! 2&..F?% 7A%A@2%'G7A79%!2@29%&7C7%H90?A%I2C% MEHER BABA JOURNAL Volume 2, No.6 April 1940 A monthly Publication of The "Meher Editorial Committee An Avatar Meher Baba Trust eBook April 2016 All words of Meher Baba copyright © 2016 Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust, Ahmednagar, India Source and Short publication history: the Meher Baba Journal, a monthly magazine, was published from 1938 to 1942. This eBook reproduces the original edition of the Meher Baba Journal published by the "Meher Editorial Committee" (Meherabad, Ahmednagar, India). Contents MEHER BABA ON ARRIVING AT SELF-KNOWLEDGE 325 SAINT VENABAI Mrs. Indumati Deshmukh, M. A., B. T. 332 GOD-MAN IN ANCIENT GREECE AND Will Backett (London) 335 A “SPIRITUAL UPHEAVAL” RESURRECTION TO SHRI SADGURU MEHER BABA (Poem) Malcolm Schloss (Hollywood) 340 THE HAPPINESS OF SUFFERING Countess Nadine Tolstoy 341 DON’T WORRY Delia DeLeon (London) 348 SPIRITUAL ANECDOTE Dr. Abdul Ghani Munsiff 352 QUESTION BABA ANSWERS By a Westerner 353 SILENT MAN OF THE WORLD Jal. R. Irani, B.A. 356 SIDE TRIPS TO SOUTHERN SANCTUARIES Elizabeth C. Patterson 358 THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE MASTER (Princess Norina Matchabelli) 363 UNIVERSAL RELIGION AND WHAT IT OUGHT TO BE Acharya M. Chakravarthy, M. A. (HONS.) 365 SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY Princess Norina Matchabelli 367 FORGETFULNESS Dr. Abdul Ghani Munsiff 371 WHEN THE HEART SPEAKS F. H. Dadachanji 375 SELF-SACRIFICE (Poem) Adi K. Irani 377 A CONFESSION By a Western Disciple 379 NOTES FROM MY DIARY F. H. Dadachanji 381 ______ Copyright © 1973 Adi K. Irani, King’s Road, Ahmednagar (M. S.), India Permission to reprint all articles by Elizabeth C. Patterson and Princess Norina Matchabelli given by Elizabeth C. Patterson, P. O. Box 487, Myrtle Beach, S. C. 29577. No portions of the material appearing herein may be reproduced in any Form whatsoever without prior written consent from the copyright holder, Adi. K. Irani, King’s Road, Ahmednagar (M. S.), India Printed in the United States of America by Sheriar Press, Inc., Crescent Beach, South Carolina. “ I have not come to teach but to awaken ” —SHRI MEHER BABA MEHER BABA JOURNAL VOL. 2 APRIL 1940 NO. 6 Meher Baba on Arriving at Self-Knowledge WHEN the time is ripe the advancement of a person towards self-knowledge comes about as naturally as the physical body of the child grows into the full- fledged form. The growth of Progress Towards the physical body is worked out Self-Knowledge is by the operation of natural laws, Mostly Gradual and whereas the progress of the Imperceptible aspirant towards self-know- ledge is worked out by the operation of the spiritual laws pertaining to the transformation and emancipation of consciousness. The physical body of the child grows very gradually and almost imperceptibly; and the same is true of the spiritual progress of the person who has once entered the Path. The child does not know how its physical body grows: the aspirant also is, in the same way, often oblivious of the law according to which he makes headway towards the destination of his spiritual progress. The aspirant is generally conscious only of the manner in which he has been responding to the diverse situations in life; but he is rarely conscious of the manner in which he makes progress towards self- knowledge. But without consciously knowing it the aspirant is gradually arriving at self-knowledge by traversing 326 MEHER BABA JOURNAL the Inner Path through his joys and sorrows, his happiness and suffering, his successes and failures, his efforts and rest, and, through his moments of clear perception and harmonised will as well as through the moments of confusion and conflict. These are the manifestations of the diverse sanskaras which he has brought from the past; and the aspirant forges his way towards self-knowledge through the tangles of these sanskaras like the traveller threading his way through a wild and thick forest. Human consciousness might be compared to the flashlight which reveals the existence and the nature of things. The province illuminated by this flashlight is defined by the medium through The Scope of Con- which it works, just as a person sciousness and its who is confined to a boat can Working wander anywhere on the surface of water but can have no access to the remote places on the land or in the air: and the actual working of the flashlight is determined by the accumulated sanskaras, just as the course of the rivulets flowing from a mountain is given by the channels created by the natural contours of the mountain. In the case of an average man, the sphere of life and the stage of action are restricted to the gross world because in him the flashlight of consciousness falls on the physical body and works The Average Man through it. Being restricted to is only conscious of the medium of the gross body the Gross World he can be conscious of anything within the gross world but is unable to establish conscious contact with subtle or mental realities. The gross sphere thus constitutes the arena of the average man; and all his activities and thoughts have a tendency to be directed towards the gross objects which are accessible to him. But all the time he remains unconscious of the subtle and the mental spheres of existence since the flashlight of his consciousness cannot be focussed through the medium of the subtle or the mental body. At this stage, the soul is conscious of the gross world, but is completely ignorant about its own true nature. It identifies ARRIVING AT SELF-KNOWLEDGE 327 itself with the gross body on which the flashlight of consciousness falls and which naturally becomes the only base of all the activities which are within its range. It does not directly know itself through itself but by means of the physical body: and since all the knowledge which it can gather through the physical body points out to the physical body itself as the centre of all the activities, it knows itself as being the physical body which in fact is only its instrument. The soul therefore imagines itself to be man or woman, young or old and takes upon itself the changes and the limitations of the body. After several rounds of lives in the setting given by the gross world, the impressions connected with the gross world become weak through long duration of the experience of opposites like great happiness and intense suffering. The weakening of the impressions is the beginning of spiritual awakening which consists in the gradual withdrawal of the flashlight of consciousness from the allurements of the gross world. When this happens the gross impressions become subtle, facilitating and inducing its transference of the base of conscious functioning from the gross body to the subtle body. Now the flashlight of consciousness falls on the subtle body and works through it as its medium; but it is no longer working through the gross body. Therefore the whole gross world goes out of the consciousness of the soul and it becomes conscious only of the subtle world. The subtle sphere of existence now constitutes the context of its life and the soul now considers itself to be the subtle body which becomes and is seen to be the centre of all its activities. But even when the soul has thus become subtle-conscious it remains ignorant about its own true nature since it cannot know itself directly through itself but only by means of the subtle body. However, the change of the stage of action from the gross to the subtle sphere of existence is of considerable significance in so far as in the subtle sphere, the conventional standards of the gross world are replaced by new standards which 328 MEHER BABA JOURNAL are nearer the Truth and a new mode of life is rendered possible by the dawning of new powers and a freer release of spiritual energy. Life in the subtle world is only a passing phase in the spiritual journey and is far from being the goal; but out of millions of gross-conscious souls only one is capable of becoming subtle-conscious. The impressions connected with the subtle world in their turn get worn out through some forms of penance or yoga and thus facilitate and bring about a further inward withdrawal of Identification with consciousness, whereby the the Mental Body flashlight of consciousness comes to be thrown on the mental body and begins to function through it. The severance of conscious