Miscellaneous

MISCELLANEOUS

Meher Baba

SEVEN STATES OF UNDERSTANDING
SEVEN REALITIES
WHAT IS IMPORTANT
SO-CALLED MESSAGES
MEHER BABA
RISKS
TRAGEDY
WORRY
TRUTH
TURNING POINTS
TWENTY-ONE POINTS
EMANCIPATION
RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY
REMEMBERING PAST LIVES
SADHUS AND SANYASIS
SOME SEEK
FLYING SAUCERS

SEVEN STATES OF UNDERSTANDING

... Just as there are seven planes of consciousness -- seven spiritual states -- so also are there seven states of understanding. It is always seven. The number seven is the divine number. The seven understandings are:

1. Instinct

2. Intellect

3. Inspiration

4. Intuition

5. Insight

6. Illumination

7. Realisation

INSTINCT governs the animal world;

INTELLECT, humans;

INSPIRATION for those humans whose feelings are developed -- like poets and artists.

INTUITION is for those advanced souls who have conscious visions and understanding true to the point. What you understand by intuition is always true. What you understand by intellect is sometimes true and sometimes not.

Souls on the fourth and fifth plane have INSIGHT; their understanding is direct, without thinking with the mind.

ILLUMINATION means seeing God as he is. The understanding is divine.

REALISATION is understanding oneself as God.

29 September 1940,
Meherabad,
LM7 p2618

SEVEN REALITIES

The era of spiritual awakening that Meher Baba has in view gives no importance to* creed, dogma, caste systems, and the performance of religious ceremonies and rites, but to the UNDERSTANDING of the following seven realities:

1.The only real existence is that of the one and only God, who is the self in every (finite) self.

2. The only real love is the love for this infinity (God), which arouses an intense longing to see, know and become one with its truth (God).

3. The only real sacrifice is that in which, in pursuance of this love, all things, body, mind, position, welfare, and even life itself, are sacrificed.

4. The only real renunciation is that which abandons, even in the midst of worldly duties, all selfish thoughts and desires.

5. The only real knowledge is the knowledge that God is the inner dweller in good people and so-called bad, in saint and so-called sinner. This knowledge requires you to help all equally as circumstances demand, without expectation of reward, and when compelled to take part in a dispute, to act without the slightest trace of enmity or hatred; to try to make others happy with brotherly or sisterly feeling for each one; to harm no one in thought, word or deed, not even those who harm you.

6. The only real control is the discipline of the senses from indulgence in low desires, which alone ensures absolute purity of character.

7. The only real surrender is that in which the poise is undisturbed by any adverse circumstance, and the individual, amidst every kind of hardship, is resigned with perfect calm to the will of God.

9 January 1941,
Jaipur, Me p12
Other versions: Di (7th ed.) p1-2,
LM7 p2654 - *in this version,
the first line is: "Meher Baba's teaching gives no importance to..."

Bhau Kalchuri wrote:

"This message was especially significant, because, for the first time, Baba ordered thousands of copies of it printed and then sent to his disciples and followers throughout India in order for them to distribute wherever they lived. Dr. Ghani and Adi Sr. in Bangalore headed up the printing and distribution task, and thousands and thousands of copies of this message were handed out throughout India, and then sent to Europe and America in the beginning months of 1941. Baba's Mandali were sent out to various cities in India, and instructed particularly to give it to priests and persons in charge of temples, mosques, ashrams and churches."

LM7 p2654

WHAT IS IMPORTANT

... From the spiritual point of view, the only important thing is to realise the divine life, and help others to realise it, by manifesting it in the everyday happenings.

To penetrate into the essence of all being and significance, and to release the fragrance of that inner attainment for the guidance and benefit of others, by expressing, in the world of forms, truth, love, purity and beauty -- this is the sole game which has any intrinsic and absolute worth. All other happenings, incidents and attainments can, in themselves, have no lasting importance.

c.1940, Di v3 p34
Another version: Di (7th ed.) p200,
IS p113

SO-CALLED MESSAGES

I have only one message to give, and that is 'Love God.' So do not seek various messages through various mediums or channels, nor be deceived into thinking that I am sending my messages through any of you.

This seeking of so-called messages leads a sincere aspirant astray, and grossly endangers one's spiritual progress. I am telling you all this because I love you.

