Meher Message Volume One Number Twelve Alt

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I! ===~~===.I'/ DECEMBER, 1929 NO. 12 ~~ I· II

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EDITOR

~~~~~fiUSfH~U

JAf"SfiEDJI DASTU~,

M.A., LL.B.,

THE DISCIPLE OF HIS DIVINE MAJESTY,

SADGURU MEHER BABA i: ___ .. "'-- :':'.... :-~-·-=··=========~--=·=·-= .. ·~--=·== -ANNAS FIVE

,,II

Hl~ VI.E\VS

PRACTICAL CIT A Poc ket Edition : ( PP¡ 200; price 4 annas ) by Narayana Sw aroo p, B. A., L. T., Second Master, Amina . bad High School. Can be had of the author, Aminabad, Lucknow, u. p,

The author tells us that this small treati se is the fruit of his morniurr0 meditations in which he used . to reflect for some tiwe .everyday on the common pomts of difficulty, encountered on the spiritual path in actual life, aa seen in the light of Sri Krishna's teaching~ in the song celestial. It is, indeed, a iucid helpful commentary on the Bhagawad Gita and may justly be called a guide to the Gita. We heartily commend it to students of the Gitei as well as to t>piritual aspirants.

*

*

*

HEART 0 F RAMA ( Pocket Edition: pp. 222; price 8 annasl Edited by R. S. Narayana Swami and published by The RAMA TIRTHA Publication League Aminabad Lucknow, U. P.

In editing this book R. S N arayana ~wami has done his duty J,y his Master as well as by the public.

It is a collection of gems of high spiritual thoughts culled from the tre asury of the workA of Swami Ram Tirtha of the hallowed memory. Swami Ram once said: ''Vedanta, printed in books and placed on shelves to be e a~en up by worms, won't do. You must live it."

Swami Ram Tirtha was not an ordinary yogi, but, according ~o Shri Meher : Baba, a spiritually perfect personage. He did not merely preach Vedanta, but, to use His own words, He lived it, God-realized as He was. Those who cannot afford to buy the complete works of Swami Ram should avail themselves of the oppoi¡tunity-of buying this dirt cheap book which 1s instructive from cover to cover. ' .

EN RAP'fURING NE\VS: TO

WORLD'S SPIRd'UALLY MINDED YOUTHS

His Divine

Majesty

Sadguru

Meher Baba will shortly tstablish A GRAND

SPilliTU AL ACADEMY FOR YOUNG SPIRITUAL ASPIRANTS OF ALL .

CASTES, CREEDS AND COLOUR& SPIRITUALLY-MINDED YOUTHS, WHO ARE NOT LESS THAN EIGHTEEN AND NOT MORE THAN THIR TY YEARS OF AG£, AND WHO ARE NOT MARRIED MAY APPLY TO THE ' Ef?ITOR OF

THE MEHER

MESSAGE. MEMBERS OF _T.-.__1:: f~!8_ .$E)(__Stt0U_~O NOT APPLY.

11

A NOTEWORTHY GUJARATI BOOKLET

Shri Sadguru Meher Baba EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY F. H. DADACHANJI

'J'h1:s

£.<(

the j 1'rst w~cJ, the only booklet in the Gu!Jarctti

Lctnguctgc on the 1-loly iVfaste1·.

All Gu:fm·ati-knowing persons should 1-ececl this j1·ee booklet.

Only send . one mma. stamp to MR. F. H. DADACHANJI MEHERABAD, AHMEDNAGAR AND HE WILL SEND A COPY OF IT TO YOU.

Mr. MEREDITH STARR. a disciple of Shr. Sadgmu Meher B aba. has establis~ecl

A SPII<I1'C A.L RETREAT at East Challacombc, Combe Martin, North Devon, England. lVhere lncl£cth r;t,s 1vell as '· on-Iruliau ·ms£t01·s to EngL nd arc co ;·(hally in·IJited to :;tct,y, prov'ided Owt th~y ( t1'C since·re and wi!linr; to med£tccte nwst ot the time.

A i/,umbc·n of penons, who /w1•e vis£ted t1n's establishment ha1x! spol.·en highly of ,:, .

No cluwoes u.Jhatevel' au: made e:cce2Jt fM bocwd ,mel lodging. East, Chullctcombe is ~t:tuated in one of the most beautifv.l cm ·i peaceful .,·eg£ons of l~'ngland, on · the slope of a h·ill, 0ne and a ha.l_l mile8 f1·om Combe Mwdin.

lll

A NOTEWORTHY

MARAT HI

BOOKLET ON

THE

BLESSED LORD SHRI MEHER BABA WILL SHORTLY BE PUBLISHED.

SAT-CHIT-ANAND MEHER BABA

BY

SADASHIV

I\1.

BORKEI\,

( MEIIERDAS)

AUTHOR OF 'PARAMESHW A R,' 'HEALH,' ETC...

\rVITH

,

A"' FOREvVORD BY

R. B. KALE. Ch£ef Office?',

L.c.E.

Dhul£c~

.l'rfunicipality.

lV

Just Published . .·1 N/:'J/.INA. I/1/,/:' l'l;' /t...,·tt.V .I.ViVI ' t/,

KASHFUL-HAQAYAQUE \V it h a n Intr~Jdndion I J\' K.ri:-dJ!iahl :\lullcttd:tl .J 11 <•\0l i 'LA ., LL.B., Ex-Chief-Jud,:_::-e, Sllwll Cuu,;o;.; C1)11rt, B<llll IIi ( v.

BY

KAI KH USH Hl . E. A I•'S.AH I.

H . .\ .

('l'eher:ttl).

This is the first h11ok i11 the· T\:·rsian Ltng·uagc o,; Shri Sadguru .\Ichcr L:a 1 1:t and 1 li s te aching·:; . .

In the CUllr:-;c nf his intere sting Fon'\\·ord !<.> thi s l1ouk, the rcuuwncd 1Iindtt Schuttr, Mr. Kri slmabl 11.

Jha\-cri writes:.. The amhor l1a.s \\Tillett tllis bnuk in very ckg:ll1t hut :-;impk Per sian fm ini<>nlla\ it'ltl and gu;d;tncc of such of hi s fL·llo\\. Pcr s i:tn ,;, \\hll l\ 11~•\\. JW t•t hcr language ex ccpt th ei r n\\· n . ] Ic Yotlt'hc s l til the t rm!t of C H'l')' inci den!, u rd inar v and cxtranrdin:tn'Y, natJat cd in thi s,\':tmch, saying that he has l ltT n an- cyc·\\i t nc:-;s ut n ;tn y .,f thclll ........... Sculfcrs there \\·ill lJc of the Science c• f 1! Yst ici:-'lJJ. \\ hi ch i s as uld as the \\urld, and :t s tlcW as io;. in:-LtllCC, a disc (Jvcrv nf science ot tn -d a\· - The \c r y f <tel that it ha s st;n i q::d the scc1 JT uf set.~ Ifn ." su • lllll g· JHun.-s its\·it a lity and \\ho kn o \\S but th at \\·hat is tu·cby hidden fr om the gaze of the \ ul gar 11 r the uninitiated. may t (nn o rrow bla ze out in its iull cfful:;cnl'c _it:st like the wonderful and unexpected cli sco n~ ric s ()t seiencc of l he present da y 1 ..

PRICE Re. 1 only.

Can be had of

The AUTHOR The Meherashram Institute.

Arangaon, Ahmednagar.

v

A Highly Instructive Forthcoming

Booklet on the Divfne Lord, Shri Meher Baba

The lVfasterr BY

His Eu11opean Disciple

Sadhu C. Leik.

IN THIS BOOKLET. SADHU C. LEIK WILL GIVE AMONG OTHER THINGS , HIS OWN EXPERIENCES WHICH HE RECEIVED AFTER COMING INTO CON TACT WITH HIS MASTER, SHRI MEHER BABA

Vl

A MARATH I BOOKLET

PARAMESHWAR BY MEHERDAS ALIAS

SADASHIV M. BORKER

Price 3 annas only.

CAN BE HAD OF THE AUTHOR. SHENDI

POST AHMED

GAR

A MARATH I BOOKLET ON THE HOLY MASTER

SHRI SADGURU MEHER BABA BY _NARAYAN TAMAY ( OF DHULIA

In this booklet the Author has given the lifesketch of Shri Meher Baba in a charming Marathi poem.

Plfice 3 annas only .

CAN BE HAD OF Mr. VISHNU N. DEORUKHKAR, AKBAR COTTON PRESS, AHMEDNACAR

vii

CON'l'ENTS sAYINGS OF' HIS DIVINE MAJESTY SADGURU MEHEII. BA BA GOD, CREATOR AND CREATION VII

By The Div·i ne Lord, Shri Meher Baba ON DE8IRII:S AND BINDINGS

and

2

ON SERVICE

6 & 7

Hy Shr i M eher aba THE LOVE DIVINE

(A

poem)

and

LORD GOD

(A

poem)

8& 9

By Shri ~Meher Baba

The Editorial: THE CHILD MARRIAGE RES'l'RAIN'l' BILL AND

JO

RELIGION '/'0 THE DIVINE LORD YAZDAN SRRI MEHER BABA

(A

poem)

I7

By the Editor WHAT IS TRUTH

By C. V. SampCAth AiyangCAr

18

RELATIVITY

By Narayana Swaroop, B.A., L.1'.

19

ro THE BLESSED LORD SHRI MEHER BA BA

(Two

poems)

21

By Meredith Starr BACKBITING

By BCAily

J.

22

Irani.

TO SHRI MEHiffi BABA

(A

poem)

24

By Si1ier MMgCAret Ross TO MY LORD MEHER BABA

(A

poem)

24

By C. SCAmpCAth AiyCAngCAr THE SPIRIT FLOWS TH~OUGH ME

(A

poem)

BY Herbert Porter

25

SOMEWHAT SHOCKING, BUT QUITE TRUB

26

THOUGHTS SUBLIME

29 32

BPIR.ITUAL ANECDOTES

FROM OUR FRIENDs' LET'l'ERS

34 39 42

A FAIRY

49

Hli1RE AND THERB THE EDITOR's DIARY

REVIEWS

STORY

51

A RL\L\fH.: -U 3L[ PUIL IC\TI l'l

AND

if hr

~\t rhcr a5hr am ~ftt5ti tutr '--

·--'

( THIRD EDITIO N)

fly Kaikhushru Jamshedji Dastur, ~r. A. , EDITOR, THE MEHER MESSAGE

LL.

s. ,

PRICE SIX ANNAS ONLY

SOME OPINIONS

'' The gre atne ss of ~1 e her HaLa's soul rests upon this noteworthy faet that He has had the uncommon daring, found only in saints, t o t ell these fruitful source:-: of ill-will and crime, to get behind Him. Mr. Dastur de serve s credit for ha ving laboured through three ditfereut editions of the bu (l k, under review, to keep his active saint and His beautiful educational experiment before the public."-The Servant of India. stud\· .''-- The "The booklet is an intere stina 0 v Vedanta Kesari. "~1r. Dastur has dono very good service, indeed, by bringing before tl1e public, the highly spiritual te <:. cher Meher B alxt, and we have no he sita tion in say ing th at this brochure will not onl,y be apprec.ated by student'i uf Z oroust ic scl1 ool but al so by othe 1rs in t erested in th eir 0 \\"11 f' piriLual upliftment."-Practical Medicine.

"The Yalue of this boo kl et is quite out c,f proporti on t o its size ."-The- Occult Review. " A n intere;:; tin g ho old ct ."-The Canadian Theosophist.

Can

ue had of- THE MEHER MESSAGE OFFICE, The Meherashram Institute, Arangaon, Ahmednagal'.

THE

ME HER Vol. I ]

MESSAGE

December, I 029

[

'Jo.

12

SAYINGS UF IUS IHVt\JI~ \1:\Ji~STY :::3ADGUHU .Ml~!U;H lL\.BA (56) Most of the so-called religious oeremonies performed by the Parsis, the Hindus, and followers or other creeds, are unnecessary and worthless. For these useless ceremonies it is the avaricious worldly priests who are responsible. Prophets, Sadgurus and Saints have nothing to do with them.

(57) Worldly-minded priests, though they may mutter prayers throughout the livelong day and may perform this and that ceremony, .can do no spiritual good to anyone. Poison-trees may be watered with nectar, but they will not produce fruits worth eating.

(58) The priest, whose principal motive is to serve himself and not others, should be called a minister not of God but of his low self. Disinterestedness and eagerness to serve others should be the chief characteristics or a genuine priest, to whatever creed he may belong. He should be like a riYer that does not drink its own waters but is useful to others, irrespective of their caste, creed a.nd colour.

(S9) The Yirtue that is the outcome of vanity is not real virtue, just as valom¡ that is pt'ompted by desperation is anything but bravery. (nO) If it be true that hypocrisy is the homage that yice pays to virtue, then it may safely be said that !elf-interest . is the homage which materiality pays to :spirituality. ( To 0e continued)

C O]) , C I U~ ATOH A:'-JJ> C HEATlON

lX

Simultaneously with the clash between Yrmw and A kasha ar energy and emptiness, fit¡e, water, air and earth became manifested. Stones, metals and vegetables, during their organic evolution, have chief connection with earth ; fish have connection with water, birds with air, animals with fire , and human teings have connection with all the four elements.

Earth is found everywhere in the world, since not only dry land but also the beds of seas, rivers and lakes contain it. Similarly watel' , lhough visible only in oceans, l'ivers, lakes, etc is everywhere,-if not on the surface, under the earth in large or small quantities. In other words, just as earth lies below the water in seas, rivers, etc. so water lies everywhere under the dry earth.

There is no question of air being not present anywhere, in this wol'ld . Good or bad, P.ir is all over the world.

P.. s regards fire, if we understand it in the broad sense, viz. a kind of blaze Ol' tej, as it is called in Gujarati, it is certainly everywhere.. in the world, but it is covered under the layer of ether.

This blaze is the fire that, as said above, has connection with animals, and it is owing to this that the hunger-heat is so very intense in animals. Almost all animals eat horribly much ,---as if they were born for the sole pmpose of eating.

The fi1·st form after the iast vegetable form is of an insect, which is so green thaL it is not possible to recognize it on a tree. The most evoived fot'DI cf insects is that of a WOl'lll. Though the "v;)rm is found on clt·y eat•th, it frequents moist spots, and this fact shows that it is on its way to becoming a fish 01' going into water, In othet' w<n·ds, the insect form in the shape of a worm begins having connection with watet' from the dry earth, and the connection becomes complete when it becomes a flsh. In the same way the iast form of the fish, viz. crab, from the water begins leaving connection with it.

The form next to the crab is of a water-fowl,- the first form that begins connection with air. There are many kinds of fowls, including ducks that like to swim in water. Just as the first form of bird has connection with water, so their last but one form, viz. cock has connection with earth. Inspite of its being a bird, the cock has little connection with air. The last form of birds is of a big burly one with a long peak and a lolling piece of flesh by the chin. The manifestation next to the last bird form takes place in kangaroo, in the animal kingdom, the last form of which is monkey, if we exclude human beings.

The five turns, referred to in the article, published in the August number, are implied in the above cursory description : ( 1) From under the ground to its surface ; (2) from the sul'face of earth to water ; (3) from the depths of water to water sul'face ; (Zl) from the surface of water to air ; (5) from air to the surface earth.

Out of the infinite numbers of forms, in which the latent human form manifests itself, pt•ior to it!'. complete man~fe"~;ation, those mentioned in the following figure are of cardinal importance, in comparison with the spiritual planes :

HUMAN BEING 7th Cardlnai

GOD

Forn1

7th f ' i"ne

pLANES t;! i'

__,../;;c"' '

......,_,

/

f6

/

Vn:i .\ 5 "''{.. .

/

'

0

FORMS Animals Bird

''

!

L' illla- I 4 Yogi \

6

i

!

Fish

4

worm

3

vegetebte 2 Mete!

·1

Stone

J

I

The seventh plane means Godhood, and so it is final ,for what can there be besides and beyond God ?

And just as t'te seventh plane is the final Goal of the Path, the seventh cardinal manifestation of the formbody. viz. the human body, is the last manifestation of organic evolution. There is no highet' form than that of a human being. It is perfect. But there is the curtain of sanskaras = a'mal =impressions between God and man, as shown in the above figure, and because of it the average human being knows not God. In ordet' to do away with this curtain, one has to tl•avel backwards through the six stages-the plane stages instead of the form stage;; through which one advanced to manhood.

