"Do you know how much trouble I have to take to make this water? "
Meher Mount
SAHASTRADHARA WATERFALLS in India photographed in 1938-1939 by Hedi Mertens during Meher Baba’s Blue Bus Tours. (Meher Nazar Publications. Used with permission.)
By Roshan Kerawala
Roshan Kerawala speaking at the Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California in 2005. “Those Were the Days.”
…so I went and brought Baba in. And he always used to wash his hands before he started to eat.
So a small basin was also brought into that room. There was a tap, but no water in that tap, because we always had drought. Always.
Anyway, so, there was a window next to the basin, so we used to put a bucket over there, and a mug was kept nearby.
So, we used to take water and wet our hands with the mug; put it back. Take the soap. Put it on. And again wash our hands. So, similarly I was going to do for beloved Baba.
But being a child, while I was pouring water on beloved Baba's hand this little girl's mind wandered somewhere.
So, I was not looking at Baba properly and I was just pouring water.
Baba caught my hand and said, “Where are you?”
I said, “Baba, I'm right in front of you.”
“So, but where is this?” [taps temple]
I said, “Sorry, Baba, I think my mind went somewhere else.”
So, then he said, “Keep your mind in this place.” [gestures to his hand]
Then I offered Baba soap. He put on soap, he finished washing his hand. I used to hold a towel on my hand and Baba took the towel, wiped himself.
So, I quickly ran to pull the chair out from the table for Baba to sit. It was a new table and chair. So, Baba took a seat, and I was going into kitchen to give plates and food and everything.
He caught my hand and said, “Stop.”
So, I stopped.
AVATAR MEHER BABA at Pushkar Lake, Ajmer, India, in February 1939 photographed by Hedi Mertens. (Meher Nazar Publications. Used with permission.)
With gestures… you know when Baba would look into your eyes and do the gestures. Though I was a very little child, I used to understand Baba because his eyes used to speak to our hearts.
He tells me, “Do you know how much trouble I have to take to make this water?”
I said, “No Baba, I don’t know.”
And then he tells me, “I have to heat seven seas and take this water into the air and make it into clouds. I have to heat up all the rivers on the earth, pick it into the air and make it into clouds. All the lakes, all the wells. It's a big job for me, you see.”
I said, “Yes, Baba.”
“But that doesn't end there. Then I have to push. I have to push those clouds and bring them down where they are needed. It's a big job for me. I give you this water to use, but never to waste.”
WOMEN WASHING. Photograph taken by Hedi Mertens sometime between December 1938 to April 1939 during Meher Baba’s Blue Bus Tours. (Meher Nazar Publications. Used with permission.)
Sources
“Roshan Kerawalla — Those Were the Days,” minutes 21:16 to 24:59, recorded April 2005, Los Angeles, CA. (c)Oral History Archive Project, Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California. Used with permission.
Thank you to Goher Mobed for suggesting this story for “The Divine Gift of Water” film and the event celebrating a new well and finding drinkable water at Meher Mount.
Thank you to Eric Turk for transcribing this story.