24 August 1962,
India,
HM p372

MEHER BABA

Baba: You should write down all my statements about the war, and have them printed and distributed.

Ghani (smiling): What effect will a booklet have? It doesn't look proper to distribute booklets when you are the Avatar.

Baba: If the Avatar has to resort to distributing leaflets, it shows the shocking condition people have come to. Yet I have to do it. It is the preliminary preparation. This is the beginning. I'm preparing the ground.

You are fools. This war was preceded by correspondence. Meetings were held. Thereafter, there were protests and opposition. Then when the war started, and all these were of no avail, the bombs came.

So these explanations of mine about the war are a sort of communication, to give the public a chance to listen and improve. If they won't, then there will be spiritual bombs. Don't you know me after so many years of contact? One who does not care for the world, and publicly declares in America, 'I will come here and speak,' and does not -- don't you understand him yet? I do not care what the world will think or say. I will do anything for the sake of my work. Even if the whole world goes against me, I will do what I have to do. But all in its time. I will teach and strike, both.

But India nowadays is sadly lacking in spirituality, by indulging in too much politics and maya. The old spiritual glory is gone. It is sad, yet it is a fact.

December 1939,
Bangalore,
LM7 p2484-2485

All the meditations, yogas, concentrations do not teach what Baba teaches you through everyday living. That is, to be kind to those who ill-treat you, and to love those you dislike. This is the highest practice of yoga.

When Christ was mocked, spat upon and beaten, he did not use his powers, but he retaliated with love.

You should be glad of an opportunity to be mistreated by others. You should thank them for the opportunity of suffering and loving. The purpose of your being with Baba is to eliminate the ego.

1930s? T p94

Christ said, 'Leave all and follow me.' What did he mean by that? He didn't mean leave the body, food, sleep and all that. No - he meant leave all thoughts of possessions, all worldly thoughts, and think only of him.

Think of me to such an extent that you see me, however far away I may be. You see my body here now. However far away my body may be, you will be able to see me physically also. In India, some love me to such an extent that they see me physically present, although I am thousands of miles away from them.

22 July 1956,
New York,
Aw 4:2 p30-31

I have been telling the same message throughout the ages, that all are one. We are all one, and all of you love me.

I am in everything, and everything is in me. In India, I bow down to the lepers, the poor, the lame. Why do I bow down? Because I am one with everything. God is in everyone.

Age after age I have been bringing the same message, but mankind does not listen. Christ was crucified; otherwise humanity would not have listened to him. I am the Ancient one.

23 July 1956,
New York,
Aw 4:3 p15

I have been made to take this human form by the five Perfect Masters of this age to bear the cross and to undergo humiliation.

You have read in the Gospels wherein Christ had said to his apostles, "You will deny me." This did happen when Peter, the chief apostle, denied Jesus.

The thing is that during the phase of humilation, the circumstances will so array themselves that you won't be aware when my daaman has slipped off your hands. At that time, you may even feel justified in leaving me. But if you feel that this should not happen, there is one remedy. You should grasp well all that I say, and understandingly act up to it. You should also tell all of what you hear today to those who are not present.

In short, I clearly see the dark cloud. I do not wish to make a mere mention of the dark cloud without any reason, but this is my loving warning to you so that my daaman may not slip off your hands.

19 May or 2 June 1957,
Poona
BG p16,
also Gl May 1980

A follower of Meher Baba told him that for a week he had been thinking he should not visit Baba, for he was worried that Baba was a hoax. Baba told him,

"The time for breaking my silence is very near. It is during this time that there are great chances of my daaman slipping from your hands. Maya will try to take you away from me.

"What does it matter if I am a hoax? I am everything, the highest of the high as well as the lowest. But do not stop coming here even if you feel that I am a hoax. Do not go hunting for other masters or saints... The whole world is a hoax, not I."

The next day Baba told him,

"Judas grew up with Christ, and yet betrayed him in the end. Peter, who was the apostle of Christ, also denied Jesus. So why worry if you get such thoughts about me? Stick to me, and do not leave my daaman till at least the first of January. Do not go to any saint. Come here daily for fifteen days, and your mind will be free of all such thoughts."

