Avatar
3vfeher Baba’s 75th Birthday Celebration
FEBRUARY 25, 1969
HUNTER COLLEGE
NEW YORK CITY
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LOVE AND DEVOTION Love burns the lover. Devotion burns the Beloved. Love seeks happiness for the Beloved. Devotion seeks for blessings from the Beloved. Love seeks to shoulder the burden of the Beloved. Devotion throws the burden on the Beloved. Love gives. Devotion asks. Love is silent and sublime, devoid of outward expressions. Devotion expresses itself outwardly. Love does not require the presence of the Beloved in order to love. Devotion demands the presence of the Beloved to express affection for the Beloved. Meher Baba
2nd Day, 50th Week, Meher Year 74 This is the true account of Avatar Meher Baba’s dropping His body, according to the resident mandali. The three years of intense work in seclusion had an untold effect upon His body, and a faint reflection of this on us caused a deep depression among us. But beloved Baba warned us that this was disobeying His order to be always cheerful in His presence. And He quoted, as He had many times over the years, Hafiz’ couplet : “Befitting a fortunate slave carry out every command of the Master without any question of why and what.” on 13th October 1968 Baba told us that He would give His darshan to all His lovers all over the world from 10th April to 10th June 1969. Considering His physical condition we were appre hensive of His body standing such a strain. But He said, “It will be easy for me to give my lovers my darshan, so you are not to feel concerned about it. I will give darshan reclining and that will be no strain on my body. It will be different from all previous darshans and it will be the last in silence. Although I will be reclining I will be very strong. My physical condition now is because of my work, but by then my work will be complete and my exultation will be great. A very poor man winning a rich lottery can become so excited over his fortune that he collapses and dies. My fortune will be in my work being finished and in the knowledge of its certain results : bt my exulta tion will not cause my collapse—it will be my glory.” Despite these assurances, Baba’s health became worse. But the symptoms were completely confusing to the doctors we called from Poona and Bombay. His blood uria was so high that the doctors said usually an ordinary man in such a condition would go into a coma, but there was not even the least sign of mental confusion or the faintest trace of uremic odour. Similarly, when muscular spasms were occurring, when a specialist from Bombay examined Him, he asked why he had been called, because there were no symptoms at all—Baba’s condition was quite normal. Outwardly, to our eyes, Baba’s condition deteriorated still further,. and we wanted to take Him to Poona so that further tests could be carried out, but He refused to go and warned us that we should not try and take Him against His wish. He said, “If you want me to drop my body now, then take me to Poona. My condition has no medical grounds at all; it is due purely to the strain of my work. Do not call the doctors again until I tell you.” And so, helpless before His will, we had to obey His will. Over the last days Baba’s body manifested severe spasms, and He told us, “This is my cruci fixion.” Two days before He dropped His body He told us to call the doctors. The one from Poona came the next morning and said he could do nothing until further tests were done so that a definite diagnosis could be arrived at; and this could only be done if Baba went to Poona. Baba said to him, “My time has come.” The next day the doctor from Bombay came, and also one from Ahmednagar. By the time they arrived a great spasm shook His body, the pulse rate fell to nothing, and breathing ceased. This was at 12.15 p.m. At 12 noon He had been joking with us about all the medicines He had been given. In the evening we brought His body to Meherabad. The sun was setting and the moon was rising as we placed it in the tomb for His lovers to take His darshan, fulfilling beloved Baba’s word that He would give His darshan reclining. ‘
5th February 1969.
King’s Road, Ahmednagar. Maharashtra, India.
ADI K. IRANI
THE AVATAR’S PRAYER by Mel’zer Bttha
0 Parvardigar, the Preserver and Protector of All, You are without Beginning, and without End; Non-dual, beyond Comparison; and none can measure You. You are without colour, without expression, without form, and without attributes. You are unlimited and unfathomable, beyond imagination and conception; eternal and imperishable. You are indivisible; and none can see You, but with eyes Divine. You always were, You always are, and You always will be; You are everywhere, You are in everything; and You are also beyond everywhere and beyond everything. You are in the firmament and in the depths, You are manifest and unmanifest; on all planes and beyond all planes. You are in the three worlds, and also beyond the three worlds; You are imperceptible and independent. You are the Creator, the Lord of Lords, the Knower of all minds and hearts; You are Omnipotent and Omnipresent. You are Knowledge Infinite, Power Infinite, and Bliss Infinite. You are the Ocean of Knowledge, All-Knowing, Infinitely-Knowing; the Knower of the past, the present and the future, and You are Knowledge itself. You are All-merciful and eternally benevolent; You are the Soul of souls, the One with infinite attributes; You are the Trinity of Truth, Knowledge, and Bliss; You are the Source of Truth, the Ocean of Love; You are the Ancient One, the Highest of the High; You are Prabhu and Parameshwar; You are the Beyond-God, and the Beyond-Beyond-God also; You are Parabrahma; Allah; Elahi; Yezdan; Ahuramazda; and God the Beloved. You are named Ezad : the only One worthy of worship.
