Born February 25, 1894 to Zoroastrian parents in Pune as Meherwan Sheriar Irani, he led a normal childhood until he was 19. One day Hazrat Babajan, a centenarian Muslim saint, one of the five Sadgurus or Perfect Masters of the age, beckoned him as he cycled past her. With a kiss on his forehead, she initiated him into a state of God realisation. She then addressed the crowd around her, ``This child of mine will one day move the world.''

Avatar Meher Baba was a saint whose aim was not to establish a new cult, sect or religion, but to spread the feeling of oneness and a sense of belonging through acts of love and service to humanity.

``One God, one life, one world, one family,'' was his belief. He strove to realise it through `Meherashram' in Ahmednagar - a school open to children of all castes, religions and nationalities, in 1920.

From December 1936 to 1937, he invited devout foreigners to his ashram in Nashik, where they were initiated into his beliefs. On January 31, 1999 was his thirtieth Amartithi (the day he dropped his physical body). Pilgrims from India and England, USA, Iran, New Zealand visited his tomb at Meherabad Hill, Ahmednagar, and participated in the bhajans, prayer meetings and dramas held from January 30 to February 1.

To his followers he was a saint who had taken a finite human form to help other humans realise God, but he was a saint who didn't believe in performing miracles.

K K Ramakrishna, secretary of the Poona Avatar Meher Baba Centre, says, ``He healed many by his touch or by sending them healing messages, but he believed that it was the devotee's love and faith in God that eased his suffering, not the miracles that he performed.''

His message in the `Discourses' and `God Speaks', emphasises the importance of simplicity and honesty in life. ``Man does not seek suffering,'' he wrote, ``It comes to him as an outcome of his search for happiness through the pursuit of material desires. Relief from every kind of suffering can be found within ourselves, by living honestly and having faith in God.''

The Poona Avatar Meher Baba Centre holds weekly prayer gatherings on Sunday mornings. Ramakrishna says, ``One's love and faith in God can only be realised through service of humanity.'' The centre also holds an annual free homoeopathic dispensary for the poor.