The Teachings of Jesus

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

According to Meher Baba

Part Two

THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

Some of what Meher Baba explained
about the teachings of Jesus Christ
and the doctrines, beliefs and
practices of Christianity

Basically, religion is one. There is only one religion. The source from which this religion has come is continuous, despite the lapses of ages. Yet several branches have come forth from this one religion, like the Zoroastrian, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Muhammadan religions. There have been many others...

For example, water from the tap fills the different pots for different purposes, like washing, cooking, drinking, etc. The source, the tap, is the same. Similarly, the Hindu or Muslim religion, or the Zoroastrian or Buddhist or Christian religion, springs from the same source, which is God.

1919? LM1 p254

Renunciation was the watchword of all the greatest teachers of the world - Muhammad and Zoroaster, Christ and Krishna alike - though in different words. But people take their teaching literally. The real spirit of the word is not understood. It is the mind, the innermost man, that they must renounce; that is the root from whence all desires spring.

The mind must become a fakir, a sadhu, and then renunciation of the highest order is attained. When the mind is spiritually enlightened, and is at the same time fortunate enough to retain ordinary consciousness, the performing of the sanskaric duties is renunciation too; as in that state, whatever actions are taken, they are not for self, but for the benefit and advancement of others.

May 1923, Meherabad,
PM p62

"Ajoba (G. L. Pawar) for some time had the duty of reading to Baba from the New Testament. Once Baba said,

'Whatever Christ said was true. The time for his reappearance is near at hand, and you will know who I am.'"

1925, Meherabad
SW p237

If someone abuses us or insults us and becomes the cause of our suffering, or if we are harassed in any way, we should bow down to that person instead of reacting angrily, because he is the means of wiping out our sanskaras. This is what Jesus meant when he said, 'If someone strikes you on your right cheek, offer him your left.'

7 January 1926, Meherabad
LM3 p772

As Jesus said, 'Give up all, and follow me.' The Master's working to detach those in his contact from worldly entanglements is always happening. His inner secret work is incomparable to the work he does openly.

19 May 1926, Meherabad
LM3 p797

Jesus not only claimed that he and the Father were one, but also held up to people the possibility of that blessed union for all who would do away with lust, greed and anger, and meditate on the Almighty with love.

27? May 1926, Meherabad
SW p281

The real meaning of religion is to know God, to see God, and to be one with God. Everything else about religion is an exercise in rites and rituals.

8 June 1926
LM3 p809

(About the American Christian Mission and the Salvation Army, both of which tried to convert Indian Hindus and Muslims to Christianity:)

Why all this? Why mislead people into leaving their religions? Is religion the Truth as well as the way to the Truth? Truth has nothing to do with religion. Truth is far away and far beyond the tenets and principles of religion. Truth is naked and unrestrained, and can only be experienced by cutting loose maya's limbs, lust anger and greed.

(Baba went on to say that the practice of circumcision by Muslims was based on a misunderstanding of the Prophet Muhammad's teaching)

The same is true in every religion, the Parsis and their kusti, the Christians and their baptism. What is the meaning of all these practices in the name of religion? If it is not a sin to make others doubtful of their own religion, it is surely a great weakness. What is the advantage in expanding a religion until its followers number in the millions? This is the Kali Yuga. See the horror done in the cause of religion. Look at the massacres born out of ignorance and cruelty occurring between Hindus and Muslims, all for the sake of religion. At the same time, many false prophets have appeared, and hypocrisy is rampant. People now want religious doctrines to suit their own ideas of life, and the crafty leaders who observe all this and fulfill their wishes find thousands of followers.

So I have been telling you, control your mind, live a pure and clean life, discard desires, and follow a Master who is God-realised. Then alone you will be safe. Following a Master does not mean giving up your religion. You should renounce the mind.

22 June 1926, Meherabad
LM3 p817-818

To me all religions are equal, and the wrangle over religious dogmas and practises are mere exercises in futility.

Still, a person should have respect for the religious faith of another, and it should not be hampered under any circumstance. On the contrary, all traditionalists or strong believers in their faith and religious practises should be accorded all facilities. It is desirable to encourage them.

23 July 1926, Meherabad
LM3 p829

The human mind is such that it makes a person adhere to his thoughts, to the extent that even in the field of religion, each man thinks his is the best.

The Parsis consider their religion the highest, and call most other people doorvand -- untouchables.

The Muslims are also in the same category. To them only Islam and Muhammad are true, and all other people are kafirs -- unbelievers.

The Christians are no better. To them only Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, and all other people heathens.

20 September 1926, Meherabad
LM3 p845

A group of Indian Christians came to Baba and requested a donation for their school. Baba smiled and asked them, "Do you follow the teachings of Christ?"

They replied that they did.

Baba continued, "Christ's teaching is to leave all and follow him. This means you have to give up anger, lust and greed. Have you done that?"

They answered that they had not.

Baba: "In that case, I am a real Christian, because I have renounced everything."

They invited Baba to visit their school.

9 February 1927, Meherabad
LM3 p907
Other versions: GM p68, SW p340-341 and PM p110

The prayer books of all the religions, the Avesta of the Parsis, the Koran of the Muslims, the Bible of the Christians, the Vedas of the Hindus, and all other religious books are long treatises, and have nothing to do with the Truth...

As changes were made by the dasturs in the teachings of Zarathustra, so were similar changes made by the priests in Christ's Bible and Muhammad's Koran.

Sometimes these changes came about inadvertently. Members of the Avatar's Circle would go out to different parts of the world and address masses of people. These lectures would be taken down by scribes, and later attributed to the Avesta, Bible, Koran and the Vedas. As time passed, the changes became so complete that the original teachings were lost.

7 February 1928, Meherabad
to two dasturs (Parsi priests)
BG p2

... My best advice to you is to create love for God. Earn something in my contact. Otherwise, if you spend your time in discussions on religious doctrines and dogmas, it will take you nowhere toward Truth. It is all rigamarole and will waste your precious time, which might better be used in thinking of God, meditating and creating love. Love is the sum and substance of all religions, and the only essential of all creeds. Leave the rigamarole alone.

For example, this alphabet board which I use may be given to a child to make him begin to learn the ABCs. But if he merely learns the alphabet, without any efforts at proceeding further, he will learn practically nothing. It is the same in religion. The shariat, doctrines and dogmas are given as a preliminary beginning, like the alphabet, to reach the ultimate aim of the realisation of the Truth. After one learns to master the fundamentals, one advances. But if a person merely sticks to religious ceremonies and rituals, and believes that religion is that alone, then he does not advance at all. God and Truth are far, far above shariat, doctrines and dogmas, ceremonies and rituals.

7 February 1928, Meherabad
to two dasturs (Parsi priests)
LM3 p1020

On Christmas day, December 25, 1928, Baba's school for boys was closed, but there were no religious observances. Meredith Starr came to visit Baba at noon, and Baba told him:

"On all four sides, in every corner of the globe, religious precepts and ceremonies prevail. Were we to follow the same old sham and show here, then what would be the difference between us and the world? Here, to obey me is the best religious act you can perform, and by doing so you will free yourself from all the bondages of the customs and rites of religions."

Meherabad
LM3 p1130

How beautiful it was when Christ said, 'If a person slaps you on one cheek, offer him the other.' This is the real thing...

If a man curses your father and you curse his mother, what is the difference between you? Such opponents are friends, not enemies. They teach you the lesson of being calm, patient and forbearing in every adverse circumstance, in the midst of all provocation. They thereby render you the greatest service. So forbear, forgive and forget.

