One day Baba Tajuddin surrounded by hundreds of His devotees, looked at the Heavens above and spoke softly, ‘Allah, ask Me for explanation regarding their sins and not them, for they are Mine’.

Only a Mad Man can have such love and thus Baba Tajuddin spent sixteen years in a mental asylum, certified by the world as a lunatic. If only the world was filled with more such lunatics, there would be Paradise on Mother Earth.

It’s the fantastically sane people who seem to be making the very heavens weep. 

Baba Tajuddin, according to Avatar Meher Baba is known as the Taj or Crown of Sufis. He promised the very Creation, that till He did not evolve one hundred and twenty five thousand of His disciples-devotees-lovers-chil- dren into Saints, He would not rest in peace, either here or beyond.

He was clear that removing the suffering of one human being was more worthy than going a thousand times to Haj and performing namaz or prayers at each stop of the Pilgrimage. Though one must understand that according to Baba Tajuddin, offering prayers, each moment of the day, was the only way to live; no matter whether one was in isolation or one walked in the world as a householder. Prayers according to Him, were mandatory but very often He mentioned that, the best Haj or Pilgrimage for a devotee is to win a heart of a person by selflessly serving the individual. ‘Because man’s heart is a thousand times better than Kaaba (holy place at Mecca ).’ 

He and Baba Sai of Shirdi were very much made of the same Mould. First and foremost, They Both, along with Baba Jaan, Narayan Maharaj and Upasani Maharaj, formed The Five Perfect Masters of Their Era, who made Meher Baba realise His own Godhood and thus They gave Creation once again an Avatar.

Both were clear that Oneness was more important than any Religion. Both performed miracles, left-right and center to safe guard Their devotees. Both cared nothing for Their Personal wellbeing. Their devotees saw Them in their family God they worshipped. They weren’t very diplomatic with Themselves or the world around. They often abused and thrashed Their devotees. Their love for Their children was of an intensity that was not found in this world, far greater than the love of all mothers put together. They were worshipped by people from all communities and Their hearts and blessings were for all of Creation.

Ok so let me ramble a bit now. When I was young and less stupid, I stayed most often with my maternal grand-mother or safely tucked away in a boarding school in Panchgani. Thus, I rarely stayed with my parents. On and off when I went to spend a random night with my parents, I would sit in front of the family Temple, and see the assorted Gods, Goddesses and Mad Men and there was this small four inch painting of A Fakir, sitting on a veranda, looking at you. I would keep seeing Him and ask one and all who was He? My dad’s father, who was a Sufi by temperament, had passed away, thus nobody could really Name this Man in Green.

Fifteen years later, while writing The Last Marathon, I got introduced to Tajuddin Baba. Even then there wasn’t much written about Him in the book. I had the Five Perfect Masters along with Avatar Meher Baba’s snap, but I never made the connect with the Man in Green.

Then something strange happened. Five years back, a friend called me and asked me who was Tajuddin Baba. I told him all that I knew. I asked him why the sudden interest? He told me something strange. He had a dream, this friend of mine, and in the dream he along with his wife and son, stayed in a palatial place. I seemed to be part of his dream (which thus made it a night mare but anyway), and he calls out to me and shows me piles of gold and precious stones strew in the garden. Everybody is amazed at this treasure which seems to have come out of nowhere. It seems I am smoking in the dream and I throw the cigarette and tell him, ‘You want to see the greatest precious jewel, the virtual crown of jewels, come.’

And then I walk to the bungalow, there are creepers on the wall, I lift the creepers and there is a small door, which nobody but I seem to be aware off. I open the small door and enter. There is a staircase and the moment we open the door there is the sound of “ Ya Taj, Ya Taj, Ya Taj ” and prayers from the Koran in the background. We walk down the stairs and there is a Tomb. I walk towards the tomb and we slide the covering of the Tomb. There’s sunlight streaming through the walls and the chanting gets louder.