connection with the subtle and the gross body means that the gross and the subtle spheres of existence come to be completely excluded from the scope of consciousness. The soul is now conscious of the mental world which affords deeper possibilities of spiritual understanding and clearer perception of the Ultimate Truth. In this new setting of the mental sphere, the soul enjoys continuous inspiration, deep insight and unfailing intuition; and it is in direct contact with the spiritual Reality. But though it is in direct contact with God it does not see itself as God, since it cannot know itself directly through itself but only through the medium of the individual mind. It knows itself by means of the individual mind and considers itself to be the individual mind since it sees the individual mind as being the base and the centre of all its activities. Though the soul is now much closer to God than in the gross or subtle spheres, it is still enclosed in the world of shadow; and it continues to feel separate from God owing to the veil created by the impressions connected with the mental sphere. The flashlight of consciousness is functioning through the limitation of the individual mind and does not therefore yield the knowledge of the soul as it is in itself. But though the soul has not yet realised itself as being God, its life in the mental sphere of existence constitutes a tremendous advance upon ARRIVING AT SELF-KNOWLEDGE 329 the stage of the subtle sphere; and out of millions of subtle conscious souls only one can establish conscious contact with the mental sphere of existence. It is possible for an aspirant to rise up to the mental sphere of existence through its own unaided. efforts. But dropping the mental body amounts to the surren- The Need for the derance of individual existence: Master and this last and all-important step cannot be taken except through the help of a Perfect Master who is himself God-realized. Out of millions of souls who are conscious of the mental sphere only one can withdraw the flashlight of its consciousness from the individual mind. Such withdrawal implies the complete vanishing of the last traces of the impressions connected with the mental life of the soul. When the flashlight of consciousness is no longer centred upon any of the three bodies, it serves the purpose of reflecting the true nature of the soul. The soul now has direct knowledge of itself without being dependent upon any medium, and sees itself not as some finite body but as infinite God, and Direct Self-Know- knows itself to be the only Reality. ledge This major crisis in the life of the soul is conditioned by the complete severance of connection with all the three bodies; and since consciousness of the different spheres of existence is directly dependent upon corresponding bodies the soul is now entirely oblivious of the whole universe. The flashlight of consciousness is no longer focussed upon anything foreign or external but is turned upon the soul itself and the soul is now truly self- conscious and has arrived at self-knowledge. The process of arriving at self-knowledge throughout the three spheres of existence is attended by the acquisition of false self-knowledge consisting in identification with the gross or Forms of False the subtle or the mental body Self-Knowledge are according to the stage of the Temporary Substi- process. This is due to the initial tutes for True Self- purpose of the creation which is to Knowledge make to the soul self-conscious. The soul cannot have true self- knowledge except at the end of the 330 MEHER BABA JOURNAL spiritual progress and all the intermediate forms of false self-knowledge are, as it were, temporary substitutes for true self-knowledge. They are necessary mistakes in the attempt to arrive at true self-knowledge. Since the flashlight of consciousness is throughout the journey turned towards the objects of the environment and not upon the soul itself, the soul has a tendency to get so much engrossed in these objects that it is almost completely oblivious of its own existence and nature. This danger of utter and unrelieved self-forgetfulness is counterbalanced by the self-affirmation of the soul by means of the body which happens to be used as the focul basis of the flashlight of consciousness. Thus the soul knows itself as its own body and knows other souls as their bodies, thereby sustaining a world of duality where there is sex, competition, aggression, jealousy, mutual fear, and exclusive ambition. Self-knowledge of the soul by means of a sign is a source of untold confusion, complication and entanglement. This form of ignorance may be illustrated by means of the famous Pumpkin story referred to by the poet Jami in one of his couplets. Once upon a time, there was an absent-minded man The Story of the who had no equal in forgetting Pumpkin things. He had an intelligent and a trusted friend who wanted to help him in at least remembering himself. This friend tied a pumpkin around his neck and said, "Now listen, old man, one day you might completely lose yourself and not be able to remember yourself. Therefore, as a sign I tie this pumpkin around your neck, so that every morning when you wake up you will see the pumpkin and know that you are there." Everyday, the absent- minded man saw the pumpkin after waking up in the morning and said to himself, "I am not lost". After some time, when the absent-minded man had got thoroughly used to self-identification through the pumpkin, the friend asked a stranger to remain with the absent-minded man, take away the pumpkin from his neck during his sleep and tie it around his own neck. The stranger did this, and when ARRIVING AT SELF-KNOWLEDGE 331 the absent-minded man woke up in the morning, he did not see the pumpkin around his neck. So he said to himself, "I am lost". He saw the pumpkin on the other man's neck and said to him, "You are me. But then who am I?" This Pumpkin story offers an analogy to the different forms of false self-knowledge connected with identification with the body. To know oneself as the body is like knowing oneself by means of the pumpkin. The Analogy made The disturbance caused by non- identification with the gross or Explicit the subtle, or the mental body is comparable to the confusion of the absent-minded man when he could no longer see the pumpkin around his neck. The beginnings of the dissolution of the sense of duality are equivalent to the absent-minded man's identifying himself with the stranger who wore his pumpkin. Further, if the absent-minded man in the story were to learn to know himself through himself independently of any external sign, his self-knowledge might be comparable to the true self-knowledge of the soul which after non-identification with the three bodies knows itself as being none other than the infinite God. Arriving at such self-knowledge is the very goal of creation. Saint Venabai BY MRS. INDUMATI DESHMUKH, M.A., B.T. THERE is hardly a Hindu person eat. Little Venabai who was then in India who has not heard the only eleven years old was so much name of Saint Ramdas. He was a impressed and attracted by the perfect and realized Being and personality of her future Master, was the Master of Shivaji the that she requested her mother-in- Great, the founder of the Maratha law to give him some milk. But, Empire in the seventeenth she did not give him the milk as century. He advised this Royal she wanted it for some purpose; disciple not merely in spiritual and Ramdas went away. Venabai matters but also in daily matter as was very much upset at this. well as those of political concern. After some days, Ramdas came Venabai also had the fortune of again for the next time and again finding her master in this Great found Venabai reading. This time, person—Ramdas. he asked her the name of the book There was a person named she was reading; and after Deshpande, who lived at Kolhapur, knowing that, he asked her if she and he had a daughter named understood anything of that. She 'Vena'. She was married early in modestly replied, ''How can a girl her childhood and lost her of my age understand this high husband, when she was not even philosophy? I only know that I ten years old. After this sad and should read something good; that most unfortunate event, she used is what I am doing. But if your to pass her time in reading religious highness permits me, I religious books