27 December 1928, Meherabad
LM3 p1131

... There should be only one firm resolve: to attain God, to realise God. Devotions offered with that firm determination will be fruitful. Devotion is not gained by crying out with some selfish motive, 'O God, give me a wife, give me a son, give me wealth, let honors flow to me!' Such devotion is insipid and dry, and quite empty. Devotion should be offered with the intense desire to see God, to be one with God. This one-pointed devotion should completely absorb the devotee's mind. During such devotional practice, there should be no thought of one's surroundings, one's relatives or the world at all.

Devotion does not consist in reading holy books all day long, or chanting God's name for hours on end. That is not devotion, it is sheer deceit, a show. The heart should be linked with God. Even five minutes of real devotion without any other thought, with concentration only on God, is the real thing. This sincere devotion gradually creates the thirst to love God, and eventually it results in merging in the ocean of love divine. The more deeply you concentrate, the more intense will be your devotion, and the speedier the result...

Q. While meditating, whose name should we remember? Some say Ram, some say Krishna, and some utter the name of God - Paramatma or Ishwar. Which is best?

Baba: Remember anyone's name - either Ram, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha or God. But how are you going to remember God's name? While remembering Ram, Krishna or any of the other Prophets, you can bring his image before your mind's eye. But what about God? Mere remembrance of the name has no meaning. It should be done with one-pointed devotion, with a mental picture of God before you. If you have his image before you in any form it becomes easy. How can you concentrate thinking only of God? You must have some suitable image of an Avatar or Sadguru before you. With a wandering mind, even if you go on saying 'Ram, Ram, Ram' like a parrot for twelve years, it has no value. If you have a Guru, keep his image before you. This is best.

Q. I find it difficult to concentrate. Please bless me and enable me to do so.

Baba: I will see to it. While sitting in remembrance, concentrate on me. Keep my image before your eyes. If you do this, I will see to the rest.

July 1929, Dhulia
LM4 p1172-1173

In Dhulia, a Brahmin priest lived in a room next to that of the Mandali. Every morning he would get up early and loudly chant Hindu shlokas (verses) from the Shastras (scriptures). The Mandali complained about him to Baba. Baba said,

"Everywhere in the world, in the name of prayer and worship, this sort of useless babbling is going on. Nothing is gained from it. It has no substance. Those who practice it derive nothing from it. Do they for a minute think that loud noises can bring results? For years on end it has been happening, and it will go on for years to come. For ages the Brahmins, the Maulvis, the Dasturs and the priests have been muttering hired prayers, and they are actually payed for such drivel. But not the slightest advantage has been gained by anyone as a result.'

"The reason is that none of them does it sincerely or wholeheartedly. Their prayers are nothing more than the vocal cord's useless prattle, with no heart or feeling in it. Their mind's intellect, attention and thoughts wander here and there, and this idle mumbo jumbo goes on. If it is done with a clear mind and with all sincerity, one's prayers reach straight to God. God wants honesty and an open heart, not an outward show of meaningless chatter. From any corner of the world, heartfelt remembrance of God, even by the worst sinner, or the most worthless and lowest person, immediately reaches God's ears...'

"All prayers and sounds are a mere show if they do not originate from the heart. If not, then such prayers, however loud and however long, are quite meaningless. But compared to this, offering hired prayers through Brahmins, Dasturs, Maulvis and priests is much worse. It is nothing short of sheer hypocrisy."

4 July 1929, Dhulia
LM4 p1174-1175

In all religions, the beginning of opposition against the priest class is welcome, because at present the priest class is the greatest obstacle in the path of spirituality. The rigid and deep-rooted beliefs and prejudices of age-old customs, rites and rituals which the priests have inherited and nourished in the name of religion are intolerable and the greatest impediment.

So if the downfall of this junta is brought about, the firmly imbedded prejudices and rites will be destroyed. Although there is the risk of people becoming indifferent to God and religion, these can still be revived afterward, once these rotting prejudices are uprooted.

3 April 1930, Meherabad?
LM4 p1296

The average man should follow his creed, whatever it may be, in all sincerity, regardless of the rewards to come, and with the only aim and object of 'I want nothing but you, God.' But when I say 'following one's own creed,' I mean that everybody should be free to base his worship on the religious ideas and methods that appeal to him most, and not that one should stop dead at believing or disbelieving certain statements of a particular scripture about subjects that are generally beyond the sphere of intellect. It is the act of worship from the heart, and not thoughts and beliefs, that counts in the religious province.

Thus for a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian, a Parsi, the best bhakti is the performance of the puja, the namaz, the prayers, and the kusti ceremony respectively. But the performance must be from the very depths of the heart, and with the only object of 'I want nothing but you, God.' Otherwise a religion, however beautiful be its teachings, however grand be its philosophy, becomes nothing but a mere farce, which people indulge in generally more through force of habit and fear of society than through any idea of true devotion and worship. Unless there is the will to worship, no number of ceremonies and no amount of lip-prayer will ever serve the true purpose of religion. It is one thing to learn by heart the whole of a scripture. It is quite another thing to repeat a single sentence of it from the heart...

The act of worship should spring from the heart. Let it be born in mind that worship from the heart presupposes great efforts. It cannot be evoked with a mere wish. If one decides upon practising true bhakti, one has to make heroic efforts in order to achieve fixity of mind, for contrary thoughts are very likely to disturb one's mind. It is because the average person's frame of mind is averse to remaining unchanged for any considerable period of time, that the repeated efforts to evoke deep devotion are essential - and in fact are the turning point in such practices that distinguish the right sense of religion from the shallow show of a mere routine.

c. 1930?
MF p23-25

Desmond Tolhurst: I am a staunch Roman Catholic, and want to lead a life of rectitude. I feel at times that I am doing wrong, and I am tempted. I repeat my mistakes time and time again. I am religious-minded, and want to remain devoted to God and the church.

Baba: Be religious, it is good. But eventually you will have to go beyond the shariat, the traditional rituals of religion.

Tolhurst: Are there any true saints and holy priests in Christianity?

Baba: There were saints, but the Christian priests are the same type as those priests in every other religion throughout the world. Out of selfishness, priests create and propagate their own customs, tenets and practices, thereby crippling religion. All these rites, rituals and ceremonies are the dry husk of the corn.

September 1931, London
LM4 p1429

Kitty and Herbert Davy, new followers of Baba, arranged for him to stay a few days at their parents' house in London. Their mother, Helena Davy, asked Baba: 'How am I to understand you? How am I to love you?'

Baba: When praying, place a photograph of me before you.

Helena: I always keep Christ's picture in front of me when I pray.

Baba: Continue gazing at his picture. It is one and the same. Christ's love is the most supreme ideal. I shall help you inwardly.

September 1931, London
LM4 p1428

Another version:

Helena Davy: How can I understand and love you?

Baba: When you pray, have my picture before you.

Helena Davy: I have always the picture of Christ.

Baba: Keep looking at Christ's picture. It is the same.

Aw 2:4 p15, LA p25

May Davy: I have faith in Christ and also believe that there is no other Christ, and there will be no other such being in the future. Jesus was the only one and will be the only Christ forever. Since Christianity is predominant in the West, it is superior in religion and spirit to the East.

Baba: To explain it all to you will take some time. But I will convince you that I have gained the state of Christhood and that I am the Christ.

May Davy: Impossible. I don't believe you. I don't understand what you mean.

Baba: Were I to explain it to you, you would understand everything. Truth is above religion. Truth is far, far beyond the intellect. It can only be reached by love. Christ attained that state of divine love. I am in the same state, and I have its experience. I am always in the Christ state of everlasting bliss.

