Creation 1

CREATION

Meher Baba

This whole universe, with all its vastness, grandeur and beauty, is nothing but sheer imagination.

October 1922, Bombay, LM2 p431

Ramjoo Abdulla: What are the stars?

Baba: Stars, like planets, are spheres. But many of the planets are inhabited by human beings. They resemble the Earth in culture, science, and in every way materially... But from the spiritual point of view, our Earth is the most advanced, for the Perfect Masters are born on this planet.

These other planets seem far off from one another, but in reality they are close. After Realisation, a man finds them issuing from himself in the millions, like tiny bubbles. He finds himself to be the source of everything, the maker of all.

Although the Gross spheres of the universes are different, the spiritual planes from beginning to end are one.

23 April 1924,
Meherabad,
LM2 p619

Due to worry, this universe came into being. And now man is unable to realise his own real self due to engaging his mind in worry.

5 June 1926,
Meherabad,
to Ramchandra Gadekar,
LM3 p808

People say that God created maya, but it is not so. For example, take the hair on the head. The hair is maya, and the head is God the creator. Although the hair grows on the head, the head does not know how, why and where it comes from. Then how can it be said that the head created hair, or God created maya? But in a way, the very creation of maya itself is dependent on God. Maya is sheer illusion, the force of imagination.

30 June 1926,
Meherabad,
LM3 p820

Q. Why did God create all this?

Baba: He did not create it. It started automatically. First there was God and nothing else. In God was everything: experience, knowledge, power and existence. But he had no consciousness that he was God. All this bother and headache you see around you is to gain that consciousness.

7 October 1926,
Meherabad,
LM3 p855

There are countless universes. Every star, though appearing to be a mere sparkling dot, is not a single world, but a mighty sun with a solar system of evolving planets like our own.

17 May 1927,
Rahuri,
LM3 p937

The Sadguru can interfere in the Creator's working, but he rarely does so. For the most part he leaves the Creator and the creation to manage their own affairs.

July? 1927,
Meherabad,
SW p401

How was the universe created? It was automatic. There are innumerable universes, which are interlaced with one another. One universe creates another in a chain reaction. These universes are so numerous that even Sadgurus cannot count them. I once tried to count them while at Sakori with Upasani Maharaj.

It is astonishing that, though the chains of these universes come out of the Sadguru and then merge back into him, they are still uncountable through his physical eyes. One night in Sakori, Upasani Maharaj and I were sitting in his hut, when the topic of counting the universes arose. First Maharaj tried to count them. In order to count the universes, he first had to stop the continuous flow of chains that are emerging, so he could count as many universes as possible. In order to do this, both his mind and the whole force of creation had to be concentrated on stopping the universes. This is extremely difficult and dangerous. From the oneness, duality is born, and this duality may prove fatal at times. The tension created by such concentration could cause one to drop the body. So when I tried, Maharaj prevented me from stopping the chain-flow, because it actually threatened my life, and I could have died.

Maharaj told me, 'No Sadguru was ever successful in this counting, since the flow of direct knowledge is from the Sadguru himself. If this flow is stopped to count the universes, duality is affected. The Sadguru's life is put in danger by duality's reaction.'

These universes come out of the Sadguru, and merge back into him after aeons. This is called Mahapralaya. When the universes disappear in Mahapralaya, they are no longer in Gross form, but they remain within the universal mind. Every individual Gross mind rests in the universal mind. Though this is all an illusion, still, the individual souls of all beings that inhabit the universes remain within the universal mind. And after aeons, the evolution starts again, and every jeevatma (individualised soul that has not yet realised God) gradually takes form in accordance with the consciousness he had before the cosmic event of Mahapralaya occurred.

For example, in deep sleep, you are unconscious of both your body and the world. For you this is dissolution or pralaya. When you awaken, creation begins again for you. You come back, and the world is again existing to you. This is individual dissolution, but the Mahapralaya happens universally. It is the same as individual dissolution, only all universes dissolve, so it is called Mahapralaya, maha meaning great. Briefly, this happens every day in an individual's sound sleep state. And after ages and ages it happens universally. For this reason, it is said in the Koran, 'On Doomsday, everyone will rise up from his grave.'

Now I will explain to you about Ishwar. Ishwar is the creator, preserver and dissolver as one: Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. This Ishwar is God, but does not know himself. He is in the state of infinite unconsciousness. However, he knows how to create, preserve and destroy the creation. How is this? When you blow up a balloon, your eyes are on the inflating of the balloon, and so you look at that and not at yourself. In the same way, the eyes of Ishwar are fixed on his creation, and not on himself.

2 December 1927,
Meherabad,
LM3 p988-989

As previously explained, there are an infinite number of worlds which have cooled down. And for each such world to cool down takes cycles and cycles - imagine how long! But when a man attains Realisation, and ascends to the seventh plane, he feels as if only a second has passed. That is, no time has actually passed during the numberless changes of forms, and deaths and births of 84 lakhs - eight million, four hundred thousand times. Now I know that according to you, it accounts for billions of years, and there is no limit to accounting. But my experience is that nothing has happened, and there is no time spent.

There are seven worlds, seven skies, seven suns, seven moons, seven planes and seven heavens. Why this figure seven? And sanskaras too are of seven colors. Why? Because in the very beginning when Energy (Pran) clashed with Matter (Akash), it created seven divisions. The explosive friction between Energy and Matter created seven dazzling colors.

Each individual human being is a universe unto himself. In the head there are seven openings: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and one mouth. In the body there are seven parts: two arms, two legs, two openings (front and back), and one trunk. But all this explaining of the universe and creation relates to the hair, and has nothing to do with the head. So first try to get hold of the head, because out of it comes everything. (Baba drew a man's head and hair.) The barber's work is to shave the head. And who is the barber in this case? Mahapralaya. For when it occurs, all the hairs - universes - on God's head are shaved off. It is said that the universes pour out of the Godhead. They are like God's hair. Your head may symbolise God, and your hair the universes.

23 December 1927,
Meherabad,
LM3 p997-998

When Energy (Pran) clashed with Matter (Akash) four things appeared - fire, water, air and earth - in quick succession. Stones, metals and vegetation have connection with earth; worms with earth and water; fish with water; birds with air; animals with fire; and human beings with all elements. By fire is meant lightning. Lightning is everywhere, but it is covered by a layer of ether. It has direct connection with animals, and so their digestive powers and sexual forces are strong. They frequently eat, and have sex often, to such an extent it seems as if they are born only for eating and sex. In man, this lightning assumes an inward force as the power of the human mind - thinking.

The first worm form after the vegetable kingdom is totally green in color. The last worm form is the crab. It is found in moist earth; that is, it goes in water too. It has become a fish, and therefore seeks water. In birds, you will mark that some species have an affinity with water. These are the first forms after fish. The next most advanced forms of birds have affinity with air, and the last-most bird forms with the earth, such as roosters. After that is the kangaroo form, the first form of animal life. And the last form of animals, as you can guess, is the monkey or ape.

27 December 1927,
Meherabad,
LM3 p999

The speed of the revolving of the universe is so tremendous that it is impossible to tell whether it is spinning in motion.

Look how many people, creatures and inanimate things there are in this world. Every person and thing has a pulse. Everyone has thoughts - hundreds of thoughts per minute. If all of these thoughts of the whole mass of humanity and all other living beings in the world are put together, no one would be able to measure or think of them. The amount is so measureless.

Such tremendous speed has no calculable speed. It looks as if it is at a standstill. The pulse of the whole universe is so infinite; but this pulse I measure, I observe and I feel. Think of what it must be...

