Angels 1

ANGELS

Meher Baba

... It is true that God has innumerable children. The multifarious powers that emanate from him can be said to be God's children. The Hindus call God Deva, and his 330 million powers are called Devas - Angels.

17 October 1922, Bombay, LM2 p450
Other versions: SW p114, RD p113

Angels have love, but it is not in its divine aspect, and so they cannot realise Paramatman. Rightly has it been said,

Qoodsinyara ishq hasto dard neest.

i.e. Angels have love, but no pain or restlessness of the divine love.

from notes dictated by Meher Baba, before March 1929
Ms 1:3 (March 1929) p9

Meher Baba asked Ramjoo Abdulla if he was a human being or an animal. Ramjoo replied, 'A human being!'

Baba: The human form is the last form in evolution, and it is the highest. Although it is the last and highest form in creation, it is still full of animal desires and lower qualities, such as eating, drinking, envy, hatred, anger and lust. These blemishes are there because the human form has evolved through and out of creation, and in this evolving, all the faults and defects that are in animals are also in the human being.

But this is not the whole view. Side by side with these lower qualities, the human being has created in himself certain higher Angelic qualities -- such as being able to free himself from base desires -- and has the attributes of kindness and grace. In an ordinary human being, there is an admixture of almost half and half of the lower animal qualities and the higher Angelic ones. Eventually the Angelic qualities are also destroyed, and man becomes one with God.

To be a human being does not only mean to be born in a human form with the lowest animal qualities still attributed to it. A human form with the animal qualities destroyed and the Angelic qualities developed is a real human being. But even that is not a perfect state. Angelic qualities developed to the highest degree still do not make a Perfect being. The Angels are free from the lower animal qualities, and possess higher qualities of godliness, but they have no love -- longing -- real love for God, which makes one worthy of union.

Angels, of course, have love, but it is in their nature, essence. They have what can be called natural love, which makes Angels higher than human beings. But being devoid of love for God, Angels cannot realise God. For that, they must assume human form with these higher qualities developed. In human form alone can they create love for God, qualifying them for the attainment of God-realisation. Realisation of God can never be attained without the human form. Angels must assume one human birth to realise God.

Now tell me whether you are a man or an animal.

Ramjoo: It seems that I am part man and part beast. But I do not understand what the natural love of Angels is.

Baba: Look how a mother loves her child. She does not have to cultivate her love. This feeling of hers just happens, and is natural, but it is not love for God. The same is inborn in Angels. Being innate, that is why it is called natural love.

4 August 1929, Harvan, Kashmir, LM4 p1189

There is an ocean of infinity in God. In this ocean there are waves which produce the creation of drops. The drops in the waves, which were created in the beginning with the whim in the infinite ocean, do not pass through the seven stages of evolution as others do, but immediately assume the form of Angels instead.

These Angels are in the same state for cycles and cycles, for eons and eons. They have Subtle forms and are in the second heaven in the third Subtle plane. They unconsciously thirst for a human form, even though they are in the highest state of happiness.

But this bliss is of no use to them without full consciousness. It rarely happens, but after millions and millions of years, one Angel is born as a human being in order to realise its real self. Why? In order to gain consciousness, which up to now it lacked, though it has passed numerous years in the Subtle world as an Angel.

After an Angel is born as a human being, it does not have to pass through human reincarnation, but becomes Realised in that very first human birth. These Angels are not born on the Gross plane together, but one at a time. Therefore, from a spiritual point of view, man is far superior to Angels, because the Angels, in spite of enjoying millions of years of bliss in heaven, have to take human form before attaining Liberation.

7 July 1930, Meherabad. LM4 p1325

An Angel is a spark which has become separated from the flame (God) and will have to go through the process of reincarnation. An Angel does not begin as an atom, but reincarnates directly as man. Only man can become God-realised.

1933, Muree, Kashmir, LA p96

The Agents without form have no connection with other Agents, because they have not undergone the process of evolution. But they are powerful.

They have no mind, no desire, no form, but they are spirits, and exist, and are like sparks. One who gets Illumination can see them, even with their eyes. Here, now, are so many.

They have no mind, yet can hear and see, because they feel. What they do is whatever they see and hear. Through feeling they pass it on to the unconscious ocean. What they report comes up to the point of creation, the point after ascent. So that message goes to the Perfect Masters. Everything these millions of Agents see or hear goes to the Perfect Masters.

20 April 1933, Kashmir, HM p460

The Subtle world represents desires, ego and energy. The Subtle bodies on this plane have forms of light (Tej or Noor) known as Angels. The light-form of these Angels or spirits can with no stretch of imagination be compared to the sun, which can be said to be the shadow of this light... The Angels or spirits... are all evolved beings...

