Remembering Eruch

At the Center, October brings with it a nip in the air—turning leaves adorn cabin rooftops and paths are showered with more gifts from nature to make the forest floor lusher yet. In India, October brings a month-long return of summer, a welcome respite after torrential months of monsoons. October also brings the remembrance of Meher Baba’s New Life when He set off on an inimitable path that continues to strike us with awe and inspiration.

For me, October holds a tender spot as being the month of Eruch’s birthday. It always sparks the memory of Eruch in Mandali Hall—listening to pilgrims, giving deep thought to all their questions, big or small—talking from the depth of true experience. Eruch personified simplicity and sincerity as he spoke about His beloved. He also personified true honesty when he simply said, “I don’t know.” And in all his humility he displayed clues as to why the God Man chose him to be His right hand man.

As a child in Mandali Hall, to me it appeared that Eruch had been talking about Baba since eternity. Only as an adult did I learn that was not true. How then did Eruch begin speaking for Baba? The story is closely related to the New life and Meher Baba’s first visit to Meher Center.

Eruch was a very strong young man during the New Life. Before that, he had assisted Baba in hard tasks such as working with masts, lepers and the poor. But according to Eruch nothing was more exhausting than the New Life. “…Strength is finite, and Baba will push you to the very limits of your endurance. So it was that each morning when I got up, I would tell myself, one more day, just make it through the day.” While Baba had said that they would never return, somehow the group found themselves back in Meherazad. On January 31, 1952, Baba dug a dhuni behind Eruch’s cabin and declared that He had completed His work one hundred percent to His satisfaction. “I heard that with great relief, like a horse that has finally reached the stable and at last can have some sort of rest and relaxation,” said Eruch. But Eruch might have underestimated his Master. There was no rest for the weary. Baba immediately started a new phase of His work that included going to the West to visit the Center that Elizabeth Patterson and Norina Matchabelli had found and painstakingly developed for His arrival.

Of course, Eruch was asked to accompany Baba to the West, but he felt that he was in no physical condition to go due to the “constant stress and strain.” How could he take care of Baba? And if he could not, then he would be a burden on Baba. Eruch said, “Please Baba, do not do this. I know I will only be a drag on You.” When Eruch begged Baba to release him from the order to go to America, Baba gestured, “If you don’t obey me, what’s the point of living with me?”

That night, Eruch was on the brink of leaving Baba. He started collecting his belongings only to realize that everything he had, tangible and intangible, belonged to Baba, including his own body! Just as he was left with the conundrum of the impossibility of leaving his body behind with Baba, he received a message from Baba to see Him the next morning.

The next day, Baba had a Circular ready that He handed Eruch to read out. It read, “I am sending Eruch with specific instructions all over India and Pakistan for seven months to prepare men and the ground for my work of the Fiery Free Life, which begins from November 15.” As Eruch read this, he thought that this verdict was worse than if he had to go to America! “This was much more strenuous, would be much more exhausting…but then I deserved it.”

Pendu was to accompany Eruch to spread Baba’s message of love. This would involve public speaking. Eruch wondered what he could say about Baba. “Since coming to Baba, I had swept Baba’s floor, I had made his bed, in short I had been Baba’s valet; I was not cut out for public speaking.” It had been Baba’s grace that Eruch had only discovered the night before that nothing belonged to him, not even himself. In that case, he had no choice but to be Baba’s instrument.

Baba’s direction was for Eruch to simply tell people what he had seen and observed in Baba’s company. One last time, Eruch voiced his hesitation. “But Baba, I am not a public speaker. I have never done anything like this.” To this, Baba replied, “What makes you think that you will be speaking? Before you begin to speak, stand there and remember Me. Say, ‘Baba, You want me to speak, so speak,’ and then just open your mouth and don’t worry about it.”

In April of 1952, despite His health challenges, Baba kept His promise to Elizabeth and Norina by arriving in the West. Eruch in turn kept his promise to Baba and traveled to 34 cities in India and one in Pakistan. He spread Baba’s message and followed other instructions including meeting masts and saints. Years later, so many hungry pilgrims witnessed the extension of his continuing promise as he spoke simply as a close observer of the Avatar’s life. And now, years and generations later, still we remember him, our hearts still touched by his example, knowing fully well that Eruch’s discipleship to his extraordinary Master was no ordinary ordeal.

References:

That’s How It Was, by Eruch Jessawalla, pp.387-392

Lord Meher, Online Edition, by Bhau Kalchuri, p. 3036

Glimpses of the God-Man, Vol. 3, by Bal Natu, pp. 100-107