The following two Iiiessages dictated by BABA were distributed to over ten thousand people who came to have BABA’S darshan on the first ofNovember, 1953, at Dehra Dun, India, that being the day he had allowed public darshan. BABA asked that they be reprinted in The Awakener. ON PLAYING WITH ILLUSIONS which has brought yeu here. I also appreciate your love and devotion. It has made me very happy. I know and understand your difficulties and problems, sufferings and expectations. Not only the individuals, but the whole world is in the throes of suffering. When suffering comes, it comes according to the divinely established law of Karma. It must then be accepted with grace and fortitude. But it must be remembered that your actions are the cause of much ofyour suffering. Through wise action, it can be minimised. What humanity needs is spiritual wisdom; and for this, it must inevitably turn to the Perfect Masters and Avatars. Suffering comes through ignorance or attachment to illusions. Most people play with illusions as children play with toys. If you get caught up in the ephemeral things of this world and cling to illusory values, suffering is inevitable. It is not easy for little children to give up their toys, for they become the victims of a habit, which they can not undo. In the same way, through millions of lives, you have got into the habit of playing with illusions; it is difficult for you to get disentangled from them. For ages and ages, the Atma (Soul) has been seeing its own shadow and getting engrossed in the illusory world of forms. He gets addicted to the spectacle ofhis own creation and desires to see it through cycles and cycles of creation. When the soul turns inwards and longs to have self-knowledge, APPRECIATE THE FAITH,
has become spiritually-minded. But even there, this habit of wanting to see some spectacle persists for several livcs. The soul ulants to experience some miracles or spcctacular phenomena, or in more advance-I stages, it wants to perform miracles and manzulate phenomena. Even spiritually advanced persons find attach it difficult to outgrow this habit of playing with illusions. Persistant illusion. with ofplaying habit ofthe continuation a firther only is ment to miracles It is not miracles, hut understanding, which can bring you true freedom. If you have firm faith and unfaltering love for the God-man, your way to the Abiding Truth is clear and safe. Then you have no time to waste in playing with things that do not matter. Be ye guided by Love and Thith. This is the simple way that leads to GOD. Not by endless manoeuvering of alluring illusions, but by loyalty to the Unchangeable Truth, can ye hope to be established in Abiding Peace. When I speak, it will be only one Divine Word; hut it will he the Word of words or the Manifestation of Truth. This Word will have to be heark ened to by the heart and not merely by the mind. It will go home to you and bring you the Awakening.
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THE REAL DARSHAN I am happy to be in your midst. It is the deep love of some of my lovers in Dehra Dun that has drawn you all together today to have my darshan. But to have my Real Darshan is not easy. To see me at close quarters, to do obeisance to me, to offer me fruits and flowers, to bow down to me and then to return to your homes, can never mean that you have had my darshan. Having seen me with your eyes you have still not seen me as I am. You have not had even a glimpse of my true Being in spite of your having gone through the convention of so-called ‘darshan.’ To have my Real Darshan is to find me. The way to find me is to find your abode in me. And the only one and sure way to find your abode in me is to love me. To love me as I love you, you must become recipient of my grace. Only my grace can bestow the gift of Divine Love.
To receive my grace, you must obey me wholeheartedly with the firm foundation of unshakable faith in me. And you can only obey me spon taneously as I want when you completely surrender yourselves to me so that my wish becomes your law and my love sustains your being. Age after age, many aspire for such a surrender; but only very few really attempt to surrender themselves to me completely as I want. He, who succeeds, ultimately not only finds me, but becomes me and realises the aim of life. My being in your midst today would serve its purpose even if one from this multitude has understood what I want you all to know. MEHER BABA I give my blessings to you all. *
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THE DIVINE BIRTH: AN EDIr0RIAL HIS FEBRUARY, on the twenty-fifth, according to the Western calendar, MEHER BABA will be sixty years old. But the real BABA can never grow old; the real BABA is eternal. Who is this “real BABA,” whom he says we have never seen?
This ‘real BABA” is our Real Self. the One, Divine Self that is in each and every one of us, but whom we have not yet realized., whom we have not yet joined, in the Eternal Marriage of Love, Knowledge and Bliss Infinite. .
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MEHER BABA is One with this Great Soul of the Universe; he is that Divinity fully expressed in man. Some of us feel this intuitively.Some know it by grace; that is, by the will of the Master, who floods the heart with this
blinding revelation of his Identity; as Saul knew the Christ, “not through my knowledge, nor the knowledge of any man, but through revelation in Jesus Christ.” And some advanced souls or Pilgrims recognize him through
their spiritual or occult knowledge, as the wise men recognized the “Star” or Aura of the Babe in Bethlehem. Others, more humble, know him only through faith, through the love he has awakened in them, by little signs and touches of his unfathomable mercy. “There have been Buddhas before me and there will he Buddhas after,” said the Gautauma, predicting the greatest one would bear a name meaning Mercy. MEHER BABA means Father of Mercy. “Whenever there is a decline of virtue and a resurgance of evil and injustice in the world, I, the Avatar, take human form,” said Krishna. Our namaskar to Him Who Has Come Again. The Awakener Divine! .
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,Cook Within Yourself...
by DELIA DE LEON You, yourself must make the çf/irt. Buddhas do butpoint the Way.” Dhammapada HESE WORDS HAVE a deep and profound meaning, but, like other sayings of the same kind, they can be heard and read over and over again without any real understanding of the process of evolving development, that lies behind the words. The effort. for what? —
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where? And the way The materialist makes the effort for material things, and in the process, more often destroys himself, because he becomes enchained by his false values; he is a slave to the things which can fail him at any moment, and leave him utterly barren, for he is like a spoiled child wanting everything for his own gratification. The self-styled spiritual person, on the other hatid, damages himself by developing a spiritual pride and a feeling of exclusiveness. He does not want to bring GOD to earth; his GOD is something afar off, and exclusive to himself. He, too, shirks the issue. The way must surely lie between these two extremes, but to find it, we have first to face ourselves, and the problem of life on earth, with conscious intelligence, as mature beings; for the whole evolutionary plan consists in this descending unconsciously from GOD into the densest form of matter; achieving full consciousness as man, and then ascending back to the source, which leads to GOD-Consciousness. GOD becomes man, so that man may .
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become GOD. “It is no game for the faint-hearted,” for the Path back to GOD is likened to a razor’s edge, and needs endless love and courage, patience and humility. The first requisite is to grow up. This necessitates seeing truly and imper deciding our own way (different for sonally our own vices and virtues. lives and what to give to life our each of us); deciding what to do with accepting all experiences ourselves, within facing the issues, digging deeply wishfully, but bit by bit thinking not willingly, without running away. squarely. Then we can ourselves facing and pulling down the false façades superfluous things the eliminate and us, decide what is of real value to truth. the to which clutter us up and blind us .
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It is always difficult to sift the chaff from the wheat, the dross from the gold because duality (maya s illusion) gives us such opposite feelings we can love and hate at the same time, be spiritual and lustful, have fear and he courageous. The balancing of these opposites, the finding of a middle way, is the art of life. As we begin to ponder, “Where .am I going? Why am I here? What does it all mean?” we will be helped to find an answer to see the pattern When the pupil is ready the Teacher appears Usually we have to get down to rock-bottom, with its attendant suffer ing atici pain and tears; but when we cease to struggle against life and allow it to flow through us ac eptmg whatc er it brings then often a small voice gives us the answer, and truth begins to unfold like a flower. It is an expanding of consciousness, this process of bringing GOD to birth
finding HIM iii the center and very core of our being, where HE has been all the time! Many great Masters in the past have given us their pointers: “Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time, hatred ceases by love: this is an old Dhaminapada; “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole rule.” Jesus of Nazareth; “Whosoeyer for world and lose his own sOul?” saketh all desires and goeth onwards free from yearnings, selfless and with Bhaghavad. Gitâ; “Love your enemies, out egoism, he goeth t peace.” bless them that curse you, do good to them that despitefully use you and persecute you.”.. Jesus of Nazareth. The Masters of Zen Buddhism often just said to their pupils, “Talk on,” or pointed to a Circle, or some other symbol. Most of us give these words lipservice; that is why there is such chaos in the world today; for until words are illuminated by conscious: experience, they cannot truly be put iiito practice; they must he applied, in truth, to every waking hour. It is a question of inner knowing and feeling. poets, saints, Yet all who have trod the Path have left their signposts the Way. To they were prophets. The Masters have shown the Way because all of blessings, for come into personal contact with a Master is the greatest and true find he is a gauge for all our conduct; by him we can measure values. He is our hope and promise, our Light in the darkness. In loving him, we are helped to live outside ourselves, and the fire, once lit, can never be put out. However often we fall.. he helps us out of his infinite com passion to rise again and again. He stirs and shakes us to the depth of our .
