THE GOD-MAN The Life, Journeys and Work of Meher Baba with an ...

2THE FIRST TEN YEARS1922-1931According to Hindu philosophy a Sadguru or Perfect Master is one who, while living onearth, has come into the full consciousness of God. He has passed through all the planes ofconsciousness and lives on earth and in heaven simultaneously.After Meher Baba became conscious of being a Perfect Master he wrote from Sakori toSadashiv Patel of Poona, desiring him to lease a small plot of ground there, if possible closeby the temple of Chatarsingni, and to build a small hut on it. He intimated that he intended tolive in that hut, no longer in the house of his parents. At the beginning of 1922 he left Sakorifor Bombay, where he stayed at the house of the late Munshi Shaikh Abdurrahim. In thehouse he took a bath for the first time for six months; he stayed for ten days. Afterwards, inthe same month of January, he went to the hut built for him in Poona, on the FergusonCollege Road, where he continued to live and several disciples gathered. The size of the hutwas ten feet by six feet. Meher Baba spent his time daily in the following way. Early in themorning he took breakfast, brought by one of his disciples. At nine he would be visited byHindu worshippers of the Bhoi caste, who follow the trade of fishing. These devotees wouldstay for about an hour chanting Hindu religious songs and playing Hindu musicalinstruments. At about half-past ten he left his hut and went to his mother's house for dinner,and after a rest would return to the hut for the remainder of the day. In the afternoon hewould glance at the newspapers, and in the evening a number of his friends would come tohim; they would entertain him with music or play games, afterwards he would present themwith sweets in the Indian custom, then discourse on spiritual themes. At nine 0' clock hewould take supper, brought by another of his disciples, and from that hour till dawn no onewas permitted to approach him except Behli J. Irani, whose duty it was to stay with him allnight. No one was allowed even to loiter outside the hut.