September 1931, London
LM4 p1440

I have been saying that no damage to religion is as great as that done by the priest class. Here, too, are many priests and preachers. But the people who came to meet me are devotional and loving, and it is a great pleasure for me to meet with them.

2 October 1931, London
to Mahatma Gandhi
LM4 p1447

Baba cabled Kim Tolhurst,

"Trying to please her Lord, poor Mary Magdalene's heart is breaking."

1930s
LM4 p1510

You do not see me as I really am. This body is not me. My real self is far more beautiful.

I am infinite truth, infinite love, infinite power. I am life eternal.

I was Krishna, I was Buddha, I was Jesus, and now I am Meher Baba.

16? December 1931, Paris
LM4 p1597

Robert Norwood came to see Baba at the Astor Hotel in New York on November 24, 1931. Norwood, a doctor of theology, had lost faith in orthodox religion, and had opened a new church. He spoke with Baba at length (this is part of the transcript):

Baba: Love is the only real religion. People are now tired of theories, doctrines and principles. They want the real thing, which explanations can never give. They must feel Truth, see Truth and experience Truth. Only then can one find harmony with everything and everyone. Only then can one, though remaining in the world, not be of it. I am eternally happy. I see my own self in everyone and everything.

Norwood: Do you preach any specific precepts, or do you belong to any particular creed?

Baba: None, absolutely. Religions, castes, sects, dogmas and rituals are all hindrances in the path of Truth. Truth is all-pervading and infinite. I do not teach anything. I make the learned forget. I have come, not to teach, but to awaken.

Norwood: Is going to church of any help?

Baba: Yes, to a certain extent - not much though. The church that advocates and nourishes sectarianism renders no help. All true churches, temples and mosques are for all. To attain the Truth, no obstacle should be put in anyone's way, such as present-day religions and cults do.

Norwood: Yes, it is true. At first I was active in a Christian church, but because I was in search of a religion of the heart, I left it. Now religion and sectarianism do not appeal to me. I have always been sure that there is something higher than religion.

Baba: Exactly. I frequently repeat the same thing. I am preparing the way for people so that they will be able to live a life of Truth. There is no religion higher than love. Love is the only way leading to Truth and God-realisation. Mind and intellect provide only superficial understanding. It is dry knowledge. One should try to see God and experience him. The first thing is reality, the second is unity. Love is truly a shortcut in the long path toward achieving God-realisation. It is the quickest way.

A few days later, Baba sent Robert Norwood this message:

"You will know me. I have seen many, all of whom were also deeply impressed, but I find you to be one who can do my work to a great extent. Rest assured that I will come back and speak. I am here to make all mankind realise, by actual experience, the one infinite self who is in all."

LM4 p1486-1488

James Douglas: Which religion is considered highest today?

Baba: I consider all religions equal, as they are all different paths to realise the one God.

Douglas: What's your opinion about the Christian religion?

Baba: Christ was a great soul who had realised God. So the religion derived from such a divine being must be great.

...

Douglas: Are you a divine being?

Baba: I am merged with God in the way in which Buddha, Christ and Krishna were merged in and had become one with God. In the same way, I live in God. As they knew God, so I have known him. You yourself, and others, can know God in the same way and become one with him.

9 April 1932, London
interview with James Douglas
LM5 p1557-1564
Another version: PM p162-165

The highest state of consciousness is latent in all. The Son of God is in every man, but requires to be manifested. The method of attaining this great consciousness must be very practical, and must be adapted to the existing mental and material conditions of the world. Rituals and ceremonies instituted by the priest-ridden churches have made the process of attainment too dry. And that accounts for the lack of interest felt all over the world towards religious things in general...

Forms and ceremonies, instead of diminishing the ego, strengthen it. The stronger the ego, the more aggressive it becomes. In the anxiety to become conscious of a separate self through thinking thoughts such as 'I am in the right,' 'I am the favored one,' 'I only have the right to exist,' one becomes destructive. The furious race for armaments by the Christian world, evincing an utter disregard for the commandment of Jesus that if one cheek is smitten, the other should be offered, shows clearly what I mean by the ego...

Not till all the six out of the seven principal stages on the Path, culminating into one God-conscious state, are traversed, is the ego completely eliminated, to reappear on the seventh plane as the divine I, the state of Christ consciousness, to which Jesus referred when he said, 'I and my Father are one,' and which corresponds to the state of living in the infinite and the finite at one and the same time.

29 May 1932
to reporters in Hollywood, California
Me p90-91

For example, courage is a great virtue, but it may, if misapplied, become a vice. So it is with love, the mainspring of our lives, which may lead to the heights of Realisation or to the depths of despair.

No better example can be given of the two polarities of love and their effects than that of Mary Magdalene before and after meeting Jesus. Between these two extremes are many kinds of love, all of which are good, but some of which are better than others. I use the terms 'good' and 'better' simply to designate the degrees of liberation which they lead to or confer.

Even the love which expresses through physical desire is good, to the extent that it frees one from the thralldom of personal likes and dislikes, and makes one want to serve the beloved above all other things. Every human relationship is based on love in one form or another, and endures or dissolves as that love is eternal or temporal in character.

1 June 1932
Pickfair, Beverly Hills, California
Me p99-100
also LM5 p1657

The whole world will know and recognise me as Jesus returned once I speak.

June or July 1932
(Message to his followers in America)
LM5 p1670

Do not be afraid of God, for how can you love him if you fear him? Fear and love do not go hand in hand. The truly religious man is he who is God-loving, not God-fearing.

To pray to God for material prosperity is not a prayer, but a farce.

You will not be saved by accepting any theological dogmas, or by regarding a Prophet who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago as the only God-incarnate, as the only genuine Saviour, as the last real Messenger of God. If you want to be saved, conquer your mind, lead a pure life, renounce low desires, and follow one who has realised God and in whom you have sound faith.

The priest whose principal motive is to serve himself and not others should be called a minister, not of God, but of his lower self. Disinterestedness and eagerness to serve others should be the characteristics of a genuine priest, to whatever creed he may belong. He should be like a river that does not drink its own waters, but is useful to others, irrespective of their caste, creed and color.

Worldly-minded priests, though they may mutter prayers throughout the day, and may perform this and that ceremony, can confer no spiritual benefits on anyone.

The so-called religious leaders who repeatedly quarrel over rites and dogmas can only lead their followers into the deep pit of ignorance. Only the blind will follow the blind. What light can be thrown by him who is himself in the dark? What knowledge can he impart who has not experienced Truth?

Many of the so-called Christian missionaries are the followers of Judas, and not of Jesus. The object of a true Christian missionary should be not merely to baptise the so-called pagans, but to render unselfish service to others, regardless of their creed and color.

To change our outward religion for another is like going from one cage to another. Either cross the boundary of shariat (the outward forms of religions) and enter tarikat (the spiritual path), or remain within the cage of the creed of your birth.

A man becomes wise by practising, not by preaching virtue. Ability in advising others about virtue is no proof of saintliness, nor is it a mark of wisdom.

Intellectual disputations about God will not bring you any nearer to him, and may take you farther away. But persistent, heartfelt prayers to him will lower the veil that now envelops you in darkness.

"Cast not your pearls before swine." Materialistic people are like swine, because they prefer the filth of the world to the pearl of liberation from the chain of births and deaths.

Mere description of a medicine will not cure you of any disease, nor will mere hearing about saints make you saintly. To be cured, you must take medicine, and to become saintly you must practise virtue.

God is to be loved and not feared. As a matter of fact, nobody fears God. What many fear is hell, or some punishment which they expect to undergo for their sins, just as schoolboys fear the cane, and not the teacher himself.

before 1933
Sa p10-42

each paragraph is a separate quote

Q. Will Shri Meher Baba explain Christ's words concerning the Second Coming?

"And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or, lo, he is there, believe him not... But in those days, after that tribulation... then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven."

