The women mandali returned to Meherazad at midnight. Padri and Chhagan stayed inside the Tomb the entire night as scores of people lined up to take darshan. Adi Sr. was at his office in town sending out telegrams and making telephone calls to various Centers and individuals in India and abroad. All India Radio mistakenly announced Baba’s passing at 10:00 P.M. on the 31st. The next day, announcements were made on the radio several times during the day; BBC also broadcast the news. News had already reached Bombay by the evening of the 31st, and lovers rushed to Ahmednagar by all available means. Several had arrived soon after Baba’s body had been placed in the Tomb.
When Mohammed Mast was informed that Baba had dropped his body, he said in Marathi, “Dada has gone, but will come back.”
Most lovers, whether they were in the East or West, could not believe the news when they received the telegram. They thought it was a cruel hoax, as they were planning to come to India for darshan in March. All that night Adi’s office was overwhelmed with telegrams and telephone calls from those seeking to verify the news. When they discovered it was true, it was to some as if a dark cloud had descended over their world and the divine light that lived in Meher Baba had vanished.
Dr. Ginde advised interring Baba’s body as soon as possible, because the body was not embalmed, and in his opinion should be buried within 20 hours, even if it were kept on blocks of ice.
Those who could come, rushed to Meherabad as soon as they heard the news. Many came without official leave from their jobs, many without a change of clothes and little or no money. Special buses were arranged to carry the lovers to Meherabad. On the morning of Saturday, February 1, Dr. Ginde and Francis were adamant that Baba’s body be interred, but Sarosh, Nusserwan Satha and Piloo Satha (Eruch’s maternal uncles) were equally insistent that it not be, demanding the lovers must have darshan! Their argument had the desired effect.
Baba had previously remarked, “I will give darshan lying down,” and he had even mentioned that his head would be raised so that his lovers could see him from a distance. The full impact of his words now registered as Baba, lying down in his crypt, kept his promise by giving darshan to his lovers.
Thus, Meher Baba remained in his open crypt for seven days, and a soft luster appeared over his face as if he were simply asleep. For seven days and nights the Divine Beloved gave darshan to several thousand of his lovers. It was an unforgettable week of darshan on Meherabad Hill, where lovers thronged to bow down one last time, to offer him garlands of roses and flowers, to sing his praises and to shed tears of love at his feet.
After having had darshan, while coming out of the Tomb, some persons would exclaim: “Oh how beautiful Baba looks! How young he appears!”
The railway line that passes between Upper and lower Meherabad had trains jammed with followers from Bombay and Andhra halting there. During the seven days, as the trains went past, their drivers would give a long whistle saluting the crowd devoted to the Avatar of the Age.
–www.lordmeher.org, p6722