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being, so that we may awaken from our dream of maya and become con scious vehicles for the furthering on earth of the Divine Plan of the great Architect of the Universe. We may take heart from the words of MEHER BABA, who says today to us all: “I have come to help you win the one Victory of all victories, to win your Self.”
3jj Pearls... t J Dictated by BABA on November 21,
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at the home of Mr. W’. D. Kain, India.
one external, “THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF EXPERIENCES the other internal. The external experience is to be had by gross means. What we actually see of the gross world with gross eyes gives us a sort of conviction, but at times even this conviction is based on false analysis; for example when we happen to see a man drinking milk from a bottle under a toddy tree we feel convinced that he is drinking toddy, which is false. What is seen with the inner eye, however, gives an absolute and definite conviction which can never fail nor be false. “When one actually sees GOD with the inner eye as the Omnipresent Existence, one only needs to become that Infinite Existence oneself. What is needed is not more theorising and reasoning but the actual experience which gives eternal conviction and this can be had only through Love.” .
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“JUST as GOD is Infinite, imagination is infinite and all that has come out of imagination, which is called the shadow of GOD, is also infinite. We can imagine anything and everything ad infinitum. “Science, as it is understood today, deals with energy and matter. This material science is in the domain of the mind. There is also spiritual science, which deals with the beyond-mind state. Material science and material science brings results spiritual science both yield proofs through intellect, spiritual science through Love. When Love is experienced fully, the Source of the spiritual science, i.e., GOD the Infinite, is realised and all else is then found to be just illusory phenomena. “Spiritual science, being based on Love alone and being beyond system atic mental understanding, is full of apparent ups and downs, vagaries and contradictions which Love alone can face and overcome, because whereas material science enhances the ego-life, spiritual science annihilates it.” .
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QUESTIONS BABA ANSWERED the “Second Q. Will SHIRT MEHER BABA explain christ’s words concerning 26, 27.) 21, xiii: Mark coming”? (St. “And th’n 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 coining 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.” A. 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 ofJudgment. 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, i.e., 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: “Behold the sky, and clouds and the world: First is GOD, then the planes, the last is earth; but all three are linked.” We read in St. Mark ix: 2 and 7 that the Transfiguration of Jesus occurred when He ascended into a mountain: “And there was a cloud that over shadowed 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 was I in a light of contemplation, in which I saw the abyss of the infinite good ness 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 spoken unto Moses.” On Mount Sinai GOD appeared in a thick cloud and with fire. Therefore we see that “clouds,” “the house of clouds” (manzii), is a .
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symbolic expression among mystics for “the six Planes.” Q. There have been and still are so many false Messiahs. lb w can we recognize the “true” Messiah? A. The feeling and inspiration for things sublime and the Divine Love are imparted by a real Messiah to anyone who comes in contact with Him. A false Messiah cannot do this. Through His Divinity the true Messiah gradually attracts the world to Himself, and people come to know and feel that He is REAL. The knowledge and feeling of confidence in His words and works grow gradually into cer tainty, and masses follow Him, drawn by an irresistahie force. A mirage attracts the thirsty, hut 500fl it is discovered to be an illusion and not the lifegiving water. A false Messiah may attract the attention of the people through outward appearances, by force of personality, or by intellectual disssertations about spirituality, but he cannot do that which the true Messiah can do, i.e., arouse the highest ideals in men and touch the hearts of millions. and Q. How is it, that the Master, being superhuman, still has hunger, thirst, the need ofsleep? spiritual, mental, astral and A. The Master works on different Planes at different stages individuals different physical. And in order to work with in the physical when Even level. their of evolution, he comes down to less advanced plane, mental the on souls body, he can aid highly advanced plane. physical the on beings human souls on the astral plane, and ordinary as physical, or astral mental, spiritual, He uses the appropriate body plane. required the the medium for his work on It is rightly said that the true teacher is he who can come down to the level of the student. The Master comes down to the level of this world for its upliftment. The physical body, now his medium of work, has its physical needs, food and rest, which must usually be attended to physically. If necessary, he could live for days together without food or water. In fact, he has often fasted for long periods. This attention to the requirements of the physical body of the Master, although outwardly similar, is inwardly different. It is not, as in ordinary men, actuated by any desire to satisfy hunger, thirst or sleep, nor for the pleasure that man derives from eating, drinking and other enjoyments. He tends to the physical needs of the body merely to preserve it as a medium for the great work that he has to do for humanity on this physical plane. .
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JVleher rBabas Fiery ‘zfe and External A tUvities by
RAMJOO ABDULLA
Concluding this remarkable eyewitness account of the Master’s Fiery Life period, from November, 1952 to April, 1953. PART EIGHT: MAST CONTACTS IN MADRAS.
Allahhad to Madras, a very tiresome trip for all concerned, was relieved of its tediousness at one stage by an impromptu presentation at the request of BABA, of a drama by some of the men who accompanied him. This was done, much to BABA’S enjoyment, in spite of the fact that they hardly had space to move, being as usual crowded together in a third-class compartment. BABA and his men stayed three nights and two days in all in Madras without letting anyone know, as BABA wished to remain incognito till he reached Andhra. They had comfortable lodgings, yet BABA kept his men awake for nearly thirty-six hours, not allowing them to doze off in between even for a moment. Long before they had arrived at Madras, BABA had begun to prepare his men for hardships and inconveniences to be encountered. Unless and until the desired work was carried out, BABA warned them, such things as food and sleep must be forgotten. During the strictest fasts when BABA expects his people to completely abstain from food for twenty-four hours or more, he always allows the drinking of water and the free use of tobacco in any form for those who wish. But when on the first morning at Madras, BABA set out with his men for the mast contacts, the instruction he gave them virtually placed an embargo on their mouths with the exception of breathing and talking. When they arrived in the locality known as the Beech area, it was nearly two P.M. More than four hours had passed since they had started trudging, without rest or refreshment. Leaving some of his men outside, BABA, with the few who had actively worked in the search for masts, went into the com pound of the residence of a rich Moslem who was sheltering the mast called HE LONG JOURNEY BY TRAIN from
Moti Baha. After some time BABA came out, appearing very happy, and told all his men to go in and look at the mast. ‘Be quick, you are now going to get food,” he added. The men came to know afterwards that when Moti Baba came before BABA, the first words he uttered were, “Now let them eat, feed them.” BABA continued his work with the masts, one of the first to be contacted being a Moslem. After a good deal of walking through lanes and by-lanes bearing names which were as difficult to remember as to pronounce, BABA contacted this mast inside the house of a Hindu family who, though un aware of BABA’S identity, readily allowed him to go in. Afterwards the mast came out and passed before BABA’s men. He was a robust man of over sixty years, and although a Moslem, he was loved and revered by the people in the locality, which was predominantly Hindu. He appeared to be very happy after his meeting with BABA. The only other mast whom BABA particularly wanted his men to see was Arabshah. He was found living in the small out-building of a public school in the Dock area at the other end of Madras. According to BABA, Moti Baba and Arabshah were the best amongst the masts in Madras. Although BABA contacted a number of masts it was observed that the main object of this trip to Madras concerned particular types of masts, and not just masts in general. PART NINE: ANDHRA OUTBURST OF LOVE AND DEVOTION.