30 December 1928,
Meherabad,
LM3 p1132-1133

The sun that gives you light at present will burst after many crores (tens of millions) of years. But another sun will take its place. The earth is getting cooler, and will eventually turn into a moon. But another planet, just like the present earth, will take its place. What has been in the past will be in the future. The processes of evolution and involution will go on forever. Ignorance and creation go hand in hand.

15 February 1929,
Meherabad,
LM3 p1140

Q. You say that there is nothing but God. But you cannot deny that matter exists.

Baba: Yes, I do. I deny that matter exists. There is nothing but God.

Q. But Baba, you cannot prove that matter is nothing. I see my physical body and your body with my own eyes. How can you expect me to believe that matter does not exist?

Baba: To your mind matter exists, but only so long as your mind is working. When you are in sound sleep, matter does not exist to you. How then can you say that matter is real? It stands to reason that it is entirely dependent on the workings of your mind. It is an illusion, nothing more nor less than the work of your mind.

Suppose when it is pitch dark and you are walking somewhere, you happen to see an object and jump back, concluding that it is a man, whom you take to be a robber. You become frightened, but fortunately see another man walking toward you. Both of you decide to catch the thief. You cautiously approach the object, but no sooner do you begin beating it, than you discover to your surprise that it was not a robber, but a boulder. It was a mere stone, but until you discovered this, to your mind it was a robber.

(One of the Mandali pointed to a stool, and asked Baba if it wasn't matter)

Baba: To you it seems to be matter, but to me it is atma, a soul. What you call matter is nothing. When I was a boy in Poona, one of my friends was named Kaikhushru. He was an Irani who used to make and sell ice cream. He was in the habit of taking bhang (hashish mixed in milk), and once after drinking some, he went to sell ice cream. On his way there was a small puddle, hardly half a foot wide. But to Kaikhushru that puddle was a lake. He actually ran and jumped ten feet over it in order to cross it. Now, if you had said to him, 'This is not a lake, but a tiny puddle,' do you think he would have believed you? He would have called you mad. To him it was a lake. Similarly, to you, all this before you is matter. But to me it is nothing.

Just as matter does not exist in your sound sleep, so it does not exist in my awake state. What you experience unconsciously in the sound sleep state, we God-realised persons experience in the awake state. Our awake state is real, but yours is false. When you realise God, you will see for yourself. The existence of matter is due to the existence of the mind. When the mind disappears, matter also vanishes.

28 March 1929,
Meherabad,
LM3 p1148

The evolution of creation has seven stages. There are seven planes and seven types of desires. All these sevens should be eradicated once and for all. However, the number seven is significant. There are seven types of sanskaras, seven types of colors, seven types of flights of imagination, and seven types of sounds. The reason all these have seven variations is that in the beginning of creation, with the start of the original whim in the Beyond Beyond state of God, there was a clash between Matter (Akash) and Energy (Pran), and Energy's powers were divided into seven forces.

The original sound coming out of the creation or Om point, also turns into seven sounds. This higher music of the Mental and Subtle planes is indescribably sweet. Even if you listened to it for twenty-four hours without a break, you would not tire of it. It is enrapturing. One absolutely drowns in its melody. But remember that in the Mental and Subtle sphere, the sweetness of this music's sounds are only shadows of the original sound.

In the Gross world the shadow of this melody is again divided into seven parts. Only expert singers can express these tones and octaves. Sound is created by contact between two things. When you speak, your voice passes through seven veils. But you do not notice this because the sound comes so quickly. Your physique, a byproduct of your sanskaras, determines whether your voice is sweet or harsh.

Everything is made up of seven: seven subdivisions of the first Subtle plane (the Astral), seven stages of evolution, seven planes and seven heavens in involution.

12 January 1930,
Nasik,
LM4 p1264

Today I will tell you something I have not told before to anyone -- how the first Circle was formed.

There is one indivisible ocean of existence, and only one. All energy, space, light, power, life, lie latent in this ocean. Now when the creation comes out of the creation point, it manifests in duality, because this is quite opposite to the ocean. The ocean being one, the opposite is many.

Everything exists in duality when coming out of the creation point - good, bad, weakness, strength - all this lies beyond the creation point. So first, in the very beginning, although this cannot be said to have a beginning, two drops expressing this duality came out of the ocean, and both evolved equally up through stone form, metal, etc. Energy manifested in vegetable form, and the two drops, having the same form and the same energy, faced each other in the process of evolution.

Now in the very beginning energy was quite pure, and so a sort of tremor or irritation began. That is to say, the two energies in these drops of the same quality and quantity, facing each other, attracted each other. And the attraction of the energies toward each other drew the forms together. There was still no intellect, no feeling, no emotion, and yet union was caused. This is termed purwasunk, the sex union without the sex existing - original sexless union. Now when they went on evolving and got the animal form, the energies increased, and the impressions of the union in the vegetable form then evolved into instinct. And instinct acting on energy created the primal sexual passion.

The soul has no connection with this. The soul remains quite aloof, and this is all the outcome of energy and instinct moving together. The animals do not feel as human beings do, they do not love each other a bit, but passion is in full force. Even attachment to their offspring is not love, as some eat their children, some neglect them, and so forth. This is not love or feeling, but only attachment due to passion existing.

Now when the two drops got the highest animal form, just prior to the human form, full consciousness came, and the consciousness overpowered the energy. And what happened was that the two energies became one, and the two forms became one. So the two drops existed in one form. That first human being having two selves in one form and one energy was Baba - the beginning of the Avataric period. In that Avataric period begins that first human being who had full consciousness, but no Self-consciousness, because impressions of his previous lives were in his mind.

Now full consciousness acting on that energy created emotion - to such an extent that it could not control itself. All desires for sex were in full sway as the two were united. So this double energy got divided again. The first human being had to undergo seventy-seven forms. And in the seventy-seventh form the two-in-one life split, and the link broke, and the drops became separated. And as they divided, they got quite the opposite form, and feeling and sex now really appeared...

As these two drops have only the impressions, emotions, etc., of previous times, and nothing more, they quickly began to reincarnate. And as they incarnated they got 120 connections, or forms, some closely connected and others not so close. And then they united and child came. As only these previous impressions - and nothing more - were there, the first human form went up by itself, being pure, and the 120 were drawn up with it. Thus the Circle of 120 realised itself. So whenever this - Baba - comes down, the 120 come down with him.

Feeling and emotion are only the creation of mind and energy. Love is the creation of the soul.

(Baba explained later:)

The process of evolution up to the reincarnation point is natural. It goes on systematically like a spiral. All forms are in a circle, and when the two drops united in the (first) human form, that was the end of the process of evolution. So it stopped, and the momentum diminished at the seventy-seventh form. And when the momentum finished, then began reincarnation. There was no leaving the world before.

After my having become Realised many times, I came down as Avatar with you all innumerable times. Only in the last cycle, 5,329 times. And once more after 450 years. The end will be the 5,330th time, although the universe is never finished.

So I am both personal in impersonal, and in the impersonal, too, I am conscious. The unconscious ocean is Baba, in the conscious drop is me, and also in everyone I experience myself consciously.

One very important point is the seven stages of evolution. There are 8,400,000 main stages of changing forms. Masters can count 84 lakhs. It is in the book I have written, which I wrote in Meherabad in a little room. This I will give to the world after I speak.

(two days later:)

Up to the vegetable form there is no mind, no intellect, but in the vegetable form the energy is complete. It is called cheyenya, which means energy. In the animal form the first stage of intellect appears in the form of instinct. You are the same, unchanged in all these forms. What changes is the form, the consciousness and the experience of the universe. In the last animal form (man) instinct is developed into intellect...

