Roj Dae-pa-Adar Mah Ardibehesht, 1379 Yz.
It was late in the afternoon one pleasant day in Firdaus, Behramshah was in the house of one of the resident farmers, chatting with the family, when a message was sent that the Sraoshavarez wanted to see Behramshah. The eager student immediately set off to meet the Master, who had just emerged from his afternoon prayers. Taking Behramshah by his side, the Sraoshavarez began to speak to him in a very kind and gentle voice: “My dear son, nearly three and a half years have passed since you were brought to Firdaus. In this time you have won our hearts and minds with your innocence and cheerfulness. But now the time has come for you to leave us and return home not only to your beloved mother who waits anxiously for you, but also to begin the most important part of your life’s mission.”
It was as if a dagger had pierced through Behramshah’s heart. He fell at the feet of his Master and began sobbing uncontrollably, begging him not make him leave this pure paradise. My dear Parsis, just writing these words brings tears to my eyes as I try to picture that scene nearly 150 years ago when Behramshah realized that his time in Demavand was drawing to a close. Who, in his right mind and senses, would want to leave paradise and come back to the material world of treachery and lies? Who would want to move even one step away from the august presence of a Sraoshavarez? Who would want to stop breathing the pure, spiritually charged air of Firdaus in exchange for the pollution filled air of the outside world? The Sraoshavarez picked up Behramshah and comforted him: “You shall always be in our hearts, and whenever you need us, we will always be there for you, Behramshah. I have made arrangements for everything.”
Over the next few days, the Sraoshavarez and Behramshah had some very deep conversations, wherein, for the first time, the Sraoshavarez explained to Behramshah the real reason for his being brought to Firdaus, the repayment of the debt of their previous lives, the mission of Behramshah in the outside world. Gently, but firmly, Behramshah was given the details of the years of his life in the outside world, the various difficulties he would face, the friends he would make and the foes who would hurt him, the deep science of fulfillment of obligations which Behramshah would have to enact with several persons. He was given various messages which had to be delivered to several persons in the outside world, all over India. He was taught certain prayers and Nirangs which Behramshah was warned never to miss praying for even a single day for the rest of his life. All these and many more particulars were given to our Master as the day for his leaving Firdaus came closer.
In order to prepare Behramshah for his life in the outside world, the Sraoshavarez handed several gifts to him. The most important of these was a small silver box which contained a very fine powder. This was the Aksir-e-Azam. Here starts another amazing series of facts which seem almost impossible to believe, were it not for the fact that they were recounted by Ustad Saheb himself to his closest disciples and recorded for posterity in the Ustad Saheb Behramshah Nowroji Shroff Memorial Volume. Men are born with amazing kinds of destiny. Some struggle their whole life, yet prosperity eludes them. Some are born with the proverbial golden spoon. Some attain prosperity through notorious means, while others attain great prosperity with grand ethical behavior. The collective obligations created through the various past lives’ thoughts, words and deeds are a great contributor to the destiny of man in his current life.
Just as a past-life obligation caused the three and a half year stay of Behramshah at Demavand, a similar obligation ensured that our Master did not have to work a single day of his life, yet left behind a very good sum for his descendants when he passed away. In another previous life, Ustad Saheb was owed an enormous quantity of gold by a person, which could not be paid back in that life. After many hundreds of years, both souls were born within 50-60 years of each other. The soul which owed the obligation was none other than one of the greatest Presidents of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). The soul he owed the debt to was of course our Master, Behramshah Shroff. In a double combination, some obligation was owed by another soul to Abraham Lincoln, which was also born around that time as the Deputy Sraoshavarez Rashidji Saheb. It was this combination of obligations, which were skillfully offset with each other through the spiritual guidance and supervision of Sraoshavarez Marzbanji Saheb.
Students of the American Civil War history will perhaps know of the “disappearance” of 26 bars of pure gold, each weighing a massive 50 pounds each around Pennsylvania’s Elk-Cameron County. This was a shipment ordered by President Lincoln to pay the Union soldiers’ salaries. Through some bizarre series of events, this gold was “lost” and has since never been found. There is a spiritual explanation behind this event, which was given by Ustad Saheb himself. As the obligation of Rashidji was due to Abraham Lincoln, a quantity of gold was “loaned” to him from the treasures of Demavand for a specific time. Using the speculative market at that time, Lincoln was able to make some money from this quantity of gold which was used as a reserve (much like commodity exchanges function today). Once the necessary amount which was due to Lincoln was earned, the loaned gold was brought back to Demavand. Readers may wonder how such a massive quantity of gold could be transported between thousands of kilometers? The Abeds are Masters of All Sciences and have a method to do so, which has been explained by the Master and recorded in the Memorial Volume.
Now the vast amount of gold which was due to Ustad Saheb from Abraham Lincoln could not be given to the Master in its physical form. For this purpose, the Sraoshavarez produced the Aksir-e-Azam or a special powder which had the ability to transmute copper into gold. The Aksir in the silver box which was given to Ustad Saheb was sufficient to make gold worth about Rs. 300,000 in those days, over 140 years ago! As per the Metal Exchanges, the price of gold in 1880 (around the time when this must have happened) was $21 per ounce. Today it has crossed $1000 per ounce! From my rough back of envelope calculations, that would be about 450 KILOS of gold! Throughout his life, Ustad Saheb used to buy raw copper from the market in small sheets and through a process of application of the powder and heat, the sheet would be transmuted to 100% gold which he would sell to some jeweler. Due to his own past obligations, Ustad Saheb wasted a large amount of this Aksir in his early years of travel and it was only very late in life that a friend and a stocks broker advised him to make the gold all in one go and then invest the money in government bonds and securities, through which he managed to leave behind a valuable estate for his descendants.
Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram
SEP