25 & 26 May 1963,
Poona,
Aw 10:1 p24

A lawyer: Why don't you prove what you claim to be?

Baba (smiling): The Creator, who is limitless, formless and unbounded, is not bound to prove to his own creation that he is the Creator. It's for the creation to know, find and realise the Creator. A father never even dreams of proving to his own son that he is his real father. In spite of this, if the son doubts him, naturally he tries to search for his real father, and ultimately the son is convinced that what his father has said was true.

You talk of open miracles. Do you take me to be a madari (magician)? Jesus Christ was publicly humiliated, stoned, spat upon by the ignorant ones. This his lovers... could not bear to see, and they persuaded Jesus to perform open miracles to pacify the people. Jesus was reluctant to do so, yet, not to displease his lovers, he openly performed miracles (raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, etc.). What happened? He was accused as a magician, tried, found guilty and crucified.

If I am really what I claim to be, do you think it's essential on my part to do such things? When God, who as I said is formless, takes a form in a mortal human body to awaken people when they need awakening, few accept him, and whatever he says is laughed at. But the same God (whom a very few fortunate ones have realised) without form is faithfully and convincingly accepted.

As I have often said, this body is not really what I claim to be, and these childish questions simply amuse me.

God needs your intense love. He wants you to become dust in his love, instead of defying him. It's better to deny God than to defy him...

God's ways are mysterious, and he alone understands his mystery. "Khuda ki baten khuda hi jane - God alone knows and understands his language."

BG p12-13,
also Gl Nov. 1976

RISKS

The deeper secrets of the spiritual life are unveiled to those who take risks and make bold experiments with life. They are not intended for the weak-kneed who seek guarantees for every step.

Av p278

In everyday life, take no risks. In business, take a few risks. But to find God, take every risk.

TRAGEDY

The real and only tragedy of human life is when the individual is unresponsive and untouched by life's experiences.

Meher Baba,
20 November 1939, letter
to Minta Toledano,
LM7 p2470

WORRY

Do not think much over petty questions and wear out your mind. This constant thinking weighs heavy on your mind, and causes you much worry and anxiety for nothing. Do not let any material thoughts disturb your mind and eat it away.

Do not be like a leaf, moved here and there by the wind. Be like a rock, unaffected by gales and storms, and standing firm in its place.

What do you do when a fly troubles and disturbs you? You do not worry, but merely raise your hand and wave it to drive it away from you. In the same way, without giving yourself up to worrying, you must drive away the thoughts that trouble you.

Only stick to one thing, one eternal truth. Those who think about worldly matters only dream, as Vivekananda says, vacant dreams. The universe is nothing but a dream. It is unreal compared to the reality of Truth -- God.

Let Truth be your goal. This Truth -- Paramatman -- is nowhere to be searched for. For he is very near you -- nay, he is with you, within you. Seek him within you. You could easily see him, but for the four big devils who stand in your way and do not allow you to see him. They are egoism, kama, kroda and lobha.

Of the four, the greatest is egoism. It is the parent of all mischief. It is the lower self which governs you. Therefore try your best to control and subdue it.

The next greatest devil is kama or passion. The vulgar attraction for the opposite sex is pitiable. Consider all young woman as your sisters, and all aged women as your mothers. You must neither act nor think lustfully.

The last two devils are krodh or anger, and lobha or avarice. To give yourself up to them means to drive yourself away from Truth.

Unless you master these four devils, there can be no hope for you to enter on the Path.

before 1930?
Ms 2:6 p5-6 (June 1930)

TRUTH

Truth is infinitely simple, and to realise it is naturally also easy. Complications are not natural to unity, because duality is based on complications.

Books, philosophies, and different terms all lead to confusion and contradiction if not applicable to one's spiritual tendency.

God-realisation means living in and with God in every thought and action -- to be so spontaneous as to naturally express divinity through every thought and deed consciously. It is divinely and consciously automatic.

When you are asleep or awake, conscious or unconscious, eating or not, with people or alone, amidst activities or in solitude, you continue breathing automatically. Your breath is constant and always with you. So must God be in and with you automatically, and at the same time consciously, in every aspect of your life. It is to be simple, practical and livable in the ordinary run of life, natural and easy to maintain in all your worldly activities.