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2vleher 73aba
A Short Biographical Sketch
(“Meher” means “mercy,” or in Persian “sun,” and is the name by which he was called as a child; “Baba” means “father”) is Merwan Sheheriarji Irani, born at Poona, India, on February 25, 1894. One morning in May 1913, while a student at Deccan Col lege, he was bicycling down Kedari Road when he looked up and met the eyes of an old woman sitting under a neem tree. He knew who the woman was, Hazrat Babajan, reputed to be a very holy person to the inhabitants of the area who held her in very great esteem. She beckoned to him, whereupon he left his bicycle and went over to her. She arose and embraced him though not a word was said. He remained sitting with her for about fifteen minutes and then left her. That was the first meeting between Meher and Hazrat Babajan. After that first meeting he visited her every night. One night in January 1914, when he made his usual visit, she kissed him on the forehead. Babajan was later to declare, “This child of mine will after some years create a great sensation in the world and do immense good to humanity.” After returning home Meher lost consciousness of his body. It was not until November of that same year that Meher re gained a little consciousness and behaved, it was said “as an automaton possessing intuition.” Years later, Meher Baba identified Hazrat Babajan and four other holy men with whom he subsequently came into contact, as the Perfect or God-Realized Ones whose function was to “unveil” the superconsciousness in him. Babajan, he said, gave him God-Realization—the complete merging of his consciousness in the Infinite Ocean of Divine Love, Knowledge and Bliss—thus enabling him to realize by his actual experience, the Infinite Existence which is God. It was a period, as mdicated above, when he was completely unconscious of the things of the world. However, it was at the end of December 1921 that Upasni Maharaj, one of the five mentioned above, returned Meher Baba completely to normal consciousness of the world with full retention of his God-Realization, and signified it with a short address. “Merwan,” Upasni Maharaj said, “you are the Avatar and I salute you.” “Avatar” is a Sanskrit word meaning “One who is sent” and thus it can be equated with other words that apply to what is regarded as a similar and special phenomenon, namely, Messenger, Christ, Son of God, Messiah, Rasool, Prophet, etc., even though these terms are variously interpreted. But Meher Baba has given his own unique explanation in his book GOD SPEAKS, whose theme is Creation and its purpose. Whatever may have transpired during Meher Baba’s rela tionship with the five individuals mentioned, the fact remains that it was plain to many who came into contact with Meher Baba thereafter that at the very least he possessed an unusual understanding of the spiritual life and a deep and rare insight. As a result he drew disciples to himself very readily whom he trained for an arduous life of selfless service through moral discipline, love for God and spiritual understanding. It was some of these early disciples who gave him the name ‘Meher Baba’ which means ‘Compassionate Father.’ After years of intensive training of his disciples, Meher Baba established a colony near Ahmednagar, India, that is called Meherabad. Here his work embraced a free school where spiritual training was stressed, a free hospital and dispensary,
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EHER BABA
and shelters for the poor. No distinction was made between individuals, and all mingled in common fellowship through the inspiration of the Master. At Meherabad many of his Eastern and Western disciples who were of different backgrounds received their training under his personal guidance. Meher Baba told his disciples that from July 10, 1925 he would observe Silence, and since that day he has maintained this Silence which he said was necessary for universal spiritual reasons. His many spiritual discourses and messages have been dictated by means of an alphabet board which was dis carded on October 7, 1954, and he now uses unique hand gestures which are interpreted by his disciples. Meher Baba as travelled extensively throughout India giving his ‘darshan’ or spiritual blessing to hundreds of thousands and contacting many of a special category of advanced spiritual pilgrim whom he has called “masts” (pronounced “musts”) or God-intoxicated souls. He has also travelled many times to the Western world and visited several countries. His first visit to the West was in 1931 and his last visit to America which he has visited six times and more than any other country, was in 1958 when he and his disciples stayed at the Center established in his name at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In November 1962, Meher Baba reversed the current of his travels by inviting followers from all over the world and India to enjoy a few days of his ‘darshan’ and companionship at The East-West Gathering which was held in Poona. In spite of all this activity MeherBaba has consistently maintained that his “work” is neither to teach nor to found a new religion, but to.awaken the sleeping soul of man to a higher state of consciousness of man’s Real Self which is God. He is therefore committed to no “ism” whether of religion or of politics. He has pointed out that while he appreciates all “isms” for the many good things they seek to achieve, Truth, while equally including them, transcends all of them and leaves no room for separative divisions, which are all equally false. For the unity of life is integral and indivisible and it will remain unassailable and inviolable, in spite of all conceivable ideological differences. Meher Baba has said that when he breaks his Silence he will speak “One Word” which will go to the world as from God, not as from a philosopher, and that it will go straight to the heart. The effective force of this “Word” and the reaction to it, he has said, will be in accordance with the magnitude and receptivity of each individual mind. What is so impressive about Baba, as his disciples and followers call him, is the LOVE which radiates from him and permeates through all of his activities. It is through the power of LOVE, which is utterly selfless, that he awakens in those who come to him a new, deeper and far more beautiful understanding of life whose purpose he says, is that the individual should realize the Godhood inherent in himself. As C. B. Purdom, author of Meher Baba’s recent biography THE GOD-MAN, 50 aptly said, “Meher Baba is beyond the scope of familiar categories and ordinary experience is insufficient to account for him except on his own terms. It is sufficient to be in his presence to know the Truth. He does not need to speak; he has the power of Truth in him. Meher Baba is the Master of one knowledge, which is God, but that knowledge includes everything else.”