Gospel of St. Mark 13: 21, 26, 27

The gathering of the elect refers to the reincarnation and final assembling of his close disciples and followers at the time of his second coming. It is wrong to associate the second coming with the imprisonment of the devil and a thousand years' peace, or with a literal interpretation of the last day of judgment. All the great mystics have understood the word 'clouds' as a symbolic expression for states of consciousness or spiritual planes. When the Christ descends from the infinite, the seventh plane, he brings with him to earth the infinite goodness, wisdom, power and love, and also the powers, signs and experiences of the six lower planes.

In the words of a great Sufi saint,

Asman o Abro dunya basta been

Avvalin Haq bad manzil pus zamin

"Behold the sky, the clouds and the world.

First is God, then the planes, the last is earth,

but all three are linked."

We read in St. Mark 9:2 and 7, that the transfiguration of Jesus occurred when he ascended into a mountain: "And there was a cloud that overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, saying 'This is my beloved son, hear him."

Brother Leo relates of the vision of St. Francis in Mount Alvernia that he "saw coming down from heaven a torch of flame exceeding beautiful and light, which, descending, rested on the head of St. Francis; and out of the flame there came a voice..." St. Francis explains to Brother Leo, "Then I was in a light of contemplation, in which I saw the abyss of the infinite goodness and wisdom and power of God... And in the flame that thou sawest was God, who also spake in such a manner unto me, even as in old time he had appeared unto Moses."

On Mount Sinai God appeared in a thick cloud and with fire.

Therefore we see that clouds, the house of clouds (manzil), is a symbolic expression among mystics for the six planes.

before 1933?
QA p10-11

Q. Was Christ the only son of God?

Baba: Christ, and not Jesus, was the only son of God. By Christ is meant he who is at one with the infinite, and so all those who come to realise the ultimate reality may be said to be in the Christ-state. By Jesus is meant the historical Man-God of Nazareth, who attained to the Christ-consciousness, i.e. who gained Perfection.

before 1933?
QA p12

Dogmas, creeds, and conventional ideas of heaven and hell and of sin are perversions of Truth, and confuse and bewilder the mind. Rituals and ceremonies instituted by the priest-ridden churches have concentrated on outward forms, and have ignored the essence of spiritual life. The elementary virtues - love, obedience, humility and sincerity - are represented by allegorical statues, and the way to eternal life is forgotten in their sumptuous and magnificent temples. Man seeks life and is given a stone.

before 1933?
QA p12-13

The body of Jesus' disciple Peter is believed to be buried beneath St. Peter's in Rome.

"After breakfast we motored around Rome's seven hills and went to St. Peter's. Baba wore a small beret to hide his flowing hair. Walking in the midst of the party, he was able to enter the church without taking it off. Inside the huge church Baba stood in the center beneath the dome. Then he turned to the four quarters and made a sign. Then along the left isle (he would not let us linger and look at the sights). He turned and walked rapidly back to the west door."

Herbert Davy
7 July 1933
LA p103

"Arriving in Avila that evening at six, Baba and the group stayed at the Hotel Ingles. Baba appeared very happy to be in Spain, which reminded him of India more than any other country he had thus far visited in Europe.

"Before dinner, Baba went for a walk with the men past the house of St. Teresa. Baba remarked to them, 'I feel at home here. It is like Assisi. It is the spiritual atmosphere that you feel which gives value to the shrines of saints.' Pointing to his wrists, Baba said, 'Saints are like the nerves of my body. They work for me and I guide their lives.'

"The next day, Baba said, 'In Europe, as on other continents, there are holy places connected to great spiritual work. The four centers of Europe are St. Mark's in Venice, a place on the Ligurian coast of Italy, Assisi and Avila. I have now visited and revisited them all. From their holy ground have sprung many saints.'"

23 October 1933
Avila, Spain
LM5 p1834

"There was a woman who came to him in London, a rich woman, imperious in manner, who said as soon as she entered the room, 'Are you Christ?'

"Baba looked at her softly and answered, 'Yes.'

"She got up in a rage and walked out. He said nothing.

"Presently she asked to see him again, and he refused. She waited about until he came out of the room, and then came up to him meekly and said, 'Forgive a silly old woman.'"

Charles Purdom
1930s
London, PM p274

Q. How to be a true Christian?

Baba: By following the teachings of Christ, by living the life that he lived and wanted you to live. People talk of Christianity, but are not prepared to follow Christ's words to 'present the other cheek when one is smitten,' saying that it is impracticable, and fly at one another's throat at the slightest provocation, creating hatred, when Jesus wanted them to create an atmosphere of love and brotherhood everywhere. No wonder the world is in a muddle about everything.

29 June 1934, London
A p 56
Another version: LM6 p1881

The following are a series of interviews with Baba that took place between July 6 and 16, 1934, in Zurich, Switzerland. Baba communicated through a translator, and as a result the language of this transcription is occasionally awkward.

Q. From the Christian standpoint, Christ is the only one, and unique of the Prophets. Do you believe that?

Baba: Unique, indeed, from the standpoint of his state and consciousness. The Muhammadans claim that Muhammad is the only Prophet. The Buddhists claim Buddha, the Parsis Zoroaster, and the Christians Christ. Each says that his perfect ideal (of the Prophet) is the unique one. But why bother about that? What do names matter? What is important is the life that Jesus lived. To understand Christ, to know him. one has to live his life. Mere ceremonies and talks, discussions and criticisms, don't help one towards knowing Christ. Christ taught one simple thing, love, and so few of his followers have that love developed.

Q. Is this standpoint of love consistent with Christian dogma?

Baba: Love has in it selfless service and renunciation of low desires. Pure love includes everything. If one loves, all other low qualities automatically dissolve themselves. And by love I mean pure love, not the sexual love as it is meant today in the world of matter.

Q. This kind of love is impossible without the help of Masters.

Baba: Yes. God is within and without. Why not seek him within? If one seeks the grace of God and God is not able to give it, what kind of God do you call him? People talk, but do not seek his grace. It is all one. God is infinite, the soul of souls, and the individual souls are the drops of that infinite ocean. All this depends on outlook. (Baba pointed to a flower) You see this as a flower. I see it as God.

Q. Very, very happy to have seen you, and very grateful for all you have explained.

July 1934, Zurich, Switzerland
A p21-22
Also PM p250-251

All are Christ, but very few can become Jesus.

July 1934, Zurich, Switzerland
Av p280

(According to Jean Adriel, Baba said this in the previous interview after 'to know him, one has to live his life.')

Q. Can one attain to Perfection immediately after coming into contact with a Master?

Baba: In some cases, yes. In others, it is very gradual. It all depends upon the internal soul. It does not necessarily mean that coming into contact with me must make you at once Realised. If that were the case, the Jews who were all the time near Jesus and in his immediate contact would not have crucified him. You will understand. I will help you spiritually.

July 1934, Zurich, Switzerland
A p16

Oscar Mertens: What hinders me from being a better and truer Christian, and so also a better husband and father?

Baba: You must try, as far as possible, to live the life that Christ lived. Not by theory and intellectual understanding alone should one try to follow Christianity, but it is the feeling, love, that has to be lived.

Mertens: How can I do that?

Baba: To develop love, you have to do it practically. That is, you have to experience it in everyday life. You must lessen your desires and make others happy by thinking less of your own happiness. This can be done. By desire, I mean selfish desires. It is all very practical and very simple, but people always make it complicated.

9 July 1934, Zurich, Switzerland
to Oscar Mertens
LM6 p1890

A woman came to meet Baba.

