of the world.
Persian only — Falsaf-e-Mahzab-e-Alam (philosophy of world religions).
[LordMEHER Pg.842]
{3}. THERE YOU WILL COME TO KNOW WHO I REALLY AM.
Later the same day, while explaining about the beginning of creation, Baba remarked, "Creation came out of Nothing. And though it is nothing, it is something; but ultimately there is Everything. When one says that it is nothing, the nothingness of this nothing has being!"
During this period, Gulabsha was troubled by doubts about Baba's divinity. When Baba found out, he sent for Gulabsha on 31 March and corrected him, "It is not right for you to stay with me when you doubt me."
Baba then asked, "Do you believe in the divinity of Khwaja Saheb Chishti?" Gulabsha replied that he did. Baba directed him to go to Khwaja Saheb's shrine at Ajmer and gave him funds for traveling, declaring, "There you will come to know who I really am."
Gulabsha left, but in Ajmer, while he was separated from Baba, he could think of no one else.
He became dissatisfied with himself at Chishti's shrine and was restless to return to Meherabad. Later, when he returned, he told Baba, "I now fully believe that you are God. There is no room left in my heart for any doubt."
[LordMEHER Pg.647/8]
{4}. FIRST VISIT -14th September 1922
That night, 11 September, Baba, accompanied by Gustadji, Ghani, Sadashiv, Adi and Sayyed Saheb, left Bombay by the Gujarat Mail train for Ajmer in northern India, arriving at midnight of the following day. They stayed in the Edward Memorial Serai (hotel), where Baba suffered watery stools (perhaps dysentery) and became seriously ill.
The next day all rested well except Baba, who suffered six bowel movements.
On Thursday, 14 September, all fasted for 24 hours by the Master's order while visiting the tomb of the Perfect Master Khwaja Saheb Mu'inuddin Chishti. Chishti is famous for being the Qutub-e-Irshad (head of the spiritual hierarchy) of his time.
Sayyed Saheb and Ghani were told to recite theFateha (Muslim prayer in honor of the departed souls) inside the shrine.
[LordMEHER Pg.323]
{5}. SECOND VISIT -9th June 1935
Traveling through the night in the lowest class, Baba and the mandali had a restless, sleepless night, crammed into a crowded compartment of passengers "snoring with loud and horrible noises that would make the dead awake from their graves!" Chanji noted.
They had to change trains in Ratlam for Chitorgarh to continue to Udaipur, where they stayed at the Fatah Memorial Serai (first floor, room no. 3). Although the weather was still quite hot, a search was made for a secluded spot with water nearby. But when no such place was found, they proceeded to Ajmer by train, arriving on Sunday, 9 June 1935
In Ajmer, Baba went by taxi to the tomb of the Qutub Khwaja Mu'inuddin Chishti to pay his respects. He went inside while the mandali remained in the car.
While Baba was inside, two bearded old men suddenly appeared and stood on both sides of Baba's taxi.
When Baba came out from the dargah, the driver went inside to pay his obeisance. The two old men maintained their silent vigil beside the car. Gustadji, Raosaheb and Chanji were surprised by the men's odd behavior. But Baba remarked,
"They have been sent by Khwaja Saheb to serve me during my stay here."
[LordMEHER Pg.1681/2]
{6}. THIRD VISIT -16th Feb 1939
BABA WENT TO CHISHTI'S TOMB, WHILE ALONE, HE BOWED HIS HEAD TO THE PERFECT MASTER'S TOMB THOUSANDS OF TIMES
On 16 February 1939, Baba went to Taragarh with Gustadji, Chanji, Kaka, Adi Sr. and Eruch.
A qawaali program was held in the famous mosque known as the Two-and-a-Half Days Hut and Baba liked the singer.
Baba took the women to Taragarh two days later, where he showed them many sights of interest and spent one night. (Baba slept with the men and the women stayed in a nearby dak bungalow.)
Baba visited other places in Ajmer with the women, including Ana Sagar Lake, Pushkar Lake, the Hindu temple of Laxmi, a Jain temple, the tomb of Hazrat Miran Syed Hussain, and Chishti's tomb.
The caretaker at Chishti's tomb objected to the Western women entering the shrine and prevented them. However, he seemed drawn to Baba and asked him his name. Baba wrote with his finger in the dust: "Merwan." The man then said to Baba, "May God bless you!"
Before leaving, Baba contacted a mast near the shrine to whom he gave one rupee.
The mast on seeing Baba, ecstatically exclaimed,
"Oh look, Shankara[Shiva] is here!
Hurry and have Bhagwan's [God's] darshan!"
While at Taragarh on the 18th, referring to the purpose of his visits to different shrines, tombs or dargahs of saints and Perfect Masters, Baba stated:
By my living presence, I clean the tangled atmosphere of the shrines of the dead saints and Sadgurus. This complicated atmosphere is of the thought world.
Thought force is really very strong and powerful. Lord Chaitanya did not go to places of pilgrimage for the sake of pilgrimage, but for cleansing their atmosphere which were full of the sanskaras of thoughts of worldly people.
For my work, a pilgrim on the third plane is more helpful than the place of a dead saint of the seventh plane; but a well-known dead saint or Master may have a strong influence due to the multitudes going to his tomb. That is why I thin down the effect of this complicated thought atmosphere by visiting such places.
At the time the group was leaving Chishti's tomb, Baba turned to Mansari, dictating: "A Fakir once said, 'When I saw in my own heart the impression of divine beauty, the sight of God, Wherever I cast my gaze, I saw Parvardigar [Infinite God].' "
Mansari asked if Baba was that Fakir. Baba nodded, yes he was, for he had spontaneously dictated these poetic lines in honor of Chishti, the Qutub-e-Irshad of his time — the head of the spiritual hierarchy.
Baba had been to Chishti's tomb twice before (in 1922 and 1935), and he visited it several times during his visit to Ajmer in 1939.
As recounted by Eruch, ONE NIGHT WHEN BABA WENT TO CHISHTI'S TOMB,
WHILE ALONE, HE BOWED HIS HEAD TO THE PERFECT MASTER'S TOMB THOUSANDS OF TIMES.
[LordMEHER Pg.1990/1]
{7}. CHISHTI ESTABLISHED SUFISM IN INDIA
Baba elucidated that Nizamuddin Auliya, Bualishah Qalander and Chishti of Ajmer were all Sufi Perfect Masters.
He mentioned that Chishti was even considered to be on the same level as Muhammad; however, he was not equal to the Prophet, but the Qutub-e-Irshad of his time — the head of the spiritual hierarchy.
Chishti established Sufism in India, and his tomb-shrine in Ajmer is a greatly revered place of pilgrimage.
[LordMEHER Pg.5308]