Unless and until one goes reve1•se in this direction, one has to take birth again and again. There are exceptions to this general rule, but persons who escape

GUD, CHI~ATOH AND CHf~ATION

5

from the wheel of births and deaths without experiencing the cosmic planes are certainly few and far between.

Therefore let God-realization be your ideal and do not vaguely talk of mukti.

'fl 1E I\fEliER MESSAGE docs its be~t to serve you, in every way it can, without murmuring and without grumbling. In other words, it does its duty by you zealously and cheerfully.

Now the question is: what are Y 0 U doing for The Me her Message ?

Don't you think it your duty to do something for it ? Yes, you do, and so please note that IF

YOU

ARE A

PERSON

OF SUBSTANCE

THE MEHER MESSAGE wants you to become its Life-Subscriber.

The Rates of Life Subscription are : Inland Rs. 100, Foreign Rs. 150 or ÂŁ 15 or $ 75.

This year The :"vfeher J1fessage supplied you with nearly (7:25) seven hundred and twenty-five pages of reading matter exclusive of advertisements.

Next year The Mehe1¡ Message will supply you with not less thEm (1000) one thousand pages of reading matter exclusire of advertisement~. But if a fairly good number of pe:~iions become its Life-Sub3ribers, it will supply yon with not less tl1'm (1300) one thousand and three ]n1 n--1red and probably with (1500) one thousand and five hundred pages of reliding matter, exclusive of iid vertise men ts.

FIUl GM h'NTS fr om

TH~ SPIRITUAL tsP!£1£CHE;:-) OF HI S DIVINE MAJ ESTY SADGURU l\1EHER BABA

( 13)

oc-;

SPIR IT UA L

ACHIKVEMEN1'3

Sfi uti is Low Inspiration.

Antar Drashti is High Inspiration.

Anta?·-Dnyan is Low Revelation. ' Sight ' is High Revelation.

Advait Expe?'iencc is Realization.

The difference between Anta1·-D' ashti and ' Siqht ~ is great indeed. The former means seeing the subtle universe, whereas • Sight' means seeing God and seeing Him everywhere.

With the gross eye, gross things are seen ; with the subtle or internal eye the spiritual world and planes are seen ; and with the mentl:lJ or spiritual eye, God is seen.

But be it noted that seeing God and becoming one with God do not mean one and the same thing. Becoming one with God ~.nd not merely seeing God is Spiritual Perfection. The seer of God is still in a state of duality, he has still to achieve Advaita Expel'ience, which means God-realization.

The seer of God is still a jivatman, though you may call him a Pir or a gt•eat saint ; but he who has realized God should be called Shivatman (Realized Soul) and not

7

a jiv atman , whi ch term should be used for an individual u nrealized soul. _. hel' ~ is nothin g but God. In Paramatman state He does not see anything.

In Jivatman sta te He sees the world.

In Shivatm a n sta te He sees the Self.

In Sadguru state He sees both the Self and world.

Wha t counts is Experience and not merely dry knowledge. Everybody is a dt¡op in the Ocean of God. Every drop is the Ocean, reaily speaking; but only a few drops out of millions realize that state. All unrealized drops feel that they are bubbles and not the Ocean.

You are God, but you have to realize that. And remember that to believe in the existence of God is one thing, to know that there is God is quite a different thing, feeling God is higher than Knowing God, seeing God is higher than feeling God, and realizing God is the goal of spiritual life. Do not, therefore, call yourself God, simply because you are acquainted ¡Nith the Advaita philosophy. ( 14 )

O.N

:n; AR

God is to be loved and not feared. As a matter of fact nobody fears God. What many people fear is hell or some punishment which they expect to undergo for their sins , and not God,-just as schoolboys fear the cane and not the teacher h imseH. Fea r none and nothing except maya, on which the materhtl world is dependent , l.;am, hoclh and lobh (passion, anger and avarice).

0 THJS WOHLD !*

( By Shri Sadgw·H !f!r.hcr 13C¥ba ) (Translated from Oujarl\ti b;r tbe Editor )

f

This world to some is like a thurny waste, It seems to others paradise of rest.

2

E'en seers knew not the secrets of Lord God ; How then can I explain this world so broad ?

3

But this I know : this world is full of throe, And there's no man nor beast that bas no woe.

-1

In prayer to Lord God true pleasure lies ; True love is love to God, which never dies.

5

Whatc'er the world be,-paradise or hell, Just as you sow: you reap : 'tis said so well.

6

The world is maya, but say not, 'tis bad ; 'Tis tired of those who after it are mad.

7

Don't suffer maya to seduce, ruin you ; Alas ! its knick-knacks are withstood by few.

8

Do you desire to crave for anything ?

Crave love to God and e'er God'• praises sing.

•This poem wa,; composed by the Holy Master, when H~ was" school sixth form. It was btt~r ou pnb\ishecl in th e boy, ~tudyiog in tho EnP'lish 0 Sanj Vt\rtman under thc nan-de-plHmc of !h "wr.

!~'DITONJA

!,

::3ADHU CHHISTIAN LElK

After winning golden opinions from many, Sadhu Chri,;tian Leik closed his simple and pure life, on this physical plane, at the age of fifty-nine. His name will always stand high on the roll of the Holy Master's diHciples, and he will ever be remembered with sweetness by all those, who came into contact with him, in general, and by the devotees and disciples of His Divine Majesty, in particular. In him his fellow-disciples have lost a sincere and affectionate friend, and the Holy Master an enthusia8tic disciple.

This wodd would be a paradise, if it were full of men like the late Sadhu Christian Leik. He combined in himself the goodness of heart with the keenness of intellect. He inhaled peace and exhaled love. He destroyed lust and conquered mind. He shunned pleasures and walked with God. He renounced the world and tried to embrace the Infinite. His world was so full of tenderness that bitterness found no room to step w. Falsehood he threw to the winds and Truth he did his best to approa<:h. He destroyed his own sweet will and submitted himself to the will of the Divine Mother.

He r 7ed in love and 'died' in service. He forgave those who hurt him and blessed those who cursed him.

He died a thousand dGaths while living, and now lives peacefully after laying aside his corporeal frame.

10

TJl E M EH ER 11ESSAG E

. f~t d R of his life. ProbabJy Si ,.j te r i\1ary 'treumann and JVIr. Meredith Starr will suppl y us and our read en.; wi t h sG inC n~teworthy fa cts of his lif'e which th ey !1lay be knowl!lg . Wo llJUHt th e refor e co nto1tt om¡,.je lve s with dwelliu g ou a few Doints pe rtainiu g to his life and g iving vent to our feelin 0a,; which hiH p1iHsing away has gushed up in us.

We ha ve reason to believe that Sadhu Christian Leik ' thouah for sollle time he belonQ'ed to the Salva.

0 tion Army, was never au orthodox Christian, by which we mean au unreasonable Chm¡chiau, as orthodox.

Christianity is nothing but absurd Churchianity.

Sadhuji's conception of religion was high and he believed in J 8i1US as one of the many Christs and not the only Christ. No wonder that he was attracted to the Vedanta philosophy ! Indeed, he seems to have taken to it as naturally as ducks take to water and Churchill:3 to politics. He declared in the April number of this Magazine that when he first read the lectures of Swami Vivekananda, he was much surprised, for the Swami seemed to have given expression to his own (Sadhuji's) thoughts. Though Swamiji was then no longer the denizen of this dense world, a bond of sympathy and love was created between Him and Sadhuji. Noren, as Sadhuji called the Swami, became a living pre sence to him and was his friend, philosopher and guide, till he came into contact with Shri Meher Baba.

After imbibing the Vedanta philosophy S adhuji longed to come to India and stay at one of the Ramakrishna Ashrams, in company with monks. His longing was fulfilled, but alas ! he did not find the monks equal to his expectations, which were certainly modest. \V c are ian ,.., oran t of

Illitll Y

' J

KDlTOHIAL

11

The Brah1nin IIJonks, with wh t l lll his lot w a~ cas t., t a k ed of V eda nta but did not Lve it. The y babbled about univ e r~ al roli g ioJJ , Lntt were :; lns es t o th eir creed and e u ,.; toJn ~ Th ey tre ated Sadhuji as an untouehable; and when ~ a dhuji r e Jnon ;; tr~tt e d with them ag ~t i n s t their mLLTOW-Illindednes;;, th ey threaten ed him with expulsion. If a ll the H.auw. krishna Ashrau1s are like the one, in whi ch Sadhuji had the misfortune t o live, how do they ju01tify their existent¡e? If sectarianism and caste prejudice are their guiding principles, then they certainly badly need reform. Is Vedanta merely to be preached and not to be lived ? Are the ideals stated by the Swami Vivekananda in his ~ o ng of the Sannyasin merely to be sung, a nd not to be translated into practice ? The sooner the bigoted Brahmin inmates of Ramakrishna A shra ms a re driven out, the better.

In the July of las t year, when the Holy Master's A shmm was at T oka, Mr. Meredith Starr w~ote a letter to Sadhuji, informing him about his contact with Shri Maher Baba, and giving him some particulars about the Hoi; Master and His Ashram. Sadhuji had never before heard of His Holiness, but he resolved there and then to see Him, and, if the permission was granted, to stay with Him. He wrote a letter to the Holy Master, expressing his eag erness to see Him and requesting Him t o do him the favour of allowing him to join Him in tlte middle of October.

When Sadhuji informed the monks of the Ramakrishna Ashram, at which he stayed, that he would leav" them in October a nd join Shri Maher Baba, they were thunderstruck. The bigoted Brahmins of the Ashram could scarcely believe him : their wish being father to the thought, they believed that ha was joking

12

THE MLHER ME:SSAGE

<t11J was needlc;;c<l y fright e liing them. But wlJeu they bocame conviu eeJ tl1aL Sadhuji adually meaut what he said, they put then1selves iu a pitiable flutter. They beca1ue sore afraid, ]o,;t ~adhuji, after goiug out, would expose their bigotry and the way they passed their days. So they cried to persuade Sadhuji 'not to leave them. They had the impudence to tell him that Shri Meher Baba would hypnotize him, that though at first he would be full of enthusiasm he would soon get di,gusted, aud that there was no need for him to go anywhere for a Guru. Sadhuji uu-lerstood their motives very well, and so their ill-me ant a11d peruicious advice fell on deaf ears.

Sadhuji joined the Holy l\laster's durbar iu the middle of October with an open mind, with the determination to see things for himself and form his own conclusions. He came, he saw, and he admired. He found the whole atmosphere of Meherashram congenial to his taste. On the very first day of his arrival, Sadhuji could not help observing that the disciples lived Vedanta, though they talked little alwut it, and that Hindus of all castes, Parsis, Mahometans and Christians, lived like brothers. He was agreeably surprised to observe that the Brahmin disciples of the Holy Master were quite unconscious of their (caste and freely mixed and even dined with the so-called untouchables. To the Holy ]\faster Sadhuji was drawn, as i~¡on to a magnet ; and when he got some wonderful experiences at His hands ' he be<Yan looking ur)on Him b . ' as a Christ. The Holy Master's spell fell upon him and he responded to it spontaneously. His faith in Him increased week by week, and by the wonth of March it reached to such a heiaht that he became b

EIJITOHIAL

13

ltllXi uus to share tite )J :Jppin C.-< :4 ;;nJ f<~rtune that were his. Let it l1e nc,Lod that S1Hlhu_ji war,c !l.R U!l!Wlfi10h aR he W<tH Hpiritually Juit,ded. Hi, coneeption of duty was \¡er)¡ high. He alwa ys ldoned to and obeyed its e;;;lJ And HO no wonder that when duty called ltim to serve other~ hy aC<Jnaint.ing them with Shri :Meher J)aba and Hi,; teaching:<, he re10poudod to that call nol>ly! Accordingly, on the 1st of April, as our readers know, he left 'd1e Holy Master's durbar with a view to touring iu various parts of India and propagating the wessage awl teaching" of Shri Meher Baba.

Our readers are aware of the work he did as an itinerant monk. We shall not dwell on it at present. Suffice it to say that though there are numberless devotees of Shri Meher Baba, he was the first missionary disciple of His Divine .Majesty and he did excellent work in this capacity.

Though physically far away from the Holy Master during his self-imposed missionary tour, Sadhuji went on growing in faith aud love. To him, in those days, Shri Maher B>1.ba was a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, going before him wherever he turned his footsteps. In a letter, dated 21st May, he wrote to us: "My love for and faith in Shri Baba grow day by day, as Swami Vivekananda and Shri Ramakrishna recede as the highest ideals in maya. Our Master has shown a higher ideal of cosmopolitan univerRal religion, and the lesser ideals have become merged in the greatness of 8hri Meher Baba as the univ rsal Saviour. The more I love Baba, the happier I am.''

In Sadhuji.'s passing away we feel a personal loss. \Ve feel that he has been snatched away cruelly from

14

THE :.H.HKl\ 1\'ll!:SSAGE

u,;, hut we sh nnld 11ot g nl!ld>lu. J l e has Jono hi s l'Ia'lter \; wo rk, ~tnd ho st!l'l'llllllted to a cruel n1:dady \\'!tile doing that w >rk. Th 0 ,,,alad y did not ~-;pare hin1, litJd HO he eould nut live for his .M a;,ter iu thi:-; world. HiH thonghtr<, eve11 whoiJ uL"ut to dr op hiH corporeal lwlJitation, were uf tho I l uly !\Ia,;te r. J m·t ten mitiute :'l before he breathed ltiH ia'lt, J\'lr. Noshir N. Satha, who was then near his death-bed, nsked : "Do you reinelllber Shri Baba, Sadhuji ~ " "Yes," waH the prompt and clear reply .

0 dear Sadhu Christian Leik ! How scorning delights thou livedst laboriou~ days I How spurning pleasures thou ledt~t a pure life ! How thou endea· vouredst to follow Shri Meher Baba, even as thy dear Noren followed Shri Hamakrishna I How thy heart chords vibrated in· unison with the ~ harmonies of nature! How thou kept8t thy mind open to spiritual convictions and thy heart t o divine love.

0 dear, dear Sadhu Christian Leik 1 Thou didst not sacrifice the spiritual monitions of ~hy real Self to the petulant demands of thy unreal Self ! It is beyond our power to measure thy worth! By the way thou pla.yedst thy part on the st age of life thou hast set an imperishable exam ple to mauy! Thou didst not allow thy refined sentiment;; to be reduced to maudlin sentimentality, even as thou didst not suffer the load of thy learning to lumber in thy head' ! Though thou didst not gain the summit of the steep mountain of Mysticism, thou ce rtainly didHt make good progress!

0 dear, dear, dear S adhu Christian Leik r True to thy name thou wast a true Christian, even as thou wast a true Sadhu ~ Thou was t not false to Jesus the Ghrist, because thou b8lievedst iu Meher Baba the

EDITOHIAL

15

Christ!

Thou \\-a:<t true to .Jesus of Nazareth, because Thy name shall ever remain eonnec.:tecl with 11eher Baba the Christ, even as the ua111e of St. Paul has remained coniiec.:ted with .J <>sus the Christ! Thy me.wory >'hall ever be c.:IIeriH!Jecl with atl'ection by the nuwberleRil devotees of the Holv Master! Verily verily thou J " ' ' ha8t not lived in l"aiu, for thy life shall be an inspiration to many ! thou followecL~t i.he .J e~us of Ahrnednagar!

TO SADHU C. LElK

( By The Editor ) How sweet with smiles is every angel's face To have thy solace in his lovely place!

Thou child of God, thou angels' friend and guide, What help didst thou, when here, to men ! provide Thou servedst e'en those that rough from thee withdrew, Thou good, thou pure, thou great, tho:1 straight Sadhoo!

We shall send the next issue of The Meher Message those of our subscribers whose subscription expires with this issue and who will rrot send us their subsct~ir-tion for the next year before the end of thifl month.

We request our Fonign Subscribers to send us thei-r subscription as early as possible.

As N asik has now become the headquarters of Shri Meher Baba, 'Ihe Mehe1¡ Message Office will be rem()ved there, soon after this number is out.

Subscriptions should therefore be sent to the following address: The Meher Message Office, near Sarosh Motor Works, N ASlK, W. India.

PER V. P. P., to

[(j

ORTHODOX\' JN ISLAM

Agitation is being set afoot against the' Snrda Act' bv the orthodox r;ection (>f the l\1ohamadans represented by the Ularua ('religious divines'), who form the paraphernalia of numerous quasi-religious organizatiouR existin<Y in India and the so-called leaders of the "' out as usual to advertiRe themselves people, who are and justify their existence in the eyes of those whom they profeRs to represent.