The river Godaveri, which originates in the hills near Nasik in the Western State of Bombay, has its estuary in Andhra Pradesh on the Eastern shores of India. Two of the richest districts of Andhra are divided from each other by this river and are called the West and the East Godaveri Districts. Together with about eight other districts they form a large and compact Telegu-speaking area, almost midway between Madras and Calcutta, on India’s vast east coast. At the moment Andhra forms part of Madras State, but it is shortly to become one of the autonomous states of the Republic of India. Due to the devotion, for over twelve years, of a few Andhra men who are very rich in their love for BABA as their Master, Andhra had already made BABA its mark on the illimitable map of BABA’S special world. Since their and homes their his presence with to bless had been repeatedly invited of the time the till not it was but his cause, with public activities concerned plan definite a that 1952, in November, congregation held at Meherabad
was chaJked out for BABA’s first visit to Andhra in January, 1953. On the morning of the i6th of January, BABA and his men left Madras for Bezwada, the only railway junction station in Andhra, where those who were invited from Ahmednagar, Bombay, Delhi, Saoner, Hamirpur, Am raoti, etc., to attend the Andhra program were expected to join BABA. Before BABA and his men, who now numbered over fifty, left Bezwada th, their identity neither 7 for Wst Godaveri on the afternoon of January i remained a secret, nor were any attempts made to conceal it any longer.
Beginning with a small crowd of about three hundred people who saw them off from Bezwadam, over one hundred and fifty thousand people must have had BABA’S darshan and at least fifty thousand men, women and children received prasad at his hands before he passed through Bezwada again on January 2 th at the end of the public program originally chalked out on 9 the eve of BABA’S Fiery Life.
The response received by BABA from all classes of people, rich and poor, literate and illiterate, officials and businessmen, politicians and social workers, was beyond the expectations of the organizers. According to them the beginning of this deep response had taken place months before BABA’S actual arrival in Andhra. Many people who had never before seen BABA had begun to know about him not only through the literature on BABA, but also from personal inner experiences, visions, and dreams. There was therefore some particular significance in an address presented to BABA at Tadepal th. In the course of the expression of their love and 9 ligudem on January i “Thou hast been transmitting tremendous power devotion, they said. from Thy infinite, inexhaustible dynamo, silently awakening Love through inner contact by continuous telepathic radiations Likewise at another reception, the members of the bar, leaving all thought of their profession aside, addressed BABA in all simplicity, saying ‘Yea, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil, for Thou art with us, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort us.. At Tadepalligudem, after he had finished bowing down to seven poor persons and given them each Rs. 50/ as prasad, and instead of returning to the Dak bungalow, BABA slipped away and walked in the opposite direction. After going about fifty yards, he selected a particular house and sat down on the plinth near the doorway, to the utter joy and amazement of the inmates at this unexpected Grace of the Master. BABA remained there .
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smiling at them until his men arrived. This house was a “Yeruka,” i.e., a house belonging to a very poor depressed-class pig keeper. BABA often gave extempore messages for unexpected gatherings; this at a wayside village called Pippra, while on his way from the West to the East, Godaveri district, BABA dictatcl the following through his alphabet hoard: I feel very happy to be amongst you all today. My message since eternity has been of love. GOD alone is real, and to know Him, we must love Him. GOD resides in us all equally; He needs our silent love within. We can also love Him by loving our fellow-men. If we love GOD honestly, all our doubts and worries vanish. I give you my blessings so that through love you can see me in everyone and everything. My coming here will be of value if at least one of you becomes worthy of this blessing.” The Telegu language was a problem for all concerned. It was difficult to understand or be understood by the people unless both sides knew English or Telegu. Ordinarily and outwardly BABA appeared to depend on inter pretors and translators, but once he proved that he could understand the purport without following the words. This came to light during a meeting between BABA and his local devotees. BABA allowed them to carry on the general discussion in Telegu as all of them could not follow English. BABA would express himself in English, which was then translated into Telegu for the benefit of all. Once, during a translation, BABA stopped the trans lator before he could finish, and showed how he had erred in his translation; and those who knew both English and Telegu agreed with BABA. BABA, during the course of the journey home, gave a discourse to his men, as follows: “You do not know me. You have not seen me. I am not this body which you see. I am not what you hear. Physical existence is not GOD. GOD is in everything, everwhere, all the time. Your body also is not you. Even if a leg or an arm is cut off, you will still feel within you that you are whole. As a child, as a boy, as you are now and as you will be, you have been changing and will go on changing. Yet you continue to feel your same self, neither more nor less. Your very existence continues unchanged. In spite of the oft-repeated gaps during deep sleep, you do not feel any break in the continuity of this existence at the moment of your regaining perceptibility • Why is it I am GOD and you are not GoD? It is because I am conscious that I am GOD, and you are not. .
Is There a Universal JVIind? By
ANTON BAARSLAG
‘Je ne sais as ceque c’est que la vie eternelle, mats ce/Ic mauvaise pIaisaiiterie’
ci est uiie
Voltaire, came to The of Awakener, that issue October my mind when I read in the smilingly BABA MEHER life?”, is “What to one who asked keenly, Joke replied, “Life is a Mighty At first sight it would seem strange that two men of such widely different philosophies of life, one, a typical Western, matter-of-fact thinker, the other an Oriental mystic, express the same opiflion about “life.” I am now in clined to doubt the veracity of Kipling’s line: “East is East and West is West And ne’er the twain shall meet,” though I firmly believed it when I lived, years ago, in the East, on the beautiful island, Java. I did not enjoy life in the tropics. The Europeans living there could be divided in two groups; those who loved it and those who disliked it intensely. There was no middle way. I belonged to the latter variety. Not only the hot climate without relief, even at night, but the whole atmos sphere bothered me. I cannot express it differently than by saying that it was threatening: the deep-blue volcanic mountains, the ominous tropical silence at night, which by the way, is no silence at all but just a reminder that there is a threat somewhere. Then there was the attitude of the native population in whom, friendly and subservient as they seemed, I sensed a (maybe imaginary) resentment. I felt that I just had no business to be there. I was conscious of goings-on in the air in which I did not participate, supernatural forces. I sensed a smattering of that which makes the Oriental mystical to a high degree, and I came strongly under the spell of the mysterious circumambience, and joined a group of people who studied Theosophy. It was in the days that Krishnamurti, (then still a small boy) came to the fore and we had a regular correspondence with Annie Besant, asking her opinion and advice in various matters. There I learned the power HESE WORDS OF THE AMIABLE FREE-THINKER,