Baba: Nervous? Tell her to be rested.

Q. She is in love with a church pianist, and asks if that friendship is to be kept up very pure?

Baba: Where's the harm to keep it up?

Q. Catholic law prevents marriage with a man who is divorced. The Church is against... that's the conflict.

Baba: But do they love each other?

Q. Yes.

Baba: Then love is all that matters, if there is no lust. I see no harm in it. Let that love grow, so that it makes two souls like one. I will spiritually help her to make this love grow purer.

1934, Zurich, Switzerland
A p4
Also PM p242

Q. The world and others reproach her for her good motives.

Baba: Always work with heart for the best, and don't worry. The world crucified Christ.

to an artist, an elderly woman, Zurich, Switzerland, 1934
A p10
Also PM p244

A woman psychology student met Baba.

Q. She doesn't dream or think of Jesus.

Baba: Why bother about the physical Christ (if she can't get that idea as clearly as she wants)? If she can't picture him, she can feel the Christ within. That means the ideal, or pure love.

Q. She has read the Sermon on the Mount, but can't have a clear conception of Jesus.

Baba: I will help her. Do one thing. Immediately when she gets up every morning, just let her have this thought, 'Christ is within me,' and leave the rest to me. I will help her spiritually.

1934, Zurich, Switzerland, A p8
Also PM p239

A philosophy student.

Q. Can one realise virtue without experiencing vice?

Baba: One has to experience both virtue and vice to be able to realise the Infinite who is beyond both.

Q. Is Christ only a question of realisation?

Baba: Yes, Christ is only to be realised.

Q. Is there any great difference between Christ and church religion?

Baba: A world of difference. Christ is to be lived, and not ceremonised (found in ceremonies).

Q. Do you believe that _______ was an initiate?

Baba: How can I speak against anyone when I find the Infinite in everyone? But why bother about names. You can be an initiate yourself. The same Infinite is within you as within any initiate.

Q. Is this path-finding more difficult in the West than in the East?v Baba: No. It is a different outlook only. Because in the East as in the West there are intelligent giants. Also in both there are good hearts. And in the teachings of great men, both East and West, there is love. The name and method is differently expressed.

Q. I understand. Thank you for clearing the mist.

1934, Zurich, Switzerland
A p10-11 and PM p251-252

The daughter of a clergyman

Q. I am happy to see you.

Baba: Do not feel nervous. Anything to ask or say?

Q. (She reads out her questions) I have doubts standing between you and me. And also why Western religion calls the Eastern confusing, and not straight as that of Christ.

Baba: And the Eastern people say the same about the Western religion. Everyone thinks his own religion is best. This is ignorance. Jesus never meant that. What does religion mean? To find God within. What did Jesus teach? To find him within, and not to carry on wars, as his own followers have been doing.

Q. How can we realise that?

Baba: Through love, and helping others selflessly. It is very easy. If you think less of yourself, and more of others, it is so easy. No matter if you doubt me, or do not even believe in me, I will help you.

Q. I want to believe in you and have faith in you.

Baba: But why? If what you want is within, you will find it only there. And my need is only to help you find it, whether you follow me or not.

Q. But it is difficult.

Baba: I will help you, even if you don't want it. When the sun is high up and you feel hot, you cannot avoid it. It does shine on you, even if you don't want it to. It is a question of going out of yourself to help others, and that I will do. This contact will help you greatly. My blessings.

1934, Zurich, Switzerland
A p 22 and PM p239-240

Fritz Enderlin: Is Shri Meher Baba ready to give his love to those who, on the basis of the New Testament conception, think him to be wrong in regard to his Christ consciousness, but are open to the influence of his love?

Baba: If you love Jesus, and if you can follow Christ's teachings and live his life, that is more than enough. You do not need to follow me, for by following Jesus with all love, you will indirectly be following me. This is what I know.

Dr. Brunner (a professor of theology at Zurich University): Does Baba believe that the way to God is possible only through him? From where does Baba take the aspiration of his Christ-consciousness?

Baba: If you try to find God in your own self, where is the necessity to find it in a special manifestation? Because it is difficult to realise God, it is necessary to have the help of one who has realised God.

9 July 1934, Zurich, Switzerland
LM6 p1891-1892

Baba: There are many to teach in the world, but very few to learn.

Q. What do you mean?

Baba: They all teach, but none of them wants to learn. And those who teach do not know the Truth themselves...

All miracles are child's play, whereas spirituality is far above them. Miracles in themselves have no spiritual value or significance. But they are necessary, and at times are performed by the Master as a means to convince people of Truth and spirituality. Jesus performed miracles, not for his own gain, but to make people recognise the Truth and to create faith in them. Yet when he was crucified, he who could raise the dead did not stop it.

Q. Why do you keep silence? Why don't you speak?

Baba: I always speak. I continually speak through you, through all the high priests and through everyone.

Q. Then why do you use the alphabet board?

Baba: I talk through you and all, and I answer questions through this board.

Q. How? I don't understand.

Baba: Yes, you cannot follow because you are in Rome, and I know because I am at home. This is the difference between you and me. You are in Rome, and I am at home.

13 March 1937, Nasik
Interview with a Catholic priest
LM6 p2129-2130

They all speak of Christ our Lord, but they do not follow him.

12 May 1937, Nasik,
Listening to a radio broadcast of
the Archbishop of Canterbury's address
at the coronation of King George VI of England
Aw 10:2 p27
Also LM6 p2180

When Christ said 'Love your neighbor,' he did not mean 'fall in love with your neighbor.'

... When you love, you give. When you fall in love, you want.

28 May 1937, Nasik
PL p78-79
Also LM7 p2184

If a lecturer speaks today before a gathering of five hundred, and the same subject is repeated by the five hundred listeners to others, there would be five hundred different interpretations - some never dreamed of by the speaker. Therefore, what about the teachings of Masters like Jesus, interpreted after him perhaps a thousand times through different interpreters in the past? The original thought is sometimes lost sight of, or made irrelevant, but yet each clings to his own different interpretation of the original.

That is why many today hesitate to believe in the Bible and other such books, where interpretations do not appeal to them. There is more of the writers in the Bible than of Jesus Christ. Thus it is that there are always quarrels between fanatic followers of different religions over words and explanations that the Prophets never uttered, but were written in the so-called holy scriptures by over-enthusiastic disciples and priests, which quite naturally creates a revolt in the minds of others.

12 November 1937
to a Christian minister on board the S.S. Circassia
LM6 p2235

P.S. Ramnathan: Has the individual any destiny apart from the whole of which he is a part? Is it right for the individual to seek private salvation? His fulfillment consists in losing himself in the whole and living for it, and it seems he can never be anything more than a part of the whole.

Baba: When we think of the individual, we at once grasp it as something limited, so it cannot be identical with the unlimited whole. You are right in saying that the individual must lose himself in the whole, but the matter does not rest there.

We may compare the individual to the drop, and the whole to the ocean. The drop is separate from the ocean, and again merges into it. What then is the purpose of its being separated if it is merely to merge itself again in the way it was originally merged? Evolution would be fruitless if we end where we started. The individual has to retain his individuality and realise his unity with the whole consciously. Thus Christ realises God as Christ. You realise God as yourself. It is a personal realisation.

December 1937, Nagpur
T p202
Also MJ Nov. 1938

Much of Christ's teaching in the New Testament is symbolic, if rightly understood. Christ talked of evolution, impressions, reincarnation, exactly as in Vedanta.

22 December 1937
LM7 p2250

Once, when someone asked Baba how he knew that he was the Christ, he replied, "I knew it before anything was."

Jean Adriel
Av p?

