Jhopadi

FC Road Jhopadi
Address: (Exact location unknown) From records : Some records say it is near Chatursinghi temple and some say it is near Fergusson college

Year & Date : Jan 1922 to May 1922

Significance:

After Meher Baba regained His worldly consciousness while retaining His Avataric Consciousness, He wrote to Sadashiv Patel of Poona from Sakori, desiring him to lease a small plot of ground there, if possible close by the temple of Chatursinghi, and to build a small hut on it. He intimated that he intended to live in that hut, no longer in the house of his parents. At the beginning of 1922 he left Sakori for Bombay, where he stayed at the house of the late Munshi Shaikh Abdurrahim. In the house he took bath for the first time for six months; he stayed for ten days. Afterwards, in the same month of January, he went to the hut built for him in Poona, on the Ferguson College Road, where he continued to live and several disciples gathered. The size of the hut was ten feet by six feet. Meher Baba spent his time daily in the following way. Early in the morning he took breakfast, brought by one of his disciples. At nine he would be visited by Hindu worshippers of the Bhoi caste, who follow the trade of fishing. These devotees would stay for about an hour chanting Hindu religious songs and playing Hindu musical instruments. At about half-past ten he would for his patent’s house for dinner, and after some rest would return to the hut for the remainder of the day. In the afternoon he would glance at the newspapers, and in the evening a number of his friends would come to him; they would entertain him with music or play games, afterwards he would present them with sweets in the Indian custom, then discourse on spiritual themes. At nine 0′ clock he would take supper, brought by another of his disciples, and from that hour till dawn no one was permitted to approach him except Behli J. Irani, whose duty was to stay with him all night. No one was allowed even to loiter outside the hut. Many stories are told of strange occurrences at this time. It is said that one evening, four Irani youths came intending to confuse Meher Baba with questions and to beat him as a hypocrite. But when they saw him, no one could open his mouth or do anything but look shamefaced. Baba reproached them on their chicken-heartedness; they still could not say a word, but fell down at his feet and went away.

One evening Jamshed R. Irani, a maternal uncle of Behramji, thought he would like to know what happened in the hut from nine 0′ clock at night until dawn. So with a few friends, he went to check out for himself. He knew where the hut was, for he visited Baba almost daily; but when Jamshed and his friends went to Ferguson College Road they could find no trace of the hut. They searched in vain for hours and had to return home. At seven 0′ clock in the morning the next day, Jamshed brought an offering of fruit and flowers and confessed the wrong he had done. Baba showed no displeasure. When Baba retired it was the duty of Behli to keep watch. He was not permitted to go to sleep. One night, however, he did sleep for a short time, and on awakening found to his horror that Baba’s bed was vacant. Behli was about to open the door of the hut, when weird figures appeared; for he had been forbidden to open the door at night whatever happened. Horrified, he sat down and wept, and went to sleep again. On awakening he found Baba in bed. Another story is of an occasion when Behli was relieved by another disciple, Arjun Supekar. Arjun was instructed to sit outside the hut and not to permit anyone to approach it. At about one o’clock at night Baba called to him, ‘Arjun, are you wide awake?’ Arjun said that he was. ‘Whatever may happen, don’t be frightened’, warned Baba. Then before very long Arjun was startled by seeing two men in white robes coming towards him. He could hardly speak, but managed to call out, ‘Who are you?’ Baba replied from the hut, saying ‘What’s the matter, Arjun?’ The figures vanished on the instant, and Baba himself appeared. During the first three months Baba used to go every Thursday evening to Kasba Peth, where He would receive the devotion of his followers.