Certain animals have inside intuition and inspiration. But as they are not fully conscious, they do not know what they are. Kangaroos can experience wonderful sights and colors, but are not fully conscious, so they do not grasp.

20 April 1933,
Kashmir,
HM p451-454

In the beginning there was oneness amongst all creation. This gave way to manyness. But now manyness has almost reached its zenith, and it is time to return now to oneness, but a oneness with consciousness, whereas before there was no consciousness or awareness.

1933,
Kashmir,
Aw 22:1 p76

The Moon, which gives us light at night, was once an earth just like our Earth, and there are a number of such cooled-down earths. Millions of years ago the condition of our Earth was quite different from its present condition, and millions of years hence, it will be just like the Moon.

from notes dictated by Meher Baba,
before September 1933,
Si p23

Scientists understand evolution from the first life to the last human life, but none knows why this evolution of forms takes place.

After human life, what is there? The scientists know nothing. It is all due to the evolution of consciousness that forms evolve. For example, take the body as consciousness and clothes as the body. Now, the size of this shirt is according to your body. If a hand is cut off tomorrow, the shirt might be minus one sleeve. So it is due to consciousness that the body changes.

(About the beginning of plant life:)

The ocean was very warm and still, and due to the presence of gas and air in the water, it became rusty. Algae was formed from this rust, then gradually seaweed. The algae used to sink below from above. When it reached the bottom of the ocean, it became seaweed. From the original algae came seaweed, and from seaweed, vegetation.

(About early reptiles:)

One of the first Gross forms of reptiles had three heads. It was about 175 feet long and 14 feet wide. The middle head was about six feet in circumference. The three heads were joined together. The side heads were about two feet in circumference. Its front part resembled a reptile and its back a fish. The front was stout and the back portion thin. Its belly was ten feet round and tapered to a breadth of six feet at the tail. The middle head contained a jaw with teeth, just like the fish, but the side heads had only holes connected with the gills, and no teeth. All three mouths were connected with one another, and when breathing they breathed simultaneously, as it had one windpipe. Each head had an eye, so the creature had three eyes.

From prehistoric times birds have two eyes. They come under a different class, having evolved out of and beyond worms and fish. One bird is so peculiar that no one can have any idea of it, even in his wildest imagination. This bird is half bat, and very large -- about 15 feet high. It has two legs like an ostrich. Its neck is about two feet in circumference. Its head, however, is small -- only about two feet -- when compared to its body. Its wing-spread is six feet. Its beak is like a vulture, the end being thick and the point being thin.

The 'missing link' is a creature exactly like a gorilla, but with a short tail. And whereas the gorilla uses its hands while walking, the 'missing link' walks on its feet. His face is like a chimpanzee's, and his figure and gait of walking are like the gorilla's. After this 'missing link,' the first human form evolves (it is physically or sexually a eunuch). Scientists may find signs of this so-called 'missing link' in Java, Sumatra, or the Indian jungles of the central provinces in Madhya Pradesh.

(About cycles of time:)

One cycle is twelve thousand million (12,000,000,000) years. The scientists do not know anything at all about cycles, but this hint will open their eyes. The evolution of the world began two billion years ago, and evolution, which started from the nebula, will last until the completion of the cycle -- when the Mahapralaya (the total dissolution of the universe) will take place.

The human form has been evolving for millions of years, and will continue to evolve. After a billion years, man will only be five inches in height at the most, but will be very brainy. In the beginning of this cycle man was 14 feet tall and would live up to 300 years.

From the nebula came the four elements, though they were not produced simultaneously. First came heat, then crust, rocks, and lastly water.

What is there in the universe? Billions and billions of nebulae. Every nebula contains millions of worlds, and ours is the Earth.

What is there in the whole universe? It is gas in its 276 Subtle states. Before gas turns into the first manifestation of the Gross, it evolves through 276 Subtle stages. None of the scientists knows about these 276 Subtle forms of gas before its first manifestation in the Gross. Subtle gas very gradually turns into Gross form such as hydrogen, oxygen, etc. In the nebulae, in all heavenly bodies and in the planets there is evolution. All of evolution begins from the nebulae. The 276 Subtle stages begin from the beginning of the nebulae, which are at the source of Subtle energy (Pran) and Subtle space (Akash).

The gas left over after cooling turned into air; and there is no air 100 miles beyond our Earth. This means that, even before the elements -- not before heat, but before water -- the electron and proton evolved, forming the atom.

In the beginning our world was very, very hot. After slowly cooling down, what happened? All the gas was solidified. As the planet became cooler, a crust formed. With the gradual cooling, the earth's crust became solid, and the center remained hot. Rocks were formed from the crust. The center was full of gas and extremely hot. There are natural gaps in the crust, because the formation of the rocks was not regular.

What happened then was, when the gas became cool it turned into liquid, and this liquid (water) seeped in between the rocks. Rocks were turned into mountains and the valleys, and the cool gas (water) filled them. This created the oceans and the seas. And evolution of form begins with the oceans.

23 May 1934,
Meherabad,
LM5 p1871-1873

Q. How did the universe come about?

Baba: Universe, if understood as created, has an entirely different meaning from our viewpoint that the universe does not exist. Actually, it is only God who appears as the universe. But it is necessary to creation to have this dual idea of God and universe. To know the exact meaning of the awake state, one has to experience the dream state. Dreams can be good and bad. In a dream you can suffer or enjoy. But when you wake up, you find it was all a dream. But this dream should be so adjusted that it awakens you soon. Sacrifice, character and selfless service help in waking you soon.

Europe?
1930s?
A p47

The whole world is created and carried on by the force of the imagination.

1930s?
Aw 10:4 p 1,
also PL p32

I can see the creation and dissolution of universes very clearly. I can count them, even though they are numberless. They are quite clear to me. Only the Avatar and Perfect Masters can see them with their Gross eyes - no one else can. People would think it a wonderful sight. But for one who has realised God and experiences eternal bliss every moment, the universe is nothing.

31 May 1935,
Bombay,
LM6 p1959

If you see Chanji with your Gross eyes, you see his figure _ no circle, no colors surrounding him. But if you concentrate and can see him through your Subtle eyes, you can see his Astral form without color or mark, a faint form, a bit blue or grayish. If, however, you have developed Mental consciousness and see him through your Mental eye, you see him in the form of a circle with seven colors, all blended together in one...

Colors are due to sanskaras created by imagination. Why seven colors? When the first clash between Energy and the Heavens or Space (Pran and Akash) took place, it created a spark, a circle which had seven colors. All such sparks have seven colors. No one knows that even before the electron, there is one form in the beginning. But what name to give it? The clash of Energy entering Space created this first form.

11 July 1936,
Rahuri,
LM6 p2021

The universe is tiny. It comes out of a tiny point, called the Om point, and grows bigger and bigger and bigger, and then smaller and smaller.

13 April 1937,
Nasik,
Aw 16:2 p46

What a vast illusion! Millions of worlds, tiny and huge ones. There are no Perfect Masters in the other worlds.

(Of) four of these worlds (that) are inhabited, one of them is like this Earth, but with different types of forms -- little forms.

Only this world, Earth, has Masters and Realised souls. These worlds are very near, yet very far. When you understand the principle, it will be clear how near everything is, and yet how far away. The other worlds are connected with this world, not actually, but they are.

1937?
Aw 16:2 p52

The existence of this whole phenomenal world is all due to your mind. It all exists because your mind works. Once the mind stops, the world of phenomena ceases to be.

