Following Meher Baba 2

FOLLOWING MEHER BABA

Book Two

Kitty Davy wrote:

'In December, to our joy, fifteen of us from the American and English groups were called by Baba to India. This meant leaving our families or careers, and a promise to obey Baba implicitly. Although Baba said we would be at the Nasik ashram for up to five years, before leaving I had written to Baba for the English group, expressing our concern that he would send us back to the West after a short stay with him in India, as he had done previously. What was Baba's reply?'

Rahuri
November 26, 1936

Darling Saroja,

... I feel so disappointed that with all their love for me, Kimco wouldn't understand in spite of explanations of some important things so clearly given...

I was so happy you all eventually agreed to come, but the peculiar attitude of Kimco, always so typical, of taking all things -- however serious -- so lightly, even if I want them to take it seriously and understand, at times causes me great pain...

Your heart is so wonderful, always feeling so deeply and truly, and responsive to the call and understanding, but the peculiar mind of yours at times wobbles and tries to shake your faith, and your love revives it all again and afresh.

One moment you feel quite prepared to do and stand anything. The next moment you hesitate with ifs and buts, and feel depressed and worried unnecessarily.

But I will see that this eternal struggle between the head and the heart, for you as well as for all others who suffer from the same weakness, ends eventually in the victory of the heart over the head, and brings about a blending of the two.

In fact, I am working at it, suffering myself almost all the while of being misunderstood every moment, and in every act of compassion in raising the consciousness and understanding of humanity to a higher level, even by my own, who have known me, and have been in my closer contact!

Just a little individual effort to understand and do as I say, and it would save so much trouble and pains for me and for all.

My love to all and self,

M. S. Irani

source: LA p142
Another version: LM6 p2052
Part of a letter to Garrett Fort from Meher Baba
dated 3 October 1937, Cannes, France

Now you know that your earning power, like all your talents, is a grace from me, given or withheld as I deem best for your spiritual evolution.

You said in your letter that you have surrendered your life to me, that you have no ambition but to serve me, that you are a soldier ready for the call. But apparently you do not like the call that has been given you. You want the war to be conducted according to your ideas, not mine.

Try to remember, dear Garrett, that you are doing my work, which is as ancient as I am. In surrendering your life to me, you must be prepared to follow my instructions implicitly, without caring for the results, which are in my hands and depend upon my will. My promises are always kept, but in my own way and at my own time.

I am not a writer, so I do not always express myself as well as you might wish. I am not a pedagogue, so I do not tell you in advance what the lesson for tomorrow will be. I am God, the Supreme Liberator, and if you knew what strides you have been making toward Liberation by the trials through which you have been going since you left me, you would be overcome with gratitude, instead of filled with discontent.

It is true, I use the circumstances of everyday life to Liberate my devotees, but I use them in a way that is beyond the comprehension of the intellect. So you must not expect me to provide you with blueprints of my plans, either individual or universal. Have faith in me, supreme faith. I am always with you, directing you as my own vehicle, my own son. Whatever is accomplished in all that you do or do not do is always my will!

You are an instrument in my divine orchestra, an instrument which I need, but which must be Perfected. I shall never fail you, nor will you fail me. You must continue to be brave as you have been.

LM6 p2141

For more about Garrett Fort, see LM6 p2130-2141

"It's a fantasy. I have been with him for forty years. There is no such thing as spiritual progress.

"Hold onto him. Him moving about is the progress.

"The cardinal things he has said, hold onto them:

Hold onto my daaman.

Remember that I love you, so that you can reflect my love.

Be loving towards all.

Be honest, simple, natural, childlike.

"That's all, that's all we have to do. That is our path, no more than that. That is our spirituality. Everything is in holding on to him. There's nothing beyond it...

"... True spirituality is total effacement, without giving a thought that we are treading, or that this is my spiritual progress, and this is how I take the next step, and this step and that step.

"But then, how will there be total effacement? The practical way is, hold on to him, be simple, be natural - that is effacing yourself. But if just one word is used - effacement - that doesn't convey anything, you see. What do you mean, effacement? Should we get ourselves rolled upon by a steamroller or something like that? No. It's a wearing ourselves out by holding onto him. It's very difficult. It sounds so simple - mmm - very difficult...

"We have nothing to do with the Path. Wherever we are, that becomes the Path. If you turn away from him, the Path also follows you there. Then again he gives you another turn towards him - the Path again follows. He is there. He is the pivot.

"As long as the concentration on him is there, there is no such thing as Path. What happens is that our focus is on the beloved himself. We have nothing to do with the Path. If Path is there at all, Path will follow us, because we are heading towards him. We have no time to see to the Path at all - we are all the time focusing upon him.

"That is the greatness of those who come in the orbit of his love. The Path follows him, whereas, for other wayfarers, they have to follow the Path.