and serving her would like to ask you some ques- father-in-law and mother-in-law. tions." The Master was delighted Once, while she was reading at the intelligent answer of the lit- Ramdas came there as a mendi- tle girl and gladly agreed to grant cant and asked for something to her request. Then, she asked him SAINT VENABAI 333 about twenty-five questions, some become mad after the Sadhu due of which are as follow:— to the carelessness of the parents ''Who is Jiva?'', ''Who is Shiva?'', about her conduct. But Venabai ''What is Maya?'', ''Who is said to would not be pursuaded; and at be 'born'?'', ''Who is said to be last, her parents-in-law sent her to dead?'' her father's house. The father and The Master was extremely the mother also did not show any surprised at the type of questions tolerance: and one day, they gave which were decidedly extra- her a dose of strong poison; and ordinary for her age. All these locking her in a room declared questions were composed in an that she was bitten by a serpent. abhanga and Ramdas also gave Venabai's body began to burn answers to all of them in abhanga with the poison; and she wanted and went away. Since this time, water to drink but could not get it. Venabai began to feel that The colour of her skin was very Ramdas was her Master and fair; but the poison turned it into a longed for meeting him again. dark colour. At last, Venabai Day after day, the longing could not bear the pangs of death; increased and shortly afterwards, and she remembered her Master. she went to Kolhapur to her She bowed down to him (imagin- father's house, where she met ing him to be present) and was Ramdas again. Here he advised ready to breath her last. But all of her to repeat the name of Rama— a sudden, to her great relief and the Lord. She requested him to surprise, she saw her Master, take her with him, but he said that standing in front of her. He gave the proper time had not yet come. her some water to drink from his She was extremely sorry at this; Kamandalu (begging bowl); and and since then she used to pass she at once felt relieved of her her time in repeating the name of pain. Then, the Master said that the Lord and thinking about the the change in the colour of her Master, waiting for him. The skin was going to help in her members of the family, on both future, for owing to her beauty, sides did not like this; and people, she would have become the target began to say that the girl had of public criticism. 334 MEHER BABA JOURNAL While they were thus talking, has written, which narrates the Venabai's father came to the door wedding ceremony of Rama, one of to see if she had breathed her last, the Avatars of the Lord; and on the but he was surprised to hear her fourteenth day of this programme, talking with somebody: and he was just after finishing the last word of still more surprised when he her lecture, she came to her Master unlocked the door and saw that the who was standing by, handed over person talking with his daughter her Veena (munical instrument) to was none other than Ramdas. Him and placing her head upon his When the door was opened Ramdas feet breathed her last. went away without exchanging a The book of Venabai which is word. But Venabai's father above referred to is one of the repented very much for his cruel famous books of her century. The treatment to his little daughter; and style is lucid, simple and sweet. finding that she was now alive due The book is so popular in the to the divine grace of her Master he learned circles that it is often handed her over to Him. prescribed by the Universities for Henceforth, she lived with her post-graduate studies. Besides this Master enjoying the divine bliss of book, she has written some more his sacred company. Once, in the poetry. In one piece of poetry she later years of her life, she was describes the demands of the asked by the Master to go and take subjects of Ayodhya when Rama charge of a math (monastery) comes to the throne. In another which he had founded. But, saying piece of poetry, she describes the that she did not want to stay away conversation of Rama and the from the Master and that she boatsman who took Him through wished to leave her body at the feet the river, when He went into of the Master, she modestly refused exile. Most of the poems are about to go there. In Shake 1660, her last the life of Rama; but she has also desire was fulfilled. She was asked written many highly metaphysical to deliver lectures on the book she poems. ______ God-Man in Ancient Greece and a“Spiritual Upheaval” BY WILL BACKETT (LONDON) THE portrayal of the god, Diony- Sir Gilbert Murray, from whose sus, by Euripedes, in his well- translation have been taken the known tragedy, "The Bacchæ" following extracts from the play, would indicate that he was not presents in his introduction to Vol. unfamiliar with the truth III, on the Athenian Drama* the underlying the work of the God- point of view of the scholar. His man. There was a community of appreciation of the dramatic quali- thought between the greatest souls ties and poetic aspect of this in the ancient world, and links masterpiece of Euripedes, is between Greece, Egypt and India, shown in the translation, although which the culture that has survived, there are other scholars who have reflects after thousands of years. challenged his work, but he has There is little doubt that the effect explained that a literal translation, of the life of Buddha, a living verbally exact, may fail to convey memory in India at the time the atmosphere and intention of the Euripedes' reputation as a drama- original, when a different language tist was its height, may have is employed. reached the Western Empire of In spite of the translator's Greece. faithful interpretation through the Some of the symbolism rhythm employed, and the beauty employed in this play, 2,500 years of language, which cannot be old, may not be readily understood. gainsaid, his attitude towards Pentheus is described as having Dionysus' words at the conclusion sprung from one of the dragon's of the play, ignores the possibility teeth sown by Cadmus, and as of a mystical interpretation, and such, he would be born of desire, entirely in contrast to Dionysus, the mani- festation of Divine Love. • *Allen and Unwin, 1911, London. 336 MEHER BABA JOURNAL overlooks the truth which all who profaned the mysteries Euripedes reiterates throughout, practised at that time, and a and which the opening words of thousand years earlier, when the Dionysus, himself, express:— scene of the play is said to have Behold, God's Son is come into this been laid, the same rule would land have been as strictly adhered to. It Of Thebes, even I, Dionysus, whom the is, of course, more general, in this brand age, to regard the death of the Of heavens hot splendour lit to life, body, as a final drama, whereas when she those who instituted the mysteries, Who bore me, Cadmus' daughter regarded it as a stage in the life of Semele, the soul. Similarly, certain inner Died here. So, changed in shape from aspects of the spiritual journey of God to man. the soul, which the meagre I walk again by Direce's streams and surviving records of the scan "mysteries" of the ancient world, Ismenus shore. indicate, would be withheld from The reference to his own a theatrical performance, such as previous life in this place, "The Bacchæ" and so the work of hallowed in mythology by its the God-man on that plane of association with Apollo at the inner consciousness, would be time the play was written is an given, only to the extent to which indication to us that Dionysus it could be presented symboli- identifies himself as the God-man, cally. Without such a clue, the Apollo, in that earlier epoch when words and actions of Dionysus are he had also been there. incomprehensible and misleading, The tragic death of Pentheus, as an intellectual explanation is after he had profaned the mys- incomplete unless all the facts are teries of Dionysus, which Sir considered in their true relation- Gilbert Murray cites as evidence ship. of Dionysus' cruelty, would Actually, Euripedes has dram- hardly have appeared in that light atised what is in itself a to a Greek audience of the fifth "Universal Divine Drama" the century B.C. as the penalty of return of the God-man to carry death was even then enforced on GOD-MAN IN ANCIENT GREECE 337 on His Universal Work. The scene God-man