Man wants God, but is given stone, in the form of churches, temples, idols and images. They are now all corrupt. Considered once as places of worship, they have turned into pitiable centers of business for their caretakers.

The places of God's prayer, worship and love have changed into centers of business. Thus are the names of God and religion besmeared, bringing ultimately to humanity natural calamities such as plagues, pestilence, famines and other curses of nature with untold miseries on humanity in their wake.

So, it is for this that the teaching of the Avatars and Sadgurus caution one not to give importance to such places and forms of worship. Their work is to diminish and destroy all these piles of stone which keep humanity away from God, rather than drawing it closer.

1 April 1938, Panchgani
LM7 p2277

Most of the priests of established religions attach too much importance to external forms, rituals and conformity. And since they are not themselves free from selfishness, narrowness and ignorance, they exploit the weak and credulous by holding before them the fear of hell or the hope of heaven.

before 1939?
Aw 2:1 p29-30

The importance of saints is that they point so many to God.

before 1939
T p83

Love is God. Lust is Satan.

before 1940
T p56
Also ST p.113

Christ pointed out the way to the spiritual experience when he said, 'Leave all and follow me.' This means that man has to leave his limitations and get established in the infinite life of God.

c. 1940
Di v3 p4

When people come to a Perfect Master and touch his feet with their heads, they lay upon him the burden of their sanskaras - those subtle impressions of thought, emotion and action which bind the individual soul to recurrent earthly lives. This is the burden to which Jesus referred when he said, 'Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'

c. 1940?
Av p209

When Christ said, give your other cheek to be slapped, it means control. But the world thinks that if you get slapped and don't get excited, you are either a coward or shameless.

25 July 1940, Meherabad
LM7 p2593

When one is a real child, a kingly child, it means he is God-realised, as in Godhood there is pure childhood. That is why Jesus said, 'Lest you become like a child, you shall not enter the kingdom of God.' To such a child all the universe is as a toy. The whole infinite life is the garden where this child plays.

15 August 1940, Meherabad
LM7 p2599

Baba: Who was it who said, "Unless you lose yourself, you cannot find yourself?'

Elizabeth Patterson: Christ.

Baba: What does it mean?

Woman disciple: To conquer desire.

Another woman disciple: To annihilate the lower self.

Elizabeth: To quote the words of the saint, 'Not my will be done, but thine.'

Baba nodded, and 'said' that Elizabeth's answer was the nearest to the full truth. He continued:

"It means three things in one. First, love God so much that you forget yourself. Second, sacrifice your carnal desires for the soul. And third, complete resignation to God's will. And when you love too much, you do forget yourself. Now, how to do that practically? Love for other things like men, women, cars, dogs, etc., comes spontaneously. It is no gift, but spontaneity, it is natural. Loving God comes by practise and by process to a certain point. But loving God mostly is a gift..."

22 September 1940, Meherabad
LM7 p2613-2614

Gandhi feels that if you are slapped on one cheek, offer the other. He thinks that will put an end to wars. But that is nonviolence and nonsense. Mahasabha* says you should follow the Gita** and act as Krishna declared, to defend but without hatred.

Now that is not practical, because the German hate is so profound that the reaction on all the defenders must be of hate. Krishna's teaching advocated by the Mahasabha, and Christ's teaching advocated by Gandhi, are both impractical for this war.

What did the small nations do? They did not resist, and were swallowed up. And now they hate more than the those who resisted. So now will come a new, third way for world peace. First world war, then world peace.

22 September 1940, Meherabad
LM7 p2615

*A reactionary Hindu political group
**The Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture

Jesus taught what religion is: to find God within... through love. And that is the message of the Master of this age, and it is the meaning of his life.

before 1943?
T p14

Jesus also said, 'Act, but in the spirit of sacrifice.'

17 May 1943, Meherabad
LM8 p2887

Your own religion, if put into practice, is sufficient to bring salvation to you. It is a mistake to change one's religion for that of another. The surroundings and circumstances in which you find yourself are best suited to work out your destiny, or to exhaust your past karma.

before 1948
ST p112

The various religions are like patent medicines, which sometimes give relief, but seldom cure. Just as it is necessary to approach a specialist for a speedy and radical cure, so it is imperative to approach a spiritual Master in order to become spiritually Perfect.

before 1948
ST p112

Realisation of the self should not be confused with the intellectual understanding of the Divine Theme. Exceptional exercise of the intellect makes one a philosopher, a poet, a scientist or an artist. But Self-realisation is undeniably the special privilege of those who are mad after God.

Orthodoxy, whether it be of the Hindu, Muslim Christian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, or any other church, is tolerable strictly and only up to a certain point, and only at the earlier phases of the evolution of the masses, since it conserves certain dynamic values coming down through tradition. But it must be of the discriminative type, and should not be allowed to degenerate into politics. When orthodoxy denies to itself the spiritual light coming from any quarter, it inevitably reduces itself to a body without the soul, leading to separative ignorance, conflicts and misunderstandings.

Loyalty to the incarnated greatness of the past, and the mere possession and knowledge of the traditional lore, is not all that is to be aspired for. It may preserve your individuality as a religious and cultural unit, and make of you a political factor to be reckoned with. But in the spiritual domain, it makes you a nonentity, a tree without its life-giving sap.

Today there are three concomitant factors which prevent the world from realisation of true spirituality:

1. The church of each organised religion trades in the past, and fights every inch of ground before adjusting itself to the times and the circumstances.

2. The educated delude themselves into thinking that they have done their part, and have laid the whole creation and the Creator under deep gratitude by merely talking on the subject from the purely intellectual point of view.

3. And the masses have a superstitiously mercenary attitude towards saints and spirituality. Their approach to saints is invariably from a material point of view.

I have come to give a new understanding of spiritual value and truth to everyone. This truth is unlimited, and cannot be encaged in any dogmas or creeds or religions or sets of beliefs. Inherit this vast truth which is ever-renewing, while I am in your midst.

before 1948
ST p110-111

Sin is weakness. Virtue is strength. What one regards as sin may turn out to be virtue, and vice versa.

before 1948
ST p115

Toni Roothbert met Meher Baba in 1952 in Myrtle Beach. She told Baba that she had been in love with Jesus since she was a child. She said his words always came to her, and that she felt he was in her heart. Then she told Baba of a spiritual experience she'd had with one of his pictures, and that she'd been very upset that it hadn't lasted longer.

Baba: I understand all. Even if you had not said anything, I know all. Mind has the habit of getting exalted, and then going down. Sometimes it is full of doubt. So, in one's spirit of trying to seek Truth, one sometimes gets in a mess and feels dry at heart. God and love for God are not child's play. In love, you have to be ready to drown yourself in the ocean of fire.

Jesus was never serious about anything, except about God, whose incarnation he was. He was serious about himself and God, with whom he was one. Otherwise, he was so lighthearted that he even got crucified for others, with the same lightness of heart. Why? Because he had no wants at all. He did not want, he gave. So the only thing that God wants is not ceremony, not yogas. He wants love, the love that makes you forget yourself in him.

Do you know that Jesus told his disciples, "Leave everything and follow me"? Now, if I were to tell you this, your mind would fluctuate. It will think, "Is it true? Is it like Jesus? Is Baba right or wrong?" So unless and until you are wholeheartedly prepared to follow someone who you think true, like Jesus, the best thing for you would be not to submit to anyone. Just go on following the inner voice. Can you surrender absolutely to Baba? Just ask yourself. Be honest to the very core. If not, do not bother about it.

