that barren land. It thrived and flourished as years passed by. Cleanliness and quietude were the marked features of this colony, known as Kedgaon-Bet. Bet literally means an island — and this place is surrounded by a rivulet.

To me it seems that Narayan Maharaj played a perfect double role of Perfect Master, and perfect devotee at one and the same time. Hundreds of religious functions were arranged at Kedgaon and meticulously performed, quite in contrast with the activities around Hazrat Babajan and Tajuddin Baba. People worshiped Narayan as Maharaj, Man-God (Sadguru). With divine authority he would accept the homage of the devotees, his own selves; another time he would be seen invoking and worshiping the Lord like an ardent devotee. Here was the Sadguru demonstrating the roles of Lord and servant throng divinity in action. Sadgurus are concerned only with awakening *[the hearts of the people and are entirely unconcerned with the outer forms of the activities] that are carried out. To them conventional ceremonies or unconventional programs are just the same; they are ever beyond both.

Owing to the atmosphere of ceremonial worship, some regarded Narayan Maharaj an orthodox person. But it was he who first discerned the spiritual potentiality of Upasni Maharaj and directed him to Sai Baba, who was extremely unorthodox and unconventional in his relationship with his devotees. How true are Meher Baba's words that Sadgurus are One in consciousness and differ only in functions.

Narayan Maharaj was a slim, delicate figure. Outwardly he seemed to lead a princely life, but there was an air of utter detachment about him in anything and everything I did. There was a routine of programs to be followed at Kedgaon. To begin with, Narayan Maharaj himself would get up as early as 4:00 a.m. He would sit for some hours in underground room all alone, immersed in his work.

Meher Baba, too, used to get up fairly early. In the early days, at Manzil-e-Meem, He had enjoined His disciples to get up before dawn and meditate regularly. He also explained to the mandali the special significance of the early hours. In the course of a talk He once remarked, "It was between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. that Babajan made me realize the infinite bliss of Self-realization, and it was the same time when Upasni Maharaj brought me down to normal human consciousness of the gross world." In passing I may add here that Meher Baba was born around 5:00 a.m., so for Baba people this particular period shall ever hold an unfading fragrance.

In the morning hours, after taking Shri Dattatraya's darshan, Narayan Maharaj would see his devotees. He had quite a large correspondence to which he personally attended. His words of blessing had worked wonders, but to relate them would be a different story altogether. After this he would have his lunch, which consisted of buttermilk and half ground boiled jowar, quite in contrast with the costly clothes he wore. At noon he would retire from all the activities of the ashram for an hour or two. In the evenings he would attend the bhajan programs. On Thursdays, when the procession of Shri Dattatraya was taken round the temple, Narayan Maharaj would join in singing bhajans. He had an exquisitely sweet voice, they said. On some occasions he would join the devotees in indoor games. At times he would explain the spiritual facts apparently based on the games played. He often brought home to his devotees that playing games, shouldering family responsibilities and devoting oneself to the daily sadhana were not only interrelated but that they formed part and parcel of life as one indivisible whole. In summer, he followed a regular practice of offering with his own hands a delicious cold drink called panhe, prepared from boiled mangoes, to his devotees.

As one reads about the lives of Meher Baba's Masters, one is tempted to ask whether Baba derived His love for games and practice of distributing sharbat to His lovers from Narayan Maharaj, as His love for qavvali from Hazrat Babajan. Baba had once conveyed, "The five Masters have brought me down. Naturally, therefore, the qualities of all the five are in me.”

*I added a missing part of the sentence that was found in the book, "Glimpses of The God Man" Volume 1, page 113 para 2.-webmaster-jk 2008