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with meditation, of meditation and of silence. Not the silence which goes e, higher than the but the one which Thomas Carlyle eulogizes: “Silenc stars, deeper than the mystery of death.” with Theosophy, Years have past since I have read anything connected lost. I realized but my experience is that whatever we learn is very seldom “On-TheCenter this when I met MEHER BABA, whose house in Meher included was I Lakes” is practically next door to my present home. When that my glad I was him, in the people who were invited to come and meet with little a me nted theosophical studies of so many years ago had acquai the in last at be to me for Eastern religious thinking. It was quite an event we though and, phy, presence of an exponent of that profound philoso It me. on sion impres deep weEe allotted only five minutes each, it left a serious little the tof though I brought back to me memories oftheOrientand and of the discussion group which so ardently studied the Bhagavad Gitá, further studies to on us that followed those gatherings which goaded mind to obtain a ed n-train Though at first it seems difficult for a Wester phy, such philoso al Orient of clear conception of the underlying principle teachings us religio these studies reveal the amazing fact that fundamentally authority better A d believe are not so alien to our ideas as is commonly , tells us Goethe with s rsation Conve than I confirms this. Eckermann, in his Victor pher, philoso French the of how, talking about the spiritualism philo “This phy. philoso Indian Cousin, the convetsation turned upon tely absolu ins “conta said, her sophy,” the great German poet-philosop ourpass we which h throug epochs all nothing foreign. On the contrary, as we are children; selves are being repeated in it. ‘X”e are sensualists, as long d object which belove the to es qualiti idealists when we love and attribute lness, and we faithfu its doubt we and really do not exist. Love falters, erial, we just immat is life of rest The it. become sceptics before we realize phers.” philoso Indian the like m quietis with let it go at its will and we end up to France entury eenth-C Sevent in applied ‘Quietism’ was the nickname and n Fénelo were figures ding outstan the that mystical movement of which nt from the Indian Madam Guyon. This quietism, outwardly so differe al. The German identic ally spiritu and ly inward mysticism and asceticism, is one of the writings of philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, points our that exactly the teachings Jeanne de Ia Motte Guyon gives, in abbreviated form, ors. It is absolutely of Vedanta, and even using the selfsame metaph ,
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impossible that Madam Guyon, about i68o, could have been acquainted with the writings of the Vedantists. l1 and Idea), Schopen 1 In his lV3itals 7illq und Vorstellung (The World as W hauer goes to great length to show that Brahmisna and Buddhism, spirit ually and ethically, are akin to Christianity, more so than Judaism. He even goes so far as to say that the Christian religion has fundamentally taught to the Western world that which the entire Orient knew already for ages, namely, the metaphysical meaning of life. If,” he says, “the paradoxes and the concurrence of my philosophy with quietism and asceticism are resented by my contemporaries, it would mean to me another proof of its correctness and truth. Because not only the Oriental religions but also true Christianity has fundamentally the same ascetic character, which is being clarified by my philosophy of “negation of the will to live...” Here I am tempted to go further into the elaborations of Schopenhauer in his Parerga and Paralipomena on this subject, but that would lead me too far. I must quote however a curious fact observed by that philosopher. That there is an identity between Buddha and Wtan woul4 seem likely because Wednesday (Wotans day) is dedicated to Buddha. An even stronger link between Eastern and pre-Christian European religions is, that the planet Mercury is sacred to Buddha and to a certain extent is identified with him. Now, Wednesday (French: Mercredi,i.e.,Mercury day) is Buddha day and Mercury is the son of Maia, whereas Buddha is the son of Queen Maja. This can hardly be a coincidence. But we don’t have to go so far from home to see how Oriental and Western thoughts are interrelated. Our own New England Transcendent alism shows the unmistakable traces thereof, especially in Emerson’s Oversoul and compensation. The above necessarily brief exposé should however suffice to show that, far from being alien to our religious feelings and thoughts, a study of Oriental religions, and I refer here specifically to MEHER BABA’S teachings, should serve to enrich our spiritual life. It would be trite to elaborate on the fact of how much we stand in need of development of our spiritual potent ialities, now that our mind is keyed entirely to the material accomplishments of our civilization. Dr. Truman Douglass, in his powerful book, Mission to America, which shoeld be on the bookshelf of every serious ( Continued on page 36) ‘
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few BHAJANS” for BABA on his
60th BIRTHDAY FEBRUARY 25, 1954
LYVfemories of The ‘Beloved: “THERE IS A SAVIOUR RARER THAN RADIUM” His Eyes:
Black diamonds blazing Love Piercing The self’s illusion
His Hands:
out Spelling. Signalling Blessedness Hands to kiss That smell of rose .
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Truth
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at us
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His Body:
0 Too frail cloak for Radiance supreme! God’s beauty beautified By sacrifice.
His Feet.’
White lotus Feet Where God touches earth Running and running as on a Path of Fire... —
Anonymous
Fragment: Forever I -4m’ Forever I AM Forever My Light Springs from Me; Forever My Suns are My Creations born in Me, yet, These are not the SELF of Me, THEY ARE FOREVER IN ME.
Forever I AM My Suns Forever re-create in Me, yet, These are not the SELF of Me, Their coming and going Is, Forever IN ME. Forever I AM Forever My Central Suns Centered in Me, Forever THE CENTER, THE CAUSE...
Forever I
AM CENTERED EVERYWHERE...
THE ALL IS FOREVER CENTERED IN ME,
The Unconditional One. the Light and the Dark... In Me, two opposites are. Yet, both are as One IN ME, the Unconditional. The Light of day, the dark of night, Both are One IN ME, yet, I AM no darkness at all. My Attributes are forever coming and going IN ME, Yet I move not nor change. .
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Forever LIGHT; darkness comprehendeth Me not; Forever the Illumined, the Unconditioned SELF— THAT, which forever disperseth the dark. Forever the All Springs from Me...
I I
AM
AM
Is FOREVER IN ME.
Frank Simon Hendrick Reprinted by special permission from “Forever
‘I AM”
Song of Myse1f Going my way with the Name of my Master on my lips, with the presence of my Beloved (oh, beyond fairness) in my heart. Behold me, one who loves adversity, who welcomes defeat; who is bent upon loss, and is eager to strip himself of possession of himself. I am ready to laugh with you in your joy; to weep with you in your tears. But my laughter and weeping have no meaning except in His love. What I say from myself has not the minutest particle of value; I say because of Him, But what that lightly, take do not or he absent when it is said. And oh.
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tell GOD in your prayers (if you pray), that I do not know how much longer I can endure this pain, But that if He removes it, even for a moment, I will never again call Him compassionate. .
Francis Brabazon Transition� Reprinted by special permission from “Proletarians .
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Memories of the A1af/er
please send us those you may We coiltinue our scrapbook of memories of BABA with others!” shared when ses ‘increa re Treasu His fel like sharing receiving some hundreds Dee rieg the three wondrous days when BABA was experience to watch His of people at our apartment, it was a remarkable minute. The people came dynamic change of mood and tempo every passing two or three minutes their from all sorts of places and all walks of life, for but they walked out dead, with B3\. It seemed as if some were almost heartbreakingly. wept some teansfigured and newly alive. Some smiled, and this He couch, His beside BABA asked for a bowl of fruit to stand grape or a a came, who people would dispense with a divine smile to the and He *. terrific prasad was heat The cherry, to impart His divine love, His t, leg-cas his in e fortabl uncom had nor slept for many nights, and was most much so see, ‘You d: beame He bLtc afrer the first two or three interviews, love has revived me.’ He spelled on ‘The first afternoon, much to the latter’s astonishment, time, When some for saying been has B. His hoard, ‘You knowJ. are we going to have tea?’ a sort of Olympian When BABA pulls a joke He looks so hilarious with in the world. Once thing st funnie the glee. that OU just feel He has said I was saying while eyes His in mirth He looked at me with this infinite its toys, but I about g prattlin child a something; and I not only felt like other on any from was er laught silent ’s thought how different the Master self. with ed unting ve, ehensi compr yet earth, because it is so innocent and -Up,’ as ‘Seven known water l minera ing When we offered Him the refresh and merrily dashed He held His good arm over His head in a cute gesture moment with our light a Such .” already off on the board: ‘I’m seven-up anecdotes, serious more His sharing as Beloved was as heart-expanding calling and day, one s minute few a for ewing such as when he stopped intervi His on story ing follow the related in some of the older devotees, alphabet-board, of course: a great , “King Janaka, who was Sita’s father and Rama’sfather-in-law was the across miles of ds hundre walked this, of g Master. A poor aspirant, learnin *Prasad: Gift from the Master. .