Then this Man comes out of the Tomb. Now my friend had never seen the photograph of Tajuddin Baba and he described Baba and there was no mistaking that my friend had truly been Graced with Baba Tajuddin’s Presence.

So Baba Tajuddin comes out. He blesses my friend, says something about his health, then his son, and then his wife. I am standing a little away. Then Baba Tajuddin turns towards me. He walks towards me and my head is bowed down. He comes and according to my friend, ‘This Man, Baba Tajuddin, He is so tall and His face is long and beard majestic and He walks towards you and then embraces you, caresses you like a mother would to a her child for a long time and then tells me that, this child of mine has….’

So any way my friend told me what Baba Tajuddin told him about me. So this was the first time He truly entered my life. Then again He came into another friend’s dream and told me something else which I would rather keep to myself.

The third time was stranger. I get a call from a Sage who tells me that his friend wanted to meet me. I said ‘ wookay….as long as I can sit down have chai and cigarettes, I didn’t mind meeting your friend.’ So this friend comes to meet me at a café in Pune where they specialize in mastering the art of making the most ghastly chai in all of the Cosmos.

We get talking and I don’t know what comes into me and I tell the man a few things, some of them not very complimentary. The man smiles through my chatter but takes notes and says he would do as guided. While leaving he tells me, “I meditate on Baba Tajuddin and last night He told me, that the man you are meeting will tell you many things, listen to him carefully and do as told. So I asked Baba Tajuddin how would I know who the man was as I am going to meet a number of men and Baba Tajuddin said, this man would be carrying green fire.”

 So I looked at this man and wondered, Lord love a castrated duck, what was the man rambling about, Green Fire and all, sounded like a horror movie gone spiritual.

“Don’t you get it. You are carrying green fire. You are wearing a ring with a green stone. Your light is the colour green. Just behind you is this neon sign which is green in colour and symbolizes fire. And by the way, does your stomach and neck hurt.”

I nodded.

“Well He operates from the stomach and neck area and they are going to hurt a lot.”

“Tell Him thanks a lot. Much obliged. I shall convey this pleasant medical news to my doctors who will be ecstatic.”

So anyway, this is how Baba Tajuddin entered my life. Enough of my ramblings. Wake up now and let’s get back to the article.

So who is Tajuddin Baba?

Baba Tajuddin was born on January 27^th 1861, in the town of Kamptee near Nagpur. He did not cry and the wise ones near The Child thought something was wrong with the Infant and keeping with the tradition of those days, The Baby was branded with hot iron rods on His temples and soles of the feet. The Child cried for a while and then looked around with strange bewilderment.

Baba Tajuddin’s family came from Arabia, first stayed in Madras and then settled down in Nagpur. His grand-father was a Sufi Sage known to many as Hazrat Imam Hasan and all His other relatives were considered holy men, whose Shrines are still there in Madras. Thus, Baba Tajuddin comes from a lineage of evolved Sufi’s.

Baba’s father was in the army and he left the body when Baba Tajuddin was barely a year old and His mother passed over when He was just nine years old. Baba was taken care of by His maternal grand-mother. He was put into a madrasa where He learnt English apart from Persian and Urdu. Baba Tajuddin was well versed in English.

The day that changed Baba Tajuddin’s life was when He was studying and Saint Hazrat Abdullah Shah walked in. He looked at Baba Tajuddin and then turned to the teacher and told him, that why was he teaching The Child who knew everything and brought knowledge from his past life times. He then walked to Baba Tajuddin and chewed a date, removed it, and offered it to the young Boy. Baba Tajuddin ate the date. “Eat less, sleep less, talk less. When you pray the Holy Quran, say the prayers as though Prophet Mohammed has descended within you.”  Saying this He blessed the young Boy and left.

