Baba left Ajmer on October 21st, (1947) and arrived in Baroda at four o’clock the next morning. In Baroda, he worked with a seeker named Narayan and the sixth plane mast-saint, Badruddin Rafai Shah. When he contacted this saint, Baba gave him his own coat, and even held it for him as Badruddin slipped it on.
But his most interesting contact on the journey was the mental conscious fifth plane mast Chambu Shah, whom Baba had previously contacted in September. Baba went to him at his seat in Motiwada, Baroda’s red-light district of prostitutes. The mast first asked Baba for tea and cigarettes, which were immediately given to him. He then wanted a shirt and lungi (long skirt-like cloth) to wear. When these were brought and handed to him, Chambu Shah took off all his clothes and presented them to Baba to wear. Chambu Shah then told Baba, “Come back tomorrow morning at five.” Baba wore the mast’s clothing sometime later that same day.
On the morning of October 23rd, promptly at five o’clock, Baba, with Eruch, Baidul and Gustadji, returned to the mast. Chambu Shah was inside his house with the door locked. The mandali knocked on the door, and Chambu Shah shouted out the window for them to wait on the veranda. They waited for more than an hour, Eruch and Baidul repeatedly reminding the mast, “You called us at 5 A.M. and it is now well past that hour!” At last the mast was persuaded to open the door and Baba entered his abode and sat with him for a while alone. But no sooner was the work concluded than Chambu Shah told Baba to come again at two o’clock in the afternoon. This Baba did and contacted him as before. The episode, however, did not end here. Chambu Shah again requested Baba to come the next morning at 5 A.M. The mast’s behavior was quite extraordinary. In most instances, masts usually struggled to avoid contact with Baba, but this strange mast kept inviting him back.
On October 24th, Baba again went to see Chambu Shah at 5 A.M. After this contact the mast again requested Baba to be at his house at 2 P.M. When the afternoon session was finished, Chambu Shah told Baba to return the next morning again at five and bring a long bandi jacket and another coat for him. The jacket was purchased and Baba borrowed one of the mandali’s coats and presented these to Chambu Shah the next morning.
Yet again the mast requested of Baba, “Come back at two this afternoon.”
This had now been occurring for three days and Baba had completed his work with the mast. Baidul was ordered to tell him: “The Saheb (Baba) now must leave Baroda. Please allow him to go.” But the mast stubbornly insisted that he come back. Thus again, at 2 P.M. on October 25th, Baba went back to Chambu Shah’s abode for the seventh time. After this meeting, before the mast could invite him back again, Baba directed Eruch to go to his room and tell him: “The Saheb’s work here is through and he must now leave, as he has other work to attend to.”
The mast replied, “Give my greetings to Saheb; tell him the work is finished and ask him to give my regards to the women.” Baba was standing on the veranda listening to the conversation. Chambu Shah handed Eruch the bandi jacket, lungi, coat and several packs of cigarettes and matches that had been given to him by Baba. Unwinding a dirty turban from his head, he gave that to Eruch also. He told Eruch, “Give the turban, matches and cigarettes to Saheb, and return the coat, jacket and lungi to whom they belong.” Chambu Shah ended with these cryptic words:
“The whole world is finished!”
According to his wish, the bandi jacket and lungi were returned to the shopkeeper from whom they had been purchased, and he refunded half the amount. The rest of the things Baba kept with him as an invaluable treasure and reminder of Chambu Shah’s unceasing hospitality. (1)
(1) Meher Baba was very careful in preserving those things that the mast Chambu Shah gave. Like everything else presented to him by various masts, Baba stored them in separate trunks now preserved at Meherabad.
Lord Meher,Bhau Kalchuri, Original Publication, Vol. 9, pp. 3201 – 3202.