Belief, trust and faith are all illusory phenomena if not based on conviction through personal experience. Ignorant persons seek to point out the faults and weaknesses in others instead of finding them in themselves. And for some, to criticise Truth is their life's work, for when they fail to gain it, they grow despondent and turn against it.

The apparent is not real. Under many a life's complicated problems are hidden some of the simplest truths, which the veil of ignorance obscures from human vision.

Do not bother about believing in me. Be prepared to believe in your own self. Have faith in your own capacity for longing for Truth. Only then will you know Truth in its pure and infinite simplicity. Only then will you come to know who I am.

Meher Baba, 18 November 1937
to some passengers on the ship
Circassia en route from
Marseilles to Bombay,
LM6 p2237

TURNING POINTS

A man came to see Meher Baba. He was 60 years old, and told Baba,

"Although I have had many minor turning points in my life, I feel today that the main turning point of my life has at last arrived by meeting you."

Baba smiled and told him,

"The turning point has to arrive in the life of everyone, as it has arrived in your case now. It is like a war. Every day, every hour, and every minute of man's life, it is a sort of minor war -- petty scuffles -- between mind and heart, emotion and intellect, good and bad. And when these individual conflicts spread out and develop, the collective result eventually takes the shape of a big worldwide war, which can never be avoided by any number of peace conferences, unless and until the very root cause is removed."

The man asked, "Should I hurry up affairs, or go steady?"

Baba: Slowly, step by step.

Man: Should I continue what I am doing now?

Baba: Yes. It is all right. Only if you do it with confidence, because whatever one does with confidence has the desired result. Even things which apparently are bad, if done with the right motive, bear good results, because in that very action selflessness exists.

24 June 1934,
Paris, A p55-56
another version LM6 p1879

Q. I am concerned about the grave crisis coming over in the near future, and wish to ask you if there is going to be another war.

Baba: Yes, there will be another war... and what a war! But it will be nothing but a turning point.

Before the major turning point -- worldwide -- there are minor turning points. For example, take war. Before the actual war between nations, with arms and ammunition on a large, worldwide scale takes place in the near future, people have minor wars to undergo -- quarrels -- a war -- conflict -- between mind and heart, emotion and intellect, good and evil. Also economic war all over, all these gradually growing to such an extent as to develop into a great, major war, like the last World War. And rest assured, there will be one in the future.

Q. And that will demand my duty towards my country. Shall I stick to it?

Baba: Yes. Duty always stands first, whatever it is. And the very feeling and desire for duty means spirituality, because it is selflessness and sincerity of heart that calls for duty.

The man asked for Baba's help, and Baba told him, "I will help you spiritually."

1934? Europe? A p56-57

TWENTY-ONE POINTS

1. God is absolutely independent. The only way to approach him is through love, constant repetition of his name, and invocation of his mercy.

2. Mercy is God's nature (swabhav).

3. Bliss is God's original state (assal halat).

4. Power is God's existence (astitva).

5. Knowledge is God's duty (kartavya).

6. The infinite state of God gets lost in the infinite jumble of infinite contradictions.

7. To know God in his infinite contradictions is to become conscious of his consciousness of his unconsciousness.

8. To achieve the God-state, do absolutely nothing while doing everything.

9. To find God, you must find yourself lost to yourself.

10. To be infinitely conscious, you must consciously lose consciousness of yourself.

11. Space is the gulf between imagination and reality. Evolution of consciousness fills this gulf.

12. Time is the interval between your most-first imagination and your most-last imagination.

13. Where imagination ends, God is, and Godhood begins.

14. Imagination is an eternal mimicry of reality effecting the shadow-play of illusion.

15. God is not anything comprehensible. He is reality: consciousness -- absolute consciousness -- infinite consciousness.

16. Realisation of God is absolute consciousness minus consciousness of imagination being imagination.

17. To be ever present with God, never be absent from him.

18. Do not desire union with God, but long for union till you go beyond longing for union , and long for only the will and pleasure of beloved God.

19. "Mind may die. Maya may die. Body dies and dies. But hope and thirst never die. Thus has said the slave Kabir."

20. Complete forgetfulness of self is to even forget that you have forgotten.

21. Complete remembrance of God, honesty in action, making no one unhappy, being the cause of happiness in others, and no submission to low, selfish, lustful desires, while living a normal worldly life, can lead one to the Path of God-realisation. But complete obedience to the God-man brings one directly to God.

