Pilgrimage Sites

Meherabad

Meherabad means "a flourishing land of mercy, kindness and fullness".  In April, 1923, Meher Baba and a few of His disciples came along the road from Ahmednagar to Dhond.  They rested and refreshed themselves with water from a well about six miles from Ahmednagar.  This place eventually became Meherabad.

Meher Baba's ashram consists of a lower and an upper part, the latter being on a small hill.  In between the two parts, runs a railway track.  A furlong away is Arangaon, a small farming village.

In lower Meherabad there is a hall where Baba used to hold meetings and sahavas programs.  A dispensary was built to which the poor from the neighbouring villages came for free treatment.  A little beyond were the men's quarters.  Next to Baba's room was a weather-bleached teakwood cage, so small that one could not stand up straight inside it.  In this confined space Baba spent about a year from July, 1925, writing a book which He said was to be published only after He dropped His body.

In addition to the dispensary, a hospital, an ashram for boys, a leper asylum, a mast-home for the God-mad, a dharamshalla or free shelter for the migrant poor sprang up.  Baba supervised the boys, lepers and masts and washed their clothes and cleaned their toilets.  All these were run free and were open to people irrespective of their caste, creed or class.  Water is brought from the well in lower Meherabad to upper Meherabad.

The Pilgrim Center, is in Lower Meherabad just across the road from Meher Baba's Samadhi.

Contact Information:

Pilgrim Reservation Office
Avatar Meher Baba Trust
King's Road, Post Bag 31
Ahmednagar 414 001 India
Phone/Fax:  (+91) 241 2548733
Email:  pimco@ambppct.org
Website:  avatarmeherbabatrust.org

Meherazad

Meherazad now is the private residence of a number of Meher Baba's close disciples.  It is open to visitors several days a week, for short time periods.  Pilgrim's staying at the Meher Pilgrim Retreat in Meherabad can make visits by bus.

Meher Baba lived in Meherazad from 1944 until He dropped His body on the 31st of January, 1969.  "Azad" means "free".  Meherazad is situated nine miles from Ahmednagar near the village of Pimpalgaon at the foot of Tembi hill.  Two cabins had been built on the hill, one on the summit and one on a ledge a little further down.  Baba remained in seclusion in the upper cabin.  Due to bad weather and great inconvenience, both the cabins were brought down and reassembled in Meherazad within forty eight hours.

The house which had originally been a rest house for engineers working on the nearby reservoir was where Meher Baba stayed first with the women Mandali.  Another two-storied house was built later to which He and some women Mandali shifted.  His room in which He dropped His body is a large simple one.  This house stands in a beautiful garden with a variety of shrubs and shady trees.  Giving colour to the whole are the wide-spreading Gulmohrs, which when in bloom are a concentrated mass of crimson.

The quarters for the men Mandali are rather primitive, consisting of a row of small rooms.  Opposite Baba's two storied house is the four room old rest house in which some of Baba's Western lovers stayed when they visited Baba.  In Meherazad there is also the body of the blue bus in which Baba had travelled all over India in 1938-1939.  The bus was meant for sixteen but carried twenty six passengers plus untold luggage and so had to be prematurely retired.  Now the bus body has been set on an improvised base for Baba to sit in during His seclusion.  At present, the surgical bed on which Baba dropped His body has been placed in the blue bus.

Meherazad estate covers some five acres and forms an oasis which is an earthly paradise of beauty and colour.  It is a place blessed most with the physical presence of Baba.  By day intense but quiet activity continues from dawn to sunset, and at night peace of such profundity prevails that it surpasses all understanding.

Meher Baba's Tomb (Samadhi)

Known for many years simply as the "Dome", this small stone structure on Meherabad Hill contains Meher Baba's physical form.  It began as a small hut erected over a pit where Baba spent a number of months in seclusion.  He also sat in seclusion in a cavity outside the compound.  It was dug at His behest in 1927.  Surrounding it were four walls, a door and one window in the East side.  The roof was made of tin sheets.  In 1938 it was roofed over with a dome and is now Baba's Tomb.  The inside of the Tomb has been decorated with lovely murals by Swiss artist Helen Dahm.  At each of the four corners of the domed roof is a symbol of a great world religion -- a cross for Christianity, a crescent for Islam, a flame for Zoroastrianism, and a temple for Hinduism.  This snow-white building bears the inscription over the door, "Mastery in Servitude."

The main building on the hill was originally a unused stone water tank, 40' x 20' x 15' built by the British army during the 1st World War.  Two doors and windows were added later, and it became a center for training Baba's women devotees in strict seclusion.  In the early period before this, Baba used to descend to the dark floor of the tank for seclusion through one of the windows by means of metal rings set in the wall.

Baba had once said, "The major portion of my Universal work was done on this hill (Meherabad hill).  I have selected this spot for my last resting place; when I drop the body, it shall rest here in my Tomb.  I have fasted here for six months.  I used to lie down here in the crypt taking only water and coffee.  After I drop my body the physical remains will rest here, and this hill will become an important place of pilgrimage of the world.  After 70 years this place will be a place of great privilege and pilgrimage.  A big township will grow around here."

The Tomb is open for darshan from 7:00 am until 7:45 pm.  Meher Baba's prayers are recited and His arti is sung each day at 7:00 am and 7:00 pm.  Visitors are asked to maintain silence in and around the Tomb.

A library and a museum with Baba memorabilia has been installed in the old water tank.  There is also a small theatre on the hill where Baba's Birthday is celebrated each year with a play and entertainment.  All pilgrims are welcome to visit Meher Baba's Samadhi and the surrounding sites on the hill.  For pilgrims who would like to stay nearby, the Meher Pilgrim Retreat is available with food and lodging for a small sum.

You may contact the Trust Office in Ahmednagar for more information on making a reservation.