Hazrat Babajan
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Hazrat Babajan (?? - September 18, 1931) was a Baloch Muslim saint considered by her followers to be a sadguru or qutub. Born in northern India in Balochistan (now Pakistan), she lived the final 25 years of her life in Pune, India.
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[edit] Biography
Babajan, who's birthname was Gool Rukh ("like a rose"), was born as a Pathan princess in a royal Muslim family of Balochistan in northern India (now Pakistan). The precise date of Babajan's birth is unknown. Biography variants range from very late 1700's [1] to 1906. [2] Well-educated, she memorized the entire Koran by heart, becoming a Hafiz-e-Koran at an early age. At the age of 18 she fled her arranged marriage and sought God instead. She journeyed to the northeast, first to Peshawar and then to Rawalpindi, disguised by her Muslim veil. According to Indian author Bhau Kalchuri she lived for a year and a half in the mountainous regions of what is now Pakistan under the guidance of a Hindu sadguru, then traveled to Punjab. In Multan, at the age of 37, she received God-realization from an Islamic qutub, Maula Shah.
[edit] Travels and Pilgrimages
After a second stay in Rawalpindi, staying with her earlier Hindu master, she embarked on several long journeys through the Middle Eastern countries Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Mecca, often disguised as a man. Apparently to avoid detection she traveled by way of Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey and then doubled back into Arabia. At the Kaaba in Mecca, she offered the customary Mohammedan prayers five times a day, always sitting at one selected spot. While in Mecca, she often gathered food for the poor, and personally nursed pilgrims who had fallen ill. [3]
From Mecca, she made pilgrimage to the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad at Medina, where she adopted the same routine of offering prayers and caring for fellow pilgrims. Leaving Arabia, she passed through Baghdad, Iraq and back to the Punjab. She then traveled south to Nasik and established herself in Panchvati. From Nasik, Babajan traveled on to Bombay, where she stayed for some time and her fame grew.
In April 1903, Babajan made a second pilgrimage to Mecca, this time sailing from Bombay on the S.S. Hyderi. About 1904, Babajan returned to Bombay and soon afterward proceeded to Ajmer in northern India to pay homage at the tomb of the Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti who established Islam in India. From Ajmer she returned to Bombay and then soon after traveled west to Pune.
In Pune Babajan established her final residence, first under a neem tree near Bukhari Shah's mosque in Rasta Peth and later another neem tree in the then dilapidated section of Pune called Char Bawdi where she remained the rest of her life. She eventually allowed her devotees to build a shelter of gunny sacks above her and stayed there throughout all seasons. Her disciples included Hindus, Muslims, and Zoroastrians.
[edit] Master to Meher Baba
According to the Indian spiritual master Meher Baba, Hazrat Babajan gave him God-realization through a kiss on the forehead when he was 19 years old on his way home from college in Pune. After this he said that he experienced being in bliss for nine months, after which he said he was helped to return to normal consciousness by a second sadguru Upasni Maharaj of Sakori. Meher Baba said that Babajan was one of the five Perfect Masters of her time.
[edit] Shrine in Pune
Hazrat Babajan died in the Char Bawdi section of Pune under the neem tree where she lived the final years of her life on September 18, 1931. There is still a shrine for her erected around the tree under which she made her final street home.
[edit] References
- ^ 'Kalchuri, Bhau: "Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba", Manifestation, Inc. 1986. p. 5
- ^ ShreeSwami.org [1]
- ^ 'Kalchuri, Bhau: "Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba", Manifestation, Inc. 1986. p. 10
[edit] Biographies
- Kevin R.D. Shepherd: A Sufi Matriarch: Hazrat Babajan, Anthropographia Publications 1986. ISBN 0950868019
- Bhau Kalchuri: Meher Prabhu: Lord Meher, The Biography of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba, Manifestation, Inc. 1986.