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difficult terrain to find him, so as to offr himself as a disciie. He went many /ays without food, and reached the castle footsore and startling. The guards, not liking his looks, refused to let him in, so he screamed, ‘Janaka, Janaka,” and the kinç,
being a Master, heard, and sent for him. But then, instead ofsuccorinç the poor wretch, the king consigned him to prison where he was for eight deys more without food. Naturally he was bewildered and wondered what kind ofa Master this was. Eventually Janaka had him brought forth from his dungeon. The night before he had commanded that the whole city be filled with entertainments, dancing and merriment and music on that day. The poor aipirant, thought, it the siçrht of such luxury, “How can Janaka, who is dwelling in the midst of such enjoyment, be a Sadguru ?“ King Janaka. reading his thoughts, then called f)r a glass of milk ‘full to the brim.” But as it was placed in the man’s hands the king said, “Look behind you!” There stood two executioners with great drawn swords. “Now,” the king went on, “You must carry this niilk all over the city and not spill one drop, for ifyou do, these men will cut off your head.” The poor man, hungry and woebegone, grasped the glass of milk in both handj. and walked carefully throughout the entire city, follo wed by the executioners. When he returned, King Janaka said to him, ‘What did you think of all the entertainment and music going on in my city?” The poor man replied he ha,! not been aware of any as his eyes had been on that glass of milk the whole time. The King then pointed out that so he, the Sadguru, was absorbed in the Infinite, and paid no attention to outer things. So also, should the aspirant for God-Real ization live. in the world, but not of it, with his eyes and heart fixed on God all the time. Then he took the man as a disciple.” —Ivy Duce. .
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“The most wonderful thing of my life happened today. It was all so wonderful and so soon. I have personally. I have met His gracious radiance enthralled me; I was earth. to only just got back ‘BABA loves you. I know you understand. hear: still I can and yet speechless you.’ I will help “What more can life give me. I ask nothing more, but that I may be My heart sings to my Soul in made more worthy of that Divine Love. Wisdom of GOD, revealed and Beauty and Love the for gratitude loving heart.” human little tiny a to FROM A LETTER: BABA
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L’uc/y
by This amusing incident shows how the Master works with other creatures in the “Divine Theme” of creation.
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I don’t know where he is now, but I had the good fortune to ‘mother’ him during his significant stay in the Ashram on Meherabad Hill. This incident is hard to believe unless one realizes the effect. MEHER BABA sent out a call for him, but then he described him merely as a monkey that would respond to him. So, through all the four corners of India, friends and disciples were mobilized to detect such a promising creature, which, after we read the Divine Theme, we realize is part and parcel of it. like any one of us. Now, monkeys after monkeys were sent for and brought up the hill. As I had to carry them down the hill again it meant that none of them was as yet the one for which BABA sent out a call. And then, one day, most un expectedly, a tiny case arrived down at the men’s quarters, below the hill, from an unasked source, and in it was a small creature, no bigger than a baby squirrel with huge sparkling eyes and long eyelashes. The news was rushed up the hill to where BABA was at the time. His reaction was ‘spon taneous rejoicement.” the men down the hill At once, the following plan was set by BABA: were to squat in a circle with BABA hiding himself in their midst, and at a given moment BABA was to give the sign for the cage to be opened. Should the monkey, without hesitation, jump into BABA’s lap first, that would be the chosen one. The momentous order became fact. The monkey shot straight on to BABA’s left arm, sitting right under his heart, and was given forthwith the name of ‘Lucky’ amidst great enthusiasm of all present. What perfect instinct! By chosen one, I understand the one whose evolutionary striving would be speeded through contact with the Master. On the same afternoon of the momentous arrival of the monkey, BABA, followed by all the members of the Ashram, brought him up to me where I was temporary invalided by having strained a ligament on my right foot and therefore had to stay in bed in the upstairs dormitory under a mosquito net. BABA introduced me to ‘Lucky’ as his temporary mother with orders to look after him. But how lucky were we all because BABA would spend UCKY” IS A MONKEY.
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a playful half-hour unstairs with ‘Lucky’ an us. During this period BABA would take ‘Lucky’ from me, hold him, caress him, let the monkey kiss his neck, hide under his jacket or in his pocket until he became too posessive and intolerant in wanting ever more of BABA’S warmth and light, when BABA would come up to me and I would have to tear the monkey out of BABA’S grasp. Of course, the monkey rather resented it, so our part-time life under the mosquito net became rather strained. ‘Lucky’ slept in a box at the head of my bed. I had to hear him snore at night and of an afternoon he insisted on sitting on the palm of my hand for his afternoon nap. At times, he would escape from under the net, then it was havoc. Tooth paste, powder boxes, fountain pens, belonging to others in the dormitory were squeezed open and thrown down. Finally, an ingen ious trick helped to bring him down from a high rafter near the ceiling. By arousing the jealousy of this most lovable creature, I put my arms around my neighbors’ and administered loud, spectacular kisses which aroused his jealousy at once and down he jumped between us. Then I would catch him and put him back into his cage. These are just a few of the little difficulties encountered during BABA’S ‘doings and undoings’ with ‘Lucky’. However, BABA continued coming and ‘Lucky,’ always feeling BABA’s approach from afar, would become excited and shriek and call, but would find at once his heaven on earth when back in BABA’S arms. It would seem though, that this divine treatment through love could not last forever. One day, ‘Lucky’ broke all discipline and escaped through the window on to the roof enjoying an illusionary freedom and when BABA called to him, by clapping his hands, he did not obey. When he did finally come down, BABA threw a stick between himself and ‘Lucky’ which apparently put an end to the episode. To us, it seemed as though BABA’s work in close contact with ‘Lucky’ was temporarily finished. BABA, some time later, sent ‘Lucky’ off to a new home to be taken good care of where he grows and prospers, in time, from his perfect instinct to some higher sense-perception. Being ‘part and parcel’ of the Divine Theme which has one goal for all creation. GOD, ‘Lucky’ has received, through this Divine adventure, his evolutionary push, due ‘in time’ to all, from the inarticulate form to the conscious-human form, that comes in contact with the God-man. .
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EDITORIAL NOTE:
(In this great Discourse on Meditation, first dictated by BABA in 1936, and used constantly since for meditation by his devotees and disczles (In 1942 BABA asked them to meditate on it for one hour every day for forty-six days, BABA gives us the “summa” of the Divine Theme of Creation from beginning to glorious end, in simple language that all can understand. W’e are happy to reprint it here in the original form perhaps for meditation on the Beloved’s Birthday ) .
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Shri Jvleher ‘Baba
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JVIeditation INTRODUCTION THE VALUE OF MEDIyATION:
says SHRI MEHER BABA, “is one of the ways which lead the aspirant to the Divine Path. For those who are in contact with a God-realised Master, meditation is unnecessary. It is enough for them to be under His guidance and to have love for Him. Also for the few who are in an advanced spiritual state, this preliminary process is unnecessary; while those rare Beings, who are selfrealised, themselves become the object of meditation. EDITATION,”
MEDITATION AND CONCENTRATION:
Meditation should be carefully distinguished from concentration. Medi tation is the first stage of a process which gradually develops into concen tration. It consists in thorough thinking about a particular subject to the exclusion ofevery other irrelevant thing, while concentration is a natural process of fixing the mind upon one particular thing, in which there is the peaceful inter mingling of love and longing for the object of concentration (and not a mere mechanical process, in which there is a regular, drill-like rigid mono tony). Further, the subject-matter of meditation, unlike the object of concentration, cannot consist of a single form, or a pithy and terse formula, but must consist of a reasoned exposition. ...23...