oppositon must play its is depicted in relationship with the part, and in placing himself under accepted form of Greek Drama by the apparent triumph of the oppo- the Author, who utilises the ser, the Christ, bears the burden of Chorus, as witnesses of the humanity, transmutes its ignor- unfolding theme, to comment ance and lifts its consciousness upon the astounding sequence of higher. Like Christ, Dionysus bore events, their final words being the "agony" of suffering, of which equivalent to an ordinary external the mockery by the king, his opinion:— physical binding, the deprival of There be many shapes of mystery, his staff, and shearing of his hair And many things God makes to be, which was "vowed to God", were Past hope and fear. all symbols of the inner "agony" And the end men looked for cometh inseparable from the life of the not, infinite One, within the limitations And a Path is there where no of human surroundings and con- man thought. sciousness which he thus shared. So hath it fallen here. Like Judas, Pentheus afterwards The fate of Pentheus, which to repented, but in the latter case it Sir Gilbert Murray reflects on the was because he was faced with character of Dionysus, is a parallel death, whereas it was Judas' own in some respects, to that of the conscience that drove him to disciple, Judas, whose end was suicide. The reason for the part directed if not hastened by Christ, Judas and Peter took in the life of when after the last supper, he bade Christ, has been explained by Shri him "do quickly" what it was in Baba thus: to complete the Mas- his mind to do. So also Dionysus, ter's work it was necessary that He whose warnings to Pentheus should be betrayed, and Judas, one served but to strengthen the king's of the twelve disciples did his part purpose against the God-man, unknowing its full implication eventually added to his delusion whereas the disciple Peter did his, step by step, culminating in his because Christ had asked him to death. In the divine drama of the sacrifice his own feelings 338 MEHER BABA JOURNAL to the extent of betraying the One when apprehended and cross- he loved more than life itself, out examined and held to ridicule by of love for Him, so that the Master his captor it was some of his human might accomplish His Work fully. attributes that he disclosed, such as It is because the "Perfect One" his suffering at the treatment he is able to use both the good and was receiving. To his devotees he evil of the world, for the purpose reveals the spiritual aspect of of his Work for humanity, without events: affecting the infinite state of His "Fell ye so quick despairing, when own perfected consciousness, that beneath the gate I passed? the consideration of His Work in Should the gates of Pentheus quell me both aspects presents a difficulty or his darkness make me fast? ... to human understanding, which I had no pain or peril; 'Twas mine own makes a merely intellectual hand set me free… understanding of the position Nay no gyve no touch was laid on me." impossible, for such heights of Already the inner "spiritual truth are beyond the mind, limited upheaval" has affected the soldiers by a consciousness of the "pairs of who but carried out their king's opposites". But it is those "pairs of command. Returning with their opposites" which the Master prisoner they say, as they deliver utilises to free humanity from its him to their master:— toils. " Our quest is finished, and thy prey, O From a superficial standpoint, King, there is an apparent contradiction Caught; for the chase was swift, and between the words of Dionysus this wild thing before Pentheus, his cousin, the king, who opposed the God-man Most tame; yet never flinched nor and the description of the same thought to flee, event when related by Dionysus to But held both hands out un- his own devotees. The king had resistingly— sent his soldiers to capture No change, no blanching of the wine- Dionysus whose work amongst his red cheek. people had been told to him and He waited while we came, and bade us wreak GOD-MAN IN ANCIENT GREECE 339 All thy decree: yea laughed, and made those who resist the Divine, and my hest have to learn their lesson through Easy, till I for very shame confessed suffering, which may involve their And said: 'O stranger, not of mine own own kin and nation as well. will The Chorus has forebodings of I bind thee, but this bidding to fulfil the king's fate, before the end of Who sent me.' '' his life. Even in madness, his King Pentheus is warned by his egotism is emphasised, and the grandfather, Cadmus, and by an guise of a devotee which he old prophet, Theiresias, who are adopts on his last journey to his going as pilgrims to the shrine of destruction would make his Dionysus to offer themselves and position ludicrous, but for the their lives to his service, but their atmosphere of impending tragedy. words have no more effect than His Mother, in her delusion, others, nor is he sobered by the sees in the severed head of her son, destruction of his castle by fire and which she holds, that of a lion, earthquake, and he still thinks he whose limbs have been torn by her can fight against the God-man. own hands, and she calls on her Now, the "spiritual upheaval" son to witness to the triumph, and takes a different aspect, and his calls as well as on her father, and fury is fed by "dreams" from the townsfolk. Dionysus, who leads him on and Symbolically, the "death of the on in his delusion that he shall lion" in man, is a sign of the approach the God-man’s devotees transmutation of generative force at their sacred rites. Assuming the into spiritual energy, and in that dress and outer forms of a devotee, aspect, the death of the opposer, the king persists in his foolhardy represents the dissolution of those sacrilegious project, and the powers who war against God, the tragedy of his fearful death at the energy of their unregenerate hands of his distraught mother is a nature being transmuted by the dramatic horror which conveys to spiritual work and life of the God- an audience the ultimate fate of man. Here, then, in this final tragedy, lies concealed another 340 MEHER BABA JOURNAL manifestation of the spiritual upheaval". Throughout this great upheaval" at work. drama, the character of Dionysus Nor are the followers of is consistent, whether in allaying Dionysus unaffected; indeed, they the fears of his devotees, or more than all are able to respond, revealing the inner meaning of the and their bliss and spiritual events that disturb and frighten consciousness are in marked them, increasing their understand- contrast to the fate of those who ing, or in his relationship to the oppose him, or like Cadmus, are ignorant soldier, doing his duty, as on the way to him, and have yet to he understood it, or, again, with learn more from suffering before the king, as a blind actor, in the they are ready to receive that part he was taking; gentle, yet closer contact. unwavering, selfless and loving, To those over whom the but with deep insight into the delusion of the reality of the world different characters before him; of the senses, has no power, the unfailing wisdom in the use of death of the body and the those very limitations in their dissolution of settled forms and consciousness and at the same institutions, are, in the work of the time, raising that consciousness God-man the effect of a "spiritual higher. ______ RESURRECTION TO SHRI SADGURU MEHER BABA BY MALCOLM SCHLOSS (HOLLYWOOD) Only Thy smile to remember! Only Thy voice to recall! Thy touch, inexpressibly tender, Conveying Thy love to all! Yet these are enough, Oh! Beloved— The gates of the soul swing wide In Thine, the Eternal Presence, At this new Eastertide! The Happiness of Suffering* BY COUNTESS NADINE TOLSTOY THE biographies of saints and cold in heart. Unwavering faith- real seekers of Spiritual Life have fulness to the One on whom the shown how they all had to stand whole heart and life have to be suffering in overcoming of their focussed will make them alive in imperfections. About St. Francis unceasing spiritual state of aware- of Assisi it was said that "What he ness and lead them to unself- hated most, he embraced with conscious Oneness and Love. Love". That Victory of Love In simplicity of surrender to the which conquered even the repul- Master one becomes stripped off sion to the lepers' wounds has of all false decorum and the mind brought Him nearer to Christ and does not seek the vanity and at once raised Him above mortals. satisfactions of entertaining All those Saints have been made thoughts, words and imaginations. new in the purifying fire of pain The ego has been faced and and endurance. exposed. In that honest nakedness Avoidance of suffering is lack- one is nothing; the whole being ing in widsom and resignation to and life is spontaneously at the the One Law which governs all. service for the work of the Perfect Embracing suffering with a strong Master. heart turns pain into Bliss and Being cleared of the ego is like invites the Grace of the Perfect extracting the tooth whose venom Master which crowns the Path. was poisoning the whole system. Life's experience has marked This extraction naturally involves those who suffered with greater a resistance and difficulty as in the understanding and kindness; those process of evolution the roots of who suffered little are poor and ego become engraved. Half way • *Continued from March 1940 issue. 