As usual the crv" of" Heliaion in dan<Yer" is bein<Y b 0 0 raised and this to a great extent does succeed in rousing the fanaticism of the masses because of their iJli. teracy and ignorance in matters religioui! and temporal. vVe are not concerned here with the political leaders who, with few exceptions, have got some axe to grind and this kind of agitation and propagand~ is a part of their game which anyone can see through.

It is the Ulama, the self-nppointed and doubtful exponents and custodians~of Islamic religion that are required to be dealt with and exposed in this article. \Vhy it becomes imperati,,e to pay serious attention to this class of' Divines,' iR the influence they wield over the uneducated masses, in the name of God and Religion and this influence, more often thBn not, is successfully utilised for the [{Chievement of private and political ends.

\lHTIIOIH>XY

I~

l:--JLA\1

17

IL i~ f',q· Llti .~ re l t~ ' ''l il1 tl lilt.! Ul:tJJI:J C;lilt-tit:ule a :.; eriou~ Jll8JIIl.ce t .. the !'·'!; "r .-<~· :i :ti aJtd ~jtiritu:,l l'l'llgro.,s of the _\{t,jll!.lllluLJII-<. li te re::ent ltnpp e rtirtg.-< in Af~lt:tJtisbn are a gla;-i, l .~ 1n·""f' "F \\·h:It: nti~t:!tief and :~ul"·"~:tl ruin the U!:tJJI:t c:tll ,,j\·e ri.- c lu \1\' expl"iti1w the ftll'tl ici.;t ll uf the lll't.;.;c:-; ,..._i11 lite na1110 ;1f Uud a11d Heligi<~n. The chelljl a!l(l merc:ertary Fatwas ( Heli-~iou:-; verdict;.;) issueJ wholesale l1y the Ubma all over India during Gandhiji'~ Non-Cooperation day;,, it~ proof pu~itive to what extent religiou~ tenets can be !:ltretched and di ...;torted for politic:al end~. According to them it wa~ unlawful (hararll) to wear Engli~h-made cloth and to serve or remain under the 'Satanic Government.'

The Iniseries and hanbhips that these rnaudates entailed upon easy-l>elieving _\'[oslem~, some of whom actually prepared to leave India for neighbouring Mm;lem state,., is a matter of history. Only a few years h~ve elapsed sinca then and we find the Ulama. playing quite a different role. They are to be !ieen vieing with each other to win f,>r the :NioslenB ~peei;-d favour.s and pri\-ileges from the !'lame ' 8atauic GoYernment,' just to ,.;pite the ' Heretical Hindn.'

This tomfuolory with the religious beliefs of people will continue. so long <Hl the demon r,f Ignorance ;md illiteracy rule:; ~mpreme.

It is educ:ation only that \\·i ll enable peopie to think independently and tackle ~uecesHfnlly all problt!rns relating tn thiil world or the next.

The nuedncated m n~ses hcpeles~ly mix up <•.nd c:annot differentiate hetlr<>en 8piritual Ia\·;:-; and 8ec.:ular I:nn; that go to f'unn e\·e1-y Religion. They attach the same sanctity and infallibility to the latter as to the former. It must i>e dearly impre sse d upon them that spirituul b\\'" or the

THE 1vlEHEH

.ME~SAGE

ob;<erv1wceR given by any Prophet or sa!_!e, nevtar can ]n 8 e efficacy or undergo any charge or mutilation till etemity; they relllain true for all timeH to come. Seculllr laws meant primarily for the organization of SocietvJ and bcruidance and conduct of worldly affairs are the . re:-<ul t of ;;urroundir;gH and then exi:-;tiug circumstances.

Surroundings and circum;;tanceH never reruain the same for an indefinite period, hence Social or Secular laws, born of such t<Urrounding,; and circumstances must undergo change and adaptation according to the exi~en­ ces of the time. Hightly speaking Religion in its true sense, comprises of those law" only which relate to the spiritual well-being of man. All other laws are secondary and any change therein does not in any way affect the beauty of that religion or detract from the digt1ity of its founder. If only people would understand the relative importance of the various rules aod tenets comprising religion and view them in their proper settmg, much of this bigotry and schism will vanish.

The present day Ulamas are not. however, expected to help in uringing about this happy state of affairs alld that for two reasons. Either they have not themselves assimilated or realised the true spirit of Religion which they profess to teach, or it pays them to keep the masses misguided.

Mohamadans generally are given to understand that the Prophet'& verdict is final on all phases of life dealt by him and any the least departure therefrom would be sufficient to damn them forever in the eyes of men and God. Instead of tryin~ to eradicate such false notions about religion, the Ulamas on the contrary help to foster them, thereby making the task of reformers not an easy one. To illustrate l:>y concrete ex-

OI{TI lODOXY 10l" ISLAM

lG

;unploR, as lo lt•J\1' n~aHur~ "f ~oeond<~ry and local i111porta11Ce have e""'e t" i>O louked upon aHa fu11drunenllll part of roligi"'l it-:elf, Lito f"JJ,.win~ in~t·u1ce;; will :mlfieo : 1. A LYJ'ie·tl \[oh :un:td :tll fro111 lnclia C: <tflllot look upo11 Lilrtlll :u-; a l{uli.~i"n \l'il11oUt it,; nec:e.~~ary ad_junc:t, the purdah "Y'teltl. The lii'Ling of the veil in Turkey by legi,.dative for .~c ha~ C<>llle a--la rude sh<>ck to Indian M-Hlern~ in rnrtieuhr aud In,; Ret 111<-l.ll,Y of the Ulama :ud theologiil.u~ a-thinking over thi~ que:-;tion. ' The probloln of accoptiug interest on monetary investments is receiviug the :-;eriou:o attention of many whn are tt·ying t :J ameliorate the economic condition of MuslimH faced with modern conditions of trade and ib-l concomitant competition. The Ulama forget that if their interpretation on this subject is followed to the letter, it would be hr.t1wm or unlawful to send children to schools and colleges or to go for medical relief to hospitals, which are almost all run on moneys realiRed aa interest from Trmts created for the purpose.

3. IBlam waH born in Arabia, a land where vegetation is practically nil. One can therefore understand the extensive use of meat as food in that country and the tacit consent attached thereto. In Iudia where vegetation of every de.,cription abounds, the use of meat is not nece,.,sary. But for a Moslem the use o£ animal food has a1mo.o;L become a sign of his Faith and hence hiH uncompromiHing attitude towards the Hindu over the question of cow-slaughter.

It will tltu;; ba seen that the Ulama are either deliberately mi~guidiug the people in mattera religious or it is a case of the blind leading the blind. Their late:-;t stunt consists iu the staging of conference at Delhi to protest 11gc.inst the Sarda Enactment, which

~0

}n~ a ce H·di11 _~

t.lnl rtl \'i<>lated the sanctity of S!~ . a·iat (l{ e lig<ou~ \;nv).

1~ ''" t the Lmlian I-'anal Cude a gross atfr,ut tn th ·J 0 \nri ·-tt ;tlld l \i t\'0 tha U la lti 'L ever tried to de~tr < 'Y it~ Llw :\["h't<tt td :ul ::3\nri,tt reeomrue rldfol lll li tTia.~u aft e r pu !,e r ty; the S a rda Act h a -.: on: y attGtnpted tu lw tnorll exad and definite by fixing the minimum acre a- ~ fuurteen.

Ho,v doe:-~ thi~ con,;titute an 0 interference with Slwxiat, as the p<wic:ky Ulama would have Ufl beliEJve ?

Do the Ulama. ever c11re to follow the march of events in other Islamic countries, where the Shariat, if deRired, could be enforced to the letter ? In the face of the wholeHale upheaval wrought in the domain of 'Shariat' by Turkey, are the Indian Ulama still determined to remain incorrigible ?

Have the Ulama forgotten t.heir agitation against the learning of the English language when Sir Syed Aamed was trying to found a college for .Mohamadans at Aligarh ? Are they not then in a way responsible for the backwardness in education of the Mohamadans as compared with othet· communities '!

Take heed, oh Ulama, and cease to lead astray and betray Mohamadans in the name of Religion, lest those very hands which feed and sustain you, should for ever stifle your voice, which is raised in season and out of season, against necessary reforms, bringing ultimately nothing but ruin on the hellds of easy-believina b Moslems. [ Our Moslem as well as non-Moslem readers must have read the above article of Dr. S. A. Ghani, with great interest. We think it right to inform our l·eaders that Dr. Ghani is one of the most deeply devoted followers of Hazarat Qibla Mehee Baba, He is one (<,

OHT I IODOX Y J::\ bLA?\I

~1

',f t he few funtulaLe;., who ha Ye \w on in contact wilh the J Loi y :'lh~t e r :oinee Hi~ citild!Jn"J JayH. Born in the Htune year ar1d in th o ;.;arne J.,eality in which the ll.ol y .'vfa,.,ter w:t.>l born, Dr. Gha11i Wil>l a playnmte of l11e Hol y _\Iast.er, in Hi, ,_;hildlwod days and oue of Hi,; t11o.~t irrt.itJl'tte friend, during J-li ,; school and college career. Though the newH of the ~:>piritual perfection of Mervan, a s Dr. Ghani used to call Hiu1, carne upon him like a thundercLip-so much so that he could not believe it-he became His devotee and disciple as Boon as he got proofs of the saintliness and spiritual perfection of the Holy Master.

Editor, The Meher Message.]

Reply to a Co?Tesponclent

A Devotee.

Received your letter, in which you hav e done great injustice to us as well as shown your ignorance. The person you refer to in your letter underwent hardships of his own accord. He was indifferent to physical comforts ; but money wafl sent to him, whenever he required it. Moreover please note that a Perfect Master may have to put a disciple under some sufferings in order to wipe out his peculiar Hanskaras ..

The concluBion, to which you have jumped, is simply childish. We admire your heart but pity your he<k:. No sensible person has felt the shock, to which you refer, in yonr letter.

EditoT, The Meher MessaCte. n

( i:y C. V.

Says our lJOl()VGd ~aclguru:" It i" the ntind !hal makes ~ne the slave tu wor!Jlv de,irc-:. It is abo the mind that releases one frolll tlw elutehcs of the ''"rlJly desires and Jllakes one the realizer of the Suprellle Self und the ma,.ter of de;;tiny." Very few realize thi,; iru· portant truth. The earuest Si~-<hya Arjurn found it very difficult to re strain the 1niud c·ucn in the pref-lence of the then Sadguru. But the ultimate GoJ-realiza· tiou is not possible unle:o:s the mind i" brought unde1· control. ·when the Sadguru explained the Yoga of equanimity (Sankhya) that earne:;t Sishya exclaimed : ''The mind is restless, illlpetuous, strong, hard to curb.

But the Lord compassionate !'aid, " It l"-' true the mind is hard to curlJ. Hut you can <.:ontrol it Ly practice and V hiragya (Di-::pastJiOIJ ur De,;ireles~nes,.,) .· · \Ve pre1.wh to others: "Control your temper, neYer be angry or irupatieut." But if any one of the audience asks a question, we fly into <t rage ! That is not what the Lord did, when Arjuna put him the question about the unsteadiness o~· the lllinJ. His anr-;wer beg!:11l '.\·itl 1 the words, 'It is true.' \Ve should practise p:ttiellce.

The more we lJecorne ittlpa tieni, the greater sllUu!d be our effort to r.Jecome patient. \Ve should reduce our moments of anger tr, rt miniwum, am[ finally conquer Auger (hodha). Did not llUr beloveJ .Sadaurn direct th a t nothing Fihould 1;e ~aid ;~gainst tho:ie ~dw

).11:\JJ CU:\THOL till JJ!Cild:tc:i"tl~ pr<>)'.'Jganda against Hi1u?

He that they al~u .-ened ]Ii111.

'L'!1e phy~ical L<>dy j, so gro".; thnt it is not a '-l ~cn;.;itive as it (lught t" l>c.

The !I" >r .iutka hurse i."' l• c : th~ Jl :t!JtJ" "t (,, ck:d)! Ly the igJ I"I'allt .iutk:tll·al! :Jh, !Jcc:tu..;e lt i..; gr""'' \"' "} j, I t <~ t se 1Jsiti1·c to the i!Ijurie" :till! p:tin he iu!Ld,.; o11 hi,; Inute helple ss br<>tlJer. How lll:tlly pa s,;e r..;-l>y f·el it;; suil'eriug,.; 'I Very few. \Ve Juust therefore try to coutrul our 11erves. A lVlaRter obHerve:S that it i,.; diftieult to control our nerves, and tells u~: "You must do your be~:;t" \Ve, who wi;.:h to go em the Path, JllU:St b8 tieu,.;itive and able to control our uerveH. Let us slowly give up impatience and anger and control our nerve s : And then only can we become masters of our mimi. The lllore our mind wavers, the ,.;tronger should be our eti'urt to rein it in. But let us do this slowly, and our un steady mind wdl be Lrought under the control of self.

There will cu1ne the courage to bear with, equaniIIJity the problellls and diftlcultiea which beset the Path.

They are the effecte~ of our past Karma. lf we bear them uow with courage, which is the result of the Yoga of equanimity, our Sauskars will be reduced to a minimum, aod eventually, as our l . ord Sadguru Shri }leher Baba a~sures u,;, we will realize Parabrahmam.

,::trried ~aid

Head a11d persuade others to reaJ, Subo;cribe anJ persuade otheri:i to subscribe to The Meher Message.

Hetuember that there is no substitute for The Meher Message

The truth of thiH p<' !•uhr IH·,.,•e rb I had to expe rien ce quite reeeutly, when everything turned out differently from what I had pl~tnned.

I f:ltayed ~tt Hikhi\;:e.;;h, at the f,)OC of the Himalayas and intended to b(YO to Hardwar, 20 mile,; otr, to Ge the guest of Dr. Swami Nischayauanda of the Hamakrisll!Ja. Mi::Jsion Sevashram, at Kankhal, near Hardwar. But in the middle of _<\uguHt I was suddenly attacked by a seriou;.> illuees, which placed me on the ho:;pital sick bed for two months. And im,tead of being the guest of Dr. Swami Nischayauanda, I became hiR patient and it wa;:; only due to his lox·iug care towards me and his medical skill, that I was able to leave for home so ~oon. At my advanced ll.ge (59 last :\fay) one as a rule recovers from illness much <do\\'er, than a younger person. \Vith the illness my missionary tour also came to an end.

This was to include the cities of Lahore and Delhi in the Punjab, AhmadabaJ and Baroda iu Gujrat, Bombay and Pooua in the De ccan. How remarkable that the .J\tlaster, His Divine Majest.y Shri Sadguru t.1eher Babit had rem a rked <t contJie of montllf; aao to ' 0 the Editor of thig ~Iagu zi no : "Sadhuji (meaning me) will uot now be able to wo rk !'' How true this prophecy proved; It will take 1uonths befure I re<Yain my former strength. "" Lie

7:·Sacluuji wrote thi :' short ~1rLicle ju:;t (.br ec (bys l.Jd01'e he s !tu UJ~J o· · mortr~ l

coil.

·

-

J;clit·or,

T<· ~ .\J

.\l

TRIJT!l 1\NJ) PEACE

Knowledge of external and ever changing fact~, however much gathered from boob< and ob,ervation, doe" not relate to the vita l experienceH of the hum a n heart and life ; it is quite se1 arate from ethical conduct; it is not a sure sign to stick to and d )es u·Jt bring peace.

But there is a knowledo-e of internal truths or realities b ' which is carefully and patiently built up by living stones •mt out of the rock:l of hurna'\ experience : and this ifl the knowledge that bring:> peace . There is no possible way of att:tining this knowledge except by dai ly practice in purifying one's self from within. There is no other way to wisd om and peace except by eradicating the inward errors and impuritie.4. These a lone will help ynu to acquire a knowledge of truth.

1ien have not that 'peace which 'passeth underHtanding' and which cannot be broken by any event or circumstance. It is not as is the midway between two poles, but it is the centre itse lf which has no length am! breadth but has only circumference around it. Men have not this peace because they do not under.~tand , because they do not know ; and they do not understand and know because they are mi~gnided by their own errors and impurities which make them stick to the line of circumference of a circle rather than to go out into the deep ocean that lies between the line and the centre in order to acquire the true knowledge of hnthf5

*' K. M ·I

P. is n J.>ar:i i Gon hlomn.n of Bomh!\y. ' 1

26

Tll I<: .;\l l<_ HEH M ~~SSAGE

and peaeo 1rhich alotJC snvcs thelll frolll the unending round.'l of births and d~aths. J>rivaticllls, troubles, hardship,; there arc : hnt they are nothing a" cotnpared to the attainlllent of 01 orhsting peace and trulh . .Men should renoUtiCC Iu~t, covetou"ne,.,s, and vanity and self-indulaence w!Jich are also the powerful magnets tc> that draw them towltrds them and thereby hinder their progress towards knowledge of truth and peace. But remember, if once you make up your mind to seek out the path of peace and truth, I say it that no power, however great, can n:ove you or disturb you !rom that path. If you think you cannot do it, and with majority rightly so, do take the help of a Sadguru. Our age is fortunate in having a true and real Sadguru in Shri Maher Baba. Go through his teachings and preachings and try to acquire as much knowledge of truth and peace as possible and act upon it. Just as we wash our bodies to appear clean and tidy in the eyes of the mortals, so we must necessarily wash ourselves Jrom within to appear purified in the eyes of the immortals.