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“I am not come to establish any cult, society or organization; nor even to establish a new religion. The religion that I shall give teaches the Knowledge of the One behind the many. The book that I shall make people read is the book of the heart that holds the key to the mystery of life. I shall bring about a happy blending of the head and the heart. I shall revitalize all religions and cults, and bring them together like beads on one string.” MEHER. BABA
HOW TO LOVE GOD To love God in the most practical way is to love our fellow beings. If we feel for others in the same way as we feel for our own dear ones, we love God. If, instead of seeing faults in others, we look within ourselves, we are loving God. If, instead of robbing others to help ourselves, we rob ourselves to help others, we are loving God. If we suffer in the sufferings of others and feel happy in the happiness of others, we are loving God. If, instead of worrying over our own misfortunes, we think of ourselves more fortunate than many, many others, we are loving God. If we endure our lot with patience and contentment, accepting it as His Will, we are loving God. If we understand and feel that the greatest act of devotion and worship to God is not to hurt or harm any of His beings, we are loving God. To love God as He ought to be loved, we must live for God and die for God, knowing that the goal of life is to Love God, and find Him as our own self. Mel’ier Baba
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Program
1. Welcome Address
Leonard Willoughby
2. Avatar’s Prayer
Dr. Harry L. Kenmore
3. Meher Baba’s Birthday Message
Annarosa Karrasch
4. Life Sketch of Meher Baba
Michael Kohanow
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“of Thee We Sing Baba”
Geminis
6. “Till There Was You” (Solo)
Nola Larkin
7. “Divine Love” (Solo)
Leonard Willoughby
(Words from Let Us The People Sing by Francis Brabazon; music by Richard Williamson) Gloria Price
8. “My Lord What A Morning” (Solo) 9. “The Dawn Light Breaks” (Solo)
Irving Hunter
(Words from The East—West Gathering by Francis Brabazon) 10. “Baba Is My Beloved” (Solo)
Nola Larkin
11. “You’ll Never Walk Alone”
Geminis
12. The Eternal One
Dr. Harry L. Kenmore
13. Avatar Meher Baba (Film) Geminis
14. “I Believe” :I_5. “Someone Bigger Than You & I” (Solo)
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Gloria Price
16. “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands” (Solo)
Leonard Willoughby
17. “Ah Sweet Mystery Of Life” (Solo)
Nola Larkin
18. Baba’s “Swanee”
Dr. Harry L. Kenmore and Geminis
19. “It’s A Small World”
Gloria Price, Irving Hunter and Geminis
20. “Begin The Beguine” (Solo) 21. Finale—”Happy Birthday” to Meher Baba
Irving Hunter
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TO YOUTH
It is the privilege of youth to be full of energy and hope. Not being caught up in any ruts, your dreams of the future have the advantage of being inspired by an unfettered imagination. In the glow of a newborn love or in the warmth of a newly-caught enthusiasm, you are quick to respond to the call for action and self-sacrifice. Life would be poorer without these qualities that are predominantly present in youth. But if you are to derive the full benefit of the qualities with which you are abundantly endowed, you must also try to acquire some other qualities which are rare in youth. Hope should be fortified by a courage which can accept failure without upset. Enthusiasm should be harnessed by the wisdom that knows how to wait with patience for the fruit of action. Idealistic dreams about the future should be balanced by a sense of the realities of the present. And the glow of love should allow iteslf to be illumined by the full exercise of reason. It is easy for youth to be so absorbed in realizing the ideal that it becomes bitter against the present and the past. But it is as well to cultivate a spirit of idealizing the real, while being appre ciative of the heritage of the past. The world as it is may not seem to conform to the pattern which youth adores, but you must never forget that it is always good enough to merit your most loving attention. In your desire to improve the world, do not, by becoming bitter, surrender your right to be happy. Youth loves freedom and therefore has a natural impulse to rebel against all authority. This is well and good, but you should make a real effort to keep free of the many illusions to which youth is particularly susceptible. True self-expression need not include irreverence for others. True criticism need not involve snobbishness or cynicism. True freedom need not manifest hos tility, or separateness. Freedom without responsibility is a doubtful boon. Freedom is worth having only where there act and is self-restraint and willingness to cooperate with others. Youth is always willing to within. life take risks. It should be allowed to yield freely to this fearless and imperative urge of But while engaged in action, youth must take every care that it is creative, and not destructive. Let your watch-words always be LOVE and SERVICE.