15 May 1943,
Meherabad,
LM8 p2876

As soon as the self comes out of a tiny point, it descends in illusion and starts its journey in the world. Even advanced yogis, with all their supernatural powers, remain under the sway of illusion. They are like ordinary persons, conscious of the shadow or reflection of the self, and not the self. But as soon as they disentangle themselves from the allurements of the planes, they return to and enter the initial tiny point from which the soul emerged on its long drawn journey.

At this stage, the yogi experiences that the whole universe is coming out of himself. But as he succeeds in going beyond this point (often called the Om point), he becomes completely unconscious of the whole universe. For him, there are no forms, only the eternal reality. And there are no fleeting joys or sorrows, but only the abiding bliss.

before 1948,
from notes dictated by Meher Baba, ST p74

In the cosmogony of this universe, this Earth of ours has a special significance, being much nearer to the spiritual sphere. There are other worlds where much mental development is marked. But spiritual progress really begins on this Earth.

before 1948,
from notes dictated by Meher Baba, ST p116

Absolute oneness prevails in reality. Space and time are but illusory. They are merely the effect of the reflection of God's infinitude. When man realises reality, the reflection, which has estranged him from reality, vanishes, and he experiences the absoluteness of the absolute oneness of God.

c.1950?
PL p17

Irene Coneybeare: Baba, how old is Adam?

Baba (smiling): If I answer that the first man came on this Earth eighty-four million years ago, what would that mean to you?

But the whole explanation will make you understand how the first man evolved, and how this first-evolved man has been repeatedly, millions of times, appearing, not only on this Earth, but on millions of earths, and so he is ageless, timeless. But this has all to be explained properly.

The book which I have personally written when I had just stopped speaking, and which I wrote in one year, and which now lies in the bank to be touched only when I order, explains this point clearly. It is important for the world and the scientists to know, and therefore I have explained about cycles, the position of the Earth for Realisation, the Earth dying and the simultaneous evolution of another earth -- not any other planet. When was the first human being evolved, when was the first Realised being, whether the chicken or the egg came first. All has been written in detail in that book.

11 February 1953,
Meherazad
LM11 p4070

Who says God has created this world? We have created it by our own imagination. God is supreme, independent. When we say he has created this illusion, we lower him and his infinity. He is beyond all this. Only when we find him in ourselves, and even in our day to day life, do all doubts vanish. We then know him, and therefore have not even to think about him. Do you ever have to think as to whether you are a man or a woman? The answer is no, because you know you are a man. So it is when we become God. Unless and until we experience this supreme knowledge, it is all mere talk, reasoning, logic and theory.

23 March 1953,
Dehra Dun,
BG p6
Also Gl Feb. 1966 and Aw 1:2 p11

Since, in the very beginning, imagination gave a twist to substance, and importance to shadow, we, who are eternally free, find ourselves bound, having lost our original self in the maze of illusion. Therefore, despite possessing infinite bliss, we have to experience misery, worries, doubts, failure and helplessness. When in a flash real knowledge comes, we are not what we seem, but are that infinite one. All worries disappear, because in reality sukh (pleasure) and dukh (misery) do not exist. To get rid of this persistent ignorance and to know the true value of reality, we have to experience God; and God, who is the breath and life of our lives, can only be experienced through honest love.

23 March 1953,
Dehra Dun,
BG p6-7

God in the Beyond Beyond state is absolutely independent of the world, is the source of infinite power, knowledge, bliss, beauty and wisdom, but is neither conscious of these attributes nor of himself.

God in the Beyond state (Allah, Paramatma) is independent of the world, and yet is conscious of his power, beauty and eternity, but in this state does not express these attributes. He is eternal in the sense that he ever was, is and will be.

We imagine God was. Before that, he was, and still before that he ever was. Imagination cannot grasp and cannot reach the one who has no beginning and no end. So we logically conclude that this state is beyond imagination and understanding.

It is incorrect to say God is one. The idea of his being one limits him. He is infinite. To speak of him correctly is to say 'God is.' We can say this only with reference to his Beyond state, where there is no beginning, no end, and nothing exists but God. If God alone is, God is Everything, and in this infinite Everything, Nothing is latent. Thus Nothing also exists. Let us see how this Nothing represents this universe.

The most-first imagining of God, which Vedanta refers to as Lahar and Sufism calls Guman, is the first urge in the beginningless Everything to know itself. As soon as this urge appeared, a beginning began, not of God, but of the urge that produced Nothing, which was latent in God. What was the urge? It was to know 'Who am I?' As soon as the urge appeared, Nothing was produced, and God, instead of knowing himself as God, began to experience the nothingness of Nothing.

This process may be likened to a man tickled out of his sleep into a gradual opening of his eyes, a progressively full awakening. When he wakes up he sees the objects, the nothingness of the Nothing (God's shadow), and not himself. Passing gradually through seven stages of the rise of consciousness, man, figuratively speaking, attains a full opening of the eyes, and simultaneously the consciousness of a fully manifested universe, the shadow of God.

Shadow (Nothing) was latent in God. With the emergence of the urge, God did not know himself as God, but experienced himself as shadow. Impressions (nothingness, germs of imagination and illusion) piled up in profusion, owing to the transition of the shadows through alternations of pain and pleasure, beauty and ugliness, births and deaths, etc. After attaining the human form, for God to know himself as himself, he has to traverse a journey of seven inner stages and yet retain full, open-eyed consciousness. For God to know himself as himself (through the medium of a human form), creation of forms and the consequent experiences were necessary.

(Baba illustrated this with the example of someone standing near a lighted lamp and seeing his own shadow)

Sometimes you suffer, sometimes you are happy. You don't remember having gone through all the dual states of experience, of being man/woman, strong/weak, rich/poor, healthy/sick, etc. It was all a dream. It will continue to be so until you become free. With God's urge to know himself a beginning was made, so it has to have an end. Beginning and end, and all the paraphernalia of things and beings - the becomings - that go along with them, are what constitutes the law of opposites.

God has no beginning, no end. The Nothing, which is latent in God, has a beginning and an end. God is not limited. Nothing has three states - Mental, Subtle and Gross. When Nothing manifests, the law of opposites (bindings) manifests. This law is established in all three spheres.

from notes of a talk by Meher Baba, July 1953,
Dehra Dun,
GG4 p89-91.
Another version:
GT p267-268

In the Beyond state of God, the original whim made me sing, 'Who am I?' and all creation sprang up. And now I have to bear the burden of the entire creation.

from notes of a talk by Meher Baba,
20 March 1954,
Sakori,
GG6 p30

God is the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe, which emanates from him, is sustained by him in his own being, and also is reabsorbed in him. God alone is real, and the universe is in the domain of illusion, even though it is the manifestation of God himself.

The world or creation comes out of the eternal and infinite being of God through the creation point, which is referred to as Om. No one can attain lasting peace unless he contacts and transcends this Om point. We therefore find the sacred symbol Om often appearing in juxtaposition with the world Shantih, which means peace.

The phonetic similarity between Om, Amin and Amen is suggestive of many things. The sacred words Amin and Amen are frequent at the end of Muslim and Christian prayers. They both mean 'So be it.' Coming from a man, 'So be it' is a blessing or wish; but coming from God, it is creation. Creation is God's Amin or Amen, i.e. an immediate and instantaneous fulfillment of his will into actuality. The Arabic word Amin comes from the root Omn, which means safety or peace, and thus Amin may be regarded as an eqivalent or at least a kin of Om, which is also associated with peace.