Such a man is wise and it may be truly said of him that he knows. For him anxiety, fear, disappointment and unrest have disappeared. Nothing will cause him grief. Peace, au abiding peace, is a willing accompaniment to purity.

27

THI~ PHAYl~H, ( fly

OF

TH~ FLOWI~.H.

Ilar·r11 J StrHtton*)

Lll!m l C..\'l'Ell TO IllS llOLf:--iESS

~ H:J!Eit B.\1~1\]

0 I God I Thou art our Sun. and we Thy flowers, planted m the garden of Humanity.

Help us to yrow like the flower; to live like the flower; to be as pure, as beautiful, as innocent, as graceful as the flower Help us to become as unconsciou5 of self as the flower is, shedding forth tenderness, pity, love and sweetness as spontaneously, as naturally, as unconsciously as the flower sheds its fragrance on all around. *Mr. Strutton, who is the or. itor of 'l 'he Occult Review of London, infonne u• that he wrotn this fragment maay years ago It i• an intimate revelation of his inner life.

Editor-TheMeherAfc86alje

THE SONG OF A LOVER (By MeTedith Starr) ['1'0 SHRI MEHER BABA, 'l'HE BELOVED]

When my eyes weep, the feet of my soul are dancing.

When my body is quivering with sobs of love, my soul is laughmg in ecstasy.

When I am dumb and stiff and downcast, leave me alone, for I am drunk with love. \Vhen I first saw Him, His beauty smote me senseless, and I rolled like a log at His feet. But for His mercy, I should have never recovered my sight.

Who can resist such a Lover ? I am but the dust of His feet. \Vhen He kissed me, my soul flew up into the seventh heaven, where millions of years fla1h past like a smile in the dusk. Yet when He called through the spheres, I returned like the bird to its nest.

In mine eyes salvation is worthless, no better than hell at the best.

Not His gilts, but Himself, I desired. The Beloved Himself is my hea ven. Salvation without Him were Hell.

For such is the nature of love.

TJ II'~ !~ARK

The small Bark of my Soul Rests lazily on muddy watersThe sails are slack Like tired wings of swallows.

I was under the law Which lay on me like wintry time's grey sh When sun has died away.

My journey stopped.

Then Cod's Whirl took me.

It took me strong and deep And now I started.

Away from muddy waters Through lively rivers and speedy rapids My Bark balanced itself On great majestic currents And rushed through beautiful strange lands of spring Where riverbanks, adorned with flowers, And lovely bells were ringing out to greet me And splendid is my journey.

And now my Bark has reached the open 'ea.

It seems as if it stands quite still, Alone With its reflected image in the ocean Hanging in Cod who mightily vaults around me Like Hi; blue globe of sky so far away, And like the watery depth mysterious and clear-.

THE B \HK

29

C herish ed by su nny splend ours My Bark unmarked and e asily Is hastenin9 onw ards.

Foll owed by leapi ng fo am.

Th e worl d has vanish ed Fa r behind A nd G od blows in th e sails.

When God's storms roar, Then jubil ate, my Soul!

For He is good And beautiful Like waves and wind and storm, And faster goes m} Bark, Trembling and fluttering To meet Him And there where Ocean meets with Heaven.

Where one ELemity the Other g reets, There is a door maj estical and high.

An angel holds the guard .

And Death.

TO SHRI MEHER BABA ( By :::;ister JJ a1¡garet Rvss )

A misty veil dims all the lig_ht of day For light is darkness since I know not Truth ; The singing of the birds seems far away, Like half-forg otten haunting songs of youth.

0 take th e he art that ever cries to Thee Though it be ground to dust beneath Thy feet: Twere better for Thy lifeless dust to be Th an to live on a life so incomplete.

0 l'vly Lord Shri Mch c r Bal>:o, w;tl1 joy I h ai l Thee aa Avat a r I Le t Thy grace dnccnd on me and, 0 L o rd. w ound my heart with Divine lov e wh ose ch ar ms Th ou kn owc st.

Thy art Love -inca rnate, my Lord I H ow I long to tread Thy path!

T each me to so love Thee, that I ma y surre nd e r myself to Thy will , with my hea rt bubbling over with joy. Teach me to so think of Thee th at my hea rt may cry out ( to use th e w o rds of Dr. R a bindr a nath T ago rc): " Eve ry momen t and e ve ry age , every day a nd e ve ry night, you come, come, eve r come. M a ny a song h a ve I sung in ma ny a mood ol mind, but a ll_ their n o te~ h ave always proclaimed . "You , come, come, ever come.

..

ABOVE THE

CHI~l~D

SITS GOD

Above th e c reed si ts Cod-- ¡ He wields th e ch as te ning 1 od: No power ca n Him withst e1 nd He rul es b oth sea and la nd .

From Sph e re to Sphere H e moves The Creatures wh om H e loves: From Hei g ht to nam in g Height , They pass in pure delight.

Our Father Cod is love , H e rul es th e he ave n abo ve: And on our sta rry way, He lea ds us d ay by d ay.

:-10!\J 1'~\VHAT 01 [OCK lNG HUT QUITE TRUE

We admit that the San~krit writers were great.

But why should we suppo>~e th:tt Marathi writers fall below the mark ? Have they not tried, in their own way, to deliver the same message? lR a gold lotus more precious, only because it is old ? One cow gives milk, but does another yield water ? If the same ideas are imparted through a different medium, what do you lose'! You say. Sanskrit is the language of the gods?

But is not Marathi also the same ? Or is it the language of thieves and robbers ? The fact is that it does not matter whether Sanskrit imparts religious knowledge to people or Marathi, ss long as the idea!l are the ;~a me.

Shri Eknath.

* undergoing* torments, forWhere a *living being is c;ibly inflicted upon it, it ceases to be humane scientific research and becomes vivisection, which has rightly been called the greatest blot and shame of present-day civilization and its greatest crime. vV e anti-vivisectionist doctors fight against thi" malignant growth on free researc1â&#x20AC;˘ and demand its legal prohibition. We demaud complete abolition of vivi3ection and would demand it, even if suffering humanity derived great benefit from it, which is not the case. The end does not justify the means. In moral questions of fundamental importance our conscience forbids us to make c;oncess10ns. This principle must be upheld, or also

THE MEllER .MESSAGE every inju sti ce, e xpl o it ~t ti o n, cru elt y and divilry may claim its juHtification .

D'l·. GustrtV Riedlie11,.

•

=~

1 believe university life doeR more harlll than good te. most man.

Ramsa;t; .Jfacdonald.

*

*

*

The intellect by itself moves nothing.

Aristotle.

*

*

*

That which our religious and ethical teachers were wont to call ' mere emotion' is now acknowledged to be of the primal stuff of conscioumess. Thought is but its servant : a skilled and often arrogant sE.>rvant, with a constant tendency to usurpation. At bottom, then, we shall find in emotion the power which drives the mental machinery ; a rower as strong as steam, though as evanescent unless it be put to work. Without it the will would be dormant, and the intellect lapse into a calculating machine. As for its transitoriness, incessant change has been defined by Bergson as a nec7 essary condition of consciousness, indeed of life.

E. Unde1·hill.

Vv e

*

*

*

have seen in our own country a recrudescence of the blind faith that makes no discrimination between the spiritual significance of a religion and its outer ''"Ust that not only obscures it, but gives it a material\c grossness of structure. Men who follow such

,J:tth~ of indi~eri:tliil:ttc ;"·<:epLtw:c, "<' l<> the len"th of ,·[efending il10ir po~itinn by a phil<,:ophy accm·ding to wltieh all <:onc:ept iorr;.; a11J rcprcsonbtior1" of tire infinite :1(1Ve" unifnm1 \·:due, llei11g all equ:dly inadequate ur irTele,·:lnt. ::lnch ~ophi~try :ll:Jkos it e:1:<y for us to "online our devotion within the boundaries of our own ,;ect, und unthinkingly allow our :1rinds toeo11fuse euRtoms that are inert, with the wisdom that has eternal dynamic foree ....... Sectarianism iR materialistic. It ever trieR to Luild its tower on external oh~ervances. It ;)reed~ in the mind~; of its mernberR a jealous sense of seperation that gives rise to conflicts more deadly than ~.;onfiicts of worldly irrtere~to<.

It iR a wcrse enemy of the truth of rei igion than atheism, for sect:uiani~m proudly appropriates nH its own Bhare the best portion nf the homage that we bring to our God.

Rctbincl1·an.ath Tagon.

*

*

lf the priests have been so incapable all these year;; and it took us 'youths' to show them up, surely the priests cannot be up to much. It is uo use blaming the laity for its religious actions when the religious teachers of the laity are no other than these priests themselves.

D. R. D. lVculia.

* Does it not seem s\ nmge that peace cannot come to the departed soul of friend or relation until elaborate ceren'r,nies, costing anything from Rs. 1500 and o>er, be perfo~·med according to our Parsi priests for the averaae middle class person~ Vie (Panis) certainly must be mentally cramped, if this is one of the ways of

34

THE M !<:HER MESSAGE

sati ..Jying >Ur con;;cience, :tbuut the loved oneA who h ,w e departed.

C. ,C.,', Dinshaw.'

*

*

*

Owing to ignorance of 'religion' the prie~t has had long ir111ingA 11lld it iR tillle that he is ''bowled out.' .... 1 believe that to the extent the prieHt -who it~ a religiouA Hponge- il:l kept out, religion e1m be kept unadulted. His preHence pollute" it and it can well be said that when the priest comes in, religion goes out.

L. R. Tairsee.

*

*

*

*

*

*

With regard to the sartorial Hide of the question, it is a fact that moat people think one is not a true Zoroastrian, unless one wears a long coat. A long coat is no more Zoroastrian than the short coat, overcoat, or the shirt. It is a mixture of li;uropean and Hindu that confronts the eye at any Parsi function. And it i<~ sheer hyprocrisy to don this apparel on ceremonial occasions when the rest of the year one is able to save one's soul in more practieal and less hypocritical garb.

A. F. S. Talyarkhan.

It is just the negation of the sublime Zoroastrian monotheism or belief in one sinale supreme God ' so 0 impiously included in the Y ashts that makes them unZoroastrians. The Yashts commit the unpardonable sin of placing their gods on an equality with Ahura Mazda...... In the Ya[,lhts a hundred godlings are â&#x20AC;˘.renerated equally by tums or sirnultaneougJy, and c;ometimes exalted above the Creator.

G. K. Na.rim.an.

Tll()lJ(iJ!T~ ~1TJ~ljlME

Wh rd, the little fireth iH be- ido tha ln·ighlne~s of tJte ~Ull, what a grain (Jf l':tltd iH Oe~ide the YaKtlleRH of .Mount l\Ioru, "0 iH the life of a hou~eholder when compared with that of I\ sannyas1:n.

Swctmi Vivehtnand(t.

*

'l'

*

To make the indivic!ual soul universal whereby the rneaneHt creuture in this world becomes only a manifestatiou of the Almighty and therefore a meet object of worRhip is the highest form of devotion compared to which the offeriug of incenfe and flowers to Him in the privacy of your room or the solitude of the temple, though helpful, iH far less elevating.

Bd Gangadhar Tilak.

*

*

*

*

*

*

Lovo cannot be made to fulfil desire, for its nature is reuunciliticn .

Sh1·i Narad.

Every man, it seems to me, belongs to the Bro. therhood Movement who trys to look on the· · people round him, not merely as members of a special class, the followers of a certain religion, as belonging to a particular nation or race, but as fellow human beings born in the same way as himaelf, dowered with the Bame affections liable to the same infirmities, and destined to leave the house of this life by the same door· in other words one who tries to forget as much as possible wherein he differs from other and tries to remember wherein he and they are alike. Friends, I believe in the Brotherhood Movement very much aH I

:-) ()

:<h nuld b el i c·.-c i r! 1: 11 c:~ dl l • j ll ·,k<!, ],cc:tu ,; c I .-.; e c 1 11 1t t h e }, eg inrJ illg (lf :t " l' i r it 11: •1 ;q,!J <) a \: Jl \\' lti 1:h will brin g a lH JUt t h e cnll< t i''8 "f th e <• ld :'u p· ,r:t ti\·o o rd e r. j ( _ L1. ) h t:!u:/1.

\Vh e n t h e ,,: ,od ar !d b i1hhd ~c n- t!llt en t &r <" int1, the j oy of h is L(lrd , h e i" i r,el n·i:ded by the ri c hes of the house of Uod; fo r h e fee l,.;, in Hn inemd1!e de g re e, th a t whi c h i '-< felt by a n in e l1ri a t ed man. He fo rg et~ himself, he is 11 0 lon g er co n 1'cio u ~ of his selfh ood; he diHappears and loRes him!-' e ]f in G od, und become s one spirit with Him, as a drop of water which is dro wned in a grelit quantity tJ wiue. For even D.s such a drop disappears, taking the colour an d the taste of wine, so it is with those who a re in full possession of ble ssedness. All human de sires are t <l keu from them in an indescribable ma uner, they are rapt from theru<'elve s. und a re immersed in the Di,~ ine \Vii!.

Suss. ("'

Wit.h Thy ~weet Soul of mine Hath mixed a s Water do th with Wine.

Who C<l ll the \Yi1t e lin d \V a t e r p~trt, Or me lind The e wh e n \\·e combille ?

Thou art become lll \ u rea t e r se lf.

Small bounds no liH;r~"' ca n me cun'fine.

.

.

Thy L ov e ha» pie r ced me through and throug l1, Its thrill wi th B olle a nd N e rvt> entwine . ..Jalalucld1:·n Rw n-i.

*

0

*

If y ou ask, ' \Vh o is th e travelle\· ou the (apiritunl) p11 th ? It it-J one wh o is a ware of his own orig in . .... .

He is the travell e r wh o pa>is es vn "peedily; h e ha s beoo me pure fro m '' elf, tt ::: Ham e from smoke .

Jfahmud Shcr,bi;:~t ar-i.

~-~

i ' i IUTU A L

A~

I<:C DOTE:)

One night Chok~tmellt, who was a .Mahar, felt as if Vith;.d had preRented him;,elf before him, and allowed him Helf to be driven to the nearest temple-hAll. There he heard God sayi11g to him that his was the wor><hip that pleased B im best. A temple-prieE't, who 1-llept oub;ide, awoke, and, calling to the other priests, said, " See, Chokamela or some other Mahar, sits in the shrine with Vishnu't~ Avatar. The outcaste has tracked his prey through the locked doors. God is defiled. 0 thrice-cursed deed ! Fled is the faith and fouled the Brahmin 's creeu ! '' They seized Chokamela and turned him out, !laying, " Get thee gone, you Mahar dog." ¡whereupon Chokamela smiled and said, â&#x20AC;˘' Now if a Mahar should b<1the in the GRnges' tide will his pollution in her strea m abide? Or when the wind Hweeps over the plain, is it infected by the outcaste's breutR.? Base though I be, no evil have I done Him, in Whose eyes all creeds and cast6's are one. Indeed, your speech ill.befit>~ the wise." The temple oriest blazed up and Rhouted, ' ' Shall the Mahar unto the thrice-born teach ? Shall we, the Brahmins, hear se rmon B from the lowe st of the low ? '' Th~ wily priest then took steps with a view to lwrasRing the Mahar saint.

*

*

When a!lked on one occasioll why Pavhari Babtt, 11 gra!lt yogi as he wuE<, should perform Karma, as pouriug- oblatiou~ into the s~;~crificitd fire, and won:hipping

;iS

THE NH-HEH

IvlES~AGg

the image of Shri ]:{HghutJ~tth.ii, which are only zz,,Hlllt for beginners, the reply Cii!IJ8, "\Vhy do you take fot¡ granted that everybody make" !.-anna fot¡ hi<"l own good?

Can one noc perf(>rw kctr-rwt for other<"l?"

