Mehera met Meher Baba for the first time on October 15, 1922 at the age of 15 in the Sakori ashram of Upasni Maharaj during a visit with her mother, but did not come to stay with Baba permanently at Meherabad until 1924. Unique among Meher Baba's women mandali, Mehera was sequestered by Baba from contact with men. It was not until the late 1960s that Mehera J. Irani was permitted by Meher Baba to come out of her seclusion and meet some of the men mandali from a distance.