All prayers of different religions, such as Hinduism, Islam and Christianity have a reference to the creator. Creation is the greatest mystery with which all creatures, including human beings, are faced. The mystery cannot be unraveled or fulfilled unless and until man consciously becomes united with the creator, and realises himself as being one with God, who is both the creator and creation in one, at once including and transcending both in his infinite being.

1956?
Be p18-19

Lust means a craze. Some have the lust for power, some lust of the senses, etc. The whole creation came out of lust. The first whim was lustful. God had intercourse with himself through the Om point, and the creation was the result of this act.

1960,
Poona,
Aw 22:1 p40

Once I spoke a word and the creation came into being. Once again I will speak one word, and all will be over. In between there is only silence and love.

1960,
Poona,
Aw 22:1 p66

God is infinite, and his shadow is also infinite. The shadow of God is the infinite space that accommodates the infinite Gross sphere, which, with its occurrences of millions of universes, within and without the range of man's knowledge, is the creation that issued from the point of finiteness in the infinite existence that is God.

In these millions of universes are many systems with planets, some in gaseous states, some in states of solidification, some which are stone and metal, some which also have vegetation, some which also have developed life forms such as worms, some also fish, some also birds, some also animals, and a few also have human beings.

Thus it is that throughout the myriads of universes, there are planets on which the seven kingdoms of evolution are manifested, and the evolution of consciousness and forms is completed. But only on the planet Earth do human beings reincarnate and begin the involutionary Path to Self-realisation. Earth is the centre of this infinite Gross sphere of millions of universes, inasmuch as it is the point to which all human-conscious souls must migrate in order to begin the involutionary Path.

c.1960,
India,
EN p22

As the highest of the high, I am the wisest of the wise. Yet I have allowed myself to perform an act more foolish than any fool ever would. What is this foolish act of mine? Creating the creation. Creation is really a mighty joke. But the laugh is at my own expense. And now the jest is proving a burden on my chest. Sometimes I am so tired I feel like going to sleep for 700 years. To the fool, a foolish act is most natural and effortless. But can you imagine the most wise exerting himself and stretching out to perform an act which is opposite to his attribute of wisdom? That is why I say you can have no idea of what I mean when I say I am tired. It is beyond human understanding.

c.1960,
India,
EN p63

The infinite alone exists and is real. The finite is passing and false. The original whim in the beyond caused the apparent descent of the infinite into the realm of the seeming finite. This is the divine mystery and the divine game, in which infinite consciousness forever plays on all levels of finite consciousness.

c.1960,
India,
EN p70

The original real Everything is infinite and eternal. Being everything, it accomodates within itself the original real Nothing. Nothing is the shadow of Everything.

The substance (Everything) being infinite and eternal, its shadow must also be infinite and eternal. At times the shadow appears to be small, and at times to stretch into huge shapes. But even when it seems to have disappeared, it is still within the substance latently.

Out of the Nothing contained within the Everything is projected infinite and eternal nothingness - the creation, or false everything.

The original real Everything is one, infinite and eternal. The original real Nothing, being in the real Everything, is also one, infinite and eternal. But the false everything that is projected from the real Nothing, comprising innumerable nothings, or all things in creation, is innately and unendingly dual.

Within these nothings are innumerable temporary nothings, such as,

What is the matter with you? Nothing.

What did you eat? Nothing.

What is in your hand? Nothing.

What do you see? Nothing.

And so there is no end to the action and reaction of the experience of nothingness by the innumerable nothings of false everything, which are projected from the one original real Nothing, which is infinite.

The original real Everything is infinite and eternal. In it is the original real Nothing. Innumerable nothings manifest out of the one original real Nothing. And from these nothings is a continuous flow of temporary nothings. And so there are nothings and the no-things of nothing within the one original real Nothing. When you compare these nothings with the one original real Nothing, they are indeed nothing.

Nothing is in everything. Everything would not be a complete whole without Nothing.

The Nothing that is in Everything gives birth to nothing that seems everything. Because Nothing is, everything seems to be.

All activity everywhere in creation is but a play of everything and nothing. When there is a complete cessation of this activity, the Nothing prevails. When this Nothing is attained, you have Everything. Relatively, therefore, the Nothing is Everything; whereas that which we call everything is nothing.

c.1960,
India,
EN p85-86
(this explanation was accompanied
by a diagram not reproduced here)

God is infinite and eternal. And his imagination is also infinite and eternal. God's imagination is unending, and the creation, which is the product of his imagination, goes on endlessly expanding. How can man imagine this imagination with his finite imagining. His highest flights of imagination - intellect - can never bring him the faintest idea of God's imagination. And God's reality is beyond this again. When you cannot imagine even the imagination of God, how infinitely more impossible is it to fathom his reality?

In what is called space, numberless universes are continuously created, sustained and destroyed. This procession of creation continues so long as God goes on imagining. And when God's imagination is suspended, as it is at moments in eternity when God withdraws himself into his sound sleep state (just as a man's imagination ceases when he is in deep sleep), the creation is withdrawn and dissolved - Mahapralaya.

Creation, preservation and dissolution are based on ignorance. In fact there is no such thing as creation, so preservation and dissolution never actually occur. The very cosmos has no foundation save that of ignorance. Ignorance believes: the cosmos is a reality; birth, death, old age, wealth, honor are real. Knowledge knows: the cosmos is a dream; God alone is real.

c.1960,
India,
EN p87

Astronomers speak of time in terms of billions, trillions and aeons of years. Even these figures are not adequate for their mathematical calculations, and they may be required to coin new terms. If I were to try and explain in astronomical terms the beginning and end of time, it would never depict the beginning and end of time in eternity. There is always an 'ago' and there is always an 'after' to every point in time. The yesterdays of the past and the tomorrows of the future hinge on a point in time which is the now of the present moment in eternity.

In a flight of imagination, imagining the beginning and the end of the now of the present moment in eternity, one can at the most either add or subtract a measure of time. But this would be nothing more than an adding or erasing of zeros. No amount of swing, even of aeons of cycles in the sweep of time, can give an iota of concept of any beginning or end of the now in eternity.

c.1960,
India,
EN p90

Reality is existence infinite and eternal.

Existence has no purpose, by virtue of its being real, infinite and eternal.

Existence exists. Being existence, it has to exist. Hence existence, the reality, cannot have any purpose. It just is. It is self-existing.

Everything - the things and the beings - in existence, has a purpose. All things and beings have a purpose, and must have a purpose, or else they cannot be in existence as what they are. Their very being in existence proves their purpose. And their sole purpose in existing is to become shed of purpose, i.e., to become purposeless.

Purposeless is of reality. To have a purpose is to be lost in falseness.

Everything exists only because it has a purpose. The moment that purpose has been accomplished, everything disappears, and existence is manifested as self-existing self.

Purpose presumes a direction, and since existence, being everything and everywhere, cannot have any direction, directions must always be in nothing and lead nowhere.

Hence, to have a purpose is to create a false goal.

Love alone is devoid of all purpose, and a spark of divine love sets fire to all purposes.

The goal of life in creation is to arrive at purposelessness, which is the state of reality.

c.1960, EN p100

Everything in the universe is, and from the beginning has been, a materialisation of the divine original whim working out irrevocably without default, deflection or defeat. It is the unfolding upon the screen of consciousness of the film of creation, sequence after sequence, according to the pattern that issued from the original whim. However, when God as God-man plays the part of audience, he can alter or erase at his Avataric whim any thing or happening which was destined from the original whim. But the very arising of the Avataric whim was inherent in the original whim.

c.1960, India, EN p106

God is indivisible one, and is indivisibly in each one and everything.