*

*

*

*

*

""

Al-.T:zhiz says that fiOille of her friends said to the saintesH, R~bia al-Ad~twiyy~, "If we were to Hpeak to the men of your kim>folk, they would purchase a servant for you, who would look after the need<"l of your hou<"le." But she said, "Verily, I Hhould be ashamed to as~ for worldly things from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should l ask for them from those to whom it does not belong ? ''

It is related that at one time Rabia al-Adawiyya saw someone who had a bandage bound about his head.

She said, " Why is this bandage bound round your head?" He said, '' My head is paining me." Rabia asked him how old he W.lls. " Thirty years old," was the reply. She then asked him, "Were you in pain and trouble for the greater part of your life ? '' '' No," he answered. Then she said, " For thirty years God bas kept your body fit and you have never bound upon it the bandage of gratitude; but for' one night of paiG in your head you bind it with the bandage of complaint."

THI~

EDLTOH'S DIAHY

OJ{ THE N E\VS _<\.BOU l' THE HOLY MASTER YAZDAN

M~HER

BABA

A short Account of the Holy Maste?¡'s Persian Tour On the 26th September the Holy Master with His party, as stated in our last number, reachtd the Persian port of Mahomerah. He stayed there for five days; but only a fe,,. outsiders were allowed to approach Him. The Holy Master declared Himself inaccessible and ordered His party not even to mention His name to anybody. His magnetic personality drew the attention of m~ny, but the disciples had to give evasive replies to the many inquiries made of them 11.bout His Holiness.

The Holy Master left Mahomemh on the first day of October for Kom via A vaz. The disciples fully expected that the Master would proceed to Teheran, which is nearer to Kom than Poona it< to Bombay. But they were disappointed. After a day's stay at Kom ~be Holy Master turned bo.ck, and, instead of going to th" present capital of Persia, went to its former eapi.tal, Yi7.. Ispahan, which He reached on the 22nd of Octo her.

TJ I~

40

~·I

Ell Jqt MESSAGE

The Holy MaHter put up at the Hotel, At~re-Talai in I spahan. ~cnrcely a fe \1' hour,.; el11pc;ed after His arrival at the Hot r:d, wii CII tlierc C<I JllO to it th e Hon of Aruao ~ o hrab , a di,.tingui HII ed Inerehant prince of

Yezd . The Arb11b had ~(llllehow col!le to kno'>-\' ll.bout the Holy Master's visit to Persia, and believing that He would surely pay a flying viHit to lspahan and to his own city, sent his own son with a servant to !Rpahau.

He had asked him uot only to pay homage to His Holinel:ls, but to entreat Him to go to Yezd, and bad instructed him that as soon aA the Holy Master left lf'pahan for Yezd, he Bhould at once write t•> him.

The name of the Holy Master being well-known in Y ez<:l, the Arbab's intention was to make arrang ements to enable the people to give a warm welcome to Him on His arrival in Y ezd. The son did as he waR told, but it will be seen that he only partly ~;;ucceeded in his mlSSlOn.

A couple of days after the Holy Master's arrival at the Hotel, a wonderful event happened. A servant of the Hotel seemed to be woe-stricken and was found in tears. Mr. K. E. Afsari, a dieciple of the Holy Master, could not help asking him the cause of his sudden sorrow. The servant replied, ''My sou is dying, sir. Only a few days ago he was all right, but today he is in the jaws of death. He is my only child and his death will simply paralyse me.'' Mr. Aftlari \Vent at once to the Holy Master, and, after informing Him about this matter, requested Him to take pity on the servant and do something to save the child. He asked him to bring the servant near Him. After making some en·

T1 [ J<: EIJJT< IH'S ]) l A J{'{

4l

ab •Jilt hi~ d)' ing R<11 1, th o JJ,JI_y .\b ~ ter a ::~ kecl the ; rvant ll<1L to \Vorry aud givii >.:C: h i 111 a cardamom Haid, Uivo thi:-> to your Ron, 111ak e lti1n ea l it, and he will ho II right.'' Tlto son·1mt'.-. .i"Y knew no l>~mnd~: he How 1 hi>< h<Ji ll8 and did wlwt l1 o wa:-l t"ld.

No HOoner did 1e y o u11g,;ter p·trtnke of th e carda1nom than he ;;oemed 1 ue s nat c hed from the .i·,w::; of death, and in a few our,;, to the surprise of hi s relatives, who were anxious 1r hitll, he left hi" bed 11nd was himRelf again.

The e ws of hi R miraculout~ cure won spread from mouth to 10uth, and a H all persons believed that the Holy Mas)!" had cure.l the boy miraculou,ly, they became eager J see and pay homage to HiEl Holiuei'.H. So great was 10 ru;;h of the new devotee s, must of whom had never 3fore even he[trd of Hi:; Il:tme, that He thought it ~·oper to leave the tuwu ou the following day, and to g o 1 its :<uburu, Djolfa, a beautiful Yillage which is habited trwstly by Arnwnian Christi:ms.

But the citizens-Loth Mahometan and Zoroastrian · l><paha u flueked tu Djolfa, and, to be i!ure, His Divine llije 'l ty did not disappoint them. He not only allowed tem to pay their homage to Hitu, but also allowed them · c1sk Him que3tions. The A.rmeui'1ll Christians of tho llage did nut lag behind. Se\·entl of tlu~m of both the xes drew ne:.n- Him al!d adored Him. The Holy :aster impa rted spiritual in structioa to son1e of these : ,,. deYote e ,;, inchding t ile Puli ce CoLnmis;;io ner of fs. ,!tao, whu .; e de,·otiou , th<>uc::·i l ;, ;:);,yed, knew :w bounds.

11iri e ><

In Y ezd : Ru~e~

l"l>-" 8 "'

zdl the way

The Holy :!\'In~ter with Hit< party left Djolfa 11 p. n1. for Y ezd thus g1nng a slip to the n <>f the Arb:li>, who \\"a :-: dail y 1nalciug enquiries

TilE .:\lEHEH MESSAGE :1b o~1t [ [ i, vi f'it to '{ ezd. The morrow when the youth lea rn ed uf 11 iH departure, he became very sorry but did not forget to wire to his father about it.

Before the Arhah r ec:e ived the telegram the H()ly Master had a rriv ed in Yezd. and 130 hi H hope of giving a rousin g welco!lle to } filll was blighted. Ar~ab Hustam Khu,;rav, a rich nierchailt of Yezd, offered his buugalow to the Holy Mli f:l t9r for His !ltay in it, and his offer was accepted. No sooner did His Holiness occupy the bungalw than visitors began pouring in. He allowed them to take darshana of Him and imparted instruction to some of them.

It is no exaggeration to say that the news about the Holy Master's arrival ir. Y ezd spread like wildfire and the enthusiasm of the people knew no bounds. On the second day of His arrival in the city hundreds of people might be said to have followed Him from dawn till night.

He was invited to various places, but He could not accept all the invitations. In the morning He went to the house of Arbab Sheheriar, who is on the Path and who has already made fairly good progress. His joy knew no bounds and he shared it with hundreds of people, who wanted to worship His Divine Majesty, by allowing them to enter lâ&#x20AC;˘is house. The Arba\.:, drew up an address of welcome as hastily as he could, and in the presence of the crowd, standing near His Holiness, he read it. From the start to the finish the address contained high eulogy of the Holy Master, Whom the Arbab regards aR a Prophet. Mr. K. E. Afsari made a suitable reply to the address on behalf of His Holiness.

In the afteruoon, the same day, an at-horne waE given to Y azdan Maher Baba by Arbab Sora b. Nearly

THE R:DlTOH.'.:::> DlAH.Y

43

1irLy gue:-<tt; were pre >< e11t. All uf them were distin· Jished eitize11.~ of Yezd, but they unheBitatingly paid teir re~pect,; o the Holy Master. The Arbat delivered ·1 eloqu e nt lecture in which he warmly praised tho h il ;w t h ropic work bud HIJ in tho •d uf his renowned :ue:-<t. Mr. Afsari made a suitable reply on behalf of liH H olinoss. Tea then began to be served; but while wa;; beiug i-!Orved the Mahometau Inspector of FinIce of the Persian Government stood up and delivered u exteUJpore lecture in praise of His Divine Majesty, 1 the cour,;o of it, he aaid : "I am awed by the personlity of Hazarat Mohar f::ab<.t. Probably all of you may :l feeling ju;:~t wlnt I am feeling. By merely seeing Him, e know that Hazarat Maher Baba i;.; a great Saint and laster. I believe that He will teach real religion to II of us aud that He will revolutionize the world."

Vhen he finished biE! lecture, he refu~ed to take tea un!SS his cup received the Racred touch of the Holy Mas~r.

II is H oliue1<s touched his cup and then he took it ·!th joy writ large on his face.

The Divine L.ord then went into the heart of the .ty, where thousandr:; of people, mostly Mahometans, ad gathered together to welcome Him and where, as tTitllged beforehand, He visited the city inn, school, etc. ,fterw~trd;; He went to the bunglllow of Arbab Rustam hahtt,Fm; the ho;~t and his family became extremely glad 1d worshipped Hin1 with reverence, but they became ary sorry us He refused to take tea or partake of anyting. AH soon a~ He stepped out: of the bungalow a ZorlO!triht. bdy, named Gauher, who was waiting for Him ·ith mtw.y other persons, fell at His feet and entreated {im t(• graee l1~n· home L•.r His p1·esence. She said to

THg

-14

~11.ÂŁlli~H

MESSAGE

Ma,;Le r : "Overnig h~ I had n wunue t'l'ul dr ealtl. in it 1 r>a w You surru uuded o11 all Hide ,; l1y dazzliug lig ht which was tl. owing right fr01u Your luHtruu ., fa ce . ltt the drea111i11g st:tto You graeed my house ; 11 uw 1 entreat Y uu to g I'!I Ce it in the waking state." '}be Holy Ma::;te r pl e <~~ed her aud went to Iter houHe. In the evening He \\ e1.t t o th e village of Allabad awl J afrabad, where a uniubor of pe ople welcomed and worshipped Him. When he returned to the city, the streets, where His car was ¡to pass through, were crowded, and as arranged beforehand, He was taken to the Zoroastrian Girls' School. BesideH the schoolgirl~, the lettding citizens nf both the eexes, as they were invited by the School authorities, were present. The Holy Mallter wa~:~ given a royal welcome and after II e seated Himself, .Mr. K. E. Afsari delivered a brilliant lecture upon Him. After the lecture was over, all the ~::chool-girlll stood up and entertained the Holy Master by singing soul-stirring religious hymns. He then gave a prasad of sweetmeatt~ to all the girls, each of whom took it after reverently bowing and kissing His hand .

Though it had grown dark, the si:reet, in which the above School was situated, was overcrowded, and so when His Holiness ster:-ped out of the School, He was literally besieged by the people. l t was with son.;.e difficulty that He was taken to His place of red, viz., the bungalow of Arbab Rustam Khusrav, The third day of the Holy Master's stay in Yezd was as noteworthy as the second. The devotion and zeal of Yezdians,- whether they were Mahometans or Zoroastrians or Bahais or Bahia, knew no bounds.

Wherever He went, there were roses, roses all the way .

He was invited at various places, but He could accept the

H oly

TH

l~

KD LT<JH' ~ ])J AH Y

45

,,,],\,a fuw inl'i LttiunP. ln the llJUrni11g He went to i he l ,un.~:du\\' uf ArlJal, Kll <Jdalnksh Gudarz, who was all humility bef"re Hi111 a11d \\a-; so glad that he said to ! iiill : "I f8el !t' if lllV t';dher !1a,., been broucrht back ' b i \) I i fe . ,.

In the

Shri Hal"1ji went to the village \\'here nwny people reYered Him. Among tlw:::e who worshipped Him waR one Mr. Faredun Irani , the father (Jf Mr. Behramji lrani. who is one of the mo~t deeply devoted di<-ciples of tpe Holy Master and who accompanied Him on HiH Persian tour. Mr. Hehramji was ;;imply taken aback, when he saw his father adoring the Holy Master, for not only was he known not to believe in Him as a Saint or a Sadgurubut was considered hostile to Him. Indeed he was previously so hos¡ tile to the Holy Master that he became hostile to his own son, Behramji, aR Behramji was His disciple. -What happened then that lllade the ><ged gentleman go to the length of adoring the Holy Master ? He himself mentioned the cause of his conversion. He said to His Holiness: ''I never believed in you, but now I do.

Day before yesterday Ildretimt a beautifuL dream. In the dream l saw You with halo around Your face. You kindly touched my hands and at once my htindE began giving off extremely powerful fragrant odour. The fr:wrance continued for !:iome time even after I woke n from the dream. It was midnight when I woke up, but to a~sure myself that I \Yas not under any delusion I woke up my soo, the brother of Behramji, and asked him whether my bands were not fr~Jgrant. He replied in '~1e liffirm11tive and asked me the cause of it. 'Vhen l narrated the dream to him, he was thunderstruck.

From today I am Your devotee, 0 Babaji. l AhaJI ;tf10riiO<JIJ

of ::\lnbRrakhil,

4G

THE MEHEH MESSAGE

now ne\er ~peak agaiu ~ t Yon , hut Hhall inform It;! of lliY friend tJ about thiR wonderful experience."

A R f'OO!l as the Hoh· Ma:-;ter reached the above village, Mr . K. E. AfRari .. left Him a:1d weut to the vill:lge (,f Taft iu order to llriug the Prermu;hra-ru boy Aga Ali (Syed Ali Haji Mulwllltlled) who was and Htill is Rta.ying there with his relatives. Mr. AfHari was ~uccesl'ful in his miRRion, but his rel~ttiveH also accompanied the boy; and so the poor boy, who iH practically a prisoner of his cruel relatives, was allowed by them to sit near and talk with his Beloved for only a few minutes.

From Mubarakha the Holy Master went to the village of Khoramsha, where Hmong others, but unlike others, several Bahai!l with their local leader carne merely to see Him. The leader was a proud man and he was determined not to revere and not to allow any of his followers to revere His Holiness. But his pride melted away on merely seeing the lustrous face of the Holy MaHter. To;the Burprise of hi"' followers he bowed His Holiness and asked them to do likewise. After five minutes he asked his followers to kiss the hands of Hif:l Holiness and after ten minutes he said to them; ·'You may, if you like, fall at the feet of Hazarat Meher Baba." Thm; the Holy .Master'R personality work.W'1nders.

When the Di.viue Babaji returned to the city in the evening, the Y ezdiaus once more took the opportunity of paying their homage to Him. Among those who approached Him was the leader ofBahais of Shiraz, who had come from his native city to Yezd in an aeroplano, with the express purpos~ of seeing Him. He was so much struck by the Holy Master's person~lity that te~u·s trickled down his cheeks. Soon after letnitw .,..,

THE

EDITOH'S DIARY

47

H illl, thiA good and worthy Itiari delivered a lecture before a big <.:rowd, in which he talked what very ortlwdo:x 1Vlnh.,uietluiH w1•uld call blnR!'hemy, for he went far ::.s to declare : •·lf Y"U wnut to see God, see Hazarat Meher Babn ln llazarat 7\leher Baha. God haR nnmifeHted HiUJI:lelf." Late in the oveuiug the Holy Master said to tho~e who were tlleu prel:leut before Him: ''1f I were to t~it iu seclusion for four months anywhere in Persia, 1 would break my vow of Rileuce and speak first in Yezd. But if 1 don't sit thuil and break my silence elsewhere, whether in PerHia, or out of Persia, still I will certainly do, what I deem best, for the spiritual betterment of Persia." On the fourth day hundreds of people flocked to the bungalow of Arbab Rustam Khusrao to revere the Holy Master for the last time, early in the morning, as it was made known that He was to leave Y ezJ at 11 a. m. There was great demand from them for the Holy Master's photographs and lockets, a number of which had to be given away free of charge.

