By 8:00 A.M., the men mandali were back with Baba. The spasms returned. Baba again sent word to Mehera, through Mani, to be brave and not to worry. It would be the final time that this message was conveyed to her.
“Still, We didn’t realize that this too was a hint that he was going to drop his body,” said Mani.
Mehera was sitting in her bedroom or the living room. She was waiting, wanting to know what was happening. Goher gave Baba injections to relieve the spasms, but it did not help.
While Baba was talking with the mandali, Goher left the room. They were expecting Dr. Ginde, so she was busy preparing and boiling different—sized syringes, as she was not sure what he might want.
At 11 o’clock, Mehera was called. Baba ate a few pieces of papaya. She left, and the mandali reentered. Padri had brought his boxes of homeopathic remedies. Baba started the homeopathic medicine, MagPhos, but he teased Padri that it was useless. He was to take it every ten minutes, and either Padri or Goher gave him a sip of the medicine. Baba asked for some, and Padri gave him three doses. Baba had a few spasms; Padri held his feet, while the other mandali held his legs, arms, and so on.
At 12:15 P.M. a violent spasm wracked Baba’s fragile body, and Avatar Meher Baba dropped his bodv. Padri placed his head on his Master’s feet.
These last moments on 31 January 1969 are indelibly etched in the heart of everyone who was present. Here are a few of their descriptions, starting with Goher: “I wanted to give an intravenous injection to revive Baba. As soon as Baba’s head fell forward, there was a last sigh. I turned round. Eruch was at Baba’s head. I was still busy preparing things. Eruch called out, ‘GOHER, COME IMMEDIATELY!’ I had all the syringes. I wanted someone to do artificial respiration, as I knew his breathing had stopped. I was telling the mandali to do this and that.” Eruch began giving Baba mouth—to-mouth resuscitation.
Aloba had been sent to telephone Dr. Brieseman, of the Salvation Army Booth Hospital, or Don, as Dr. Ginde had still not arrived. Suddenly, Goher remembered, “At least call Mehera. Go and call Mehera now!”
Naja was about to bring a coconut to have Meheru extract coconut water, when she heard Eruch shouting to Goher. She could hear Eruch, because the door to Baba’s bedroom was open. She felt that something was wrong. Meheru was on the verandah, sewing a pillowcase for Baba’s pillow. Naja handed her the coconut and went inside Baba’s room. Others too rushed in. Goher was giving Baba an injection and then holding his tongue. Mani came in. She began shouting in Baba’s ear, “BABA, FOR MEHERA’S SAKE, BABA, COME BACK BABA, DON’T GO! DON’T GO! COME BACK, FOR MEHERA’S SAKE.”
Meheru stepped into the room with the coconut water, as Goher was not there to take it inside. Naja shouted, “GO AND BRING MEHERAI” Mani left and brought Mehera, even though the men mandali were present. Mehera and Mani started massaging Baba’s hands. Everyone was doing something or the other to improve his circulation. Someone brought a hot water bag, as Baba’s hands were becoming cold. The mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was still going on. After Eruch, Bhau and Goher did it for some time.
“All of us, in the back of our minds,” said Goher, “thought that Baba will come back to life again. All the time we were thinking, ‘No, no, this is not true.’ ”
Mani related: “I just stepped out of the room for a moment, for a split second, when I heard the men call, ‘BABA.’ I knew that he had dropped his body. I was opening the door and bringing something when I heard the men. For some reason, I was shouting at the top of my voice, ‘BABA, YOU ARE GOD [Tamao Khodai shev]. YOU CAN’T DO THIS, DON’T GO! MEHERA, YOU TELL BABA. YOU TELL BABA, AND HE WILL COME BACK. PLEASE COME BACK, DON’T LEAVE US! PLEASE COME BACK.’
“Mehera then started saying it. Later, I realized, I should not have said, ‘You are God,’ because God himself was doing it; I should have said, ‘You are the Avatar.’ ”
Mani kept pleading aloud, “Baba, you are God. For Mehera’s sake, come back.” Mehera stayed in the room. She was repeating, “Baba darling, Baba darling,” as she rubbed his hands.
Aloba returned a few minutes after 12:15. When he saw that Baba had dropped his body, “I was ready to dash my head then and there,” he stated. At 12:40 P.M., Adi Sr. and Dr. Ginde arrived, followed by Don and Dr. Brieseman with an oxygen cylinder.
“Come along! Come along!” said Goher, who had been waiting anxiously for them, hoping they could revive Baba by cardiac massage. Mehera stepped out of the room. The doctors were doing everything they could. Goher caught hold of Ginde, shook him, and wailed, “DO SOMETHING, DOCTOR! DO SOMETHING!”
After examining Baba, Ginde said simply, “Finished. Nothing can be done now.”
As Baba’s body was being wrapped, Mani thought back to an incident that had happened more than 25 years before: “Anything that happens around Baba is never by chance; nothing is insignificant, even though it appears so.
Sometimes, Baba is providing seeds, which must always bear fruit for some effect in the future. On the day Baba dropped his body, it came back to me in his room.
“It happened years before in Dehra Dun, when Baba had made us shut our eyes and count to 2o, as he quietly snuck out of the room. We enjoyed it at the time and completely forgot about it. One little incident of life with Baba. Years went by. On 31 January, when we were in the room, after we had realized Baba had left his form, this incident came back to me. And I put it in my heart. ‘You’ve done it again. You made us close our eyes and then you slipped away. Just like that.’ ”
–“Mehera Meher”, p485