"We don't follow the Path, because we have got the beloved. We have direct contact with him, so our energies, our might, our soul, our being, our bodies are all focused upon him. So that is the difference between the lover of the God-man and the lover of the Path.

"But then there will come a state (for the lover of the Path) when again he will be there. He comes to that place where he focuses on the beloved only. Then the Path disappears for him.

"But the spiritual dispensation is there to dispense with the Path. He brings the destination in our midst. You follow? What need is there for the Path when the destination is there? Ah, my language falls short, but this is how it is. I hope I can give you the idea that is behind it. No tantalising effects are there for us, you see...

Path is created by us, you see. But one who is concentrating all his thought and devotion, his heart and his consciousness, his everything upon him, for him there is no Path, whether you are in involution or evolution, or whatever process is there. He even discards the very concept of Realisation.

Q. Does the idea of involution apply to us, then?

Eruch: There is involution, it is all there, the Path is there, you see.

Q. But without the experience of it.

Eruch: Yes, without. It's all there, but you don't experience it. Just as he has used the word, you are led 'blindfolded.' You follow? And that blindfolding is not just mechanical blindfolding, because - words fail here. You may call it your heart is set upon him, your whole focus of consciousness is upon him. Whatever you call it, it is just on him. He becomes the Path, the way and the goal.

Q. You're inattentive to the Path so profoundly that it doesn't exist for you.

Eruch: Doesn't exist - although it is there. The powers are there on the Path, you see. Many enchantments are there. All the powers are confronting you, they are just prostrating before you: 'Use me, I am here.' But you, you discard all this. Your attention is always on him. Your heart is set upon him: when will I go, when will I see him, when will I be with him, when will I be in his company? You don't take any cognisance of this. They don't exist for you, really speaking, let alone don't care. You don't even notice that they are all there. It is so, it's a fact. So that's why the greatest spiritual dispensation is his being in our midst.

Eruch Jessawala, 30 November and 3 December 1978,
Meherazad, from tape recordings, Aw 19:2 p55-56

"So often Baba told us by his illimitable hand gestures, or perhaps in a treasured letter or cable, 'Remember - I am always with you.'

"Naturally, it was a phrase that stirred up feelings of love, trust and hope - he is always with us. But what does it mean? Especially now that his physical presence is gone? Those who met him, and those who did not, are 'sailing in the same boat now,' as the Song of the New Life so aptly puts it. No longer are there cables, letters, messages, circulars from India.

"One thing is clear: each one of us has to follow him inwardly. We have to seek his inner guidance.

"What form will it take? I think it will differ for each of us. I think Baba will work with each individual differently just as he did when in the body. He is the master counselor, friend, psychologist. He understands our temperament as well as our needs.

"His presence will be 'not in the flesh but in the spirit,' as St. John says. The New Testament calls this inner presence the Holy Comforter - the third part of the Trinity - the Holy Ghost. ('Ghost' is a strange translation of the Latin 'spiritus.') The essence is the same but each one feels it in a different way.

"Some feel it as an actual presence, touch, glance, even image. Others feel it as an overwhelming sense of love. Some get 'hints' by the way things happen around them, to them, for them, showing the Master's love and care. A few may actually see or hear him. Some contact him in significant dreams. Some feel his love coming to them from others, or they feel it in the way their own heart sprouts love. Many times it happens in communion, in groups. Did not Baba, like Jesus, say that where two or more are gathered together, there he would be? His sahavas is the give and take of love, and love flows always from heart to heart.

"Most important, what are we going to do to rate his inner guidance? Why is it so often blocked? What are we doing so that we don't feel his presence, which he says is always there? The answer is simple, though no one likes to hear it. We are in the way. We cast the shadow. Above all, our negative emotions shut off the communion. Fear, hate, greed, need, anger, depression, sometimes too much pain or loss, shut him out.

"The only remedy is not to cling to these negative emotions, but to cast them at his feet. Such feelings will come, must come, but we have to surrender them to him... trust him to deal with them. Doubt is the worst. Baba says the mind always doubts, but not the heart. It is all a test... this seeking for his guidance through our own valley of shadows.

"But intelligence and reason are not to be thrust aside. We must use discrimination. We must evaluate what we think is his guidance. Not every dream, not every vision, not every 'Baba coincidence' is true. The possibility of self-delusion is always there. That is why Baba says we must balance head and heart.

"What breaks this dilemma? Sincere prayer. Sincere prayer for his guidance, and the faith that he will respond. Baba said, after all, that his position is so high that he must respond to the call of his devotee, no matter where or when. That is what discipleship is all about. Baba never said to follow him is easy, but the reward is the greatest - our way out of Maya."

Filis Frederick, Aw 22:1 p30 (before August 1985)

Following Meher Baba Book One

Index - Book Two