Prohibition of Darshana From Yezd the Holy Ma3ter went to Kerman where He stayed for only two hours in a Motor garage. Arbab rtustam-e !::lohrab, th~ Chief of the Zoro· aRtrian Anjuman of Kerman, invited Him to his luxur. ious bungalow, but the Holy Master preferred the humble garage. Soon aner He entered the garag.:J its doore were closed, ag His Holiness did not want the people to approach Him and aGora Him. The new8 of His arrival in Kerman spread like wildfire, and hundreds of people gathered together near the garage; but despite their clamour and entreaties, the doors were not opened. Mr. K. E. Afsari approached the Police

4 L'0

Co 11111 Ji ...,-;ioner cf th o city ;tnd rei[Ue sted hin1 to disperse the c;rowd. The Polico Cr):11111iskioner, wh(> i'i a Jfahometa11 and who hilll"elf wa" tHger to see Hiil I [oline:-lH Ho:kod : '' What sill" have we, the people of Kernnn, cr)Jlllllitted that y )Ur .\{aster doe" not w;tnt us to approach allll p.'t.Y our rot<pect" to 1-1·uu ?. " "'I 1. 1e dio~ciple

made a suitable reply <.wd, at hiR requeRt gave him a locket of the Holy l\1a;.;ter. The Police Commissioner then i;.;sned ordero:~ to dispero;e the erowd. :B.eturn to India From Ket·mtm Hi, Holinestl went to Bam, whet·e, though He stayed. for four days, He remaiced inaccessible to outsiders. From Bam, which He left on the 5th of November He proceeded to Dm~dab, where He ordered the disciples to make p~·eparatious for leasing Persia. It waf:l expected that the Holy Master's passport would not be vised readil_y, and the unpleasant expectation was fulfilled. The Pathan Vice-Cowml of the Britisl1 at Duzdab, whose duty it is to vi.,e passports, at first resolutely refused to vise the passport of His Holine;;s without the permiR:,;ioTJ uf the Britiah authorities. He said agttiu and again : ., Meher Ba.b1t is a British ~ubject, He Homehow eame here as a Persian subject; therefore, if I were to vise HiR passport, I would simply bring myself in trouble." As the Holy Master had \\·arned 1:-l.i;, disciples that if He and His party were not allowed t11 leave Duzdab in a day they would h11ve t o stay there not le~<> than eight months, Messrs. Dadachanji and Afsat·i went to his office and house again and again to 1: ersuade him.

Th(1Ugh he w1:1s uot the man to be coaxed into doing

THE

I ~D lT01\'S

D L\HY

49

: tt ldl t ii i~ a.~; tin,;t !ti~ will , tltuir e fl'ort~ were not with out :tn y e!l'ect. The y "01ll 811·hat Hoftened hi" irnu r eso lutio n, and it tuelted away by the note ll'hich the GoverII"r .,f DuzJab wr•Jte to h im at the requetlt of a loc.'l l devotee .. r t he Hol y lviasler lr1 the tt<>te the Governor i'G< tll e~te d hiu1 to give all faci li ties to His H .. linesH and His pMty for their departure from Duzdab. A P athan th oug h he was, he acceded to t h e reque st an d vised t he pa~ s po r t of the Holy Master.

By rail the Holy Master left Duzdab for India via Quetta (Spe<~and). On the 15th He came to Lahore IHid ou the 16th to N ~tHi k.

In the Septewber number of this Magazine the wri 1~e r of these lin eR hinted that Araugaon would not probably remain the he adqua rters of the Meherash ram rnstitute a nd that wost probabl y Dhulia would gain what AnLIJgaon would lo;;e. Bu t Dhulia ha" proved to be as unfortun a te as Aran gao n, for t h e grace of the Holy n·h~ter has de!Scended upon NaRi k,-Nasik where the Holy R~:~.rn an d the chaste Sita are said to have lived fn r some time durirw their O'lori ouR life on the physical ,... "' ;lla ti e. As Nasik h as now become the headquarters of the Holy M aster, The Meher Message office will d oubtle;;s he removed there, and it will be removed soon ;1 fter this numbe r of th e Magttzine is out. All communications to u;: and to th e Holy Master must, therefore, henceforLh be sent at : The Meher Message Office, N eur Saro>~h Motor VI/ orks, N asik , G. I. P. R.

ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW ADDRESS :

T ~1e lVIEf!ER fYIESSHGE OffiCE NEAR

SAROSH MOTOR WORKS w. INDIA G. I. P . R.

NASI K

FHOM OUH FRIENDS' LETTEHS

In a post card, dt~.ted 10-10-29, Prof Wincenty Lutoslawski (of Wilno, Poland) writes: " I have received the .Me her Message No. 8 for August 1929, and I 11ee we agree in many points : pre-exietence and reincarnation, the coming of another world war, which will be so to say the continuation of the last world war, considerable improvement of 11ocial and political conditions after that war, religious unity of mankind with the utmost reduction of ritual and race prejudice and sectarian propensities .... I wish very much to know more about Meher Baba and I invite him to be my guest, if he comes to Poland."

In a letter dated 28-10-29, Mr. M. VadiuelM (of Madras) writel:l: "The sight of the visage oÂŁ His Divine Majesty touched the very core of my heart. Every day my luve, divine indeed, grows strong, unbounded and unfathomable. His magnetic personality attracted my devoted attention and drew my wavering mind close to Him. My craving for coming in conta<>t with His Divine Majesty grows very prominent in my mind. I am really benefitted by the;valuable spiritual eayings of Meher Baba and other interesting and instructive articles contained in The Meher Message which really doee useful and wonderful senice to humanity and provides mental pabulum to those who are hankering after eternal spiritual bliss. The teachingâ&#x20AC;˘ given in TMMeher Message lead us to the high road of happineee

FHOM OUR

FHli~:\DS'

Ll-.TTIUtS

51

~elrre : tliz~tion .

J dn not like to be Helfl;;h in eni0y inc; thi.~ overl11Htinc; lwppiue .~K for n1yHelf, but endea'l'our to t.he IJe;~t of ruy ability, tu iutrodUl:e to my friends Lhe e·;i.~lonr.o uf Meiier.'t"hraiJl Jn,;titute, of HiH Divine :\fll..ioHty lllld tho publication of Mchcr 1lfcssrwe. There aro ruany people wlw are very eager to have dcwsha.n of Hi,; Divine .Yfajesty. We will all be benefitted by HiA preHeuce in our midHt. Hit~ DiviDe l · ok and Hie m~>jeAtic per!lona.lity will draw w~ to the path ofrighteoustless, which lead U>J to the bcroal of Self-realization." ·cJ!d

In a letter, d~J.ted 10-ll-29, Sister V. T. La.kshmi (of Madras) writes: ''From what I know, I feel only too strongly that one can near the Goal after one detaches o!le'H Ae!f from the world of allurements. The f1u·ther one if; from it, the nearer one is to the Destination. Thi» procesl'! of detachment. is no easy game. It is iihuet of a ceaseless biittle between 'spirit and flesh': if the Hpirit brands the fleAh, the victory is won; but, if the flet~h gets the better of the spirit, the battle i~:~ l03t. Tho average man, ever launching out into the Ocean of life and death, scarcely reaches the Goal of life. The world of today is full of vices of all kinds.

This i!'l an age of pure and simple materialism and gross selfi~huess, where neither implicit faith:·nor innate intuition has a place. People, following the Epicurean philosophy, run amok into inglorious vices, which only keep them far away from the Divine Love, through whieh alone we can attain Godhead . How many people, lead caring to do ~ny service to humanity, live for the; .. own Relvefl and fully give themselves up to Lust, Greed and Anger, -the three woeful gates of hell !

When will these people, bidding farewell to their Tices, turn over a new leaf in thei,· lives and try to understand

il1c trne rmri>"" o (If life' :---., lJl e llJill ,c; i11 111 0 t e: ll~ lllO ,.;tJ-()n.~ly tli:d ,.,i1l1 tl1 o : td\(~ltl ,,f (1\lr L<>rd, ~:td~Jiru Slu·i \leher I ;a\n i11l • d. l1i~ "'"rid, their redOIIIJlli()IJ i~ :d"n at haild. F<,r, ll>elie\'O ()\lr L<,rLI B;~b:1ji h:1~ <:<>1110, with tho haJJ !lOr "{' 1Jm·o a·"! Tnt\ h to t:lulllge the f<>lll :1 t ltlll~.­ phere of the ,,·orld :trd 1\terel>y t' UO tl1at 1dl i~ r ;,<: lt t with the ' l~arth aml Hei1VOn.' Doe~ Jt()L our S:1dguru :\leher Babll. teach n" to make our ,,.<q·]Jly mind,; rise up into eelestial regions, far away from the materia!i,tic world ia which we live? Does not He proclaim the Truth that no' Dharma" no fasting, no nJantr(j.s by theJn,;elves will take Ufl to God; and that we must ourselves per::;istently and faithfully endeavour to reach the Path, with implicit truHt in Him and with the aid of :1. Gnrn Mahll.raj, who stands for God intangible on the Earth 'i Further does not His Divine Lordship ins1 il into om· mirHJs, often and on, that there is only one God and that there is nothing but God ? " In a post card, dated 11-11-~9, lvfr. H,atcm N. Tamboli (of Navsari) writea: I have almost reso!Yed to translate the s:1.ying•', articles, etc. of Shri Meher Baba published in The Meher Jl[r~ssrtqe, into Gujarati :md publish them in a book form at a low price:' The same gentleman, in a letter, dated ~4-11-29 writes:" I have seen from personal experience that ParsiB are now tired of the speeches on trite subjects, such as, power of prayer :1.nd glory of fire. What they crave for is knowledge about the soul. I mpelf am a member of the Theosophical Lodge and seeing the enthusiasm of the Navsari Parsis of both the sexes I can safely say that they no longer require the superficial knowledge about their soul, and they are bent on awakening that which lies within ...... Considering the quality of paper

~3 IIUI!I], , q· .,f 1"'-:.C:''..; )·· >It c\lf>i>l.Y every lllt>llth t" )'"lli' re:ttler - l :1111 ;,h·a rd .\'"ll " ' u--t \;e Ct•llductiug the

:trld th e

"\L._c_::tzilw w.th ""lJit.: ti~t:trl<: ial \" "·"· I therefore ;mgge;;t tlut. \'"ll ••pert a ..;I'L' ci:tl furrd f"r the lll:ttlltell:llt<:e ()f Tiw .\L'"h 'or \Je..;..;;,ge.'' !11 a letter d :>tt.:d l.'J 10.:-;J, Jh l.)cO?'IjC lV.l1leCcdla (of Philadelphia) write< ,. 1 til:wk you f<,r The Aleher Jlfessarte wilrch 1 e11j"yed readiug. Without drawing a11y c"mparis"u, I ,;ee we are both worki11g to the end, 0f nelpi11g our fell()w~, toward a life of entire surrender and devotion to the Divine Will. .... l published a monthly 11111gazine fur 52 years, but on account of my physical ill11ess and conseque'it breakdown in bodily power~, I liill obliged to suspend publication of the same with the Dec. 1!.!27 issue."

In a letter, diited 19-ll-20, Mr. Chu.ndolal Chawelwalc~ (of Delhi) writes: ''I do not know whether I am qualified to do what I am proposing, but I wish that the message of the Sadguru Shri Me her Baba sh mid also be propagated in the Urdu language, (w hich is the chief language in the Punjab and U. P. lf Lord wills and the idea suggested above meets with your approval, I ofFer my humble services for translating the Life and Teachings of the .Messenger of Lord, Shri Meher 13aba. , ... Reading and writing about ~uiuts is the only source of my happiness in my present stage. I have wtitten the life and te achings of Shri Ramakri::lhna Paramahamsa in Urdu ; besides I have lately revised the second edition of the Buddhist book, Dhammapada, erl.ited and translated by me in Urdu."

In a letter, dated 4-ll-29, Siste·r .Man; Tremncmn (of Est!tonia) writes : ''I shall do my best to acqtlaint our people with The Me her Message, though it is diffi-

THE MEHEH MESSAGE cult to work iu our d!irk ma.teri:di,.;tic ~~onJ super!ltitiou:; atmosphere. Sup.er8titious are our so-called occultist~L ~verywhere they !199 ur pretend to see dark influences.

I consider it my duty to write an article on the Holy Ma~ter for f1ublicliti on in our ,<:.,T reatest I~sthoniaTt 119\YSpaper.

"

In a letter, dated 15-!) . ~9 D1¡. Boleslav Bilksi ( ~f Warsaw, Poland ) writes: ' I love you, my best Master and Teacher_ I want to come to You, so that I may attain to your . quality and be fit for dedicat ¡ ing mylife to spreading your Gospel."

In a letter, dated 5-11-2;), Mr. Meredith Starr (of N. Devon) writes: ''Please assure our beloved Baba, when He returns from Persia, that my house (which is beautifully situated in the country and is very quiet) is entirely at His disposal, and so are my services and those of the sisters, Margaret and Esther. We only live to love and Serve Him. ~ h, my dear brother, if the whole universe were to chant Baba's praises for millions and millions of years, even then only the tiniest fragment could ba told! Beyond speech ar.d beyond imagination is the Holiest of Being~>, God incamate in a .h?man form, Man and God joined everlastingly, umtmg heaven and earth in the kiss of Love."

FL AS Hl:N GS _\ 0l D S LA::)HI N GS Th(', Mehr-T Jfessagc

With tins issue our dear dear child, The Maher _M essage , completes the first year of its life. The services that it has been rendering to humanity have made thou sands of personA the world over jubilant to a del"ree, while its rapidly increasing power, has f' truck terror into the hearts :of its enemies. It hal!l ,<~.]ready made a name for itself throughout this wide, wide wotld. But we take no credit for its present prestige and power, for we could have done little without the help a nd ble sRi ngs of our beloved Master, His Divine M ajesty Meher Baba. We caonot be too grateful , we cann ot thank His Divine Majesty too much, for what He has done for us. If anyone has been benefited

by Th e Meher Message in any way, let him be grateful 'co His Divine Majesty and not to us.

From the da.7 it was born, or r ather from the very day we decided t o give birth to it; a number of pers ons have been serving this Magazine in some way or other. we cannot name all of them here, but we wo uld be failin g in our duty were we not t o mention the following persons, to whom we owe a debt of gratit udlil : 1 Mr. K. H. Shrinivasan; (of Madras); 2 Mr. A rde shir S . Ba.ria , (of B ombay); 3 Mr. Navroz H. Dadachanji (of Bombay) ; 4 Mr. Vishnu N. Deorukhka.r (of Meherabad) ; 5 Mr. A. K. A bdulla (ofTalegaon) G Mr. Meredith Starr (of E ngland) ; 7 Mr. Max Gysi (of U.S. A.); 8 Miss M ary Treumann (of E sthonia) 9 T he _late Sadhu Christian Leik ; 10 Mr. Baily J

.I ra11i ~ ~· f .\l ei i:; ru\,:1(1 ); LI .\lr. l<'r;tlttn•z 1-I. Dadacha.uji. (of :\l ohe ral>:td ); L ;\-lr_ !\. N . ]}tstur 1uf Bo1ubay); 1:1 .\[r. Navru_ji C.T:dat.i (••f' :.J"a,;ik); 14 :'vlr:-:.Khor<~hed­ IJiiit<HI S. \li ..; Lry (ofK;tr;< c:hi): 1/./ill 11./.one cd/15 and lG Me ."'"~'" · H . B. II

aud

11 ~\lr.

ira y <wd No"ltir N. ~atha (of A'mtgar) Hu:;t:un K. S . lr.•tni (of Na,;ik) .

* "Gocl,

•

*

C1·ea.ter and Oreation 1'

In this issue the laHt of the ;.;e ries of article~ under the above caption, by the Divine Lord Shri :Meher Baba i~ publit-~hed. These articles were not actually v.Titten or dictated word by word by Him, but were adftpted from the speeches which Be delivered before His disciples, a year ago. The work of adaptation, waR supervised by the Holy MaHter, Who asked us to make changeH here and there. In theRe articles the Holy Ma<>ter cannot be said to have treated the subject exhaustively, but there is no gainsayiug that He has broken the ice, in public. '1\7 e use the words, in public, adYisedly. for our read erR will be glad to know, He baR already written 11n exhau:: tive thesit! on the subject.

He wrote it during Hl25-26, when, though He was not speaking by word of mouth, He was putting pen to paper. The thesis is e xtremely interesting aud in:~tructive. vV h~u it will be published, it will create :.t great ~;erRation throughout the world. It will be universally regarded as authoritatiYe, and, strange as it may " seen1 , materialistic ~:>cientists will be the first to appreeiate it, and the:y will be able to make a good many discoveries after reading it, or rather, they will he in a position to demonstrate the truth of the assertions which the Holy Master has made there1n. Why

----------------------~~--

FLA~

Ill\!(:;;.::.; AND SLASHINGS

57

Juo.~

not ]{i:-; Di\·itto !'IT~tje;;ty allow it Lo be pub[i;;hed pre;ent? \Veil, we do not know the reawn why, but there ntu-<t bo r;outtd rea..;orts, which He llimself knows, fur [JI'OVC'ltitw it frow HOoirt•'n the li«ht of dav r-. h J' for the presertt.

Our readers will be glad to learn that from the next isHue of The Jlleiie?· Me.s.mge Fractic~:~.l courses on the spiritual life by the Holy Master will be published· Immense spiritual benefit will accrue to those who will follow the practielil hints of the Holy Ma.;ter.