 From that moment Baba Tajuddin withdrew within. For three days tears gushed down His face and He was never the same ever again and I guess the realisation of the very futility of this so called existence and the illusion of everything material made Him go deep within. He began to eat less, interaction and all declined and His only focus was studying and self introspection. He began to read a lot of literature written by poets and Sufi’s. One stanza particularly had a tremendous impact on Him, and all His life He lived with the philosophy of, ‘‘Drink liquor, put fire on the Quran and the Kaaba, go and live in the market place, but never hurt the Soul and heart of another being”.

The fact that a Sufi could say something so powerful, where the feelings of each and every individual was far more important than all the Holy Books and spiritual power houses, where it didn’t matter whether you were spiritual or a part of the world, as long as you respected the feelings and treated each individual not on the basis of his or her financial power but as being another child of The Creator, equal and One with you, all was well. This philosophy always remained with Baba Tajuddin as nothing mattered to Him but the respect accorded to each being, man, woman, animal and all of creation.

Soon a flood swept away most of His home town and Baba Tajuddin saw what death, pain, tragedy could to do innocent people. To support His family, He joined, as per the family tradition, the army, as a soldier in Nagpur Regiment No. 13. He was truly close to His maternal grand-mother and she reluctantly gave Him her permission. He travelled all over the country and even abroad, going as far as France. He began to coach Mr. Ben and Mr. Williams on the spiritual path and both made great strides in spirituality through their lives.

During those days in the army, He was always polite, punctual, disciplined and continued to pray five times a day, irrespective of where He was or how exhausted or the vagaries of weather or place. Then another incident took place which would change His life further.

The army was camped at Sagar and Baba Tajuddin would go into the forest to pray and meditate. There He met Hazrat Daud Saheb Hussaini an extremely evolved soul. Hazrat Hussaini obviously recognized the Oneness radiating through Baba Tajuddin. Both of Them would spend a lot of time together and Baba Tajuddin would serve the Hazrat. It was as though Hazrat Hussaini was only waiting for Baba Tajuddin. He gave the young Man all His knowledge and power and then took Samadhi. Even after His Guru had left His body, Baba Tajuddin would continue spending the entire night in prayer and meditation next to His Guru’s Tomb. He barely ate anything, hardly slept, and was always within, He lived from the Spirit where the body was just a casing.

His superiors and colleagues began to worry about Baba Tajuddin and some of them wondered whether He was on the right path or not, and where did He disappear every night. They wrote to His grand-mother who thought her grand-son either had gone the wrong way or had gone plainly nuts. She arrived and waited for her Grand-Son. Then she followed Him at night and stood at a distance seeing her Boy pray and meditate near the Tomb of the One who was obviously His Guru.

In the morning as soon as she saw Him, she realised the Radiance coming through her Lad. She embraced Him and told Him that she had got Him delicious food, all His favourite. He smiled and from His pocket removed stones and pebbles. He told Her ‘I always carry these sweet meats (ladoos and pedas) for myself, so don’t worry I never go hungry’. She realised He was on another path, that lead only to Oneness.

She left, and Tajuddin Baba continued His service to His Guru. One day, after His meditation next to His Master’s Tomb, He came back to the army camp, went to the senior and told him, ‘ You better take care of men and your army, I am resigning’, saying this He walked away, never ever to be connected with the material world again.

The army informed the grand-mother once again and she returned to Sagar to see her Grand-Son, roaming about the town, half naked, unconscious of His very body or worldly presence. She thought that now He had gone completely mad and brought Him back to Kamptee, Their home town. He was shown to various doctors, healers, exorcists, but obviously none could ‘cure’ the Man from the most incurable illness known to Creation; God Intoxication.

 How does one cure a person suffering from God intoxication, where the illness and cure are both the same, Him.

Baba’s grand-mother passed over, unfortunately heart- broken, with the false knowledge that now her favourite, was beyond cure, little realising that He was to be the cure for hundreds and thousands of individuals in His life time, and a thousand fold more after He left His body. Baba Tajuddin’s uncle took over and after further course of treatment realised that Baba Tajuddin was beyond medical or spiritual or witchcraft treatment.

