meaning somehow. Like when he said, "You are my neighbor," and then years later all of a sudden it came to me and it made me sit upright. I imagine what Baba says must have a deeper meaning than the apparent words.

I really feel that Baba put me here for a purpose. It might not be a great work, but still I have been able to meet so many wonderful young people that have come here and had tea with me. We have had some really great talks. It's a privilege to have the work Baba gave me . . . otherwise, what's my purpose of living all these long years?

VII. MEMORIES OF THE MASTER

The Prem Ashram

I am Aloba*, speaking at Meherazad on this 11th of October, 1977. I was in Iran at the age of 8. I was born in a Muslim family. My father's name was Mamond Hassein, and my mother’s, Hazra Suttan. My birthplace is Yust, a famous city in Iran. In that city Meher's father, Sheriar Irani, was also born. My uncle brought me to India at the age of 8, and then I was working in a restaurant tea shop helping my uncle and almost two years passed.

Then the news of the opening of Meherashram appeared in a Persian newspaper printed at Calcutta. Called Hablud Hakeem, this Persian language paper came to Bombay and also went to the gulf states, Iran, Afghanistan. In this paper there was an advertisement for the opening of Meherashram so the Muslim families, the Iranis, came to know about it. They did not know about Meher Baba and His name was not mentioned there. It said that this school was free for all castes and creeds of boys and the course of studies was for five years, so the guardians or parents thought this was a good opportunity for the boys. Everything was free and the students would pay much more attention (to their studies) than in the city of Bombay. In the same way I was among the Muslim students who were brought to Meherashram.

Now the Meherashram life was such a beautiful life that no one in this world could create a copy of it. Not from the physical point of view or money point of view. Anyone who has 40 to 50 lakhs of rupees can open such a school, but that isn't the point. The point is that Meher Baba was there, and only because of Baba were all the boys so loved and they also loved Baba very much. In the school all the boys of different nationality, different castes, different creeds were as loving as sons of one family, boys of one family. They wore uniform dress, they were well taken care of, and the whole sphere of Meherashram was surcharged with Divine love, pure love, God love, and was all due to Beloved Avatar Meher Baba.

Meher Baba was the creator of Meher Ashram and the boys had respect for Baba, not a shallow respect but a deep respect, such as they would never give to their fathers or to their brothers. They loved Baba much more than their fathers or their brothers and this itself created a rivalry, an enmity in the hearts of guardians or fathers of the boys. They would think "what is the reason my son does not love me as much as he loves Meher Baba?" And this was one of the reasons they started taking their boys away from Meherashram.

Another reason was they absolutely did not know who Meher Baba was, they were unaware of His status of Divinity, of His Godhead. They considered Meher Baba as an Irani like themselves, which was absolutely wrong. Meher Baba is first God and then man, whereas when the world looks at Meher Baba, they always forget that He is God in human form.

Another reason, especially among the Muslim castes, for taking their boys away from Meherashram was the suspicion that Meher Baba had created this Meherashram to

*Ali Akbar