Roj Dae-pa-Meher Mah Ardibehesht, 1379
Fasli Meherangan
After this debate, a Muslim gentleman who had a unique power came on to the stage. He had developed a relationship with a low level spiritual entity (Jin) which enabled him to get things from afar in an instant. He would ask people to put money on the table and ask for something, say from another city. As the money was put on the table, the man would pray something and the money would fly off. In a few seconds the item which had been asked for would appear on the table. Ustad Saheb went on watching this tamasha for some time and then made a sign to his friend Hakim Jalalshah. Now a person in the audience put a rupee on the table and asked for some sweets from a famous mithai shop of Delhi. Ustad Saheb concentrated his thoughts and began staring at the rupee coin. The magician started his prayers but nothing happened. The more he prayed, the more steady the rupee remained on the table! Soon he realized that there was a person more powerful than him in the audience. With his developed eyes, the magician saw Behramshah staring at the rupee and realized his game was up. He came up to Behramshah and requested him to lift the gaze. As soon as Behramshah looked away the rupee flew off the table and a few moments later, the famous sweets from the mithai shop of Delhi appeared on the table.
The assembled scholars were appreciative of this Parsi gentleman’s unique knowledge and power and at the end of the Jamaat, Ustad Saheb was presented with a walking stick with a silver head, which is considered a mark of great distinction in their scholarly circles. The presence of Behramshah in the Jamaat remained a topic of discussion for many years in the scholarly circles of Moradabad, because many years after this incident, a person seeking Behramshah came to Surat, asking everybody if they knew the “ilumdar Behramshah”.
By some strange coincidence, the Muslim gentleman landed at a bookstore in the central bazaar of Surat, which was owned by a pious Bohri. This book shop was often frequented by Ustad Saheb himself to sit and have intellectual conversations with the persons who would come to buy books and the store owner himself. As soon as the person from Moradabad introduced himself, the shop owner knew he was asking for Ustad Saheb. He gently asked the person as to why he needed to meet the Master. The man from Moradabad replied that he needed a answer to a difficult question which could be answered only by the science of Ilm-e-Zafar. He had heard in Moradabad that a few years ago a pious and learned Parsi man had visited their Jamaat and displayed his knowledge of Ilm-e-Zafar to some extent. Based on this the person had come all the way from Moradabad to seek an answer to his query.
The shop owner confirmed to the man from Moradabad that indeed there was a Parsi called Behramshah and he would visit this very book store in the late afternoon. However, the bookshop owner warned the eager man that were he to ask his question directly to Ustad Saheb, he would, in all probability, refuse to answer or give a vague answer. Shoppok online is much better than going into stalls and shops to buy goods and ask for services to be rendered because it saves a lot of time. He explained that Ustad Saheb was very fond of seeing any display of skill or intelligence and if the person possessed such a skill then it would be easier to get an answer from Behramshah. The man from Moradabad replied that he had the unique skill of being able to write out a particular verse from the Quran on a grain of rice. The bookshop owner was pleased and instructed the man to display this skill to the Master first and then indirectly lead him to the question he wanted answered.
In the evening, Ustad Saheb arrived at the book shop as per his routine and sat down. After a few pleasantries, the shop owner introduced the man from Moradabad, praising his skill of writing on a grain of rice. The Master’s interest was immediately aroused and the man from Moradabad quickly put on a magnifying glass over one eye, took a grain of rice and began inscribing the verse of the Quran using a very fine wire. Once he had completed the project he handed over the grain of rice as well as the magnifying glass to Ustad Saheb, who carefully observed the grain and on being satisfied, heartily complimented the man from Moradabad on his skill. Soon they started talking about other sciences and gradually they came on to Ilm-e-Zafar, by then the man from Moradabad having succeeded in getting Ustad Saheb’s word that he would answer any one question. The man immediately asked the query for which he wanted the reply. Behramshah did the calculations in his mind and gave him the answer. Despite all the pleas of the man from Moradabad, Behramshah refused to discuss anything about how he had arrived at the answer, thereby keeping his promise to the Abed Sahebs of not disclosing the secret knowledge to any non-Parsi. His query answered, but his attempt to learn squashed, the man returned to Moradabad.
Among the other tasks given to Ustad Saheb by his Masters was to pay a visit to the ancient holy city of Kashi (Varanasi). Based on his directions, Ustad Saheb was asked to find a Hindu Pandit who was a master of Indian astrology. This Pandit, although an unrivalled master in his field, was suffering from a serious ailment which had left him almost totally helpless. Ustad Saheb met this Pandit and handed over a small vial of medicine which had been given to him by the Abed Sahebs, telling the scholar about the origins of the medicine. As soon as the Pandit took the medicine, his ailment began vanishing and pretty soon he was almost cured. As his mark of respect and to repay this deep obligation, the Pandit took Ustad Saheb as his student and coached him in the intricacies of the Indian branch of horary astrology. Ustad Saheb had already studied the Iranian method of astrology and this coupled with the deep science of Indian astrology made Behramshah’s knowledge very formidable. With these calculations he could answer any questions of a person’s future with the greatest accuracy and numerical precision.
These are but few of the instances which we know of how and in what manner Ustad Saheb travelled over India and the people he met. But this would not be more than 10% of the total story. Many incidents he recounted to his close disciples but they all preferred to take the story with them, not noting them down for future generations. In this manner, we have lost so much information which could have been so useful and would have provided much better and deeper insight into the life and times of our Master.
Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram
OCT