To Youth Taken from Listen Humanity, by Don E. Stevens
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FORGIVE AND FORGET People ask God for forgiveness. But since God is everything and everyone, who is there for Him to forgive? Forgiveness of the created was already there in His act of creation. But still people ask God’s forgiveness, and He forgives them. But they, instead of forgetting that for which they asked forgiveness, forget that God has forgiven them, and, instead, remember the things they were forgiven—and so nourish the seed of wrong-doing, and it bears its fruit again. Again and again they plead for forgiveness, and again and again the Master says, I forgive. But it is impossible for men to forget their wrong-doings and the wrongs done to them by others. And since they cannot forget, they find it hard to forgive. But forgiveness is the best charity. (It is easy to give the poor money and goods when one has plenty, but to forgive is hard; but it is the best thing if one can do it.) Instead of men trying to forgive one another they fight. Once they fought with their hands and with clubs. Then with spears and bows and arrows. Then with guns and cannon. Then they invented bombs and carriers for them. Now they have developed missiles that can destroy millions of other men thousands of miles away, and they are prepared to use them. The weapons used change, but the aggressive pattern of man remains the same. Now men are planning to go to the moon. And the first to get there will plant his nation’s flag on it, and that nation will say, It is mine. But another nation will dispute the claim and they will fight here on this earth for possession of that moon. And whoever goes there, what will he find? Nothing but himself. And if people go on to Venus they will still find nothing but themselves. Whether men soar to outer space or dive to the bottom of the deepest ocean they will find themselves as they are, unchanged, because they will not have forgotten themselves nor remembered to exercise the charity of forgiveness. Supremacy over others will never cause a man to find a change in himself; the greater his conquests the stronger is his confirmation of what his mind tells him—that there is no God other than his own power. And he remains separated from God, the Absolute Power. But when the same mind tells him that there is something which may be called God, and, further, when it prompts him to search for God that he may see Him face to face, he begins to forget himself and to forgive others for whatever he has suffered from them. And when he has forgiven everyone and has completely forgotten himself, he finds that God has forgiven him everything, and he remembers Who, in reality, he is.
Forgive and Forget Taken from The Everything and the Nothing
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THE PRAYER OF REPENTANCE
We repent, 0 God Most Merciful, for all our sins; for every thought that was false or unjust or unclean; for every word spoken that ought not to have been spoken; for every deed done that ought not to have been done. We repent for every deed and word and thought inspired by selfishness, and for every deed and word and thought inspired by hatred. We repent most especially for every lustful thought and every lustful action; for every lie; for all hypocrisy; for every promise given but not fulfilled, and for all slander and backbiting. Most especially also, we repent for every action that has brought ruin to others; for every. word and deed that has given others pain; and for every wish that pain should befall others. In Your Unbounded Mercy we ask You to forgive us, 0 God, for all these sins committed by us, and to forgive us for our constant failures to think and speak and act according to Your Will.
Meher Baba
This whole program is given under the auspices of “Society for Avatar Meher Baba.” Board of Trustees : Dr. Harry L. Kenmore, President; Mr. John Bass, 1st Vice-President; Mr. Fred Winterfeldt, 2nd Vice-President; Mrs. Ella Winterfeldt; Mrs. Annarosa Karrasch.
I THE READING ROOM AND OFFICES OF THE SOCIETY FOR AVATAR MEHER BABA 121 WEST 72ND STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. SUITE 2A-B.
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