What is it then that causes apparent divisions? There are no divisions as such, but there is an appearance of separateness because of ignorance. This means that everything is of ignorance, and that everyone is ignorance personified.

A drop in an ocean is not separate from the ocean. It is a bubble over the drop that gives it an appearance of separateness. But when the bubble bursts, the drop is not, and the indivisible ocean is.

When the bubble of ignorance bursts, the self realises its oneness with the indivisible self.

c.1960, India, EN p111

When the first whim surged in God in the beyond state, he felt the urge of 'I want to know myself.' In this first desire was embodied the first binding which manifested into form, and in this process, the first urge abbreviated simply to 'I want.' The soul has forgotten that the want really is to know the Self, and so through countless forms it continues to feel only that 'I want.' It is only in the last phases of the involution of consciousness that the Perfected man remembers that he actually is God, who had wanted to know himself.

1960s? EF p45

I am so infinite that I myself cannot fathom my own infinity. My shadow, the creation, is also so infinite that once I tried to see with my Gross eyes all that had come out of me, but I failed. Scientists will soon discover a little of what I say. There are 18,000 worlds that are inhabited by human beings. In some the people are extremely intelligent, in others less, and in still others still less. None of them who live in these worlds have any experience of the Subtle world. People from those worlds must be born on this earth to experience the Subtle and Mental worlds.

Mu p575

There are 18,000 worlds in creation which are inhabited, some by human beings with 100% intelligence, others with lesser and varying degrees of it.

But the value of our Earth, where mind and heart balance, is inestimable. For it is here and here alone that one can go through the process of involution and experience the Subtle and Mental spheres, here alone that God-realisation can be attained.

Thus it is that souls (jivatmas) from other inhabited worlds finally take birth on this earth for their emancipation, more so during the Avataric advent when the highest spiritual benefit is gained, and most so when the Avataric manifestation is greatest.

Hence the present influx of population on earth is but the natural outcome of the rush of migration from other worlds, and the ones migrating from the worlds of highest intelligence are responsible for carrying science to the peak it has reached today.

from notes dictated by Meher Baba, Mu p529

All this has been recurring since timeless ages, in a never-ending tide and ebb. Even this Earth expends itself in time, and another such earth takes its place. Science will soon come to know a little of what I have said.

Mu p529

(About the Unhad-Nad, the limitless sound or word)

The emergence of this sound through what is called the Om-point, or its creative utterance, produced the worlds of mind, energy and matter.

1960s? Aw 11:3 p2

... I have explained about the four journeys. They are journeys within. There are also outer journeys. The creation is based on gas, and gas is nothing, and nothing is. Mind is the junction between the inner and the outer journeys. There are two outlets, the inner and the outer. The outer (creation) is nothing but the shadow of reality. Just as your shadow is because of you, so the creation is because of reality. Mind is that which gives substance to matter and energy. If you do the outer journeys, there are infinitely vast fields in space which contain millions of universes with innumerable suns. There are 18,000 worlds in creation with human habitation...

Scientists will someday have to come to agreement among themselves that there are innumerable expanding and contracting, evolving and dissolving universes. Just as according to varying conditions, a shadow is sometimes bigger and sometimes smaller, so it is with the galaxies. How can the mind imagine the limitlessness of creation? It cannot. Why not? It is because we try to understand with the mind that which is beyond the mind. Mind and energy are absolutely nothing. Hence all these universes which the scientists find so astounding are also nothing.

Now, on the other side of mind, the inner side, there is shorelessness. You cannot pinpoint anything or any direction in it. No universes, no galaxies. Then what is there? Who is there in your sound sleep? Nobody. Only the is-ness is there. It all means that the goal is to be fully awake in sound sleep. Which is impossible without my grace.

c.1963?
Aw 9:4 p20,
also HM p394-395

Baba: Who created God?

Hoshang Bharucha: God was, God is, and God always will be.

Baba: God was, but how did God come into existence? God himself created God, and so he is called Khuda. This fact cannot be understood with the mind, but can be experienced only with the real knowledge.

1 June 1963,
Guruprasad,
Aw 10:1 p27

The Nothing came out of the Everything. From this Nothing came out this everything called the creation. The Nothing appears to be Everything.

Thus, when one crosses the sixth plane to reality, one has necessarily to pass through complete emptiness, i.e. the Nothing. The experience of this emptiness cannot be described. Sadgurus and Majzoobs have all passed through this experience of the emptiness. The experience of this emptiness is of a very short duration, for the pilgrim at once passes to the Fana-Fillah state of 'I am God,' and experiences himeself as God, the Everything.

For the Perfect Master, who has regained normal consciousness, the Nothing becomes his Universal Body. From this Universal Body, everything of the creation is projected and absorbed, chewed and spat out incessantly.

6 June 1963,
Guruprasad,
Aw 10:1 p33

The Ocean of Everything and the Ocean of Nothing were lying still as one in the bosom of the Beyond-Beyond Ocean. Then, without reason, without warning, without substance of any kind, a whim arose in the Ocean of Nothing. That whim gave rise to a question, 'Who am I?' And as Nothing asked itself that question over and over again, 'Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?' movement began in the Ocean of Nothing.

Nothing is nothing, without substance. Therefore its movements and whims are without consequence. But over ages and ages, that movement in the Ocean of Nothing created an impact on the Ocean of Everything, and that Ocean of Everything slowly awakened. When the Ocean of Everything was finally awake, it asked itself only one question, 'Who am I?'

As soon as it asked itself that one question, it gave itself the only answer, 'I am God,' and infinite consciousness was established in the Ocean of Everything.

But the poor Ocean of Nothing! When it heard Everything's question 'Who am I?' it did not know that answer. Thus infinite unconsciousness was established in the Ocean of Nothing. Nothing did not know the answer to Everything's question. But the impact of that question on Nothing was so great that Nothing tried to answer it in innumerable ways. Thus creation arose in the Nothing, and the point at which Everything's question was heard in the Nothing was the Om point, out of which innumerable questions and answers poured into the Ocean of Nothing.

All movements took place in infinite unconsciousness, as infinite consciousness cannot be affected by anything, since it knows everything. God's state of infinite consciousness is named Parabrahma-Paramatma in Vedant, Allah in Sufism, and Yezdan in Zoroastrianism; this is the state of the Father. This divine state is of infinite consciousness, of Paramatma (conscious God). In this divine state, Nirvikalp, soul is conscious of being God. Paramatma is in the conscious Beyond, so God is not conscious of illusion (creation). Paramatma is not conscious of being everything and everyone, for infinite consciousness is beyond everything.

God's state of infinite unconsciousness is named Ishwar in Vedant. Ishwar has three aspects: Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Mahesh (the dissolver). Thus all creating of creation, all preserving of creation, and all dissolving of creation occurs within infinite unconsciousness, the domain of Ishwar.

In the beginning of time, infinite consciousness was established as the divine state or seat of impersonal God (who had no consciousness of illusion). This seat of God is called Ars-e-Maula, and this divine state remained to be realised, or the seat remained to be filled, until infinite consciousness was gained through the medium of infinite unconsciousness.

Not only did infinite unconsciousness want to realise infinite consciousness, but infinite consciousness itself wanted to be realised...

The infinite Ocean in the Beyond-Beyond has Everything and also Nothing. It has infinite energy (Pran) and infinite space (Akash). The Om point is in Everything, from which the beginning of Nothing took place as the evolution of everything that was latent in the original Ocean. The Ocean has knowledge, but it is unaware that it contains knowledge; that is its original ignorance.