Thus Baba Tajuddin eventually was left to fend for Himself. This gave Him the perfect moment to go further into God intoxication. Now He roamed around, sometimes, half clothed, sometimes naked, living under bridges, or wherever His innocent heart guided Him. Children would stone Him and knowing they got some perverse pleasure in doing so, He would Himself gather stones and make heaps of them, so that the stupid kids could pelt Him with ease. If somebody tried to stop the kids from hurling stones at Baba Tajuddin, He would get upset with the well wisher, making sure that nobody came between Him and the children.

But slowly Baba Tajuddin’s powers began to show through. He randomly began to predict things and saved people from fatal calamities and changed fortunes of the people. Slowly news trickled in like rain drops that became a raging storm, that this so called Mad Man was in reality a truly evolved and powerful Soul.

 As His fame began to grow, Baba Tajuddin, realised that He had less time to pray and meditate. People flocked to Him for financial gain and for material comfort and the usual stuff all of us are so engrossed in. He would abuse and thrash people, and more people came, happy to be abused and thrashed by a Master. He realised that hardly anybody came to Him for spiritual growth and evolvement. Everybody wanted just material gain while spiritual gain could boil its evolved head.

Tired of the crowds and their incessant demands, He realised that the best way to achieve isolation and at the same time still continue to live in His home town and help the people and do His spiritual work in all the different dimensions, was to do something simple and effective and hence Baba Tajuddin announced to a person who had come to seek His blessings that, ‘It is time I got certified as a mad Man and lived in a mental asylum’. The poor man didn’t understand a word. He thought Baba was speaking in parables but Baba was stating a fact.

The next day, Baba Tajuddin went and stood outside a club, frequented by the daughters and wives and mothers of the British Regiment. The moment the women came out, they saw a tall, bearded man, standing stark nude, looking at them with the most benign smile. Some women I am sure must have passed out and the women complained to the men folk and that very day or the next day Baba Tajuddin was certified as mad and admitted to the Mental Hospital Nagpur. He was thrashed by the Britishers and the Indian sepoys, but Baba Tajuddin only laughed and said, ‘I am going to the mental asylum, put this mad Man away’. He was thirty one years of age.

The next week the same English women saw Baba Tajuddin walking about, not a care in the world. Aghast that the mad exhibitionist was roaming about on the streets in spite of being declared mad, when inquiry was done, it was established that Baba Tajuddin could not have been roaming about on the streets of Kamptee, as He was safely locked away in a cell. But a certain English Officer, who too had seen Baba Tajuddin on the street, rushed to the Mental Hospital, and seeing Baba Tajuddin in the cell, realised the grave mistake made by his people. Baba Tajuddin who spoke English well, told the young officer, “You are doing your job, and I am doing Mine, don’t worry”. From that day onwards the English Officer became a devotee of Baba and every Sunday would come to visit Baba, sometimes alone and sometimes with His family.

Baba began to perform miracles from within the hospital. Word spread but at least not many people could physically disturb Baba Tajuddin who was seemingly locked up in the mental asylum but who would materialize on the streets of Kamptee, as and when He wanted to. Terminally ill people were cured, those physically handicapped were all of a sudden able to use their limbs which were until now affected limbs, disasters averted, poverty removed, injustice denied and all this lead to more fame and belief in The Mad One. Food and gifts poured into the mental asylum, which was given to the staff and to the residents and also distributed outside to the poor. The doctors and the staff were in love with Baba Tajuddin and would wonder why He didn’t go and live in a more comfortable environment, but Baba Tajuddin would refuse, and say that people like Him were mad and best suited for a mental asylum. The best part was that He never allowed any preferential treatment to Himself. He did all the work asked out of those lodged within and made sure His cell was always locked…though lot of good locking of His cell was done, as our Man was seen up and about everywhere, not only in Nagpur but in distant lands too.  