342 MEHER BABA JOURNAL would lead nowhere, so the mind and unchanging joy of complete giving in and up of the fulfilment. " ego which was the source of The Masters warn the aspirants illusion and venom can alone of the dangers of enjoying and assure the union with the Higher using the psychic powers. On the Self. The very longing for fourth plane, Meher Baba says, the freedom and Truth is latent in all allurements are especially fatal. living beings as an unfailing inner They make one linger in voice, as a forward driving contentment of experiencing this potential impetus, as an eternal state and they delay advancement. protecting security of God. There It may lead to over-estimation of is in the heart of creation a themselves and of their attain- yearning for real beauty of life; ments. The guidance of Perfect this reaching out for Harmony Ones saves from the clouds of with the higher ideals is inscribed delusions and failures. in all things and forms as an The shortest of shortcuts impelling momentum that moves implied by Meher Baba, is the life's course towards its pre- reversing of former selfish destined end. attitudes into direct practising of This world's yearnings and selflessness in the very same signs of pain conceal an immortal conditions of life and sociability of hope for permanent Reality of everyday’s existence. That mental True Happiness. Without that renunciation lived in active life is hope and intuitive certainty suffer- made possible and is quickened by ing would be a tool of destruction the help of the Master, as He and hatred. Yet sublimated awakens the new impulse of pure suffering leads to resurrection. life. His Divine Love and Desparation may even bring purifying influence lift the spirit of one to the point of such spiritual the disciple and such relationship readiness that it may be compared in itself becomes the holy of with death in life, with real death holies in the disciple's life and a of dying to oneself as says Meher New Pure Source of unexting- Baba: "Such dying means real uishable Joy. living the Spiritual Life in The unalloyed Love which harmony with the Law, in peace of radiates from Him fills the THE HAPPINESS OF SUFFERING 343 hearts with new life vigour, Love is the nearest to God willingness and devotion which natural spontaneous experience of lead to complete regeneration the heart drowned in Bliss and spontaneously and open the source happiness. "Love is the beginning of new happiness. and the end of spiritual Path", says There is no greater religion, no Baba. It moves one to do and greater sanctity, no purer Beauty accomplish what is impossible to and Godliness than Love Divine limited human capacity—to yield Universal. The Perfect Master the selfish ‘ I ’ and to make one fit Meher Baba is that very love for Perfection. pouring fourth from the Infinite The perfect state of Joy will sing Source of His God-consciousness. its sublime Hymn in finest tones He inspires and bestows Love on when all in man becomes pure and all who are close to him in heart: One. To this sacred state all are des- what a supreme compensation on tined by God providing they choose the arduous Path of self- the Path of spiritual Truth. transformation! This Love is a real Joy is essential in all life and is universal antidote of suffering: "It increasing as one moves on guided contains simultaneously all the by the Master. The awakening of spiritual qualities of inspiration, Love is the beginning of the intuition and joy," which is in expansion of the heart. Its ever harmony with the very will of the growing purity brings the Joy to its Spirit, seeking the union with the natural beauty and intensity no Soul—or God, says Meher Baba. more deluded and not be-clouded Seeing God in the very suffering, by the impure distorted mind says the Master, will reconcile with conditions of ignorance and suffering. selfishness. Purity, beauty and Becoming one with God will fullness of the sound of a Perfect bring one out of suffering by trans- instrument is incomparable to a cending suffering and by freeing false defective sound of an inferior from the alloy of human imper- instrument. The joys of expansion fections, Perfect Happiness and joy and aliveness in increasing renewal unalloyed can be expected perma- of the heart nently in a Perfect State of Being. 344 MEHER BABA JOURNAL is a source of greater endurance Though His voice may shatter and understanding which help to your dreams as the north wind bear the imminent trials and tests. lays waste the garden. These trials involve suffering and For even as love crowns you so are born of suffering; it is shall He crucify you, even as inevitable in transition from one He is for your growth, so is He degree to another; each stage of for your pruning. consciousness is subject to its Even as He ascends to your joys and pains of adjustments. It height and caresses your is a process of renewed re-births tenderest branches that quiver in higher states, in purer joys of in the sun, selfless being. It is crowned by So shall He descend to your roots the Grace of the Beloved, by an and shake them in their unending bliss of pure unalloyed clingings to the earth. joy of Divine Love known only Like sheaves of corn He gathers by the Perfect Soul who has you into Himself, He threshes passed over all sorrows. The you to make you naked. following words of Khalil Gibran He lifts you to free you your will express the deep meaning of husks. Joy, of love and its suffering in He grinds you to whiteness. beautiful verses—real master- He needs you until you are pliant, piece of spiritual understanding And then He assigns you to His about which Meher Baba said sacred fire, that you may once: "It is me". become sacred bread for God's ''When love beckons to you— sacred feast. follow him, All these things shall love do unto Though His ways are hard and you that you may know the steep, secrets of your heart, and in And when His wings enfold that knowledge become a frag- you—yield to Him, ment of Life's Heart. Though the sword hidden among But in your fear you would seek His pinions may wound you. only love's peace and love's And when He speaks to you— pleasure believe in Him, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness THE HAPPINESS OF SUFFERING 345 and pass out of love's threshing ence to His inner order; it takes the floor, full conscious and unconscious Into the seasonless world where willingness of response, the real you shall laugh, but not all of inner nonresistance in being, in your laughter, and weep, but not mind, in will, in heart to bring the all of your tears. disciple to His height. Love gives naught but itself and Swami Vivekananda speaks of takes naught but from itself. his sublime experience of Love in Love possesses not nor would it be the following lines: possessed. "The madness of human love is For Love is sufficient unto Love!'' only a faintest echo of the mad Such love can be inspired and love of the saints! grafted into the hearts of men and "The reward of Love is Love! make them drop and step out of and what a reward that is! It is the the old self, as if it never was. only thing that takes off all Love becomes triumphant as it sorrows, the only cup by the takes all of the heart and remains drinking of which the disease of for ever focussed on itself, the the world is vanished, man source of which is