l>t

*

* "

Tec~ching

*

of Zoror.~ster ''

We have been requested to express our opinion on the controversy that wail very recently c~trried on, under the above c~tption, by the renowned Parsi >Jcholar, Mr. G. K. Narirnan and his colleagues on the one hand and Mr. M. P. Madon on the other, in tLe columns of our esteemed contemporary, The Bombay C:h1·onicle. All those who followed thiR controversy will unheRitatingly l'tdmit that logic aad common sense were on the side of Mr. G. K. N ariman Rnd his colleagues, and that consequently, Mr. .:\1. P. Madon, in his strenuous efforts to bol~ter up materialistic orthodoxy, had to take recourHe to vitupenttion. It was not so much the sound arguments of his opponents as his o.vn rotten arguments that made Mr. Madon look silly.

Some rotraighl questionH were put to this aged gentlellli:>."' but not one queRtion did he answer in a straight-forward IHid reasonable mttnner. Jle seemed to be ~n­ der the imprese,ion that bv :<howing eontempt to his

upporlOilb :tnd Lltr<>ll·ing 111\ld at tlteu1 he would score a sucue:->s, tlnt his o-;tatemertt" would be taken at their facu v;due, arHl th·.1.t his liltlty languag e W<mld ev<>ke adtttiration. Mr :Madon i,; Ho antediluvian that he ide 11 tilies religiun with dugrttas aud rituaL<, mistakes piety and Herviee for asceticit>tll, and mud·lleH spiritu~tl­ ity with 1-mperstition. Hi" opponentH steered clear of ungent\emanliness and gave wide berth to laughterprovoking blunders. Mr. A. F. S. Talyarkhan, whom Mr. Madon pretends to pity but who may juHtly pity Mr. Madon's mentality, charged the Parsi priests that many of them pray for one's soul by preying on one's pocket, that the profession of a priest was like ?~.ny other worldly profesf:lion, that many Parsi priests were not holy men or ministers of God, and that by pretending to be such they were preying on the ignorant illiterate and orthodox masses. Mr. Madon is a queer old gentleman, whose one ambition in life ls to be universally regarded as the most learned scholar and the greatest authority on Zoroastrianism ; and his way of replying to his crities is more queer,--so much so that none, except perhaps lunatics, regard him as an authority. This is the reply of Mr. Madon to Mr. Talyarkhan's accusatiom; referred to above: ''I will ask this youth whether to him finance is of no concern. Is he ready to live on the miserable pittance that the poor priests get ? Is he ready to advise his worthy parent to reduce at least by half his fees as a lawyer? ... who compels him to engage the priests. " A fourth form school-boy would be ashamed to reply in this vein, but Mr. Madon unbluehingly penned the above words and must have congratulated himself on being inspired to scribble them. Instead of affirming or denying the

,'L C(; LH < •li~>rrH of his "P)l'> rrc rrt , lre a~k " hir11 .'uch ;; illy que~·­

tiou s. ~Lr. Tal y •n·;,.lw.u righth· r e t•>rt od: " You will H8e, Sir, that there is no derrial frill!\ ~\Ir. i\I:adon uf the a cl: usaliorr that rna11y "f th e pri e..; t" prey "11 the P" ckets of' the l11ily ai\CI that rrt"rte v i,; th e ir guiding prirwiple of fa;th. In his reply he doe~ uot deuy that tlwt i'l HO, but j , at paiu,.; t;o point out why it is so. And he doe~ it by way of <luestions to me ..... And Heems to argue tltat if I am not, why should the priest8 be blamed if they do the samel Without saying anything about Mr . .Madon's w 1uderfullogic, I will answer him and say that as a llllill of tl1e world I do condider finance a matter of great concern Lo me and that I most certainly would decliue to live on a mi3erable pittar.ce. But, if I were a priest, that is, assuming that there is a class of holy meu who can act as iutenuedia.ries between men and God ( which, however, I don't for one moment admit ) finance would be a matter of no concern to me and I would live on a pittance more miserable than that allegedjto be earned by ajParsi priest. For, in that case, my life would be dedicated to my God and my labours to showing the ways of God to men. \Vhat have finance and money to do with such a life? '' Cravo, 111r.

Talyatkhan, br"vo: May the Parsi community produce more and more youths like Mr. Talyarkhan: No matter however materialistic they may be, such straightforward ~1nd courageous youths of his type are far more fit for the real religions or Rpiritual life tlwn antediluvian fmat;()s of the type of Mr. Madon.

*

*

*

GO

A LiDd

rm

Lor(l Z or uast c1¡

Being 111atter-fed, HenHe-drugged, and worldly_ minded, ~h. Madon in the very nature of thit1g<1, cauuot under::ltand what HU Ch a dediclited life of r>ervice, 1i.rl .Mr. Talyarkhan ha11 iu lllind, tueanw. Affectiug to pity this youth, the aged fanatic Hay~:~: â&#x20AC;˘' Thi<l pour yuuug fellow seems to believe in &.Hceticism," and accu~:~es him of betraying ig:10rance of what he, Mr. Madon, calls the Zoroastrian religion. There seems to be no limit to either the ignorance or the impudence uf Mr. Madon.

According to him, what he Clills the Zoroastrian religion enjoins upon its follower~ to become worldly_ minded and avariciou!'i. This materialistic fanatic goes further and says that Lord Zoraster actually prayed to God to make Him materially prosperous. Every person with even an iota of common sense in him, will agree with us, when we say that Mr. Madon has libelled Lord Zoroaster by imputing to Him the groundless charge of having prayed to God for material prosperity.

This charge-- Mr. Mad on does not call it a charge but a paiseworthy fact-is as irreligious as it is idiotic.

A sensible spiritually-minded man must go mad, before he can seriously believe tl.at Yazdan Zoroaster prayed to God to make Him a rich man.

*

*

* Temple Entry

Agita~ion

On the first occasion on which the Divine Lord Shri Maher Baba asked the Brahmin boys of His Ashram to sit close by the so-called untouchable boys and

FLASHINGS AND SLASHINGS

61

d i no with th~m. great conRternation prevailed among Hi>~ grown-up Brithntin devotee", though the Br11hntin !JOyH obe y ed the H"ly .\laHter pnnnptly aud cheerfully.

An aged Brahmin devotee, who waR then with HiH Divine Lordc~hip, wa~ so ntUch Hhocked that he became pale and then became so very indignant that blood ru;;hed to hiH face. Pointing at him the Holy Master aHked Mr. N OHhir N. :::latha, who wafl then with Him, "Does thit-i man want me to respect the prejudices and arrogance of the Brahtnius ~, Then with fire in His eyes and giving a slight blow to HiR own body, He declared: "I have put on this body with a view to destroying the entire fiibric of the caste system, and destroy it I will, despite the opposition of the bigoted Brahmins. The caste system iB as absurd aa it is tyrannous. It has nothiog to do with religion, in the true sense of the word."

In the Holy Master's durbar and Ashram the Hindus, including the Brahmins, do not ob11erve the rules of their caste, whatever it may be. They are above caste,-aye, they are practically unc()nscious of their caste.

All reg'lxd themselves and regard all others as children of God: The Holy Me.ster has already done much to remov¡e the barriers that divide man from man. But He has still to do far more, and after manifesting Himself as the Messiah, He will do what the Lord Buddha did with regard to the caste system. He will only be more thorough than the Lord Buddha, for He will destroy it root and branch, so that it may not grow up again.

What thousands of reformers cannot do jointly, the Holy Master will do individually. But we do not mean to diF>courage the reformers. We take great interest

THE Ml~HEH lVf ESSAGE in the pre Aent a waken ing of th e de pr ef.;Aed claBseH, aud 1'/w 1l[e!~ er 1Yfes::;r1,;r Be nds its L>i esH in gH t o a ll th ose who for th eir ri oa hts · The rio·ht of temr)le a ·t·e fiahtina h n u entry, which they clailll , is a .iust and na tural ri g ht· The Brahmins wh o refu;;e t o g rant it are onl y e xhil_~ it­ in bo· their bi bo·otry a nd a rr o~·a rH.: e. They aTe ind eed free " . to suppres~ and oppre Hs their so-called low-caHte brethren, but they should be ashamed to do so in the name of religiou, which they are fa st degrading. A temple is a house of God, and to prevent anybody from entering it is un-Brahmin, un-Hindu, monstrous, shameful, and anti-religious.

*

*

*

Ttc Ifoly M r;tster's VVork

The following assertion, which we made in our August Editorial has caused I:Kme misunderstanding in certain quarters : '· Though great, wonderfully great was the work that was accomplished by Shri Krishna, Lord Zoroaster, Lord Buddha, Jesus the Christ and Hazarat Mahomet it \vill almost sink into insignifica nce before the workthat Y azdan Shri Me her Baba will do."

Let it be borne.: in mind that as a rule we do not like to institute comparisons, a nd that it was only with a view to giving our re aders a n idea of the great work that our Beloved Master is destined to do that we colllpared it with the work of previous Prophets. We ba.-e great reverence for all the Prophets and Perfect Masters, and no matter however 0alorious the work that Shri Meher Baba may do, their work will continue to be appreciated.

FLASHINGS AND SLASHINGS

63

The A nmwl Nmn7xr oj' Revolt

The lwnulilnumber of Revolt, which we have been re'lue Rted to review, is tbe firHt number of its second volLtrne. It C\mtrtins Ina nyintereRting and instuctive articles.

Revolt is publi~hed every Sundny and it,; object :is to revolt against Brahminism and against all unreasonable} cu::~toms. It does good work in the sphere of socia. reform, and we wish it hearty success iu its chief purpose. But its able Editor, Mr. E. V. Ramaswamy, would do well to distinguish creed from religion, super stition from spirituality, and false beliefs about God from God Himself. The annual subscription of Revolt is Rs. 4, and its office address is: Post Box 350, Mo!lnt Road, Madras.

OUR SFNlAL STORY

FHOM DEGRADATION TO HEALIZA1'ION ( JJy the Rditor)

CHARAGTI>JtH (All Fictitious) 1 2

J.l1.adhav1·ao klahamJ: A Sadguru.

Rukmini Devi: An unmarried Brahmin lady, who

3

Gungabai: The faithful servant and companion of

i~:~

a diRciple of Mndhavrao Mliharaj.

Rukmini Devi.

Petch: An unmarried English lady, who is a disciple of Madhavrao Maharaj.

Evelyn Petch: The unworthy sister of Mary Petch, Ganesh Chipl£nka1·: A Brahmin scoundrel.

Savitri: The good and virtuous wife of Ganesh Chiplinkar.

Mrs. Pi'roJbai Naltadc~1·oo: A Parsi widow, who is a devotee of Madhavnw Mnharaj and a neighbour of Rukmini Devi.

Warncm Deshpande: A materialistic and unscrupulous Brahmin youth, who has resolved to marry M~ar.iJ

5

7 8

10

ll 12 13 H

1:)

Rukmini Devi.

Ebrahim P£1·khan: A .Mahomehn ruffian, who is a friend of Waman Deshpande.

Arthur Petch: A Police Inspector, who is the father of Mary and l£velyn Petch.

Elizctbetll Petch: The wife of Arthur Petch.

William Cope: An English disciple of Madhavrtto Maharaj.

N~rayan}

V1shnu

.

1'wo Kshatriya youths who blwpatlw1·: are faithful devotees ;,[ Madhanao l\Iaharaj.

L•'HOM DI£GHAD.\ riO'-' TO lU•~ALlZATlON

''Do You Take Me for

a11

G5

lnfant \Vrapped in

TJ,e dwellirw-house of the Poliee lnsl1ector, Arthur ,., Petch, was situated within the :;uburban limits of Poona_ It was an old-fashioned villa without any store.y. Coated with;Jstucco outRide, it did not look beautiful and might have looked positively ugly, were it not for a dainty looking green field surrounding it, and for its c.<tsement-windows with blue-black frames. With half a dozen well-ventilated rooms and a dark close kitchen, inside it was cosy and capaciouA, considering that it was occupied only by Mr. and Mrs. Petch, their two daughters and two servants.

MrA. Elizabeth Petch was the star of this villa.

She was very graceful and as modest as graceful. She was very tall and as solemn as was tall. I say Ehe was solemn, !:Jut not a bit sulky. She appeared to be grate, but had certainly not a graveyard look. Her features were delicately-cut and well proportioned, and they did credit to her w~nderful silky masil of jet-b1ack hair, which she ne•·er allowed to hang over her shoulders.

Her hazel eyes, which furnished an index to her otherworldliness, seldom seemed to look at the things of this "·orld. :She was, indeed, pious to a degree and her piety was attributed-! do 1wt know how far rightly -to her being a member of the Society of Friends.

Sh& adored-though not as much as she used to do before-George Fox, and was rroud-though not half as much as before-of being a Quaker. Had not her Quaker father been punished by law in England for

C6 refu;;in~

:o N\Year npon O'tllt,* (IOl'haps she would Tlv\·er been a ze~t!ou !'l ( ~uaker. But whatevet· be the c au~e of her zeal, it failed to convert those who were near and de~tr to her ;t s well a>:~ those who had no L~lood­ re!~G.tion with her.

Apart from the fact that this di,.;. appointment had a healtl1y eJ1"ed npnn her, it was good that she had failed in her efi."urts of con version: for hat!

Rhe succee ,led, ~• Meeting · Houde would doubtleHt:J have been esta.blishec!, in Poona and all her precious energy might have been d<3voted to it. AB it was, Rhe Rpent her energy in a more worthy cause, viz. of uplifting the downtrodden and rescuing the fallen women, 1:1nd t>he was irresistibly led to think of higher things aud to read about Saints and Mystics. Sectarian 2eal is apt to border upon fanaticism, and it wag owing particularly to the study of MyRticism that she narrowly escaped from being taken in the toils of bigotry. Few Quakert:J can bo so broad-minded at> she was. At the time when our story opens she was more a seeker after Truth than a Quaker, and she belonged more to God than to the Society of Friends. Her piety sometimes overwhelmed her, so much so that t>he had no words to voice her thoughts that lay too deep for tears. The letter of Rev. John Falconi on the Prayer of Silencet must have h~>ve

•Quakers strongly object to swearing npon oath and till lS:n they were punished by law for this refu~al. Since then they 11.re allowed merely to &ffirm. tThi ~ letter, which was written from personal experience, to corroborate the truth ~ contained in Madam Guycn 's' Shor' and Easy Methoi of Prayer,' was printed at Madrid from the original in 1557 with the sanction of tho Church; th en it was translated into ltcdian and printed at Rome, with the permisgi cn of the Pope, and afterwards i t was translated into Fre n ch and printed at Paris, not withowr, the ap proval of the French Church di r•nitarie~. 'fhus though itg statements. do not conform with the view~oints of Orthodox Chrietianity, it met with the approbation of the ecclesiastical tribunals of three g reat nations.

1<'1{0,\[ DEGRADATION '10 REALIZA TIO~

67

appealed t() ber very uJUch, for F<he practically knew it by beart, and in giving Hpiritnal advice to others she u,.ed to quote the folluwiug paHsago from it again and ltgain:" H:stablish yourHelfwell in the presence of God; and, it is a faithful truth that It iH Diviue Majesty fills wholly with His nature, presence aud power, form an ~nterior act of faith and be strongly perl:luaded of this Important truth. Surrander yourself into His paternal hands; abandon your soul, life interior and exterior to His most holy will, in order that He may dispose of you according to His good pleasure and service, in time aud eternity. That done, remain in peace, repose and silence, as a person who no more disposes of anything whatever. Do not think voluntarily of anything, however good and sublime it may be; and endeavour only to remain in the resignation that you have made to His holy wilL" Mrs. Elizabeth Petch considered herself blessed in her elder daughter Mary. She loved her, not merely because she was her child but also because she was virtuous and spiritually-minded: On the other hand she felt humiliated at the conduct of her other daughter, Evelyn, whose flirtations and ~anity caused a great deal of anxiety to her. She used to say about Evelyn, '' If she were only one-hundredth as conscious of the fact that she has an immortal soul as she is of her perishable beauty, she would behavo differently." As regards her husband, she had little influence with him.

Arthur Petch no doubt looked upon her with vener-ation, but would not be controlled by her in any way. Each had affection for the other, but they were cast in different moulds. When Mrs. Petch reproved her husband for perpetrating any vile deed, he would only say with

(j

s

foxy !.la m! no se; : ' ' \[y de: tr, Y" LI J () lJ 't und lJ r >'bll d . v ( J ll !Jelo11g t o t h e ot he r wo rld, IJU t I a rll "f Ll ti B w o rld - t h i .~ world of r ogu e.-; a ud fo() l,.;. D o u'L \V()rry al1uut 111 0 , '['I a 11 ge I : t am w e II a IJ I e t o t·a I'e c:n·e o f. n1 yso If'" . . IUs ArLit nr Pe tch would .~ i Ie r1 <:0 l1 i ~ wife, wlwnt he J iJ not deserve. He was as cunrtirt g ;ts a f(l x cttld li S s hr e wd ~~~ a se rpe nt. H ad he Leen straig htforwarJ, he would have bee n a shiuing ex<J. ruple in the police force of P oo na. But his vulgar love for the La ubles of this world made him avaricious ; his avarice drove him t o be dishonest; and hi:> dishone sty was a curse t o the city he was supposed to serve.