Baba Tajuddin was in the mental asylum for sixteen years. In that period He was known all over the country. Dignitaries like Mr. Antony MacDonald, the Chief Commissioner of Nagpur, Colonel Rowe, the Civil Surgeon, The Extra Assistance Commissioner, Mr. Khan and the city Superintendent of Police Mr. Moti were devotees of Baba Tajuddin. But the most important as well as the most humble of all His devotees was the Maharaja Raghoji Rao Bhonsle, a King and still one of the most ardent devotees who served Baba Tajuddin throughout his life, with not an ounce of ego, pride or showmanship. The Maharaja considered himself as a servant to Baba Tajuddin and even now his devotion to Tajuddin Baba is spoken about with reverence.

What is a Guru without His or Her lovers? And can a Guru live without His or Her disciples? If the disciples and devotees love and need their Guru, the Guru loves and virtually worships the disciples much more, for in them He sees Godhood waiting to manifest. Baba Sai of Shirdi would often say that He was privileged to serve His disciples and devotees.

 The crowds increased and the authorities took advantage of this by charging an entry fee for all those who wanted to enter the mental asylum to meet Baba Tajuddin. This bothered Baba as He knew that there would be innumerable poor people who would not be able to meet Him. He began to be more visible outside to the people to the bewilderment of the authorities.

To show His displeasure, He showed Himself as Jesus Christ, being crucified on the cross, to an Englishman. The man recognised Baba Tajuddin. When he went to meet Tajuddin Baba, the authorities seeking money for entering the mental asylum, failed to recognize the Britisher. They sought money from him. The man was very influential and sort of hit the roof. Through his influence the rule of charging money was removed. He met Baba Tajuddin who looked at him and said, ‘Yes I am Jesus Christ’.

In the end the Maharaja took permission from Baba Tajuddin, that if He was to be accessible to one and all, then it was time He gave permission to move out from the mental asylum. Tajuddin Baba looked at the Maharaja, knowing that only pure love emanated from this child of His. He nodded and gave His permission. The Maharaja paid two thousand rupees (those days a large sum), and after sixteen years, Tajuddin Baba physically entered into the outside world.

The Maharaja had made all arrangements for Tajuddin Baba. A special place in the palace, a horse carriage, muscular men, but no rules and regulations of conduct, from either obviously Baba or His devotees. The Maharaja would personally serve Baba Tajuddin without any ego, and through complete love and surrender. It’s a beautiful love story of the King and The Fakir.

But Baba would still sleep on the floor. Still walk barefoot in the scorching sun. He would have tea at four in the morning and then leave early in the morning and keep walking sometimes till way into the afternoon. In a short while shops selling flowers, sweet meats, various things that could be blessed by Baba Tajuddin mushroomed up. Hundreds of devotees would gather around or walk with Him. People knew His whereabouts and stalls came up, even in the forest where He would spend time. Sometimes He would sit in the horse carriage and would tell Heera Lal, who rode the carriage and who was also a staunch devotee of Baba Tajuddin not to direct the horse, Bahadur. “Let him take Us where he wants Us to go”, and the horse would gallop away and stop strangely at only those spots where people from far and wide had come to seek Baba Tajuddin’s blessings. People would offer Him food and clothes and gifts which He would touch and give it to the hungry, the poor and the damned. Miracles were performed, like Baba Sai of Shirdi, at a drop of a hat, but it was always keeping in mind the wellbeing, spiritual foremost of the devotee. Nobody was too damned for Baba Tajuddin.

In fact Baba Sai and Tajuddin Baba used to love each other. Very often Baba Sai would send devotees to Tajuddin Baba and Baba Tajuddin would sometimes tell devotees they had to go and hold the hand of The Sai. Baba Sai before taking Samadhi had told one and all that it was Tajuddin Baba now who should be sought. So did Baba Jaan, who told one and all that, “Taj is My successor, supreme ruler…What Taj gives, He gets from Me.”

