Keepers of the faith
Soft chants of "Avatar Meher Baba ki jai (long live, victory to Meher Baba)" could be heard as the bus with around 30 devotees and others began its six-hour journey from Bombay to Meherabad on the outskirts of Ahmednagar. The late charismatic Irani Zoroastrian spiritual leader who died 46 years ago, still attracts disciples from all over the world, and according to reports, the numbers are growing. There are no rituals, no prescribed norms, no bar to entry; one can continue to follow the religion of his/her birth or choice and still believe in the man many disciples term a god.
Born Merwan Irani, he is by far the only Zoroastrian spiritual leader in the last century or two, or even more, to have achieved so much eminence and acquired such a large following among people of all nationalities and strata. A large number of Parsis and Iranis follow "Baba," as the two busloads of predominantly community members from Bombay last December testify. The main purpose of their pilgrimage is attending the morning and evening aartis (a ritual of worship involving fire and singing) at the Avatar’s samadhi (tomb). The modest dome-shaped structure has symbols representing Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam. Among the ashram trustees are several Parsis, low key and unassuming. Their monthly Glow Internaitonal is published from New Jersey, USA by devotee Nosherwan Nalavala.
When Parsiana visited, guitars and violins were being played amongst other instruments; the songs sung after the aarti on one occasion included a slightly altered edition of Nat King Cole’s hit, "Faith can move mountains."
Devotees often address each other with the salutation "Jai Baba." There was no effort to proselytize newcomers during our sojourn. Most devotees say people turn to Baba when they feel the need. In addition to the regular goers were a few first timers. Some came out of curiosity, others had a member of the family who had visited earlier. One first time visitor spoke of a moment of revelation as he knelt before the tomb in the shrine. For several, the trip was an opportunity to unwind and experience a spiritual awakening.
The ashram in Meherabad is built on around 500 acres and continues to develop with more facilities being added, especially for visiting pilgrims (there are another 200 acres at Meherazad where Baba died). The lodgings are comfortable, clean and aesthetically designed, the vegetarian meals cooked with minimum oil. Attention to detail is evident everywhere: a warning on a notice board about scorpions, with one pasted on paper for those who may not be acquainted with the pincered creature’s appearance; signs in the toilets requesting minimum use of water as it is in short supply and has to be bought. Trees and greenery are aplenty on the estate.
The ashram complex also includes an archival center, a shop selling Meher Baba artifacts, a museum, library, residential structures, tombs of Baba’s family members and others, the place where he attained enlightenment, his place of meditation, and so on. In the archival center visitors are shown the meticulous procedures followed to store the Avatar’s memorabilia. The center is manned by both volunteers and paid employees.
Many overseas volunteers reside at the ashram for around nine months and depart in the summer when temperatures soar in this arid land located around 260 km west of Bombay. A handful stay on throughout the year to look after the complex.
What makes the Meher Baba phenomenon of special interest to the Parsis and Iranis is that while the number of Zoroastrians continues to shrink, a relatively new movement founded by a Zoroastrian is thriving. This despite the Avatar’s silence over 44 years till his death. While there have been Parsis who developed a small following such as the late Minocher Pundole and a large, predominantly localized non-Parsi following for Nargis Minocher Bharucha (known as Gururani Mata or Nagrani) and Jimmy Pallonji Master (Yogiraj), none of these have achieved the scale of success as this man who claimed he was the incarnation of Zoroaster, Christ, Buddha, Mohammed…
Prof Istvan Keul of the department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion at the University of Bergen in Norway who studies marginal religious movements, found the Nag Rani hierachy reluctant to engage with academicians. In January 1987 when the late Homi Rogers did a Parsiana cover story on the movement he also found Bharucha and Master of A. H. Wadia Baug inaccessible. Their meetings are often in Ulhasnagar on the outskirts of Bombay late at night or in the wee hours of the morning. In contrast the trustees and other prominent devotees of Baba’s legacy readily talk about the founder and his vision. At Parsiana’s request, long time Baba devotee and noted cleft palate surgeon Dr Hirji Adenwalla of Trichur wrote our cover story on the Avatar.
In response to our query as to how he would classify the Meher Baba movement, Keul forwarded a link on Wikipedia that deals with the typology of religious organizations and includes the classification by noted German sociologist Max Weber. These range from churches, denominations, sects to cults, now also referred to as New Religious Movements (NRM). Noting these definitions refer to "ideal types," the Wikipedia article notes "how closely an individual religion actually holds to an ideal type will vary."
Churches are described as "religions that are all-embracing of religious expression in society…and are typically enmeshed with the political and economic structures of society" (example the Catholic church). Denominations lie between the churches and sects and "come into existence when churches lose their religious monopoly in society" (example Baptists, Methodists). A sect is defined as "a newly formed religious group that forms to protest elements of its parent religion" (example Huttenites, Amish). Cults/NRMs are defined "as non-traditional religious groups that are based on belief in a divine element within the individual…cults are ephemeral and loosely organized" (example Theosophy, Scientology, Transcendental Meditation). As cults grow "they bureaucratize and develop many of the characteristics of denominations."
But however one defines the philosophy/religion founded by the long haired, moustached, sudreh wearing, leader, there are many lessons for Zoroastrians to be learnt from the Meher Baba phenomenon.