16 May 1952, Myrtle Beach
GG3 p38-39

America now leads the material side of the world, and yet has such potential that she can lead the world spiritually, if awakened. Awakening is love for God in the form of Jesus, God crucified. And God will do it. He can do it. And now the time is near, very near, when the spiritual upliftment has to take place. America is destined to lead the world spiritually. Truth never fails, and lovers of God will soon triumph.

In this country at present, unfortunately, the youth is not taught spirituality. Youth is not even given ethical education. But be sure that these very youths who know not of God, but know only to eat, drink, be merry and do lustful actions, will soon get the shock of their lives, and know that loving God is life, real life, the goal of life.

16 May 1952, Myrtle Beach
to Toni Roothbert
GG3 p42

If at all one has got to have anything to do with a church, the best would be to stick to the one one belongs to by birth.

1952?
Letter to Ivy Duce
(unpublished)

Christ and his inner circle, and the Christian mystics, all stressed purity of heart.

17 September 1954, Meherabad
GM p239

You have to become what you already are. You are God, but you have to become God. And Christ crucified himself to teach this: through love, become what you already are.

September 1954, Meherabad
TK p335

We are all meant to be as honest and loving and happy as God. Only the Christ suffers for humanity, although he is the source of all happiness.

22 September 1954, Meherabad
TK p355
Also GM p261

It is better not to worship if your heart is not in it. Any prayer made mechanically in a spirit of show or ceremony is all a farce. It results in greater bindings through one's pretense to purity.

November 1955, Meherabad
LH p42

There are many religions, temples, and many religious practices and prayers, which you yourself may know, and the people following them. But God appears indifferent to those prayers or does not hear them, for this reason: that they are not of the heart. The prayer God hears is the prayer of the heart, that raising of the heart, that suffering of the heart, that is what God pays attention to. And so it does not matter, and certainly it is foolish to rely upon the usual religious practices and ritual. What matters is your heart, the prayer that arises from your heart. That is the prayer that Baba hears, that God hears.

Jesus Christ said this exactly when he said, 'When you pray, close the door, pray in secret.' So pray from the heart, even if you are with a thousand people...

People know it all by heart, but they don't grasp it, or God would hear...

Pray from the heart by giving yourselves. Just saying the words or being still, unless you are giving yourself, is useless. It is the prayer of the heart, the giving of your heart that counts. Those prayers are answered...

July 1956, London
Aw 4:2 p 14-15

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.

22 July 1956, New York
Aw 4:2 p30

Q. Have you heard of an American evangelist by the name of Billy Graham? Have you met and spoken with him?

Baba: No.

Q. Have you heard of his work?

Baba: I know.

Q. Can you tell us what you think of his work?

Baba: Any work done in the name of God or Lord Jesus is a good work. But it must be done sincerely, honestly, without taking any pride in it, without wanting to profit through it.

23 July 1956, New York
in answer to a reporter's questions
at a press conference
Aw 4:3 p18

Baba: Christ said, "Leave all and follow me." What did that mean?

Don Stevens: I assume it means literally to leave everything and follow Christ within yourself.

Baba: But the meaning behind it was not to leave all these things, not to renounce the world. It was to obey... Christ took upon himself the sufferings. Why? To liberate humanity. And the bindings are still there. Humanity is still bound.

26 July 1956, Myrtle Beach
Aw 4:3 p39

Jesus Christ was the ocean of love, Father and Son both in one, simultaneously...

He was all-mighty, all-powerful, and yet he appeared so helpless. He got himself crucified in the end. Why? In order to teach humanity humility.

Today the Christian world go to churches, they get mixed up with sermons and ceremonies, and forget what Jesus wanted to be done universally.

12 August 1956, Melbourne, Australia
PS p44

The relation between cosmic power and the individualised soul is unique. In the case of a Perfect soul, the relation has been described fairly adequately through the Christian idea of trinity, which comprehends the three aspects of God: the Father (Creator and Preserver), the Son (Saviour and Redeemer) and the Holy Ghost (the Spirit of Truth or Grace). This concept of triunity (three in one) grasps and expresses some important factors in the spiritual fabric of the universe.

1956?
Be p14-15

... The lingering aura of a saint may work miracles from his burial place.

1956?
Be p36

Occult phenomena like stigmata, telekinesis (effecting the flight of objects such as a communion wafer through the air), elongation, elevation, etc., may amuse, astound or overpower people. But they cannot bring about spiritual healing or uplift, which is the real thing that matters. They are just an illustration of the supersession of ordinary and known laws of nature by the supernatural and unknown laws of the inner spheres.

The curious might very well occupy their minds with these things, but they are best relegated to the background as insignificant. The real lover of Truth passes by these things without becoming entangled with any of them. He cannot afford to be distracted or diverted from his real objective: attaining union with God, and releasing the radiance of his purity and love.

1956?
Be p36-37

God forgives sins in the sense that he does not eternally damn anyone for his sins. He keeps the door of redemption eternally open. Through repeated sincere prayers, it is possible to effect an exit from the otherwise inexorable working out of the law of karma. The forgiveness asked from God evokes from him his inscrutable grace, which alone can give new direction to the inexorable karmic determination.

1956?
Be p37-38

The only miracle which is worthy of the name is the divine grace that knows no fetters...

Divine grace is not concerned with phenomena. It is concerned with the emancipation and spiritual fulfillment of souls.

1956?
Be p38

Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, each in his own way symbolises the forces of evil...

Evil is the lingering relic of earlier good. Some impressional tendencies, which were necessary and inevitable at a particular phase, are carried over to the higher phase of evolution, and they persist in their existence due to inertia. They hinder harmonious functioning in the new context, and appear as evil...

Everything happens according to divine will, and it is a mistake to think that God has a rival in the form of a devil.

1956?
Be p55, 57

Many prayers to God are current among the lovers of God, arising as they do from diverse cultural contexts. Some of the prayers invariably contain an element of asking something from God, either material or spiritual. In fact, God is so merciful and bountiful that even without their asking, he always gives much more than his lovers can receive. He knows their real needs more deeply than they do. Therefore, the element of asking something from God is superfluous. It often mars the inner love and worship which a prayer tries to express.

The ideal prayer to the Lord is nothing more than spontaneous praise of his being. You praise him, not in the spirit of bargain, but in the spirit of self-forgetful appreciation of what he really is. You praise him because he is praiseworthy. Your praise is a spontaneous appreciative response to his true being as infinite light, infinite power and infinite bliss.

It is futile to attempt a standard prayer and hold it up as an ideal for all people of all times. The glory of the Almighty transcends all human understanding and defies all verbal descriptions. Eternally fresh and self-renewing in its unlimited amplitude, it never fades. Nor is it ever confined within the best of hymns. All hymns and prayers reach out toward the eternal truth of Godhead, only to merge those who utter them in silent and unending adoration.

If by ideal prayer to the Lord is meant a set formula, any search for it is a wild goose chase. All prayers ultimately initiate the soul into an ever-deepening silence of sweet adoration. And all formulas are dissolved and assimilated into the integral and direct appreciative perception of divine truth. That which seeks to reach towards the immeasurable, itself becomes incapable of being measured by any set standards.

The ritualistic and repetitive expressions of prayer do not and cannot do justice to the innermost essence of prayer, which is adoring love for the eternal beloved. To attempt to standardise prayer is to mar its intrinsic beauty.

If you pray with a motive to do good to someone, your prayer may actually bring about good both to him and to yourself. Some people pray for the spiritual benefit of those who have done them some wrong. There also, they are helping others spiritually. But all prayers with a motive fall short of the ideal prayer, which is without motive. In the entire spiritual panorama of the universe, nothing is more sublime than a spontaneous prayer. It gushes out of the human heart filled with appreciative joy. It is self-expression of the freed spirit without any actuation of a motive. In its highest form, prayer leaves no room for the illusory diarchy of the lover and the beloved. It is a return to one's own being.

