At the time these preparations were taking place in Hyderabad, Dr. Ghani had a heart attack in Poona and died at 7 P.M. on August 20th, (1951) at the age of sixty. Receiving news of his death, Baba instructed Adi Sr. and Ramjoo, who had returned to Ahmednagar, to be present at his
funeral, and they immediately drove to Poona. Sarosh, Nariman and Meherjee also attended, as well as a number of close lovers from Poona whom Ghani was instrumental in bringing to Meher Baba’s feet.
Baba cabled Adi on August 22nd: “Although Ghani has physically passed away, he will not let me live in peace until he sees me as I am.” Baba instructed Adi, Sarosh and Ramjoo to assist Ghani’s wife in clearing up the family’s affairs.
On August 24th, Baba paid this moving tribute to his childhood friend:
Of the many things I have had to renounce and to suffer in this New Life, the passing of Ghani is among the greatest. I have felt a sense of loss at the passing of all those men and women of India and the West who were my disciples in the Old Life, and my lovers of all time. But this sudden wrenching away of Ghani is a disaster for me, the more cruel because it came at a time when the New Life’s consummation is so near at hand.
To me, more than to any of you, Ghani was unique; and of all the work that still remains to be done for me by others, there is much that could have been done for me by Ghani and no one else. That big head of his was truly a treasure-house in which wisdom and wit were blended to
perfection.
We were intimate friends since our earliest years, and no one knows better than I how courageous and how loyal and loving was his heart. To me, therefore, Ghani is irreplaceable, both as a friend and as a tool for my work.
Those of you who were at the meeting at Hyderabad on June 28th will remember that Ghani read out the explanation to my Declaration and also the Declaration itself. As one of the witnesses to that Declaration, he was to fast on October 16th and say a prayer on my
behalf.
Until February 16th, 1952, I want to feel that Ghani is still in the physical body, and I have therefore asked Ghani’s son-in-law Baggu, who was not present at the meeting of June 28th, to act as Ghani’s proxy on October 16th by fasting and saying the prayer for me. Ramjoo has been instructed to convey to Baggu such a full and vivid picture of the meeting that he will feel himself to have been actually present at it. In this way, Ghani’s duty as one of the witnesses to my Declaration will be fulfilled.
And if it be God’s will that I manifest universally by February 16th next year, may it be His will also that Ghani, and every Old Life disciple who has passed away, experience and enjoy that manifestation as if they were still in the physical body.
Lord Meher, Original Publication, Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 10, pp. 3727 – 3728.