Death 2

DEATH

Book Two

"Sometimes during these strolls through Poona, Meher Baba would suddenly stop and start gazing at the ground, as if minutely examining something. The disciples saw nothing, and stood beside him in silence, not knowing what he was doing. One day, at the lane in the back of his parents' house, the Master stopped, and started gazing intently at the ground.

"After a few minutes, he stood erect and asked, 'Do any of you know what I am doing?' No one answered. 'Every minute, bodies are dying and coming back again. Every second this process is occurring. I was watching and directing it all."'

Bhau Kalchuri,
(April? 1922)
LM2 p360

Discussing the death of Lewis Charles Nelhams, one of the Mandali, Baba explained,

"By dying, Nelhams has done away with his Gross body, but his mind is still living, and very soon this mind will take another suitable Gross medium and again come into contact with me.

"Those souls who are Liberated have their egoistic minds annihilated, while those who take birth again retain their minds, and those souls who after Liberation return to normal consciousness have universal minds."

27? July 1925,
Meherabad,
GM p54

When Mehendarge received news that his brother had died, Baba took him aside and told him:

'This life, body and death are all maya, and to weep over the death of someone is ignorance. Remember, maya does not mean this world and its affairs. The illusion that this world and everything in it is real - and of feeling happy or unhappy over certain conditions - is maya.

"See how maya charms and deceives humans and how it entwines itself around them. Daily thousands die. Recently in America many died due to floods. In the war in Abysinnia so many were killed. The earthquake in Quetta alone killed 30,000 people. But though these thousands and thousands perished, you did not feel upset for them - those thousands of men, women and children who were healthy and strong, who were expected to live a long life, and had various hopes, plans and ambitions. Compared to them, your brother was old, unfit and suffering much. And for him, your tears are useless. He is free from his suffering. You should be glad."'

21 March 1936,
Mysore,
LM6 p1991-1992

Baba (to Ragho Patel of Saoner): Would you offer your neck to me? Would you sacrifice your life for me?

Ragho Patel (to Pophali of Saoner): Pophali, you have brought me here for darshan, and Baba wants my throat! What will happen to my wife and children? (laughter)

Baba (smiling): Are you afraid of death?

Ragho Patel: What if I am? When I have a wife and children to look after...

Baba: To die is not easy. Thousands and thousands die daily, but it is not dying. Dying should be such that it is complete death. Then it becomes life eternal.

Ragho Patel: If I offer my neck in your cause, would you keep me alive eternally?

Baba: When you are worried about your wife and children, how can you offer your neck?

Ragho Patel: Now I am ready, Baba.

Baba: Quite ready?

Ragho Patel: I offer you my neck. Slash it. I don't care now if you keep me alive or not.

Baba (laughing): Now you have become very brave.

15 May 1943,
Meherabad,
LM8 p2870

"Baba always encouraged us to face the death of our loved ones, not with undiluted sadness, but with an alloy - a mixture of happiness and sadness. Sadness for our loss, but happiness for their gain."

Kitty Davy, LA p312

Harjiwan Lal's wife died March 6, 1954. Their daughter cabled Baba:

'Mother died today. Marriage also today. Whether marriage should take place.'

Her mother had died that morning, and her daughter's marriage ceremony had been set for that evening.

Baba cabled back:

'Marriage should take place. My blessings. Baba'

GG6 p5-6

"Harjiwan wrote a very heart-rending letter to Baba. In it he expressed his concern that perhaps he had failed in his duty to provide the best medical treatment for his very dear wife, a soul that had lovingly surrendered to Baba. He was often tormented by remorse at the thought that she had died a 'premature death' because of his negligence...

"Baba... in answer dictated several points to Kishan Singh to be conveyed in a letter. In his consoling reply, Baba... assured Harjiwan that there was no such thing as 'premature death.' No amount of medical assistance or neglect could alter the divinely ordained moment of one's coming to Baba. Harjiwan's wife was destined to come to Baba on that day, so there was no need for Harjiwan to worry. Rather, he should feel happy at her return to him -- the eternal life."

Bal Natu, GG6 p6-7

"In the book 'Listen, Humanity' Meher Baba enumerated the different types of death. Later he said that there was one more type of death that had not been included in 'Listen, Humanity' - this he called circumstantial death.

"There is only one case of circumstantial death among the Perfect Masters, and that is with Dnyaneshwar.

"Dnyaneshwar was very beautiful physically. His personality was also dynamic and captivating. His presence was such that everyone flocked to him. They could not be persuaded to leave him, even though Dnyaneshwar would take great care to tell those people who had a connection, a link, with other Masters, to go to them and not stay with him.

"As Baba explained, in spirituality, the most important point is the link that one has with the Master. You may go to any Master, and, of course, you will derive benefit from the contact, but if you have no connection with that Master, you will eventually have to go to the one with whom you do have a link. This ensures further progress on the spiritual path.

"So Dnyaneshwar would dissuade people from staying with him when this was a barrier to their spiritual progress. But his beauty, his language, and the expression of his personality were such that they persisted in staying with him. Eventually, so his personality would no longer be a hindrance in the spiritual development of some people, he asked that he be sealed alive in a small crypt. That is the one case of circumstantial death among Perfect Masters.

"It is said that many years later, a certain person had a persistent dream of Dnyaneshwar telling him to open the crypt. The dream or vision continued to occur, and so, in time, the elders of the time decided to open the crypt. Dnyaneshwar was still there inside, but a root of a nearby tree had entwined itself around his neck and was choking him. It was cut off. It is also said that Dnyaneshwar said that the crypt was not to be opened again.

"But then we might ask, do not all Perfect Masters have appealing personalities? Why should one have more appeal than another? It seems from the story of Dnyaneshwar, that some do.

"The answer is that our Gross eyes see the surface, but not that which is inward. So some personalities are more appealing than others, even though all are one in consciousness."

Eruch Jessawala,
before 1985, IT p44-45

Eruch Jessawala was asked about this statement by Meher Baba:

"4. Downwards: Those who have acquired extremely bad sanskaras, resulting from deeds like murder for lust or greed, after death go downwards into the region of animal spirits, to await a suitable Gross form for earth life."

Eruch wrote: "Going downwards into the region of the animal spirits does not mean that it is a case of retrograde consciousness, or the soul's having a particular type of negative sanskaras. Just as the consciousness of some of the good spirits (disembodied souls) is said to hover in the place inhabited by human beings, so also the consciousness of the souls mentioned in the passage you cited from 'Avatar,' 'go downwards into the region of animal spirits...'

"This does not mean that they become animals! The word 'downwards' is used to indicate a state of experience of the consciousness of a disembodied human spirit more accentuated than the experience in hell. (All souls under the process of gaining consciousness, or those who have not yet realised Reality are indeed spirits. These spirits, when they realise the Over Soul (Reality) are truly the Soul.) Again, the words 'animal spirits' might have been used by Beloved Baba to differentiate them from an environment of disembodied human-conscious spirits."

Eruch Jessawala,
LF2 p17

About the quote dated 5 November 1952 in the chapter DEATH:

Partition was the division of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan in 1948, which caused much violence and death.

About Gustadji, Bal Natu wrote: "Gustadji was in the habit of wearing a tattered old coat with patches. He was always reluctant to change his clothes. After this teasing, Baba told us that when Gustadji was with him in the West a few months back, he had been a well-dressed person, although he retained his other unusual characteristics."

For more about death, see Di (7th ed.) p301-306 and LH p93-115.

For more about heaven and hell, see Di (7th ed.) p307-312.

Death Book One

Index - Book Two