2 November 1962,
Poona,
DV 2:2 p28-29

EMANCIPATION

From all types of bondage -- physical, mental, spiritual, social, political and moral -- emancipation of man is possible, sooner or later. But the redemption of mankind from its self-imposed shackles of intellectual self-sufficiency, and idealistic or religious inheritance, is very different indeed, and the task, if ever attempted, is almost superhuman.

The institution of slavery in the Middle Ages was already bad enough. But the irresponsible slavery of this industrial age of ours is worse. Emancipation of mankind from such types of physical and economic slavery is comparitively an easy affair.

But the most cruel and destructive form of slavery is an intellectual bigotry of possessing the monopoly on truth, exclusive of others. It is such types of people, when they happen to wield temporal power on Earth, who hasten the downfall of a laboriously built civilisation, or the disintegration of a living religion.

Intellect is, so to say, reserved by nature for man. One has to be a man to have intellect. But however keen and quick it may be, it will always be just one of the stepping stones to wisdom, inspiration, illumination, knowledge and Realisation of Truth, which is above all these.

To keep playing on the stepping stone, however polished and shining it may be, is like sitting tight over an idle heap of hoarded wealth.

Like everything else, intellect can be used as much as misused or abused. The deeper the intelligence, the greater the responsibility for discrimination between essentials and non-essentials, service and disservice, going forward or backward.

May you succeed in transcending the limitations of understanding, and crossing into the domain of real knowledge, where nothing remains as unknown, unseen and unheard of; nay, everything becomes self-identified. My blessings to all.

2 or 3 April 1947,
Madras,
LM9 p3158

RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY

What is wrong with the world today, and with India in particular?

Such and allied questions are bound to arise in thinking minds. But the answers are not altogether honest and straight. The diagnosis given and the remedies adopted have all been biased and one-sided. The whole situation stands hopelessly vague and undetermined.

The crux of the situation lies in the correct understanding and reinterpreting of the ancient word 'religion.'

The West has very little of religion, and whenever we hear of it, it is subservient to politics, or at best a handmaid of material life. The East is suffering from an overdose of religion, and consequently it is desperately hankering for a material antidote thereto. Religion in the West is synonymous with scientific progress, which is destructive in its manifestation. In the East, and particularly in India, religion, instead of establishing the kingdom of God on Earth, has gone underground in the guise of crude ceremonies, rude rituals, and dead dogmas.

Instead of engendering the seeds of peace and plenty, the under-driven religion tries to shoot out communalism, fanaticism, nationalism and patriotism, which have become bywords for leadership and greatness, suffering and sanctity. In short, religion, as a living force, has become obsolete. The urgent need of today, to rescuscitate religion, is to dig it out of its narrow and dark hidings and coverings, and let the spirit of man shine out once again in its pristine glory.

The most practical thing to do in the world is to be spiritually-minded. It needs no special time, place or circumstances. It is not necessarily concerned with anything out of the way of anyone's daily life and day-to-day routine. It is never too late or too early to be spiritual. It is just a simple question of having a right attitude of mind toward lasting values, changing circumstances, avoidable eventualities, and a sense of the inevitable.

Spirituality is neither restricted to, nor can it be restricted by, anyone or anything, anywhere, at any time. It covers all life for all time. Yet it can very easily be achieved with selfless service and pure love that know no bondage and seek no boundaries. A mighty surge of this spirituality is about to sweep over the world. My blessings to you all.

3 April 1947,
Madras,
LM9 p3159

REMEMBERING PAST LIVES

Because it was late, the individual interviews were speeded up to half-a-minute each. Although Baba saw nearly two hundred people, he gave each his full attention.

One person asked if it was possible to recall past incarnations under hypnosis. Baba replied, "In rare cases it is possible, but very dangerous."

22 July 1956,
New York,
Lord Meher p. 4974
also Awakener v. 4 no. 2, p. 28

"The law of karma is impartial and inexorable. It knows no concessions, gives no preferences, makes no exceptions. It dispenses justice. By the divine law you are shielded from remembrance of past lives, for it would not help you in living your present life but would make it infinitely more complicated and confusing.