When the Whim surged, surf formed in the Ocean of Nothing, and every drop in that ocean began asking, 'Who am I? Who am I?' With the advent of this surf, there was friction between Space and Energy, and a most powerful clash occurred, creating movement, which affected the Everything. This effect was that every drop of the Ocean of Everything began asking 'Who am I?' This movement caused ripples in the Ocean of Everything, and on account of the Whim, the evolution of consciousness and unconsciousness simultaneously took place from the Om point. Thus the two states, infinite consciousness (Paramatma) and infinite unconsciousness (Ishwar) were established.

The Ocean of Beyond-Beyond God in the beginning was absolutely serene and still, without the least movement. The Whim, that Lahar or Hukki, arose in the Ocean of Nothing, and Nothing asked itself, 'Who am I? Who am I?' for ages and ages of time. It took aeons and aeons for Everything to awaken from its sleep, so unimaginably deep and sound was it. Until Everything awakened fully (infinitely) and asked itself 'Who am I?' and answered 'I am God,' the states of infinite consciousness and infinite unconsciousness were not established, and creation did not begin.

It is of this interim time that I now speak, the ages and ages, the aeons after the Whim, and before Everything awakened fully to tell itself 'I am God' (therefore, knowing itself), and established the states of infinite consciousness and infinite unconsciousness, Paramatma and Ishwar. In this time before creation began, original Fire (Tej), in infinitely finite form, manifested in the Ocean of Nothing, and this original Fire manifested before that time.

The Whim gave rise to this Fire, and this infinitely finite original Fire gave rise to infinitely finite Energy (Pran). Energy, even in such incredibly finite form, required Space (Akash) to manifest. Simultaneously, Space manifested with Energy, and instantly there arose conflict between these two.

The conflict between Space (Akash) and Energy (Pran) created movement, and over aeons of time this movement in the Ocean of Nothing, created by the powerful clash between Space and Energy, awakened the Ocean of Everything from its oceanic deep sound sleep. After Everything awakened and spoke, 'Who am I? I am God,' infinite consciousness was established, and infinite unconsciousness was established.

Once infinite consciousness was established in the Ocean of Everything, the movements in the Ocean of Nothing did not effect it (Paramatma), and only infinite unconsciousness (Ishwar) was affected by these movements. And as infinite unconsciousness was affected, Ishwar began to create, preserve and dissolve.

When the question of Everything, 'Who am I?' was heard in the Ocean of Nothing, Nothing began saying, "I am this, I am that,' and creation began to issue forth drop by drop out of the Om point into the Ocean of Nothing.

Movements are what cause things to come out into creation, and nothings go on manifesting ad infinitum in response to movements. And what were movements? Nothing but the false answers that Nothing gave to the original question, 'Who am I?'

The conflict between Energy and Space was the prime instigator of all these movements. Because of this friction, Fire (Tej) issued forth into creation first (and energy as its derivative), then Space (Ether), then Air, then Water, and then Earth. These are the five elements, tatvas (the substances that constitute life), which manifested in seed form in the Mental world's planes, in Subtle form in the Subtle world's planes, and in Gross form in the Gross world as universes of suns, stars, moons and planets.

The existence of the illusory things of creation (in the Mental, Subtle and Gross worlds) depends upon these five elements, tatvas, which are combinations of gases...

Energy (Pran) and Space (Akash) clashed before creation, and continued to clash after creation, all because of desire. In the time before creation, Fire, Energy and Space manifested near the Om point. These forces arose out of the Whim. But out of that Original Whim also surged seven major desires which poured into the Ocean of Nothing before and after creation. These seven desires pervade the Mental world (seed form), the Subtle world in Subtle form (germination), and the Gross world in Gross form (action). Mankind knows these desires as lust, anger, greed, hatred, pride, selfishness and jealousy, and these desires pervade all creation. Consequently, at every stage of life you will find this figure seven has significant meaning because of the pervading seven major desires.

Energy which activates movements has seven divisions (states), so the movements of creation also have seven divisions, seven waves with seven states of surf foam. The divisions of movements are so subtle (fine) that they are unseen, since the movement is exceptionally rapid. Ripples are the repercussions of movements, and because there are seven divisions in movement, there are seven divisions in ripples, seven states of waves with the surf's foam (bubbles). Thus the purity of the Ocean as creation unfolds imperceptibly.

With the movement of the Ocean of Nothing, waves arise and the surf foams, forming bubbles. Every wave has innumerable drops, and every drop has a bubble around it. This bubble is of the drop, and nothing but the drop. And because of the bubble, the drop seems separate from the Ocean. Bubbles are of two kinds, wave-bubbles and drop-bubbles. The wave-bubbles are as the Gross universes, and the drop-bubbles are as the Gross forms in the universes from stone to human.

In the Ocean rise infinite waves with numberless bubbles, and every big wave-bubble has numberless small wave-bubbles (universes). This means that with the rippling in the Ocean, innumerable Gross worlds were created. Out of these innumerable planets, seven are nearest to the Om point, the very nearest being our planet Earth. This is the reason why God descends on Earth as the Christ, Prophet, Buddha, Messiah or Avatar.

The whole Universe, containing millions and millions of universes, is in the throes of change, and continues to evolve, and so the seven planets near the creation Om point also change and evolve.

The greatest opportunity for the development of mind, of heart, of consciousness, is on the world nearest to the Om point, where spirituality is at its height (involution). Involution occurs only on one planet in the whole universe at any time, and that planet is now Earth. Each drop-soul begins and ends its journey in involution here. When the world nearest the Om point cools down (spiritually dies), the world just behind it spiritually takes its place in all respects.

On account of the waves in the Ocean, infinite nothings come out of the Ocean of Nothing, but in unimaginably limited form. These nothings, Jeevatmas, individual drop-souls, are the infinite shadows of the Everything (God)...

... From one Paramatma, innumerable shadows are born as its opposite, and these shadows are the shadows of shadows. The light (original Fire Tej) that came out of God's effulgence (Noor) is the shadow of that effulgence, and the shadows of this shadow are the innumerable shadows. The infinite number of suns, moons and stars are the shadows of the shadow of the light of God.

The state of God that exists in the movement of the Ocean is the state of Ishwar, creator, preserver and dissolver. It is only in movement that the acts of creation, preservation and dissolution can unfold. Due to this movement, innumerable waves and ripples happened in the Ocean of Nothing, whereby wave-bubbles (universes and Gross worlds) and drop-bubbles (forms from stone to human) arose.

Since energy has seven states, and energy activates movements, so movement and its ripples (repercussions of movement) have seven states of stir. Six states of stir in the Ocean created a bubble of energy around each drop. But the stir (movements, whirl) and the bubble are so subtle, and the movement is so exceptionally rapid, that both are absolutely unseen. The seventh state of movement created the bubbles that are seen (these bubbles are the Gross forms of evolution).

In the first six states of the movement (in the two Mental planes and four Subtle planes) the individual drop-soul has a covering (bubble around it) of mind and energy. However, in the seventh state of movement, the drops's covering changes, and it becomes a bubble of mind, energy and Gross form; this is Jeev. Every drop is the ocean itself, but because of the bubble, it thinks it is only a tiny drop.

The creation of the Gross bubbles is the Gross continuation and accentuation of the original friction between Energy and Space, for Space is now in Gross form, and Energy is expressed in form. Consequently, the conflict between Energy and Space is at its height in the Gross world. (This is seen as the constant explosion of novae, the constant evolving of planets in the throes of change.)

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?'