1956?
Be p74-76

God does not exist for one form or one religion. All forms and religions exist for God.

1956
LB p29-30

There are two types of saints: real saints and imitation saints. Just as an ordinary person cannot distinguish between a real and an imitation pearl, you cannot distinguish between a real saint and an imitation saint.

May or June 1957, Poona
Aw 5:4 p25

Baba asked Don Stevens if he knew about St. Teresa of Avila. Dr. Kenmore said, "She devoted her whole life to Jesus. That's all I recall." Baba replied, "That is the most important thing. She loved me. She devoted her life completely to me."

26 May 1958, Myrtle Beach
GM p332

Man's inability to live God's words makes them a mockery. How many Christians follow Christ's teaching to turn the other cheek, or to love thy neighbor as thyself?

9? July 1958, Meherabad
GM p346

Instead of practising the compassion he taught, man has waged crusades in his name. Instead of living the humility, purity and truth of his words, man has given way to hatred, greed and violence.

10 July 1958, Meherabad
GM p343

Baba: What is it that you want?

Visitor: I want to behold a vision of Jesus, and to follow his life of love and service. I am worried because I am unable to do that."

(Baba asked the man if his belief in Jesus was genuine and complete, and he said yes.)

Baba: Were you to really have that belief in him, would there be any need to worry about how you should carry out his teachings? Search your heart for the answer. You crave for a vision of Jesus, and it would no doubt help you to some extent to lead a life of love and service, but would that be enough by itself to help you attain the perfect life you yearn for? You are imperfect, and you want to be perfect in order to lead a perfect life. But all aspirants would want what you want, and who would not want a vision of Jesus? You do not know that within you already lies what you want. But why is it then that it is denied you? The answer is that if you look deep within yourself with complete honesty, you will find that you do not really want what you think and say you want.

You own so many things, and you feel you want to get rid of them and be free. But if you really want to get rid of them, you can do so in an instant, for who binds you? It is your own self not really wanting to do so. If you want to be free, free you are. But you do not want to be free, and therefore you continue to feel yourself bound. You want to lead a perfect life of love and service. And when you really have that want, you will not need to worry how to lead the life, you will live it.

Jesus wanted all his followers to want what they really ought to have wanted, but none, including the twelve apostles, could really want the real want. It is very difficult, so very difficult, but not impossible. Very rarely, one among a million can establish the real want. Only a man of God (Mard-e-Khuda) can dare want what one ought to want. What you must long for is the real want, and this alone must be your perennial want. Once this is established, the time will come when you become free even from this singular want, and attain the freedom that is not bound by even freedom itself.

January 1959, Guruprasad, Poona
AO p166-167

Father Anthony, the Principal of the St. Catherine of Siena School in Bombay, came to see Meher Baba at Guruprasad, Poona, on 12 May 1960. Baba told him,

"I am well pleased with your work among destitute and abandoned children. By serving the abandoned, you are really serving Jesus Christ, because he was also abandoned by all, even by his own apostles. The emblem of abandonment is the cross. Hence to serve the abandoned is to serve the Christ, and I am he undoubtedly.

"I am with you in your work, as I am myself in you. Difficulties, lack of sympathy and opposition there will be in your work, but I will help you. You have my blessings and love.

"The cross of Christ is also the symbol of sacrifice. Hence I say that you should sacrifice your whole self, and plunge yourself unreservedly into the work of helping the destitute children. By sacrificing your everything, you will find all."

Father Anthony said he would print Baba's message in his magazine. Baba asked him to repeat it, and he did, except for the phrase "and I am he undoubtedly." Baba told him he had left out the most significant part and repeated, "I am he undoubtedly."

AO p169
Also GM p353

Love and understanding never condemn, but seek to help and encourage. Men and women have departed from the custom and laws of Truth and goodness, but God never condemns us or turns us from his door. So we should not condemn even those who condemn us.

1960, Poona
AO p170

Instead of making Truth the vital breath of his life, man compromises by making over and over again a mechanical religion of it - a handy staff to lean on in times of adversity, a soothing balm for his conscience, or a tradition to be followed. Man's inability to live God's words makes a mockery of them. How many Christian's follow Christ's teaching to turn the other cheek, or to love thy neighbor as thyself?

c. 1960, India
EN p74

I am the Christ, the personification of love.

4 November 1962, Poona
GM p369

UNDATED

The sigh within the prayer is the same in the heart of the Christian, the Muhammadan, the Jew. They are indivisibly longing for the same God.

Gl May 1974 p7

People believe that the Ten Commandments were given from above. Little do they know that these commandments are latent in every human being, and what was shown on the tablets were only symbolical representations. Every human being is aware of these commandments, but human nature is such that every effort is made to circumvent them.

to Eruch Jessawala
after viewing the first half of
the film 'The Ten Commandments'
AO p96

FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Herbert Davy took Baba around Assisi, showing him the main places associated with St. Francis. Baba went past the home of Bernardo, Francis' first disciple. Baba pointed to a rock outside the house and said, "This is the spot where St. Francis sat and meditated on me, Christ, weeping throughout the whole night with love for Christ."

7 August 1932, Assisi
LM5 p1693

Baba said "I want to find the place where Saint Francis had his vision of Christ beside a spring." Baba called for a map, and pointing out a spot on it, said, "I wish to proceed to the village of Borganto." They drove to Borganto, and on a hill overlooking Florence called Monte Ceceri, Baba pointed to a spot and said, "In the time of St. Francis, there was a strong rushing spring there." Baba chose a villa for Herbert to stay in later there, and Herbert went back for several days after Baba returned to India and found the spring, which was difficult because the top of the hill had been quarried off.

8 August 1932, Borganto, Italy
LM5 p1693-1694

If you have that love for me that St. Francis had for Jesus, then not only will you realise me, but you will please me.

Di (7th ed.) p405

Do you know how St. Francis of Assisi loved Jesus and became one with him? He loved him as Jesus ought to be loved. But in Francis' group there was one who was a glutton. Juniper loved Francis most, though he did not sit in meditation or think of anything. He gave more trouble to Francis than anyone, yet he loved Francis dearly. When we love from the bottom of our hearts, we give all our good and bad, even our troubles. The lover gives everything and demands nothing.

September 1954, Meherabad
GM p257

St. Francis of Assisi suffered such excruciating headaches as to have to dash his head against stone, though others could be healed by a touch of his hand.

22 July 1956, New York
Gl Nov. 1987 p22

Do not be frightened. There is nothing to fear...

Francis of Assisi and Francis Xavier loved Christ with all their might, and what they suffered none of you can guess, but fear was foreign to them. Do not fear.

18 September 1954, Meherabad
GM p248

FURTHER READING

Baba gave a meditation on the crucifixion, Aw 10:2 p26

Baba talked with Christians, members of the Oxford Group, Aw 14:1 p34

LM3 p 834-835, 915, 990, 1100
LM4 p1196, 1429, 1440, 1507, 1172-1175
LM5 p1528, 1559, 1670, 1691
BG p12-13
Aw 4:2 p22, 6:1 p26, 8:2 p11, 14:2 p2
LA p34, 276
LB p27, 29-30
MM p77
HM p442-443. 460, 461, 662-663, 685, 709, 724
MJ 2:6 p354-355
Me p91-92
Gl Feb 1978 p14, Aug 1992 p12
GG2 p375-376
GM p243, 283, 291, 298, 308, 332

Meher Baba

The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Meher Baba
Part One: The Life of Jesus

Index - Incarnations of the Avatar