July 19, 1978
by Adi and Rhoda Dubash
Washington, DC
USA
TRANSCRIPTION INSTRUCTIONS
A.) Find the BOLDED title below to select and click to open the pdf transcript.
B.) On the right side of this webpage (below for mobile), select and play the talk with the same title.
C.) Read along as you listen to Rhoda’s talk.
Note: Only BOLDED titles have transcriptions.
1. Live His Message of Love
2. Rhodas Silent Challenge for Rain
3. Baba Reminds Rhoda
4. Rhoda Accepts Meher Baba
5. God in Human Form
6. How Adi Came to Baba
7. Karachi Group and Obedience
8. Conviction in Baba’s Manifestation
9. Ocean of Divine Love
-
Andy Muir introduces Rhoda and Adi Dubash to the gathering, highlighting their tireless example of selfless service to Baba and others. Adi then addresses the group as a self-described "illiterate lover," commending the Western followers' work while urging them to go beyond books and media by actively living Baba’s message of love, truth, and sacrifice.
-
Rhoda recounts growing up with anti-Baba prejudice in Karachi, her shock upon learning her fiancé Adi was a follower, and her determination to steer him away. After hearing family discussions about Baba, she issues a silent challenge for rain on their dry summer wedding day, only for an unexpected torrential downpour to flood the ceremony.
-
Rhoda narrates traveling to Ahmednagar in December 1945, encountering Meher Baba by lantern light, and accompanying Him to an early-morning cinema outing. She then fast-forwards eighteen years to Guruprasad in 1963, where Baba unexpectedly brings up her wedding day and reveals that He personally orchestrated the rain after her forgotten challenge.
-
Rhoda recounts praying silently to Baba during a threatened miscarriage, dedicating her newborn son Merwan, and Baba later selecting him on the alphabet board. After reading ‘The Avatar’, conviction in Baba's divinity dawns on her, culminating in an unexpected, joyful embrace at Karachi Airport when His flight is detoured.
-
Rhoda addresses the recurring question of how an imperfect person can recognize Meher Baba as God in human form, stating that such inner conviction cannot be explained in words but must be experienced. She details how Baba embodies every divine quality, including selfless love, infinite compassion, spontaneous forgiveness, omniscience, and perfect humanness, proving to her that she has met her Creator.
-
Adi shares how his cousin Minoo first introduced Meher Baba to their family, leading his mother to secretly visit Baba despite his father’s staunch opposition. He then narrates traveling to Madras at age twenty-seven for a planned five-minute meeting that turned into five days of staying under the same roof with Baba.
-
Adi describes the aging Karachi group, explaining how their intense devotion and unity led them to donate all their collected savings to the Pilgrim Centre fund. He then illustrates strict obedience to Baba's orders through his son in Canada, who refused to buy his father a lottery ticket because Baba forbade gambling.
-
Adi recounts visiting a Madras cinema where Baba went directly to sit in a private chair that a sincere devotee had kept reserved only for God. He and Rhoda then address audience questions about Baba’s manifestation, explaining their conviction that Baba will manifest in living memory after this self-imposed period of humiliation.
-
Adi and Andy emphasize Baba's message to jump into His cleansing ocean of love without waiting to be faultless and warn against turning devotion into a bargaining arrangement. Adi shares Baba's response on garlanding to explain that acts done with love are never mere rituals, before the gathering joins in prayer and closing thanks.