The Spiritual Hierarchy 2

THE SPIRITUAL HIERARCHY

Book Two

"Meher Baba has explained that the majority of masts are to be found in India, which is the most important country in the world from the spiritual point of view.* Apart from those in India, there are a few masts in Arabia, a very few in parts of Iran (these few are mostly in Meshed and Tabriz), and a very few in Egypt, China and Tibet. As far as countries outside Asia are concerned, there are, with the exception of Egypt, no masts in any other part of the world.

"There are, however, God-lovers, a few advanced souls, and certain people who are Agents of the Saheb-e-Zaman (Avatar). These Agents are holders of definite and distinct offices. Just as the Christ-state, the Nabuwat-e-Mohammedi (or whatever name it is known by) is actually the office held by each Saheb-e-Zaman, so these states of the Agents are distinct offices held by certain souls who carry out important work for each Saheb-e-Zaman. On the death of one Agent, his office is automatically filled by a successor. For just as there is always a Saheb-e-Zaman or a Saheb-e-Waqt, so there are always his Agents.

"Baba explains that there are three types of Agent:

1. Direct Agents, who are very few. There is one in Europe, one in Asia, one in America, one in Africa - one in fact on almost every important continent. These Direct Agents receive instructions directly from the Saheb-e-Zaman.

2. Indirect Agents, who are few, and who receive instructions from the Direct Agents.

3. Borrowed Agents, who are many, and who receive orders from the Indirect Agents.

"The principal Agents are always on the fourth plane, and through the powers that they wield on this plane, they act for the Saheb-e-Zaman. They may even do miracles for the Saheb-e-Zaman, since the Saheb-e-Zaman himself almost never performs miracles. For if he wishes to do so, he must, at the time of doing the miracle, actually station himself on the fourth plane. These Agents are on the fourth plane only because of the necessity of using certain of its powers for the work of the Saheb-e-Zaman. They are not in the position of those on the spiritual Path, who when they reach the fourth plane may use its powers for good, or may misuse them, and so fall back to a very primitive state of evolution."

William Donkin, from notes dictated by Meher Baba
before 1948, W p373
*Now partitioned into India and Pakistan.

"Meher Baba distributes the 7000 members of the functio ning hierarchy for a particular age in and between the seven spiritual planes as follows:

"In the first plane, and also between 1st and 2nd, between 2nd and 3rd, between 3rd and 4th, between 4th and 5th, between 5th and 6th, and between 6th and 7th ..... 5600
In the second plane .. 666
In the third plane ..... 558
In the fourth plane .... 56
In the fifth plane ...... 56
In the sixth plane ...... 56
In the seventh plane (i.e. Majzoobs in the body) .. 3
Perfect Masters (Sadgurus) ... 5
_____
7000
The Avatar, in the 11th age of each cycle, brings the number to 7001

"There are always, at all times and in all ages, 56 God-realised souls or Shiv-Atmas in human form on earth. And out of these 56, only eight have public recognition and function as active members of the functioning spiritual hierarchy, consisting of 7000 members, who do the assigned spiritual duties on various planes of consciousness according to their spiritual advancement or Perfection.

"The remaining 48 God-realised ones are not amongst the functioning spiritual hierarchy of 7000 members. They remain aloof, and people are not cognizant of their divinity, though all 48 have the same experience and enjoy the same divine state of 'I am God' as the other eight. These 48 are, as it were, on the waiting list ready to help in any spiritual contingency cropping up through one or more of the functioning members dropping the body.

"Out of the eight God-realised souls who are at the head of the functioning spiritual hierarchy of 7000 members, five are Perfect Masters who, besides having a wide public recognition, have a duty to perform in the rendering of spiritual service and benefit to the whole of mankind. The remaining three are Majzoobs who, in spite of having achieved Godhood and remaining in the physical body, have no spiritual duty to perform towards mankind. Yet they are the source of spiritual benefit to all who come into contact with them.

"So it could be said that whereas the five Perfect Masters render spiritual service to humanity as a whole, the few who come into contact with and serve the three Majzoobs draw spiritual benefit from them, while the 48 God-realised ones keep aloof from recognition and function, until a gap is created in the functioning hierarchy by one or more of the eight God-realised ones dropping the physical body."

from notes dictated by Meher Baba, before 1955, GS p272-274

Note: These 7000 members of the functioning spiritual hierarchy are only a tiny percentage of spiritually advanced souls:

"There are always and eternally 84 lakhs* of souls who experience Subtle experiences. Among them there are seven who are the chiefs, and can experience the Mental world in the same Subtle body. These seven have duty. The 84 lakhs of Subtle experiencers are existing even today. The figure is always constant.

"There are an equal number who experience the Mental world. But in each new unwinding, one of the seven chiefs with duty becomes less, meaning he gets no normal consciousness nor duty. How many out of the seven chiefs get duty in the Subtle? Seven. In the Mental, six have duty. In the God-state, five."

Meher Baba, 17 May 1943, Meherabad, LM8 p2884

*A lakh is 100,000, so 84 lakhs is 8,400,000. If there are 84 lakhs of Subtle-conscious souls, and 84 lakhs of Mental-conscious souls, that adds up to 16,800,000 souls on the Subtle and Mental planes. Only 7000 are members of the functioning spiritual hierarchy (in Avataric periods, 7001).

For more about the spiritual hierarchy, see the chapter AGENTS in Book One and Book Two, also Wa p343 and GS p271-274.

The Spiritual Hierarchy Book One

Index - Book Two