Persons who are not gifted with the capacity of intense concentration have to begin with meditation, whereas for those who are gifted with the capacity of concentration, meditation is unnecessary. “It is sufficient,” says SHRI MEHER BABA, “if they concentrate their minds on the mere form of a Godman*, or some simple formuJa like ‘I am neither Sharira (gross body), nor Prana (the subtle body which is the seat of desires and vital forces), nor Manas (mental body which is the seat of the mind); I am ATMAN (soul)’.” CONDITIONS OF INTELLIGENT MEDITATION:
Meditation has often been misunderstood as being a mechanical process
of forcing the mind upon some idea or object. It is therefore hut natural that most people should find great difficulty in their attempts to coerce the mind in a particular direction, or pin it down to some particular thing. Any purely mechanical handling of the mind is not only irksome but is ulti mately bound to be unsuccessful. The first principle which the aspirants, therefore, should remember is that the mind can be controlled and directed in meditation only according to the laws inherent in the makeup of the mind ilseif and not by mians of the application of any mechanical or semi-mechanical force. Many persons who do not technically ‘meditate” are oftentimes found to be deeply and intensely engrossed in systematic and clear thinking about some practical problem or theoretical subject, and their mental process is, in a sense, very much like meditation, in as much as the mind is engrossed in intense thinking about a particular subject-matter to the exclusion of all other irrelevant things. The reason why meditation is often easy and spontaneous in such mental process is that the mind is dwelling upon a subject in which it is interested and which it increasingly understands. But the spiritual tragedy about ordinary trains of thoughts is that they are not directed towards things that really matter. On the other hand, the object of meditation has always to be carefully selected, and must be spiritually important. It has to be some divine person or object, or some spiritually significant theme or Truth. But in order to attain success in meditation, we must not only get the mind interested in the divine subjects or truths, but we must also begin by trying to understand and appreciate them. Such intelligent meditation is a natural process of the mind; and it avoids the monotonous * See Appendix, page 32 ...24..
rigidity and regularity of mechanical meditation. It therefore becomes only spontaneous and inspiring, but easy and successful.
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THE NEW FORM OF MEDITATION:
Since intelligent meditation consists in thorough thinking about a par ticular subject, it follows that the best help for meditation would be a brief and clear exposition of the object of meditation. SHRI MEHER BABA, there fore, offers to the world a concise exposition of the Divine Theme, which comprises the whole story of creation, as well as a complete account of the Path and Goal of Seif-realisation. The aspirants can intelligently read the exposition and assimilate the sublime truths which it embodies. The process of meditation which SHRI MEHER BABA recommends has three stages: i. In the first stage, the aspirant will have to read the exposition daily, and simultaneously think about it thoroughly. 2. In the second stage, actual reading would become unnecessary, but the subject matter of the exposition will be mentally revived and thought over constantly. 3. In the third stage, it will be quite unnecessary for the mind to revive the words or the thoughts in the exposition separately and consecutively, and all discursive thinking about the subject-matter will come to an end. At this stage of meditation, the mind will no longer be occupied with any trains of thought, but will have a clear, spontaneous and intuitive perception of the sublime Truth, which is expressed in the exposition. ADVANTAGES OF THE NEW METHOD:
The difficulties which the aspirants experience in connection with medit ation are either (a) due to the unwieldiness or vagueness of the subject matter of meditation, or (h) due to some flaw in the method which makes it mechanical or uninspiring, or (c) due to the fact that the method of meditation is not adapted to the subject-matter of meditation. The form of meditation which SHRI MEHER BABA recommends avoids all these causes which vitiate meditation, and make it unsuccessful. SHRI MEHER BABA has thus offered to the world of aspirants a new and beautiful form of meditation, in which the process of meditation as well as its subject-matter are specially adapted to the requirements of intelligent
meditation, and which is extremely easy and useful, owing to the fact that reading of the subject-matter and thinking about it have to be done simultan eously. Further, in making the exposition of the subject-matter clear and concise, he has eliminated the probability of any disturbance owing to irrelevant thoughts, which are almost unavoidable when the exposition is unnecessarily long-drawn. It is extremely difficult to avoid the disturbance of irrelevant thoughts while meditating upon the subject-matter of some long-drawn article or book, even if it is committed to memory; and spon taneous meditation about it, therefore, becomes impracticable. Further, the appearance of irrelevant thoughts in the mind becomes very probable not only in a long-drawn meditation of abstract thoughts, but also in a meditation of some concrete object ofexperience. On the contrary, irrelevant thoughts are extremely improbable if the subject-matter of meditation consists of a brief exposition of the Super-sensible Truth. It is therefore confidently expected, that if the aspirants sincerely meditate upon the subject-matter of the following exposition (in the manner which has been elaborately indicated above), meditation will become for them not only spontaneous and easy, delightful and inspiring, but also helpful and successful. And they will be thus taking a very important step towards the realisation of the goal of life. *
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915ĂŞ ‘Divine Theme for JYleditation..., JOURNEY OF THE SOUL TO THE OVER-SOUL (THROUGH CREATION) THE SOUL AND ITS ILLUSION:
TMAN OR THE SOUL is in reality identical with Paramatman or the OverSoul,* which is One, Infinite and Eternal. The soul is in fact beyond the gross, subtle and mental worlds;t but it exper iences itself as being limited owing to its indentification with the Sharira or the gross body, Prana or the subtle body (which is the vehicle of desires and vital forces), or Manas or the mental body (which is the seat of the mind). The soul, in its transcendental state, is One, Formless, Eternal and * Appendix B See Appendix, page 34, A t Appendix C
Infl;iite, and yet
it
comes to identify itself with the phenomenal world of
Jrms which are many and ftiite and destructible. This is Maya or the Cosmic
illusion. STATES OF THE PHENOMENAL WORLD:
The phenomenal world of finite objects is utterly illusory and false. It has three states: (i) the GROSS, (2) the SUBTLE and (a,) the MENTAL. Although all these three states of the world are false, they represent different degrees offalseness. Thus, the gross world is farthest from Truth (GOD); the subtle world is nearer Truth; and the mental world is nearest Truth. But all three states of the world owe their existence to the cosmic illusion which the soul has to transcend before it realises the Truth. TI1E PURPOSE OF CREATION:
We have here to discover the purpose of creation. The sole purpose of creation is that the soul should be able to enjoy the Infinite state of the Over-soul consciously. Although the soul eternally exists in and with the Over-soul in an inviolable unity, it cannot be conscious of this unity indepen dently of the creation which is within the limitations of time. It must, therefore, evolve consciousness before it can realise its true status and nature as being identical with the Infinite Over-soul, which is One without a second. The evolution of consciousness required the duality of the subject and the object the center of consciousness and the environment, (i.e., the world of forms). .