For me Past does not exist. I live in the Eternal Present.

I clearly see your former lives, with all your intimate and intricate relationships with so many individuals. Your various reactions to others, seen in the context of your mutual [karmic] connections in previous lives, serves as a mighty joke to me and helps to ease my burden of suffering.

The life of everything and everyone is an open book to me. It is like a film show that I enjoy at my own cost. I am the sole Producer of this ever-changing and never-ending film called the universe, wherein I become you in your awake dream state in order to awaken you to the Real Awake State. When you experience this state, you will realize the nothingness of what was your awake dream state which you experience now. This needs my grace. When my grace descends, it makes you me."

Meher Baba,
21 May 1959,
Guruprasad, Poona,
Lord Meher p. 5597-5598

SADHUS AND SANYASIS

During a stay in Rishikesh, Meher Baba commented to his women Mandali about the sadhus and sanyasis who stayed there:

"Look at them. Some meditate and repeat God's name day and night without sleeping. They perform all kinds of rigorous penances. And still I don't see them. And here I am, sitting with you all, talking with you and looking after you. How lucky you are."

May or June 1942,
Rishikesh,
LM8 p2799

A sanyasi came to the gate of the house where Baba was staying and asked to see him. Chanji told him that Baba was in seclusion and not seeing anyone. The man became angry, and said to Chanji,

"Why does he refuse to give darshan? Am I not worthy? Do you know that I have visited hundreds of the holiest places of pilgrimage in India? Why should I care if I don't get darshan here?

Chanji tried to pacify him, but the man just got more upset. He quoted from the Hindu scriptures, and eventually stormed off. All the time Baba had been watching, in plain view, but the man did not seem to see him, even though he passed by Baba twice.

When the man had left, Baba told Chanji,

"His time has not yet come. People like him wander from place to place haphazardly, in search of God, muttering verses and chapters from the Shastras and chanting couplets from the poets, but all superficially with the tongue and not from the heart. They gain very little - practically nothing, spiritually. It is not merely the desire, but a keen inner longing that in time brings one in contact with a true saint or Master."

May or June 1942,
Rishikesh,
LM8 p2799-2800

SOME SEEK

Keshav Nigam's brother, Devendra brought a batch of students from the Ayurvedic college in Hardwar. Devendra told Baba, "I want to see God," and Baba extemporaneously composed these poetic lines in reply:

"Some seek money,

Some seek name.

Some seek power,

Some seek fame.

Some want children,

Few want God.

Life is a joke,

And all is a game."

Baba proceeded to explain the use of the word 'seek' in the poem, and spelled on the alphabet board:

"The word 'seek' is used. When one seeks with all one's heart, one gets what one seeks. When you say you sought and did not find, it means you did not seek as you ought to have sought. If even God can be found by seeking, why should we not get the trifles we seek after if we seek wholeheartedly?

"Now, how to seek God? Hafez declares, 'Only if you carry your life on your sleeves can you enter the path of divine love.' So merely to say 'I want to see God' or 'I want to realise God' is similar to an ant saying 'I want to become an elephant.' Mere words have nothing in them. The heart must thirst to seek God."

LM11 p4096-4097

FLYING SAUCERS

Ivy Duce wrote that she visited the Museum of Natural History in New York with Meher Baba in 1952, while he was recovering from a car accident:

"As Mehera guided Baba's wheelchair, I trotted along beside her, and during a lonely stretch of corridor, I leaned over and asked him, "Have any of the people asked you about flying saucers, Baba?"

"Baba gave me a knowing look, which indicated that he suspected that I was interested also. "Yes, two people. I told them that they do not come from other planets."

(HM p128)

"At Pimpalgaon, there was an opportunity to ask questions,

for Baba was at leisure, without visitors. So now was my chance.

'Baba!' I said boldly, 'Where do the Flying Saucers come from?'

Baba's face relaxed into a broad smile. 'I would not answer that question for anybody, but to you only! They do not come from another planet...'

The rest of the answer, I feel, should not be given out at present, but as books are being published to prove that the Saucer's come from Venus, etc., this part of the explanation can be given."

Irene H. Conybeare,
February 1953,
"Notes from a Diary:
Pimpalgaon, India,
February 1953"
Aw 1:4, Spring 1954

Index - Book One