…Baba had sent Kaka Baria to Calcutta to bring masts to him. With
much difficulty he managed to bring Karim Baba to Ranchi on July 9th (1940).
The mast had not left his seat in Calcutta for over ten years. It was
truly only by Baba’s inner help that the mast agreed to accompany Kaka
(who later said he was repeating Baba’s name inwardly). Baba remarked, “The work accomplished by Kaka in bringing this mast here is more than the work which will be accomplished by the two hundred forty persons who have pledged to abide by the restrictions given them by me for one year.”
Baba at once saw in the mast’s eyes and expression a resemblance to
one of the old members of the mandali, Karim, and for that reason
named him Karim Baba. Karim Baba was kept in a room near Chatti Baba, where he would visit him a number of times during the day and also before retiring for the night.
Karim Baba was the mast whose eyes shone as bright as a tiger’s. He
would swallow copper coins and then carefully remove them from his
stools, clean them with his clothes and then swallow them again. He
was extremely dirty, stinking beyond description, but would not allow
any of the mandali to remove his clothes or give him a bath. Once when
Baidul tried to remove his stool before he could extract the coins,
Karim Baba, who was usually silent, let out such a roar as if he would
tear Baidul apart! The mast was therefore left alone, undisturbed.
The mast’s fingernails were extremely long and sharp and Baba warned
everyone to take care as Karim Baba might scratch one on the face, if
he were out of mood. Baba even hinted, “He might even go for me when I am alone working with him.”
The day the mast arrived, Baba informed the women in the evening:
“Today I am very happy. There are two very advanced souls who control
the whole of Calcutta: one woman, very old, who looks like Babajan,
and one man, whom the Fatty (Kaka) has brought here today.
“I saw both during my last trip to Calcutta. The man who has been
brought was sitting in one place for ten years. People bring him food,
as many believe in him, and he eats it all. He does not bathe. He ties
wire and rags around himself. Nothing would make him move. Then I sent for him here through Kaka. How Kaka managed, he alone knows, but when the mast was put in a tonga, at least five hundred people followed him to the train.
“Tomorrow, I will show him to you all. When we were in Calcutta and
saw him, it was raining so very hard, but he was just lying there
oblivious to it. He doesn’t speak a word.”
After four days of Baba’s contact in Ranchi, however, suddenly Karim
Baba began singing, which was unheard of, as none in Calcutta had ever
found him in a happy mood.
KARIM BABA
Lord Meher, Original Publication, Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 7, pp. 2581 – 2583.