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THE GENESIS OF THE COSMIC ILLUSION:
We are here faced with the problem of accounting for the cosmic illusion which is caused by the world of forms. How does the soul get caught up in the illusion? How did the Formless, Infinite and Eternal Soul come to experience itself as having form, and as being finite and destructible? How did the PURUSHA or the Supreme Spirit come to think of itself as PRAKRATI or the world of nature? In other words, what is the cause of the cosmic illusion in which the soul finds itself? To realise the true status of the Over-soul which is One, Indivisible, Real and Infi’nite, the soul needed consciousness. The soul did get con sciousness, but this consciousness was not of God but of the Universe; not of the Over-Soul but of its shadow; not of the one but of many; not of the
infinite but of the finite: not of the Eternal hut of the transito y. Thus, the soul, instead of realising the Over-soul, gets itself involved in the cosmic illusion, and hence, though really Infinite, it comes to experience itself as finite. In other words, when the soul develops consciousness, it does not become conscious of its own true nature but of the phenomenal world which is its own shadow. -
THE ORGANIC EVOLUTION AND DEGREES OF CONSCIOUSNESS: In order to become conscious of the phenomenal world, the soul must assume some form (as its medium) for experiencing the world; and the degree and the kind of consciousness are determined by the nature of the form which is used as a medium. The soul first becomes conscious of the gross world by assuming a gross body. The consciousness of the gross world which it has in the beginning is of the most partial and rudimentary type; and correspondingly, the soul assumes the most undeveloped form (e.g., that of stone), with which evolution begins. The driving force of evolution is constituted by the momentum which consciousness receives owing to the conservations of the impressions (samskaras) left by diverse desires or conations. Thus the samskaras cultivated in a particular form have to be worked out and fulfilled through the medium of a higher form and a correspondingly more developed consciousness of the gross world; and the soul, therefore, has to assume higher and higher forms (like metal, vegetable, worm, fish, bird and animal) until at last it assumes a human form, in which it develops FULL CONSCIOUSNESS (i.e., all the aspects of knowing, feeling and willing) of the gross world. THE DRIVING FORCE OF EVOLuTION:
The manner in which samskaras result in the evolution of consciousness and the corresponding form has a useful analogy in ordinary experience. If a man has the desire to act the part of a king on the stage, he can only experience it by actually putting on the garb of a king and going to the stage. The same is the case with other aspirations and desires, which can only be worked out and fulfilled by bringing about an actual change in the entire situation and the medium, through which the situation can be ade quately experienced. The function of the samskaras in bringing about the evolution of consciousness and its corresponding form is not conscious as
in thc above analogy; hut the parallel will he very suggestive iii understand ing the driving force of evolution, which is not mechanical but teleological. FORM: The samskaras are not only responsible for the evolution of the form (body) and the kind of consciousness connected with it, but they are also responsible for the rivetting of consciousness to the phenomenal world. They make emancipation of consciousness (i.e., the withdrawal of con sciousness from the phenomenal world to the soul itself) impossible at the sub-human stage and difficult at the human level. Since consciousness clings to the previous samskaras, and since experience of the phenomenal world is conditioned by the use of an adequate form (body) as a medium, the soul, at every stage of evolution, comes to identify itself with the form (for example, stone, metal, vegetable, animal, etc.). Thus the soul, which is, in reality, Infinite and Formless, comes to experince itself as finite, that is, thinks of itself as being a stone, or a metal or a vegetable, a worm or a fish, a bird or an animal, according to the degree of the development of consciousness; and finally, while experiencing the gross world through the human form, the soul thinks that it is a human being. IDENTIFICATION WITH THE
RE-INCARNATION AND THE LAW OF KARMA:
The soul develops FULL consciousness in the human form, and therefore, there is no need for any further evolution of the gross form (body). The evolution of forms, therefore, comes to an end with the attainment of the human form; and to experience the samskaras cultivated in the human form, the soul has to re-incarnate again and again in the human forms. The innumerable human forms, through which the soul has to pass, are deter mined by the Law of Karma, or the nature of its previous samskaras, (ie., according as the samskaras are of virtue or vice, happiness or misery, etc.); and thus, while experiencing the gross world, the soul identifies itselfwith the gross body which is destructible, although, in reality, it (soul) is itself Eternal. THE SUBTLE AND MENTAL BODIES:
While developing full consciousness of the gross world in the human form, the soul simultaneously develops the subtle and the mental bodies; but as long as its consciousness is confined to the gross world alone, it cannot
es conscious of these use these bodies consciously in wakefulness. It becom its full consciousness” bodies and the corresponding worlds only when conscious of the subtle turns inwards, i.e., towards itself. When the soul is the subtle body, and world through the subtle body, it identifies itself with the mental body, it when it is conscious of the mental world through it is conscious of the identifies itself with the mental body, just as when with the gross body. gross world through the gross body, it identifies itself THE PATH:
freeing itself from the The homeward journey of the soul consists in and mental).When suhtle (gross, illusion of being identical with its bodies seif-realisation, and e owledg self-kn s the attention of the soul turns toward ras which keep samska the of e earanc disapp there is a gradual loosening and enal world. phenom the to d rivette and s the consciousness tutned toward piercing the with side by side ds procee ras The disappearance of the samska to begins only not soul the and n, illusio through the veil of the cosmic to know begins but world, enal phenom the transcend the different states of when the soul tries to itself to be different from its bodies. The Path begins Truth (GoD. s toward s’ ousnes consci find itself and turns its “full of its gross body cious uncons otally es becom At the first stage, the soul through the world subtle the nces experie and of the gross world, and the second In itself. ies identif it which with medium of its subtle body bodies and subtle and gross its of cious stage, the soul is totally uncons world mental the nces experie and , worlds also of the gross and subtle itself. ies identif now it which with body mental through the medium of its Over the or GOD with face to face be to said At this stage, the soul may be it recognises the soul, which it realises as being Infinite. But even while upon itself as , it looks TIFIES OBJEC it which Infinity of the Over-soul, body. mental or mind the with ication identif being finite because of its e, sees Infinit is , reality in whjch, soul, the that x Thus, we have the parado seeing while e, becaus finite, as itself regard to ues its Infinite state, but still contin to be the mind, and looks it, it looks upon itselfas the mind. It imagines itself and further, it not only oul; Over-s the as mind upon the object of the fied Over-soul, but also objecti the with one be entertains the longing to g. tries hard to fulfil that longin ‘
THE GOAL:
In the third stage, the “full consciousness” of the soul is drawn even still further inwards (i.e., towards itself), and it ceases to identify itself even with the mental body. Thus, in the third and the last stage, (which is the goal), the soul CEASES TO IDENTIFY ITSELF WITH ANY OF THE THREE BODIES
(mental, subtle and gross), which it had to develop for evolving full con sciousness; and now it not only knows itself to be formless and beyond all• the bodies and worlds, but also realises, with full consciousneess, its own unity with the Over-soul, which is One, Indivisible, Real and Infinite. And in this realisation of the Truth, it enjoys “Infinite Bliss, Peace, Power and Knowledge,” which is the real state of the Over-soul. SUMMARY:
In the beginning, the soul was unconscious of its identity with the Over soul, and hence, though a part and parcel of the Over-soul, it could not realise its own identity with it, or experience Infinite Peace, Bliss, Power and Knowledge, because it had not evolved consciousness. Even after the evolution of consciousness, it cannot realise the state of the Over-soul (although it is all the time in and with the Over-soul), because its con sciousness is confined to the phenomenal world owing to the samskaras connected with the evolution of consciousness. And even on the Path, the soul is not conscious of itself, but it is conscious only of the gross, subtle and mental worlds, which are its own “illusory shadows.” But at the end of the Path, the soul frees itselffrom all sa7nskaras and desires connected with the gross, subtle and mental worlds; and it becomes possible for it to free itselffrom the illusion of being finite, which comes into existence owing to its identification with the gross, subtle and mental bodies. At this stage, the soul completely transcends the phenomenal world and becomes SELFCONSCIOUS AND SELF-REALISED. For attaining this goal, the soul must retain its “full consciousness,” and at the same time know itself to be different from the Sharira (gross body), Prana (subtle body, which is the vehicle of desires and vital forces) and Manas (mental body, which is the seat of the mind); and also as being beyond the gross, subtle and mental worlds. It follows, therefore, that the soul has to gradually emancipate itself from the illusion of being finite by (i) liberating itselffrom the bondage of the sam --.3’...
