In the early morning of Sunday, 25 February 1894, the long-awaited moment arrived.
Shireen was lying asleep in bed at the David Sassoon Hospital; Grandmother Golandoon was by her side. The midnight gong sounded twelve times in the distance. Nurses came frequently to look in on her; the expectant mother was relaxed in a deep sleep. Suddenly, Shireen awoke and told her mother that she had had a vivid dream.
“A dream?” Golandoon inquired. “What did you see? Tell me.”
Shireen answered: “I saw seated in a chariot a person as glorious as the sun. His cool brilliance pervaded the atmosphere. A few people were pulling his chariot, while thousands of people led him in a procession. Tens of thousands of eyes were gazing at him, enraptured by his divine radiance … I, too, was in the procession and marveled at the luster of his face. His light fell on the whole procession and people’s eyes were fixed on him; they could not look away.”
Tears of joy came to Golandoon’s eyes, and she said, “Daughter, a very auspicious son will be born to you. His name will be spread all over the world. He will walk among thousands of people one day and be carried in grand processions, as you dreamt. He will be given special reverence and honor.” Her mother’s interpretation delighted Shireen and she soon fell fast asleep again.
The hospital was quiet. A gentle sweetness filled the air. In the silence, an unimaginable joy pervaded the hospital and its surroundings.
Then the birds started singing, piercing the stillness with their songs. There was distinct merriment in their voices.
Shireen’s labor pains started and a Catholic nun was summoned from her morning prayers. Golandoon sat near her daughter, watching anxiously. Sheriar waited outside the hospital room, continuously repeating God’s name.
The hospital’s night watchman made his rounds. As he struck the gong five times, the crying of a baby was heard. The birds increased their joyous notes as if to welcome the child, and even the sun seemed excited — eager to rise over the horizon.
Golandoon emerged from the room. “Sheriar, it’s a boy!” she exclaimed, beaming…Sheriar was filled with happiness and immediately rushed into the room to see his newborn child.
Poona was just starting to stir, as if the baby had proclaimed, “Arise now, I am the Awakener!” Little did people know that a day would come when he would awaken them from their life of sleep. By taking birth in the early hours of dawn, the child had signaled his arrival as the Awakener — the Avatar of the Age.
-Lord Meher, Bhau Kalchuri, p107