the Divine Heart becomes divinely man and forgets of the Perfect One. He is that man. Such Love is beyond the "That is the madness of Love capacity of men. The Divine Love where all desires have vanished, and Power of Meher Baba can who cares for salvation, who cares make the disciple so pure and to be perfect even, who cares for steady that his heart remains Freedom, says Love. balanced and pitched in the height ''Let me be born again and again of the Spirit without falling back amid all the evils that are in the or without being affected. It is also World—I will not complain but let due to the great share of the me love Thee and that for Love's disciple himself—who simultan- sake.'' In all human misery and eously with the help of the Master conscious and unconscious striv- must follow in response to His ing for happiness it is really Love Love, in response of inner obedi- that men seek and 346 MEHER BABA JOURNAL need. This human restlessness is of the spirit", says Baba. Humble the sign of an unexpressed state patient resignation and reverence of longing for natural expansion, to that which is beyond the a hunger for a richer tone in being, human reach and therefore so for a steady rhythm of greater Joy often incomprehensible is the first unalloyed by sensations and requirement of discriminative selfish enjoyments of senses; it attitude and it would spare the wants love unchecked by bar- ridicule and sacrilege of incom- gainings of the mind, unrestrained petence. by the chains of the ' I ', it reaches The contacting of the Perfect out for full amplitude and high Master Meher Baba should be voltage of full experience—in sought at all costs as the only real short, it seeks that which we find good and true security of in the only Beings on earth—the Happiness and true Life. Perfect Masters. Born of selfless- No presumption of pride and ness, Oneness and Purity of Love, over-estimation of themselves such Joy and Bliss brings one should retain any, however great above pain and pleasure of human and learned they may be, or even dual experiences. The beauty of spiritually advanced, from seek- this Pure State is superhuman, so ing the blessings of the Divine great and powerful it is, that none Love of the Master. That contact can approach and contain it is potent with incomparable unprepared. To see Him as He is— spiritual benefit, which no is a Grace. The disciple must be suffering can prevent and which ready to become one with Him no mortals can impart to each and this Grace is given only at the other. Will of the Master. In utter self- All the mystics and spiritual abandonment the disciple unself- poets like Kabir, Hafiz and others, consciously, impersonally fulfills especially Persian poets, have left His Will which simply and spont- beautiful gems in poetic verses aneously becomes his own as the glorifying the Pure Beloved and outcome of the greatest and most His Divine Love as the Secret of difficult victory over the egoism all Truth. of the human state. That Divine Love—pure, self- ''Fear, doubt, scepticism are not less and universal—is God—says Meher Baba; through His Love, THE HAPPINESS OF SUFFERING 347 He brings to God. Love is the That longing itself, that Signatura Divina on the heart of suffering of longing is a blessed- all creation revealed fully in the ness, says the Master—the nearest God-man. Love Divine, the Pure to Love and it may bring the unalloyed Joy and Bliss is the seeker of Love to the Beloved. Love of the God-man. Kabir says: With each spiritual cycle life "He sheds abroad the radiation goes on revealing the greater need of Love! Touch His feet who is for more understanding of spiritual One and indivisible, immutable Truth. It is profitable to all seekers and peaceful; who fills all vessels to use the Grace of the present age to the brim with Joy and whose in the person of the Keeper of the form is Love!" Universe, in charge of its spiritual "What a day of gladness is that destiny. day in which my Beloved who is The present universal Perfect my treasure comes to my house! Guide—Meher Baba—will reveal All evils fly from my heart when I Truth in greater fullness, which see my Lord. My love has touched will remove accumulated ignor- Him! My heart is longing for the ance and help in true and right name which is Truth!" understanding of Truth so much of Also: Truth was distorted and concealed, "My heart is frenzied and I so much has given only in hints disclose in my soul what is hidden. and parables, because mankind has I am immersed in that one great been still in the cradle. Bliss which transcends all It is to the highest spiritual pleasures and pain!" advantage of the seekers to come "Listen my brother! with the open eyes and with a "Bring the vision of the heart attuned to a new inner Beloved in your heart. spiritual grasp and receptivity, that ''This sings Kabir—the servant they may know the alive of all servants!" experience and the new joy of And this is singing in all hearts awakening. who have received His Love Let the heart long even with the Divine and who took His name— pain of longing and with all its Meher Baba—as their salvation in restlessness for the One who can New Life, Pure, Beauty and Truth. so Love and help as none. Don’t Worry BY DELIA DELEON (LONDON) TO be told by Baba not to If we want to understand worry, may seem a common- Baba's ways, we have only to place and simple thing. Those pause and think a little to realize unaccustomed to his ways or that the fundamental cause of newly meeting him, might most of the trouble that is shaking probably wonder why he bothers the foundations of our world to- to mention the obvious, for we day, is worry and its inevitable have our worries. Especially it sister, fear. Everywhere we see might come as a shock to those peoples and nations in the grip of who desire to hear from him this worrying business. The life of learned metaphysical or philo- the individual makes up the life sophical discussions. Baba's con- and character of the nation, and cern is to awaken the love within they in turn react on other peoples us how to live and become real and nations. We worry because human beings. So his appeal is to we lack health, possessions, the heart; directly and simply he money or lands. We poison our gets right down to the very roots lives at the Source, and that of our being. Invariably he says, affects our adjustments to each "Don't worry, I will help you. other, and then comes intolerance, Love me". These words, like the greed, persecutions. We have not words of Jesus* are deep and got the right kind of faith—the significant, for they are a clarion faith that helps us recognize the call to us, to rouse ourselves, to rights and needs of all men, to awaken from our smug little live peacefully in brotherhood, outlook on life—to yearn for a and to know that we are all part of richer fuller deeper way of living. the Whole. If we • * A better quotation would be: "My peace I give unto you not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."—St. John, Chap. 14, v. 27. DON'T WORRY 349 had, we would know, as Hafiz emotional states show themselves says: to be a complicating often a “The object of all religion is controlling influence." alike—all men seek their Beloved. This shows that worry poisons O, all the world is love’s dwelling; our systems, and though the why talk of a mosque or a doctor knows this and can tell us church . . . ?” about it, he cannot cure our Even from the purely physical worries. Most of us worry about health standpoint, there is trivial unimportant things that abundant evidence of the damage never happen. It goes through our caused by worry. In an article in household affairs, our personal an American magazine, with the affairs, our world affairs. We sap heading, "Worry the direct cause ourselves, our judgment gets of many physical ailments" warped and we are thrown George McCray says: physically and mentally out of "Medical men have long gear. Life goes out of focus, as if called certain ill-understood we were looking at a blurred symptoms 'functional' thereby photograph. segregating them from organic Why do we worry so much? diseases in which the ailing With a lot of people, it is because organs show anatomical defects. they feel an eternal dissatisfaction. Many a baffled doctor disposes of They want things different; functional cases with the something eludes them always. pronouncement 