1930s, Aw 15:3&4 p62

There are two aspects of human nature, one pertaining to the Angels, and the other to the animals; the former relying on the soul, and the latter on the flesh.

before 1948, from notes dictated
by Meher Baba, ST p113

Life often presents engimas which cannot be unraveled by ordinary persons. It seems to them to be full of questions which are unanswerable. Unrestrained chaos seems to be the law of the world, and there appears to be no justice or significance in the march of its events. Even those who believe in God get puzzled, and waver in their faith.

But it is only impatience and lack of true vision that are responsible for such an outlook. We embrace ignorance, and we fail to see that whatever life brings is charged with great meaning. God's ways are always unchallengable and irresistable, thought they might be mysterious and inscrutable. The secrets of his working in the world cannot be truly understood even by advanced souls.

This may be brought out by means of an anecdote of a great saint who is very much respected up to this day in all quarters of the world.

Once upon a time this saint encountered an Angel, and requested him for being allowed to be with him in his wanderings on Earth, so that he might understand something of the secret working of God.

The Angel at once granted him permission to be with him and observe all his doings on Earth. But he laid down his strict condition in the following words. He said,

'You are only to observe my doings, without at any stage and in any way asking me the explanation for my actions. You would not be able to judge and understand God's ways. Even if you are not able to understand them, you must not ask me the why of all that you see me do, during the period that you will be allowed to be with me.'

The saint promised that he would merely observe, and that he would in no way pester him with any questions, even if such questions arose in his mind. And then he was allowed to follow the Angel in his wanderings on Earth.

Once they got into a boat for crossing the sea. The boatman offered his services to them without charging his usual fare, just because it pleased him to help them. When the boat was in the midst of the ocean, the Angel took off one side-plank from the framework of the boat and threw it away in the water.

The saint at once got worried, and exclaimed,

'Why are you damaging the boat? Shall we not all get drowned, along with the boat?'

The Angel reminded him that he had already agreed not to ask him any questions whatsoever, and asked him to remain quiet.

After landing they came upon an Arab youth. To the utter bewilderment of that saint, the Angel at once killed that youth on the very spot. Now the saint found it very difficult to remain quiet, but asked him in excitement, 'Why did you kill that growing life?'

On this, the Angel replied, 'Did I not tell you that you would not be able to understand God's working? You must keep to your promise that you will not ask any questions'

The saint realised that he had failed in fulfilling the condition which he had accepted, and he wanted to be excused.

Then they both came to a village, where they requested the people of the village to give them some food. But the villagers only treated them contemptuously, and drove them away without giving them alms.

When they came to the outskirts of the village, they saw a dilapidated wall in ruins, which was intended to protect the village from the invasions of enemies. The Angel went to the wall and repaired it, spending much of his valuable time.

This time, the saint could not contain himself and said, 'Why did you repair that wall for the villagers, who did not even give alms to us? You have done this labor of love for nothing. For so much labor in the village, we would easily have got sufficient remuneration to procure food and allay our hunger.'

At this, the Angel said, 'You have again asked a question, in spite of your having promised merely to observe and keep quiet. It is no use divulging the secrets of God's ways prematurely. It requires the greatness and patience of God to understand his working. You have tried to pry into God's secrets, which you must not divulge. It is now time for us to part. But never mind, before we part, I will explain to you the reasons for my deeds.'

The Angel then proceeded to give the explanation to the saint. He said, 'The boatman is a poor but pious man. When I took away a side-plank of the boat from a prominent place in its framework, I knew that a king of robbers was approaching in that direction. This robber-king was collecting new and efficient boats to carry on his plunders. And whenever he saw any really good boat, he was sure to snatch it away from the owners. He, however, left untouched any boats which were in a broken and dilapidated condition. I took away a huge side-plank in order that a the boat might look uninviting. Otherwise the pious and poor boatman will be relieved of the only means of his livelihood.

'Now, the Arab youth whom I killed was most notorious and vicious. If he had lived, he would not only have perpetrated heinous crimes, but would surely have brought upon his pious parents an agonising blasphemy which they in no way merited. It was the will of divine providence that I should kill this Arab youth in order to save him from further sins, and save his pious parents from the suffering of undeserved ill-fame.

'Now coming to the repairs of the wall. Be it known to you that one pious man has kept buried under it his valuable treasure, with a desire that it may be of use to his sons. But it is God's will that his sons must get that treasure when they grow up, and that no one else should get it. If the dilapidated wall had further fallen, the treasure was in danger of being exposed to the sight of the wicked villagers, who would surely have taken possession of that treasure for themselves.

'Rest assured that all I did in the incidents which it was your special privilege to observe, I did, not of my own accord or initiative, but by the orders of our divine father, whose real greatness even we as Angels can only partly understand. God's ways might be inscrutable to the world. But his love for the world is unbounded, and his justice is unfailing.'

