Nagrani no more

Following the demise of Sri Paak Gururani Nargis (Yogini) on April 12, 2021, a two-page spread in the Parsi Times of May 15, 2021 and in the Jam-e-Jamshed weekly on the following day informed her "disciples and devotees” that "those who obtain divine blessings of Sri Paak Jimmy (Yogiraj) shall obtain complete and divine blessings of both (her and Jimmy’s) divine lights.” With a following of mainly non-Parsis, and a smattering of Parsis, the duo provided spiritual and emotional succor to thousands for the last six decades. A resident of A. H. Wadia Baug, where the two dwelled, told Parsiana on May 17 that she continues to see many disciples bowing and paying homage to Jimmy from outside his building even today.

In a detailed article titled "Cons or icons of faith?” (Parsiana, January 1987), Homi Rogers revealed who "this mystical Godhead… who has captured the hearts and imagination of a growing populace in Maharashtra” really is: "a Parsi lady by birth, and by discipline – Nargis Minocher Bharucha. Little is known of her antecedents, except that she had been working in the Western Railways. Her Parsi co-workers, aware of her visions, speak of her in hushed tones as a ‘possessed’ woman, and generally establish little contact with her, for it was never very clear to them as to who is the exorcist and who the exorcised…
"Her successor, Sri Jimmy Yogiraj, who stays with her in the one-bedroom humble flat at Wadia Baug, is also a Parsi, Jimmy Pallonji Master, a resident of Dadar, who first came into contact with the Gururaniji… when, as a child of seven, he visited her, and she saw in him the same flame as within her. The two jyotdharis (torchbearers) hence united, set forth together in their mission of jagat kalyan (welfare of the world), while pursuing their professions independently: the mataji continuing to serve in the Railways till her premature retirement in 1985, and the Yogiraj his studies (he is a commerce graduate) and a job at the Bank of Baroda, which he gave up recently… Though most miracles and faith-healings are attributed to Gururaniji, she chastises any devotee who fails to take the name of her successor when paying obeisance to her…”
Devotees flocked to their monthly gatherings in a nearby hall and its adjoining maidan where the duo would arrive in stately procession in a chauffeur driven car with two motorcycle outriders. Seated on cushioned thrones, hers shaped like a cobra with its fanned hood, they would deliver discourses and disburse blessings, she clad in a sequined kaftan and high heels while "the Yogiraj, a handsome lanky man in his early thirties, sporting a luxurious beard” wore "a robe of glistening gold – right out of a costume drama,” wrote Rogers. In later years, the cult’s gathering place was a hall in Ulhasnagar, a north Bombay suburb, but since 2011 it was housed in a newly constructed "elegant building, all cascading bougainvillea and pointed-arch windows” on Sewri’s Tokershi Jivraj Road in central Bombay, as described by journalist Bachi Karkaria in the news website FirstPost on February 6, 2021.
The Parsiana article mentioned that "Gururani claims to be more powerful than the mandirs, masjids and atash behrams that people go to. ‘When atash padshas and dargahs fail, you come to us for help. We are the last resort.’” Paradoxically, "she is not anti any of the established religions, least of all Zoroastrianism. She regularly visits agiaries and atash behrams.” When she died at the age of 91, she was consigned at Doongerwadi.
The advertisement from the Sri Gururani Nagkanya (Yogini) and Sri Jimmy Nagputhra (Yogiraj) Sarvajanik Samaj Trust, Bombay stated that "inspite of being divinity on earth… (the duo) never take credit for their godly deeds as morality seldom speaks… Both divine lights teach one and all to have regard, respect and reverence for all faiths and modes of spiritual discipline while maintaining perfect loyalty to one’s own faith and own birth religion.”
The advertisement assured salvation in the future when Jimmy is no more, to "all those disciples and their families who sincerely perform prayers observing the rules of religious discipline, do good deeds, sing their praises and attend their holy darshan (viewing) at their divine abode (place for conducting darshans).”