'You only Small wonder that in their imagine you are sick. . . Don't desperate desire to be free from worry, go home, forget it.' Such worry, they follow false gods, patients drift from one doctor to thinking they will be led to Utopia. another, and sometimes are cured They are deceived by words and by faith-healers. It is only within grandiose promises, and are "let recent years that the study of the down" invariably, for they fail to emotions as factors in illness has realise that the remedy lies within received serious attention in themselves, and it is only a medical schools and research Perfect Master, like Baba, that can centres, and it is being discovered give them the right answer to all that in a wide range of diseases, that troubles 350 MEHER BABA JOURNAL them and the world-to-day, though he wants us to accept because he has himself attained whatever experience is necessary freedom, and can help others to for our spiritual progress and this freedom. If we turn to him, development. he will help us, and in him we can Baba helps us in so many ways find faith and hope and strength. not to worry or fear, and to The very fact of his telling us develop this right attitude to life. "Don't worry", helps us and gives It sounds so simple, yet most of us the power for it loosens up us find it so difficult. "Don't within us the causes of our worry" says Baba to someone, worries. To love him and obey and usually, if that person is him is the next step—it is so receptive, he soon begins to much easier with him behind us, realize what a worrier he is; even for it is a spiritual solution, and though it may have been in the no amount of physical or mental deeps of his sub-conscious self, strivings can solve our problems. and the measure of the new inrush Baba does help us to change our of life that fills him, is the attitude to life, and it is not measure of Baba's help. merely a negative attitude that It is a subtle and pernicious Baba asks us to cultivate, but a foe that we have to fight, but if positive joyful acceptance of we follow Baba's advice we soon experiences, in their right focus. find that troubles and fears begin Not to be caught up in the. to vanish, because the things that passing phases of illusion (maya), were important to us before do "To be in the world but not of it," not matter any more. Why should does not mean a shrinking from we worry when the Master is life. We have our parts to play. there, when we can turn to him And to withdraw from life to and love him and serve him? practise austerities, to sit in a cave We must try to know and to meditate, does not necessarily understand ourselves truly, for mean spiritual advancement. It Baba says "Everything is within would not be right for the us, the secret of life, God''. We majority, and Baba seems to pre- are part of all; it is the veils of fer us to be active and dynamic, illusion that prevent our seeing clearly. We DON’T WORRY 351 have gradually to shed these veils, Baba’s telling us not to worry, to lose our ego to die to the lower had an added significance at the self, and we will awaken like a moment, for we are living in dreamer from sleep. thrilling and trying times. The Sometime Baba, in order to help approaching spiritual age calls for us, brings our faults up to boiling our recognition of the Verity of the point. The person who worries, Brotherhood of Man. All our worries more than ever. A climax resources and powers of endurance comes, an emotional upheaval will be taxed in the struggle. Out takes place within the person. of chaos, order comes. Baba stands Then if they have the courage to like a beacon, beckening us on. He face up to themselves, and to shows us by his example the realise the fault lies within heights we can reach with perfect themselves, in a flash, the whole poise and equilibrium, he walks thing clears up, and they are free the earth. His Love is our from that particular worry. If they inspiration, and if there are dark lack courage or have not enough days, and all goes from us, we love or faith to trust Baba, then need not worry or despair. Might they perhaps turn against him or he not be saying: blame him for their own *"All which I took from thee, did weaknesses. but take, Baba is always there, waiting, Not for thy harms, ready to guide and teach us, and But just that Thou mightest seek it whatever our weaknesses or in My Arms worries, we can go to him, and All which thy child's mistake with patient love he will help us Fancies is lost, I have stored up for again and again. thee at home. Rise, clasp My hands and come." ... ______ • *The Hound of Heaven, by Francis Thompson. Spiritual Anecdote BY DR. ABDUL GHANI MUNSIFF ONCE, Ghausali Shah Qalander days and the other to another man whilst discoursing on the state of who undertook to do the job in spiritual Perfection (Faqiri) said, one day. The first jobber began to "Perfection is a matter of a work at it scientifically and by fraction of a second. A word in subjecting the vessel to different the ear is sufficient to lift a man processes of scraping, burning and instantaneously from finiteness to by the application of chemicals infinity. Such a transformation is over a period of forty days, made not dependent on the performance a perfect job of it and made the of prayers or the observance of vessel not only spick and span fasts. Moulana Rumi has said: new, but serviceable. "Divine Grace is not limited by The second man who promised conditions of ability. to finish the job in one day, In fact ability in one is condi- adopted a very drastic procedure tioned by Divine Grace". by burning the vessel in a huge Hearing this one of the dis- fire around it. This resulted in ciples remarked, "Sire, if Reali- cleansing the vessel quickly and zation be so easy of attainment, completely but this treatment then why is it that disciples are made the vessel worthless and invariably made to undergo a long brittle, liable to break at the least period of trials and austerities? In knock or disturbance. It can be reply to this query, the Master seen that both the vessels from the related the following anecdote: standpoint of purity and A man had in his possession renovation resulting from two vessels encrusted with age- different methods of treatment long rust and dirt. He wanted to were perfect, but from the view- have them cleansed. He gave one point of utility, one was vessel to a professional who serviceable and the other useless. promised to cleanse it in forty It is for this reason that QUESTION BABA ANSWERS 353 Perfect Masters usually never give imparted to anyone in a second, Realization to an aspirant instan- but it will be for one's own self taneously but they lead him to the with no benefit resulting desired result over a long period therefrom to others. The period of and process of trials and austerities, self-denial and hard- tribulations which enable him to ships that you are experiencing withstand the acquisition thereof. with me, will empower and autho- In this connection Meher Baba rise you to use Realization when once remarked to his disciples that, achieved, for the spiritual uplift of "Realization of God can be others." ______ Question Baba Answers* BY A WESTERNER Ques.—What is the difference the impressions or Sanskaras. The between Destiny and Chance? processes which create the Ans.—Destiny is the divine law experiences and later the which guides us through our elimination of these impressions, numerous existences. Every soul can be called Chance. Destiny, or must experience happiness and the goal that souls have to attain, unahappiness, vice and vice and is Realization of God; but actually virtue, from the commencement Chance is different for every of evolution upto that goal which individual. We can compare is the Realization of God. Destiny to a load of (let us Chance is based on Karma; that imagine) seven hundred tons of law of Cause and Effect which happiness and unhappiness, vice governs the events of our present or virtue, which every soul has to life as well as those of our future carry throughout its existence. lives. Through evolution the soul One soul carries seven hundred receives, by means of the spirit, tons of iron, • * Those Questions and Answers have appeared in the French edition of Questions and Answers (Paris). 