Tajuddin Baba of Nagpur was born on the 21st of January in the
year 1861 at a place called Kamptee situated near Nagpur in the state of
Maharastra. He was one of the Five Perfect Masters of Meher Baba.
Tajuddin Baba was born as a unusual child. It is said that he
did not cry as a baby and physical torture was done to him by his parents in
order to make the child cry. Baba wore the marks of these tortures on his body
until last.
Like Narayan Maharaj, Tajuddin Baba also lost his parents at a
very tender age. His maternal grandmother and uncle Abdul Rahman looked after
his needs. While studying as a child in a Madarasa or a School in Kampti, near
Nagpur, he came in contact with a spiritual master Hazrat Abdulla Shah, who
immediately recognized the spiritual potential in the child and initiated him
to the path, by giving him a dry fruit to eat. Baba was given the instruction
to "Eat less, sleep less and speak less. Read Quran”, by Hazrat Abdulla
Shah. With this contact Tajuddin Baba lost all his material consciousness and
started enjoying oneness of "Adwaita". His personal experience
of the oneness made him isolate from the world and he remained in personal
seclusion, away from the world.
Later at the age of 20 during 1881, He joined the Nagpur Army
Regiment as a sepoy (Soldier). The gift of the Master was in His heart and He
hardly found any solace in the day to day working of the Army. After this
regiment was posted to Sagar, Baba spent most of His time with Hazrat Baud
Saheb, a very well known spiritual person of Sagar. This Hazrat Baud Saheb thus
became a spiritual Guru of Hazrat Tajuddin Baba. With more and more time being
spent with Hazrat Baud Saheb, His official work suffered and ultimately he
tendered resignation to become free, which He already was.
His oneness with God made Him unaware of the world around Him
and He started roaming in the streets of Sagar naked like a Mast. Gradually His
relatives and friends came to know about this and they called Him back to
Kampti near Nagpur. All medicines and various Doctors were tried but of no
avail Tajuddin remained in His state of absolute forgetfulness of the world.
Although the stories of His miracles spread, yet the society started opposing
His naked roaming from here to there and unfortunately He was admitted to a
Mental Asylum on 16th of August 1892.
Hazrat Tajuddin Baba's glory spread from the Nagpur Asylum as He
was often seen outside the Asylum in Nagpur and at various places in Kamptee.
The British officers of the Army who were surprised at this, made proper
investigations and found Him properly locked up in the Asylum. Ultimately the
investigating officials became His disciples, and started to regularly visit
Him.
The Hospital became a place of pilgrimage to the growing number
of visitors day by day, who came to Baba for blessings. Later Maharaja Bahadur
Shrimant Raghoji Rao Bhonsle, the Maharaja of Nagpur became a disciple of
Hazrat Tajuddin Baba and moved an application for His release to the Governor,
against a security deposit of Two thousand rupees. On the 21st of September
1908, after His release, Baba was brought to Maharaja's 'Palace'. Since then
this Palace, which is now within the heart of the Nagpur City, Baba became the
epicenter of Tajuddin Baba's divine work.
Hazrat
Tajuddin Baba, like all other Spiritual Persons who become known for their
compassion, was constantly being approached by the rich and the poor for a cure
for the worldly pains and no one ever left without His blessing and
what-so-ever material desires they wished. His Glory spread like jungle fire
and thousands and thousands came to the palace at Shakardara to bow down to
Him. Taj, as the word means, was the crown of Divinity, for a stream of
disciples from all walks of life, and from all schools of religious faiths.
By
1925 Baba was nearly 65 years old, and became weak and exhausted. It was in
August 1925 that Baba's health deteriorated much, and Maharaja Raghoji Rao
availed the services of the best Physicians of Nagpur to treat Baba, but of no
avail. Baba was asked if He would permit the large number of devotees who were
anxiously awaiting for a glimpse of their Hazrat, and with Baba's willingness,
the Palace was opened to all, who came in a large number for a last blessing
from the King of Kings, the Taj of Sadguru's, Hazrat Tajuddin Baba. It was so,
on 17th of August 1925, that Baba left the physical form, but He is and shall
always remain in the hearts of all of His devotees
Meher Baba referred to the status of a Perfect Master in His
famous book "God Speaks" , that a Sadguru or Qutub is the highest
of the High, and no one can realize self without the grace of the Sadguru. All
else gathered is nothing but just the shadow of the infinite reality.
Meher Baba explained the philosophy of creation simultaneously
in three principal schools of thoughts " Sufi", "Mystic"
and "Vedantic". He unified the terms of the three basic thoughts and
their common references in a parallel manner. He clearly presided that the real
miracle is the realization of the Self, and all other worldly miracles were
just a eye wash. Only sometimes the real Masters use these Miracles as a
foreword to the Book of the longest Travel Story, the journey of the Soul to
the Soul of Souls. Those who are Real give us the real, and that once given,
makes one so immersed in his own Oneness that now nothing can be given nor
taken away.
A couplet from Rumi translated in English which we read
somewhere, says what words can not speak:-
I
am insane, but they keep calling to me.
No
one here knows me, but no one chases me off.
My
job is to stay awake like the Night-watchman.
When
they're drunk enough, and it's late enough,
they
recognize me. They say, There's daylight