Baba Tajuddin would call Avatar Meher Baba His Heavenly Rose and when Baba Meher’s group of disciples had gone to meet Tajuddin Baba, on Meher Baba’s order, Baba Tajuddin had given each of the men Avatar Meher Baba’s photograph and told them, ‘Worship this photograph of Meher Baba’ and Meher Baba would say, “You have no idea who He was. I know who He is. He was Taj [The crown]!”

Often The Masters would send devotees to other Masters. Tajuddin Baba had sent numerous devotees to even Upasani Maharaj.

Duality exists only amongst dwarfs. The Giants work in Oneness. 

Throughout His life, what made Baba Tajuddin so immensely loved by one and all was that He never judged or thought that any body was beyond redemption. For Him, no matter how low an individual had stooped there was always a way out, always a chance for the individual to come out of that dark hole. He is known to have forgiven the worst kinds of wrong doers, knowing that in each one of us, was the spark of Godhood, leave aside just being a good human being and Baba Tajuddin never lost sight of that spark of divinity in each and every one who came for His help. Thus, be it those who the world called criminals, the damned, fighting cases, mentally and physically those who were treated as abnormal, and the so called outcasts of society, untouchables and the sweepers, all were treated with respect and for those gone astray He always had belief and hope that there was light at the end of the dark tunnel.

Baba Tajuddin would also stay sixteen kilometers away in a poor Hindu devotee’s place. The devotee was Kashinath and the place is called Waki. As usual He would walk in the rain and let the clothes dry while still on the body or walk in scorching heat bear footed. He had no connect with His body. All through the path there were devotees but then He was seen at many places at the same time. Once He told His devotee who charted the horse carriage, ‘Come let us go to Kabul’ and the next moment much to the shock and surprise of Heera Lal, They were in Kabul. Something which was verified years later by the people who had come from Kabul who recognised Heera Lal.

For Tajuddin Baba, the duality between miracles and mundane had virtually disappeared. Miracles were performed so insanely casually that no wonder thousands milled around to meet Tajuddin Baba. He knew who needed what and no one who was true at heart ever went back without His blessings. Be it an untouchable who had made some humble food and tied the packet to a tree seeing the rich and mighty throng and who brought Baba expensive gifts but Baba still refusing to touch anything but that parcel which was hanging on a branch. From a prostitute to a criminal to the handicapped to the poor and destitute to the rich and powerful to Sages and Fakirs, all came in droves.

At Waki, according to Baba’s wishes, Kashinath made a camping site, for devotees to meet Baba and that soon became so popular that people began to call it small Nagpur. He chose a mango tree and told one and all that those who seeked medical help and refuge from physical or mental ailments, needed to just sit near or under the tree and use the soil as medicine. Miracles took place and still take place under this tree which He called The Hospital. Another mango tree He called The Madrasa for all spiritual aspirants. Here Avtaar Meher Baba has spent considerable time. Another place was called Kacheri, The Court of Justice, close to the Madrasa, for obvious reasons. Then there is The High Court, for those who were falsely accused and dragged into litigation. The School was for children who wanted to do well in their exams and knowing Tajuddin Baba, whether they studied or not, didn’t really matter, where the marks were concerned. If you prayed and gave your best, you were bound to succeed, irrespective of your capabilities. Faith over logic and talent, any day.

Baba had a dog called Sheru who loved Baba so much that he would take devotees who had come from out of town to Baba, wherever Baba would be at that time. Nobody would know where Baba was, but Sheru would. One day Sheru was not seen and later Sheru’s body was found. The devotees told Baba Tajuddin about this and Baba said, ‘Not possible’, as though how could His friend leave without His permission and saying a see you soon. Baba approached the basket in which they had placed Sheru decorated with flowers. Baba just said, ‘Sheru come’ and out came Sheru, prancing, wagging his tail and all. After a short time Sheru left his body, and Baba Tajuddin removed His shirt and covered His friend.