On the day on which W a ruan Deshpa nde h ad a dispute with the Sadguru Madhavrao, Arthur Petch got up at seven in the morning, as uc;ual ; took his morning tea . as usual ; picked up The Times of I ndia as u~ual; and while glancing over the fre sh uews it contained, ordered, not as usual, oue of hi~ serva nts to g o to the place of his nephew, \Villiam Cope, a nd inform · him that he was wanted by his uncle.

In an hour William pre sented himself before his . uncle, who was surprised t o see his face shine with selt'- reliance. He greeted him with the rema rk, '' I was just meditating on you."

"I suppose, uncle, you were meditating on me like & crane," Cranes appe ar to be meditating, when they are about to pounce upon their victims, the fi sh. But the Police Inspector was ig norant about it, so he t ook the sarc~stic remark of his nephew for an innocent joke.

Takmg a deep breath and making himself as emotional as he could, he said : " I am as much worried on account of you." ''But_ why worry abo_ut rue, uncle~ Do you t ake me for an mfant wrapped 111 swaddling clothes ~"

,. J.i.OM DEGRADATIO~ TO REALIZATION

G!>

., No; hut it's my duty t o look after you." " I wish, uncl e, th at you may make your conscience cla!-!til: and crush thiHduty of yours to itH death, for it is ;; illtpl y c rus hin~ my happiness. I'm afraid, you are il>o kin b<.r too much aft er tne , so much tha.t I'm embar· raHsed and miserable." " You are becoming ungrateful."

"Ungrateful ? N ot at all ! I have no desire to be e~ nd shall ne ver be ungrateful ; but if you will drive me to de speration by your interference with me, by Jove, 1'11 rebel against you, like an animal standing at bay !" ' ' What do you mean, boy ? Have yon come here t o qu arrel with me? You talk as if you are intoxicated." " I'm a staunch teetotaller, uncle." " But you t alk, as if you are drunken." " Auntie oft says that I should t <,lk with you like a man, and not like a ninety-nine-year-old nervous lD ggard woma.n. l'm only followin g her advice." " Has she advised ycu to quarrei with me ? No ~ o od will come of being rude to me." · " I merely draw your attention to the fact that you interfere with me too much. If you take that as a quarrel, wh>tt am I to do ? You may as well say I'm blind."

The Police Inspector was shocked at what he con- · sid~red the audacity of his nephew, from whom he expected nothing but implicit obedience to himself and nervous namby-pamby talk. He wondered what had made his nephew so bold as to talk in that manner with him. He was accustomed to bullying him, and not to re ceiving unpleasant knocks from him. He had called him with a view to asking him to make preparations for his marriage with Evelyn and to cease his connection with Shri Madhavrao Maharaj. Seeing that his nenhP ···

70 was rot to be lJrowlJeateu that ttlorr1ing, rio·ht tu broach neitl1er of the ;;u\••.leds, h him aH politely ar~ l1e could under tlte after a,.:king hitll to see hi111 agair1 on the

l1e thought it and disllli~sed circu!ustaDces,

f,)Jl<)\\ ir1g day.

The Canadian Theot;ophist on Slwi Mehe1· Babct In its October issue, noticing 1he 1l'lehc1' Meswge, The Canctdian Theosophist says: The Mehe?' Meswge for September is as interesting as any little magazine we have seen for ye~rs. It represents a mystical development throuah Zoroastrianism and is all the more ,..., welcome on this account, since so little of inner Parsi doctrine comes to the West. The Divine Lord, whose sayings the Message reports, is Shri Meher Baba, and those who have been reading the st?.tements by Krishnaji will recognize the same vein of thought and teaching." After quoting some of the sayings of Shri Meher Baba, a few passages from the Editorial of our September issue and from the Editor's Diary of the same issue, The Canadian Theosophist further rem{l,rks : "Perhaps this narration Yfill help our Westeru people to understand the Holy Men are not so rare in India and World Teachers are not an uncommon occurrence."

THE

WORT~

OF BOOKS

Reviews and Notices

JACOB BEILHART: LIFE AND TEACHINGS, Payea 170; price Dollar ) . 00. Ed ted by Freedom Hill Henry. Published

by Freedom Hill Pressery, Roscoe, Calif., U. S . A.

This dainty-looking book has been compiled from " Spirit's Fruit " and " Spirit's Voice ", the two peri¡odicals which Jacob Beilhart wrote, printed and distributed, during a period of eight years between 18991907.

No name is dearer to some spiritually-minded Americans than that of Jacob Beilhart, for it was he who taught them to open the windows of their souls and to lead real lives . Jacob Beilhart did not belong to any Christian Church, and this enabled him to practise the real Christianity. He did not regard Jesus as the only Christ or the only God-incarnate, but Jesus had never a more devoted follower than Jacob Beilhart.

Jacob was 8piritually advanced, a. real mystic-a greater mystic than not only Wordsworth and Whitman but also Emerson and Boehme.

0 dear brother, Jacob Beilhart! Thou wast a wonderful . man ! With thee God was all in all ! What an imper¡ son a! life didst thou lead ! Verily, thy life was an oasis in the American desert of materialism ! Thy memory will _,vet be cherished with affection by all those who will come to know of thee! And all those who want to know of thee should study this book, compiled by thy admirer, Freedom Hill Henry !

SPIRIT FR U IT ' ¡ ND VOI CE. In tw o volum es.. Volum e 1 pag es 219; pric e Dollar I 00. Volume II: pag t l 222 ; price Doll ar I 00.. Compiled and edited Gy Free dom Hill Henry. Publi shed by Freedom Hill Pressery, Rosc oe. Calif., U.S. A

Freedom Hill Heury , l1 e it setid tn his cre dit, did not content himself merel y with publiRhing the life of his Master, Jacob Beillmrt. He has undertaken to serve the public by publishing the teachings of .TacoL Beilhart in book forms. Each volume will be complete in itself, and he haH already published two volume s, under the title, ' Spirit, Fruit and Voice.'

The teachinas of J acob Beilhart are not so much the products of his"' brain as the effusionH of his henrt. He wrote what he felt and he preached what he practised.

He appeals to the heart, but there is no maudlin sentimentality about his teachings. \Vritten in simple language anybody can follow his teaching~:~; and he who follows his teachings will be able to understand the teachings of Emerson, .Whitman, Boehme and other mystics. But though it is easy to follow Jacob Beilhart, in order to a ppreciate him fully one must read his essays and article s at le ast twice. We agree with the compiler when he says; "The best commentary on a truly spiritual book is t o read it over again. And he who is done with Jacob's book at one readino- need not have read it at all. If you are ready for ""''Jacob's gospel of love and trust , hope and happine s8, you will want to read it more than on ce ."

Both the volume8 are instructive fr om cover t o ¡over and we he artily commelld them to our \Y estern ' well as Eastern readers.

S L; JlLI.\1L T I-IOUC.l-1 BLIND. Pag es 5\0, Reduced pri u l{ s. 4. 13y M. M. B<~najt, Jou rn ali st and Public Critic. C an be l~:~tl uf th e a uthor, 14 TatachanJ l31Jq,l-luqhes Road, Chowpatty lloml"'Y 7

Tl1i s i,; a \l·.,rk uf fi c~tion , depi t.:tiu;..; ParRi life, lllen :tlld llt.''l\ll er;; . lts worthy auth or ha,; writt~Ht ~ everal lll'j~jll:d I\JV81R and Rtorie;:; in t\te (_.fUJ·arati laurrua<re· UUt · . t hi " work , though written i11 En glish, is his masterpiece.

1t i" quite original, as intere sting as original, and as inH\ructive as interesting. Its great merit, from the spi ritual standpoint, is that it wakes little sex-appeal ?dr. Banaji has neither muddled love with lust nor· degraded sentiment to sentimentality. In this work we happily find nothing abominably sensational and not a single farce prompted by pasi!ion that fools confound with love. It is undoubtedly a healthy novel which the old as well as the young, the materialistic as well as the spiritually-minded, may safely read. Time spent in reading it will be time well spent, for it at once entertains and instructs the reader. If you want innocent amusement in your reading and side by side with it some instruction, you should read this novel. Its original price is B.s. 8, but to the re ad ers of this Magazine the worthy author has decided to g ive it away for the low price of Rs. 4 per copy. 'vV e would warn the would-be purcha~ers to buy it as early as possible, for a very limit ed number of copies now remain with the author. We h ea rtily comme nd it to all of our readers and equally heartily congratulate the author on writing it. ( A nuruher of books, received for review on out· table. Vve shall review them by and by. ) •

t)

t')

'

COHHESPONDl~NCt~

Th e iltchc1' ilir: ~ :WfJC

:

A n Appr:r_d

To

The EDITOH, The Moher Message.

Dear Sir, It is a great pleasure or a great opportunity of one's life to read your esteemed periodical. The articles of Shri Mehet;' 8aba are very short: so I request you to devote more pages to His sublime teachins. For the sake of Gujrati-~nowing readers I request you also to publish every month a Gujrati supplement containing the teachings of His Holiness. If that is not possible Mr. S.>rabji M. De~ai, the well-known devotee of Shri Maher Baba, may be advised to publish a periodical in Gujrati similar to The Meher Message. Many will be benefitted, if such a Gujrati magazine is published. It will be a good medium for reply to those who.â&#x20AC;˘sometimes take it into their heads to criticize Shri Maher Baba, adversely without understanding Who He is. Of course those who speak ill of Him are selfish, pompous and hyp1critical; but as the Gujrati newspapers of Bombay do not reGder proper justice to Shri Meher Baba and con6equently many Gujrati-knowing persons remain ignorant about Him, a Gujrati periodical, run on the lines of The Meher Message, will enlighten them to a great extent.: Yours fraternally Hatan N. F. Tumboly.

Navsari, 28th October, 1929.

SHRI MEHER BABA

Shri Me her BY

PRINCESS NORIN.~

/] aba

MATCHA DE .LLI

It is the end of a Cycle in sake. We have exhausted Evolution. We know that the ourselves in love emotion, and spiritual awakening of the our love's motive is barren, world gives ·new evidence in cold, unsatisfied. The need in · " exchange of consciousness. man to love more unselfishly is The urge in , , an ldnd to see imperative. and find Truth is deep and We are stranded by estabcreative. The new intuition in lished theological dogmas man to know and find God looking backwHds on p a. s t within, is pure. The time in its Gods. Man is jealous, in divine outward phase is sure in competition of the Saviours of pain, pure in lure to move out others. They create churches " and religions to exploit indiof darkness.

We need to rely on the alive vidual devotion. Man's spiriperforming example of God. tual impulse has become sterile.

We can no more be sure with . Blinded and beaten by the the de~uding- impersonal expe- outward sensationalism or life, rience within. We can no and· the mental creative tenmore reI y on second-hand dency to exaggerate, man has information.

We h a v e no lost the vision of simplicity of further proof than our own the heart. self-deluding experiences of We need to realize the Truth. the mind. We have no further We need to see impersonal individual ambition in our own devotion. We need to feel human than to be 'I' and to sincere kindness. We need to ma{.lnify the 'I' for the 'I's' realize virtue without self-

20 ~atisfaction.

MJ<.:H.I!:R BABA JOURNAL

We want to see true charity which is giving in full conscious accordance with the knowing heart. We need to see pure sacrifice which redeems. We have to learn bow t.\ 1 render love for hate.

We have to recognize the law's supreme purej work through the opposites. \ A e have to recogoize the mi ~ 1d's stagnant views of fabe and good. We want the free interpretation of good. The wonders of Divine Love have been brought down to us through the Gospels, but a. gain and agai ll w a n kin d long:> fur the tangible example. of that divine impulse of joy, like Krishna with His benign wonders of mercy, forgiveness, tolerance, and the selflessness of Jesus.

The reincarnation of the Love Master of all time is

a I i v e amongst us.

He i 15 gradually unfolding in the immature heartofman, thedivine immutable Grace of Love. Near Him, we, who come from all parts of the world, meet on theonlyunprejudiced groundthe mer c i fu I Heart of tha Beloved. Thi s U n i versa 1 Heart that expresses its divine existence through the vehiclE of the unselfish Perfect Human we need to worship.Shri Meher Baba professes and practises today, in eloquent silence, the awakening of the consciousness of the heart. The indivisible bond in man will be aware in Being.

The new design in Bfing is to unite in the One Only God. Men, of all castes and a II religions, will s1e the manifesting ' Only God ' in the new conscious form in Bei11g.

(To be continued)

SAYINGS OF SHRI ME HER BABA

God, the Real Beloved, is ever ready to enter your house, the mind, but He cannot, because it is occupied by your numberles~ unreal beloveds-desires, and there is no room for Him.

Appreciation of Shri Meher Jly

PROF. FREDERIC KETTNER

I have met Shri Meher Baba only a few times. But gradually there has grown within me the glad certainty that in him is an intuitive power, and ther.e fore a high spirit, . that will help the progress of humanity and the merging of East and West.

Modern science has helped the average man gain comfort, but has fostered narrow-mindedness.

Thus we admit the originators of ,;piritual s< iences which will open human minds, ao as to give souh their due share of happiness and bring forth tha~ urge for positive soul-betterment which lies dormant in mankind. Modern sciences and spiritual sciences will carry on parallel to one another and form the track to wodd citizenship and to Peace.

The integration of mysticism, politics, ethics and economics into .the new science d the life-eternal will originate a spiritual and ethical-social kind of engineering which will help to build bridges and thoroughfares between man's soul to

(

.Baba

New YorK)

soul. Man must be helped to realize that the soul and the body, though entirely dissimilar, are equal, and that onE. is naught with9ut the other. Separation of matter and spirit engenders the impulse for competition and war. The unification of matter and spirit in experience will bring the fruits of eternal liberty and peace No doubt Baba as a spiritual e n g i n e e r will attain preeminence. The world needs not merely civil engineers but also engineers of divine civilization.

There is oil in the ea.Fth which man obtains and util,izes through engineering.

We must have engineers who can recall the vast store of energy buried in our remembrance primordial-that is, man's urge eternal to mutual happiness.

Real, spiritual benefit cannot be derived from magnifioont edifices-through gilded pnests or stately rites-where words are the law. It can be derived from the active reality of in corporating .these verbal 1deals into every day factors, actions

Poetns J3y

DINESHNAND!NI CHORDIA

My estranged Lorn l What peace-offering should I bring to win Thee back to my bleeding heart ?

There is prowess in Thy body; dazzling lustre in Thine eyes; studied indifference in the sport to all else but for the burning quest of One, who is the breath of my breath, and the soul of my soul, and a strange passionlessness in Thy love.

But, there is eternal restlessness in my youth, a maddening ¡ attraction in my soul-ravishing beauty that may set the heart of the universe on fire, red roses in the apron of my sari.

Amrita, the drink of the gods, in my lips, dreams of a pe~fect union in my soul and the essence of Parijat, the flower that blossoms in theN andan -garden of Indra in my love, which colours all my attitude to life.

My testy Lover I What peace gifts would I bring to appease Thy wrath? ¡ The mad world imagine Thee to be a shady sandal-wood tree from the far famed forest of scented Malabar and mistakes me for a creeper bearing dead sea-fruit.

But, if Thou art the Himalaya wearing the white crown of peace on Thy brow - I am the Ganges flowing forth from that abode of virgin snow, on the top of which Gauri ( Shiva's wife) performed penance stern to have Shiva as her Lord.

If Thou art that the Ocean of renunciation, I am the nectar of Shanti (peace) that the gods and the demons churned out of it in days of yore.

If Thou art thousand petalled lotus that blossoms forth in the light of Brahma ( Maker of the world ), I am the sweet perfume that dwells within its bosom; If Thou art Shiva, I am Sbakti (power ). If thou art Purush (God ), I am Prakriti (nature). If Thou art Brahma, I am Maya ( illusion ).

And~yet, the mad world imagines Thee to be a shady sandalwood tree from the far famed forest of scented Malabar and mistakes me for a creeper bearing dead sea-fruit.

X

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路路sAKORINA SADGURU (IN THE GUJARATI LANGUAGE)

Vol.. II.

(First Yolurue out of print)

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This is the only Biography in the Gujarati language of Shri Upasani Maharaj. It is not necessary to read the first volume of it in order to understand the second. Therefore those who have not read the first volume as well as those who have read it may safely read the second volume.

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:X IV

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