With these words the Angel parted, leaving the saint in deep contemplation. And the saint decided to live in complete resignation, to accept God's will even when his limited intellect could not understand its real meaning.

from notes dictated by Meher Baba,
before 1948, ST p61-65

Even Angels do not have this love for God. If they want to be Realised, they have first to become human. When a person becomes God-realised, he drops the body in one to three days.'

July 1952, Manhattan, LM11 p3878

The Angels (unembodied souls) are mere automatons for the will of God, and they do nothing which is not desired or prompted by God. These wishes happen to be mere expressions of divine power and activity which are all-pervading. In short, Angels are pure, and not contaminated with physical embodiment. In this they are superior to the man whose consciousness has not extended beyond the limitations of the Gross (meaning a man not yet on the Path).

Paradoxically, man, the inferior, who has succeeded in being contaminated with physical embodiment, is actually the superior in the strength of the potentialities latent within him. Experiencing his imperfections, limitations and weaknesses, he is potentially ripe to realise his real strength and purity, which are far above those of, and beyond the reach of, even the Archangels...

Man has and man shall (because man alone can) jump over the last seven links of the really non-existent relative existences of all the four spheres into his really own - the fifth, the Real sphere. In short, Angels must necessarily cease to be Angels and become man before they can reach the reality attainable to man. And when man ceases to be man and enters the I am God state, he realises that Angels and Archangels are, in fact, his own attributes in one sense or another.

from notes dictated by Meher Baba, GS p247-248

Herein (in the Subtle world) the relationship between God and his manifested attributes is of the sort that exists between father and children. Here God is kind, merciful and vigilant towards his children, who are carefree, with no thoughts of punishment or reward, no desire for knowledge, and no craving for spiritual attainments. And such entities are commonly known as Angels...

The entities of this world are exclusively busy with their appointed task of remembering God.

from notes dictated by Meher Baba, GS p285

Even the evolution of Angels and Archangels, with all of their hierarchy, is not to be regarded as an exclusive stream in advancing life. They can incarnate among the human beings and become linked up with the human stream of life. They are also subject to the laws of cycles, and all that happens to them is subject to the control of Perfect Masters.

1956? Be p24

Some drop-bubbles remain latent in the six states of the oceanic stir. They remain stationary in the Mental or Subtle planes with only bubbles of mind, or bubbles of energy. Such drop-souls with only bubbles of mind are called Archangels, and they exist in the Mental world. Drop-souls with only bubbles of energy are called Angels, and they exist in the third Subtle plane. Archangels have a Mental body, but no Gross form. They have Mental consciousness without sanskaras. Angels have a Subtle body, but no Gross form. They have Subtle consciousness without sanskaras.

All other drop-bubbles which come out of the Nothing pass into the seventh state of movement, the Gross world, to journey through evolution, reincarnation and involution. This journey has a purpose - it ends in an answer. The purpose is to attain Everything, and the answer is 'I am God' to Everything's question 'Who am I?'

from notes dictated by Meher Baba,
1968, Meherazad, NE p37

The third heaven, Alm-e-Kudasi, the Pure World, is divided into three sections or parts:

The first section is the state of Indra, in Sanskrit Indraloke, the abode of the rain god to Hindus, and in Persian Makan-e-Hoori, the house of the faeries.

The second section is the abode of the Angels or the abode of the gods, in Sanskrit Devaloke. The Greek and Roman gods were these Angels or Devas, and they are the Hindu gods.

The third section is the actual section of Alm-e-Kudasi where the pilgrim experiences Subtle knowledge. This knowledge is not Gnosis, but occult or mystic knowledge.

Each section in the third heaven holds millions of times more bliss, more happiness, more powers than the second heaven.

The state of Subtle consciousness known as Indra is the state of the first section of the third heaven. Indra is known as the king of the gods or the king of the Angels, the same as the Greek Zeus or the Roman Jupiter. In Persian, Indra's abode is Makan-e-Hoori, the House of Faeries or the House of Beautiful Women. Indra's faeries are feminine Subtle beings, a type of Angel with exceptional beauty and charm.

The state of Indra is referred to as a post of divinity, a station of considerable power and certain duties concerning the elements of nature, specifically to do with Earth.

If a man successfully performs a severe penance such as Chilla Nashini, staying inside a circle for forty days and nights, when he drops his physical body (dies), this man attains the Indra state. This means that a Gross-conscious man becomes Indra, and gains that Subtle identity with the status (king), the powers, the duties of that post (throne). He has become the king of the gods (Zeus, Jupiter) who rules 330 million Angels.