Movement in the Ocean gave rise to infinite numbers of universes and creatures as it manifested in the Mental world in seed form (pure mind), in the Subtle world in Subtle form (pure energy), and in the Gross world in Gross form (pure matter). But all the things and beings which were born out of movement (the original stir) take aeons and aeons to assume Gross form as they create themselves through all seven stages of evolution.

Stones, metals, vegetation, worms, reptiles, fish, birds, animals and human beings have not created themselves suddenly. Creation is for this purpose: the development of consciousness. And for the development of higher consciousness (intelligence) exists illusion (maya), which is the necessary medium for this purpose. For the sake of this pure infinite intelligence (infinite thought), all the seven stages of evolution and involution have come into being. When this intelligence is attained, all of creation is known as illusion, as nothing.

from notes dictated by Meher Baba,
1968, Meherazad,
NE p28-38

The state of infinite unconsciousness named Ishwar or Ahurmazd does not experience God; meaning Infinite Intelligence (Apar Vidya) in the state of the Creator does not experience itself (as conscious God). Only the Brahmi-Bhoots or Paramhansas or Jivanmuktas and the Sadgurus experience God consciously, meaning they realise themselves to be God. Infinite Intelligence is their own consciousness.

    ...

Sagun Bhakti, perceptible devotion, or devotion to the Perceptible One, is worship of Ishwar or Ahurmazd. If this worship is offered for worldly gain or material need, then Ishwar fulfills the desire or want of the worshipper. But if the worship is offered to attain God-realisation, then through Paramatma (the infinite consciousness) the worship delivers the seeker into the hands of the Avatar or Sadguru, and he worships the Master. Ishwar, the infinite unconsciousness, can fulfill desires, but having no experience of infinite consciousness, Ishwar cannot make others experience God consciously.

    ...

In the state of Ishwar or Ahurmazd, the Infinite Intelligence cannot experience its soul, because in the state of Ishwar or Ahurmazd Infinite Intelligence is not relating to the soul, but is in relation with the universes... The states of Ishwar or Ahurmazd, the infinite unconsciousness, are states of God concerned only with creation; they are not concerned with realisation of God.

When Infinite Intelligence begins thinking, everything begins. As it thinks enormously, then powerfully, and finally infinitely, Infinite Intelligence turns into infinite thought, the infinite thought of the infinite thinker, but with the most finite formless imagination. Simultaneously the infinite mind turns into the most finite mind, and creates Gross, Subtle and Mental worlds and beings.

Infinite Intelligence first thinks most finitely as creation emerges, and through this finite thinking of imagination, it experiences most finitely that which it created (thought). With the commencement of thought, Infinite Intelligence becomes Ishwar (infinite thinker), and its thought creates Mental, Subtle and Gross worlds by the act of thinking infinitely from the most finite point, the Om point.

Thus imagination is most finite in the beginningless beginning, and develops with the development of the limited mind. In man, mind being fully evolved, imagination becomes infinite. Imagination is false, but imagination itself is the medium for the Infinite Intelligence to experience its reality: its infinite real mind.

    ...

In Infinite Intelligence is contained infinite thinking, and the most fine finite imagination. When the infinite thinking starts, the most limited, most fine finite imagination assumes infinitely Mental, Subtle and Gross forms.

In the beginning of creation when infinite thinking starts, the infinite thinking assumes extremely great and yet most limited form at the same time.

By thinking then, Infinite Intelligence commences playing two opposite parts: one of creating imagination in extremely limited and most finite form as Mental, Subtle and Gross forms; and the other role of experiencing the Mental, Subtle and Gross worlds through innumerable Mental, Subtle and Gross bodies.

This experience of its infinite thinking first begins in the Mental world as drops become Archangels, and in the Subtle world as drops become Angels, but the actual conscious progression of its thought to experience the infinite first starts from the stone form in the Gross world. The conscious experience of infinite thinking by Infinite Intelligence begins with the first human form, and conscious infinite thinking begins as man enters involution.

    ...

Originally there is nothing, absolutely nothing, the pure nothing, the formless, bodiless Nothing. When this Nothing comes out and manifests through innumerable forms, then through false knowledge it becomes everything. Nothing is ignorance, and this ignorance also comes out in countless forms. To take Nothing as everything is false knowledge, and it is this false knowledge that gives ignorance I-ness. Thus the combination of false knowledge and ignorance continues - the jeevatma (individualised soul), falsely thinking, takes itself to be 'I' and takes Nothing to be everything.

    ...

In the beginning, it was the breeze of the infinite whim, which from the most finite point stirred all that is unconscious and all that is conscious within infinity to find a way to itself. And from beginning to end, the interminable progression of imaginary forms remains as the eternal constant.

    ...

The universe and bodies (Gross, Subtle and Mental) are illusion, and cause imagination to persist (impress), but the soul does not know this because it does not know itself. The universe and bodies, 50,400,000 pre-human forms and 8,400,000 human forms, have come into being out of each soul's not knowing itself. But on the basis of their existence, and through them, each soul can know itself. Through the medium of millions of bodies that come out of the infinite unconsciousness of each soul, each soul knows itself.

Thus the creation goes on spreading out ad infinitum, for each soul creates infinitely out of its unconsciousness, out of its own unconscious Infinite Intelligence. The universe and the body have come out of the nothing, and in the end the soul has no connection with them. Soul is the reality. The universe and its experience are a medium for the soul to know itself. No sooner the soul knows itself, than creation and body are at an end, for as it is, they are nothing and soul is everything. For the soul to know itself, it has to experience everything that is nothing (the total nothing experienced in Nirvan) before it can experience itself as everything. When the soul experiences itself as everything (the total everything experienced in Nirvikalp) it achieves its reality - its infinite effulgence, its infinite knowledge, its infinite intelligence.

    ...

Pran is energy, the motion and power created by the process of infinite thinking. Akash is matter, the material and substance which is created by energy, the force of thought. When infinite thinking comes out of infinite mind, movements begin to surge, and the formless imagination (the formless creation) manifests in Mental, Subtle and Gross forms.

The most fine formless universe is made up of energy and matter linked together. The fine Mental world is energy and matter together in seed form, and the Subtle and Gross worlds are the acting of energy (motion) on matter (material), that is, matter moves. As energy acts on matter, each self creates Subtle and Gross worlds; in this condition, energy and matter are self-creating the Subtle and Gross forms constantly. The Gross body then is the same Subtle body in Gross occupation of physical action, which is Subtle energy in action (a material form moves)

    ...

The combination of energy and matter is the formless imagination or thinking state. When one thinks, imagination (the formless creation) manifests in Mental, Subtle and Gross forms. This means the original matter (Akash), which is the original imagination, becomes Mental; the Mental becomes Subtle, and the Subtle becomes Gross. The thought of the Mental becomes the energy of the Subtle, and the Subtle energy becomes Gross thinking.

Infinite thoughts fill the Mental world, infinite energies fill the Subtle world, infinite material forms fill the Gross world, and all this is the result of thinking. It is the motion and power created by thinking that is Pran, energy being the power of the thought or the motion of the thinking. It is thinking that creates creation; the Subtle and Mental worlds are the manifestation of universal energy and universal matter through the infinite thinking mind, Ishwar.

from notes dictated by Meher Baba,
1968, Meherazad
NE p203, 205, 214-215, 279, 282, 289, 291-292, 305-306

For more on Creation, see 'Shri Meher Baba, His Philosophy and Teachings,' 'Discourses,' 'God Speaks,' and 'The Nothing and the Everything.'

Creation Book Two

Index - Book One