Another incident was of a devotee of Baba who left the body. But before that Baba was informed that this lady was very critical and about to pass over. So Tajuddin Baba, who was about to drink His tea, took a sip, and told His close disciple to go and make the sick woman have the tea. Our man goes with the tea and is told that the woman had sort of gotten wings and taken flight. The love and faith the disciple had was so clear hearted that he looked at the woman, lying horizontal, all dead and gone and told her, ‘Wake up Baba Tajuddin has sent tea for you, get up and drink it’. The woman obeying the laws of the five elements remained sleeping lifeless. The disciple once again said the same thing. No response. Hmmmm. Third time he said this and poured some tea into her mouth. Up and about the woman became, finished the cup of tea and ran to Baba Tajuddin to thank her Lord and Master.

Once a businessman came to be cured. His feet were immobile and for years he had been handicapped. Baba Tajuddin looked at him with anger and told him with such firmness that ‘If you don’t run away now I am going to come and give you a thrashing of your life’. There was such anger in Baba Tajuddin, that our business man, got up and began to sprint away. Much to the amusement and wonderment of one and all, though Tajuddin looked on the business man with love and a smile of a proud parent.

As time passed and miracles increased, Baba Tajuddin’s Name spread far and wide and along with it came about jealously. Many folks claiming to follow Islam, got jealous of the Maharaja’s proximity with Baba Tajuddin. Money, gifts, food, flowed in, which went via the King’s men and scrutiny. The money and gifts were distributed the way Tajuddin wanted and eventually at night nothing would remain with Tajuddin Baba. The Maharaj loved Him so much that very often he would personally supervise all the creature comforts and demands of Tajuddin Baba.

People began to make life difficult for the Maharaja and eventually Tajuddin Baba realising what could happen if He continued to live in the palace, for the Maharaja’s sake decided to leave the palace. He promised the Maharaja that He would take care of him and his generations forever and beyond which was verified by the Maharaja even after Tajuddin Baba took Samadhi. He told the Maharaja, ‘Who can take Me away from you, I and My bed will be in your house for hundreds of thousands of years’, which is true, as even now Baba Tajuddin’s special cottage, called the Lal Kothi, prepared by the Maharaja for Baba, is still kept sacred and maintained to be in the same condition as when Baba was in the body.

One day Tajuddin Baba walked on a piece of land and told His people the soil on the land was good and to make a hut for Him on this land. Nobody understood the significance of this statement.

Slowly Baba Tajuddin began to grow weak. His body was failing Him or He wanted to now leave. The Maharaja sent his best doctors to treat Tajuddin Baba but nobody could diagnose what was wrong with the ailing Master. The Maharaja would come and serve Him, knowing that time was running out.

The evening of Monday the 17^th of August, 1925, the Maharaja noticed large flock of birds gathered at his place but they were very silent. Extremely quiet. Close by in very humble quarters Baba Tajuddin too weak, lifted His hands and prayed for wellbeing of all, those present and those who loved Him. He then lay down on the bed and a soft gurgling sound came from His throat, and He shut His eyes and left the battered body forever. He always considered Himself to be the servant of Allah and His last whisper was, ‘To God we belong and to Him we return’.

Far away in Pune, Baba Jaan, softly spoke to those sitting near The Master, ‘My poor Fakir, Taj has gone’, nobody understood what The Master meant. Only the next day, when the papers declared that Baba Tajuddin had taken Samadhi, did Baba Jaan’s disciples understand how close was Baba Tajuddin truly to The Master.

The papers then reported that at the exact time Baba Tajuddin took Samadhi, the statues of Lord Vitthal and Rukmini Maa, in Pandharpur, shed tears for twelve hours. Newspapers like the Madras Mail and Andhra Patrika of 22nd August 1925, in bold wrote that ‘He, who was Lord Rama, had reappeared in the world in the Soul of Baba Tajuddin Aulia and when His work was finished, He left the earth and He was recognised’.

The King had left His body. Long Live King Tajuddin.

Be Blessed.