Being king of the Angels is an experience of Alm-e-Kudasi which is millions of times more blissful than any experience in the second heaven of Alm-e-Ruhani. Through his Subtle body he consciously experiences the bliss of being deified, and holds that post while in a disembodied state.

For one Epoch, which equals four Cycles (each Cycle is about 26,000 years), this human holds the post of Indra, and is very possessive of it. Many times those men (ascetics) in the Gross world who are striving to attain the post of Indra will have their penance disturbed by the individual currently holding the throne. The suffering penitents are actually disturbed by Indra himself, who sends all kinds of temptations their way, from the most frightful to the most seductive, to defeat the penance and have it stopped. Those who fail to dethrone Indra are overcome by their own fear during the penance.

Indra will do anything to keep his throne, but despite efforts to stay in power, the individual holding the Indra post must leave it after one Epoch, and again take a human body on earth. That individual who was Indra progresses higher while incarnate, still retaining his third plane Subtle consciousness. It is important to understand that this individual titled Indra exists in his Subtle body and inhabits the heavens while disembodied, but cannot progress in Subtle consciousness until he incarnates again. In other words, Zeus must come down from Olympus, Jupiter must abandon the abode of the gods and become a man again to advance higher toward the fourth plane.

There are 558 human beings on the third plane as saliks, and even more as masts are absorbed in the heavens, but only one holds the post of Indra.

The Angels are the ancient gods of mythology. Indra controls the Angels and assigns duties to them, making certain that each Angel fulfills its duty in the proper way for the balance of nature in creation. Angels inhabit the second section of the third heaven, Devaloke. Angels are the Devas, who have only Subtle form and no Gross body. A pilgrim with third plane consciousness can see these Angels as a normal man sees Gross creatures. Angels do not pass through evolution in the Gross world.

Angels are those drop-bubbles who remained stationary in the Subtle world during the first six stages of movement in the ocean of Nothing, and never reached the seventh stage, the Gross world. When the drop-bubbles first entered creation through the Mental planes unconsciously, some became Archangels that exist in the sixth heaven. Those who became Angels continued to pass through the Mental planes, but attained consciousness when they entered the third plane's second heaven, the Angelic abode Devaloke, or the first heaven Makan-e-Hoori, and became Faeries.

Though completely happy and enjoying bliss to the fullest as automatons of the will of Indra, Angels still aspire to attain human form, because only in human form can a soul become God-realised. God-realisation is the divine goal of all life, not Angelic existence or being a god among gods. So the Angels and Archangels must attain a human form, as also Indra must leave his throne and give up his reign to progress further toward Godhood. After an Angel has existed in Devaloke for four cycles (a cycle is about 26,000 years), the Angel has the opportunity of being born in human form.

After only one birth and lifetime as a human being, that Archangel or Angel receives Liberation from all future births and deaths - Mukti, the state of infinite bliss realised.

The universe, though huge, immeasurably vast and of countless variety, is a closed system, and a balance of nature must be maintained within this universal container (Universal Body). The universal container holds all light, all heat, all sound, all water, all the elements contained in nature and the natural forces (energies) generated in the universe. It is the work of the Angels and Faeries (various types called genii, or jinni, or sylphs, etc.) under the direction of Indra, to keep light, heat, sound, water, and the elemental forces of nature in equilibrium. Without the Angels and Faeries, there would be frequent colossal disturbances in the universe as a result of the imbalance of these elements and energies, for the human mind plays havoc with the natural forces through scientific exploitation.

It is only after many years that the natural forces go out of control. During such eruption in the universe, resulting as chaos in the world - earthquakes, floods, famines, etc. - not even the Angels and Faeries nor Indra can control the cosmic consequences. These cosmic consequences are universal disharmony caused by human extravagance and excessiveness. Then the Ancient one himself must come into creation and work to restore equilibrium in the universe.

Indra has control of all the 330 million gods or Angels. Each Angel performs a different function under Indra's reign. Some control the winds, temperature, the seas, or evolving forms. Some Faeries are connected with metals, vegetation, worms, insects, fish, birds or animals. The 330 million Angels in Devaloke perform specific functions for the maintenance or preservation of the universe. According to the specific duty assigned them by Indra, each Angel is called a god of this power or that power (as it is said Neptune rules the seas)...

Indra and the Angels do not advance through the third Subtle plane, because neither have Gross bodies, and one needs a Gross human body to advance. Indra and his Angels remain stationary in the first and second sections of Alm-e-Kudasi, namely in Makan-e-Hoori and Devaloke. However, the third plane pilgrim advancing through the third section of Alm-e-Kudasi has a physical human body as well as a Subtle and Mental body, and so he can advance.

from notes dictated by Meher Baba, 1967?
NE p79-81

Angels Book Two

Index - Book One