skaras, and (2) knowing itself to be different from its bodies (gross, subtle and mental.) It thus annihilates the FALSE EGO (i.e., the illusion that ‘I am the gross body; I am the subtle body or I am the mental body’). While the soul thus frees itself from its illusion, it still retains “full consciousness,” which now results in self-knowledge and REALISATION OF THE TRUTH. Escaping y through the cosmic illusion and realising, with full consciousness, its identit soul. the y of journe long the of goal with the Infinite Over-soul is the *
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APPENDICES THE
GOD-MAN
THE SADGURU OR PERFECT MASTER:
God-realisation is the goal of human life; but from the point of view of a the world, the God-man or the Sadguru (ie., a Perfect Master) has special importance. Being unconscious of the different states of the phenomenal world con stitutes different states of consciousness through which the aspirant has to pass before he attains God-realisation. But after God-realisation, the soul n can again ‘descend’ or ‘come down,’ and become conscious of creatio ally spiritu is What sness. without in any way jeopardising his God-consciou disastrous is not mere consciousness of the creation, but the fact that the con is sciousness is caught up in the creation because of the Samskaras, and the of tion realisa ts the preven consequently covered with ignorance which Divinity within. In the same way, what is spiritually disastrous is not the mere consciousness of the bodies but IDENTIFICATION with them owing to is the samskaras, which prevent the realisation of the Infinite Soul, which is alone which in and n, creatio all of the Ultimate Reality and the ground n. creatio entire to be found the final meaning of the The samskaras might be compared to a chain that ties the soul to the world of forms by means of creating the illusion consisting in the identification of the soul with the bodies. The perversions in the expression of the will and the disharmony within consciousness arise out of this identification with the bodies (due to samskaras), and not merely due to the consciousness of the bodies. Since the Sadguru is free from all samskaras, he is constantly
COnSCiOUS of
being different from bodies, and uses them harmoniously
as mere instruments for the expression of the Divine Will, in its Purity. In the same way, the Sadguru knowS himself to he Infinite and beyond all forms, and can, therefore, with corn/iletc detachment, remain conscious of the creation, WithoUt being caught up in it. The falseness of the phenomenal world consists in its not being under stood properly, i.e., as being an illusory expression of the Infinite Spirit. Ignorance consists in taking the form as complete in itself, without any reference to the Infinite Spirit, of which it is the expression. The Sadguru realises the Truth. He is conscious of the true nature of GOD, as well as the true nature of creation, and yet this does not involve for him any consciousness of duality, because for him, creation does not exist as anything but the changing shadow of GOD who is the only Eternal, Real Existence, and who is at the heart of creation. The Sadguru can, therefore, remain conscious of creation without involving himself in any deficit of God-consciousness, and he continues to work in the world of forms for the furtherance of the primary purpose of creation, which is to create full self-knowledge or God-realis sation in every soul. Tue GREAT OFFERING:
The Sadguru knows himself to be one with all the other souls in bondage; and although he knows himself to be identical with GOD and is thus eter nally free, he also knows himself to be one with the other souls in bondage and is thus vicariously bound. And though he constantly experiences the eternal Bliss of God-realisation, he also vicariously experiences suffering owing to the bondage of other souls, whom he knows to be his own forms. This is the meaning of Christ’s C;-ucifixion. Although in the Sadguru, the purpose of existence is completely realised, he retains his bodies and con tinues to use them for the emancipation of all other souls from ignorance and for helping them to attain God-consciousness. THE HELP OF THE SADGURU:
The soul in bondage is caught up in the universe, and the universe is nothing but imagination. But since there is no end to imagination, he is likely to wander indefinitely in the mazes of false consciousness. The Sadguru can help him to cut short the different stages of false consciousness
by revealing the Truth. In the absence of the perception of the Truth, the mind is likely to imagine all kinds of things. For example, the soul can imagine that he is a beggar or a king, a man or a woman, etc. The soul thus goes on gathering the experiences of the opposites. Wherever there is duality, there is a tendency to restore balance through the opposite. For example, if a person has the experience of being a murderer, it has to be counter balanced by the experience of being murdered; and if the soul has the experience of being a king, it has to be counter-balanced by the experience of being a beggar. Thus the soul may wander ad infinitum from one opposite to the other without being able to put an end to his false consciousness. The Sadguru can help him to arrive at the Truth by giving him perception of the Truth and cutting short the working of his imagination which would otherwise be endless. The Sadguru helps the soul in bondage by sowing in him the seed of God-realisation, hut it always takes some time for the latter to attain God-realisation. Every process of growth in the universe takes TIME. (A)
THE OVER-SOUL:
“Over-soul” is the English equivalent of the Sanskrit term ‘Paramat man,” which means “God, whose cosmic and universal life embraces all things.” (B) THE MENTAL BODY: The Mental body is often called Karana Sharira, or the causal body, because it stores within itself the seeds or the causes of all the desires. The mind retains all impressions and dispositions (i.e., samskaras) in a latent form. The limited I or the ego is composed of samskaras. However, the actual manifestation of samskaras in consciousness (i.e., the different mental processes) takes place in the subtle body. (C)
THE GROSS, SUBTLE AND MENTAL WORLDS:
Nature is much bigger than what a man can perceive through the ordinary senses of his physical body. The hidden aspects of Nature consist of finer matter and forces. There is no unbridgable gulf separating the finer aspects of Nature from its gross aspect. They all interpenetrate one another and exist together. The finer aspects of Nature are not perceptible to man, but
they are nevetheless continuous with the gross aspect, which is perceptible to him. They are not remote; and yet they are inaccessible to his conscious ness. This is due to the fact that his consciousness is functioning through the physical senses which are not adapted for perceiving those aspects of Nature which are finer than the gross aspect. He is unconscious of those “inner planes� just as a deaf man is unconscious of sounds; and naturally he cannot also deal with them consciously. For all practical purposes, therefore, they are for him other worlds. The finer and hidden part of Nature has two important divisions, viz., the subtle and the mental, corresponding to the subtle and mental bodies of man. The whole of Nature might, therfore, be conveniently divided into three parts: (i) the gross world, (ii) the subtle world and (iii) the mental world. The plane on which one can possess physical consciousness is the gross world. The plane on which one can possess the consciousness of desires is the subtle world. And the plane on which the soul can have mental conscioisness is the mental world. The source ofdesire isto be found in the mind which is on this (mental) plane. Here, the seed of desire is attached to the mind (i.e., the desire exists here in an involved form just in the same way as the tree is latent in the seed). The ordinary man is only conscious of the gross world; but as he advances on the path, he develops certain capacities which are latent in him, and by means of which, he can consciously experience the subtle and the mental worlds also. NON-ATTACHMENT Non-attachment to an action means that even during the course of the action there should not be the slightest thought that the particular Karma is being per formed; nor any desire to be concerned about the result. A Perfect Master is universally non-attached. Although a Sadguru is non-attached to the universe, the universe is certainly attached to Him, the centre of all existence. Serve Him who serves the whole universe; obey Him who commands the whole creation; love Him who is Love itself follow Him in every walk of life. The more the attachment to a Sadguru the greater the chances of attaining that perfect state of non-attachment which is nothing but God-Realization. BABA.
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(Contmuea’ from page 15). American, puts his finger on what ails us when It is a dangerous illusion to assume that the majority he writes: States are Christian in the original sense the United in of citizens of America’s material enterprise, the conquest story the with Intertwined of its natural resources, the outreach of exploitation the of the continent, influence in every part of the and economic inventions trade, American courage and self-denial spiritual of story the story, other the is there world, that now that the conclusion the to comes Dr. Douglass self-giving. and all any more, a at Christian not part the most for is truth hard in land Christian mission has to be undertaken in a wholly original spirit. Would not a return to quietism be conducive to rejuvenating our spiritul life, to bringing our ethics and our entire conduct to the same level as our technical achievements? I am satisfied that a study of Indian religion will reveal that, rather than being antagonistic to our Christian way of thinking, it will deepen, widen our spiritual life. We are so full of ourselves, of our knowledge, our achievements, our virtues, that God finds no place where to enter into our souls and make Himself heard. Let us listen to the Teacher who is the Soul of our soul and in the profound stillness of the whole soul, we may hear the “still small voice” of the Divine Teacher who dwells in all of us. We may then learn to understand what it is to “lose one’s self in order to find one’s self.” To live such a life, we do not have to become hermits. The most impor tant lesson which can he drawn from the Bhagavad-GItá is that spiritual man can reach at-one-ness with divine Life in the midst of worldly affairs. The impediments to that at-one-ness are not outside, but inside of our selves. From the little I know of MEHER BABA’s teachings, I would say that this conforms with his message. .
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Sayings ofThe MaFter • “There is greater valour in conquering the heart of a single enemy than in gaining victory over the bodies of thousands of enemies. The mind is capable of turning the bitterest enemy into the sweetest friend by con stantly thinking well of him.” • “Never think you are obliging anybody by rendering any kind of help or giving anything in charity to him. On the contrary, believe that the recipient of your generosity gives you a chance to serve yourself.”