Sun Rays
A New Collection of One Hundred and Thirty Eight Ghazals
Bhau Kalchuri
Paperback 145 pages
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The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in Arabic poetry in Arabia.
Traditionally, in India and Persia, ghazals were written exclusively in Urdu. So when Meher Baba suggested to Bhau to write them in English, Bhau thought it couldn't be done. Feeling that the rhythm of the meter wouldn't translate to English, Meher Baba had to instruct Bhau, starting with the line, “Now my heart is terrified even to hear the name of Love”, and having Bhau repeat the line while Baba drummed out the rhythm on his thighs. Finally, after much difficulty, suddenly “like a gust of wind” understanding came to him instantly and he knew what Baba was trying to show him.
At the very moment Bhau grasped this, without saying a word to Baba, Baba sat up and told Bhau,”Now, compose!” Within five minutes Bhau wrote his first English ghazal and has written over 1,000 since then.
Published 2000
Bhau Kalchuri
In 1926, Bhau Kalchuri was born one of seven children to well-to-do parents in a northern Indian village. When Bhau was ten, his father sent him to a district school for a better education, and from then on Bhau excelled in all his studies, completing master’s degrees in public administration, law and chemistry, as well as marrying by family arrangement. It was Bhau’s brother-in-law who took him to Tajuddin Baba's tomb, where an unexpected yearning to find God sprang from Bhau's heart.
At the end of 1952 Bhau's search had became desperate. Just then, seemingly by chance, he happened to attend a large public audience given by Meher Baba. At his first sight of Baba, Bhau was overcome by Baba’s spiritual beauty, and instantly determined to dedicate his life to him. In a subsequent interview, Baba accepted Bhau as one of his resident disciples, and Bhau joined Baba in Dehra Dun in 1953 after completing his studies. Later Baba gestured, “During the mass darshan programs, I spread my net. Thousands of fish were there, but I caught only one.”
Bhau served Baba in many capacities, including that of Baba’s Hindi correspondent and personal night watchman/attendant. At Baba’s behest he began writing poems and ghazals in Hindi, eventually writing over 20 books, both prose and poetry, including Lord Meher, a 6000 page biography of Meher Baba translated into English. He was one of the very few disciples staying with Baba in Meherazad when Baba passed away in 1969.
In 1973, Bhau became a trustee of the Avatar Meher Baba Trust. In 1996 he succeeded Baba’s sister Mani as the Trust’s chairman, a post that he continues to hold, guiding the Trust's development with creativity and vision. Propelled by his boundless energy for Baba’s cause, Bhau has toured the world and India many times, sharing his deep spiritual perspective and humor and telling Baba-stories with both Baba’s followers and the public. His charming, loving nature and his great care for Baba’s followers has won him a worldwide circle of friends. Above all, he has touched numerous people by his example of absolutely unreserved dedication and service to his beloved Meher Baba.