354 MEHER BABA JOURNAL another soul the same weight in of the times, and he adopts that steel, others—lead or gold; the attitude which is most suited to weight is always the same. Only serve as an example to his matter changes. The impressions contemporaries. But, in essence, of each individual vary and the all the Avatars incarnate the same acquired Sanskaras from the ideal of life. At the epoch of structure and the condition of the Mohomed the Arabs were very future life of every individual. sensuous and it was not considered Ques.-What is the difference bad or illegal to live with several between the exterior and interior wives. If like Jesus, he had not work of an Avatar? married and had advocated Ans.—His interior work is celibacy, or if he had imposed executed for the good of humanity absolute continency, it would have by the means of his spiritual body produced dangerous and inevitable and divine will, on the spiritual reactions. Few people would have and the subtle planes directly, or followed his teaching and fewer through the intermediary of his still would have been attracted agents. The exterior work is toward such an ideal. Mohomed accomplished through his physical had nine wives, but he had no body by personal contact with physical contact with them; it was individuals. By passing through legal to have several wives. different countries, he turns their At the time of Krishna, the minds towards spirituality, he Hindus were fighting amongst enhances their progression towards each other. Envy and greed were their subtle planes and from these predominate; the real conception towards the spiritual planes.* of spiritual life and love was Ques.—Why were certain unknown to them. Krishna based Avatars married and why was his teachings on the laws of love Jesus not married? and pure and innocent merriment. Ans.—The exterior way of Human beings were directed living of an Avatar is regulated joyfully towards a disinterested by the habits and the customs ideal of love. • * The two ways of working can be used simultaneously. QUESTION BABA ANSWERS 355 At the time of Zoroaster, teachings on Sannyas, or renounce- humanity was hesitant and lacked ment. equilibrium. They were neither At the time of Jesus, arrogance, complete materialists nor really imperiousness, pride, cruelty were attracted towards the spiritual light. the characteristics of the people. He taught them to be good Nevertheless they possessed a householders, to marry, and to conception of justice regarding abstain from desiring the wife of women and marriage, and it was another, and to worship God. His not necessary, as it was in Arabia, own life was based on this principle, to make marriage an example. Jesus “Good thoughts, good words, good lived the life of humanity, actions". Zoroaster was married. simplicity and poverty, and he At the time of Buddha, humanity endured suffering in order to direct was deep in materialism. In order to humanity towards the purest demonstrate that their conception of ideal—God. All the prophets were values was wrong and that they the incarnation of God; therefore were victims of the goddess Illusion, they stand beyond desire and temp- or Maya, Buddha renounced his tations, they were the manifesta- wife, his family, the riches of the tion of the same divine element. world in order to establish his ______ THE SAYING OF MEHER BABA The highest divine knowledge is attained through love (which has in it the spiritual faculties, intuition, and inspiration), and is opposed to the intellectual faculty. It is love that makes one transcend the dominion of intellect and gain the state of complete self-annihilation. It is this state that ends with union with God. ______ Silent Man of the World BY JAL R. IRANI, B.A. TO-DAY, as never before, to take a lead. Not one has a stout humanity finds itself on the verge heart to shout from the roof-tops, of self-destruction. Destroying "We thought we could do without itself with the very same instru- God and His ways, but now, let us ments with which it sought to have Him again''. Each tries to don defend its material march. The End a heroic garb when his heart certainly looks very near. . . . thumps, lost! lost! lost! Almost around the corner; unless That pounding, urging, sweep- some other force, a stranger force, ing, feverish march of humanity other than a machine-gun or a towards better buildings and better torpedo, thrusts itself in this wild livings, better roads and better cars, whirlpool of Victory and Defeat, has brought nothing but fleeting Conquest and Collapse. This moments of morbid satisfaction. strange force which will hit the And it took poor God so much of whole world right between the patience that He has at last decided eyes and stagger it, is steadily but to throw the whole lot lingering most definitely making itself felt 'neath a 'Guillotine' chopper, through that Silent Man—Meher which is certain to come down any Baba. moment. The whole world brinks on a But all is not lost... for we have choked cry, "O! God, anything but amongst us a Silent God-man who this". And when they say anything, had decided to give one more they mean nothing but God. God, chance to this despairing world, without whom the world was so through the medium, of a certain, so damnably certain of Universal Spiritual Centre whose creating Heaven on Earth. The foundation-stone was laid on the world, in the face of the present 17th December 1939, on a site at upheavals, has lost that challenge, Byramangala near Bidadi station, leaving every soul a cringing twenty-three miles from Bangalore coward... Each awaiting the other City; on which SILENT MAN OF THE WORLD 357 occasion the Dewan of Mysore, never be too great for easy Sir Mirza Ismail and officers of communication, or else it would the State were present. degenerate into exclusiveness for Why this Silent Man has the very few; and men and decided upon opening a Spiritual women will not be trained with Centre in the State of Mysore, the windy verbiage of sheer after rushing round the world spiritual philosophy .. but they some ten times, is more or less will be made to experience it the State's good fortune; which through sudden or ... gradual will boast of this unique stages according to the opportunity of having a Universal individual's requirements. Spiritual Centre added to the So much of our life is mean- State's existing institutions of ingless that we box with the din knowledge and progress, where about us and within, thinking that men and women from all over the there must be something vital and world will clamour to be with their creator once again and dwell significant; could we but decipher in His glory that is lost to-day in our own souls. And this Universal Materialism. Centre is there to serve your souls; The State of Mysore, besides Spirituality will not make you being modern and progressive in rich but it will make you free all its enterprises ... has a remarkable people. People who from this earthly bondage. To-day are free in spirits and free in each is out to kill the other, and thoughts. And it is through such only desire co-ordinated in the citizens that a Spiritual Master light of Spiritual experience can can make strange force felt in this tell humanity when to heal and withering world and once again when to kill. lead mankind on to better roads. Science has given us too much In this Academy men and knowledge, and to-day we know women will learn how to put that human knowledge has together the dismembered frag- become too great for the human ments of spiritual joy and spir- mind and to add to it the itual beauty and Bliss. knowledge of Spirituality would And when this Silent Man really be 'the last straw'. But in speaks, one and all will feel that this Spiritual Academy it would somewhere in the distant 358 MEHER BABA JOURNAL past all had the self-same spiritual the Spiritual Master may invoke is longing which this God-man of little gain to anyone with the speaks of ... But none had the art or slightest spiritual tinge in him. Do courage to clothe Spirituality with not mind whether He be good or form and utterance. bad; step into this Academy …. but What criticism and opposition think of Spirituality itself. ______ Side-Trips to Southern Sanctuaries* BY ELIZABETH C. PATTERSON BELUR is now a small town in the great dynasty of the Hoysala the Hassan District of the Mysore Emperors, those powerful rulers State. Halebid is to-day a little who made Halebid their capital in village ten miles from Belur, the twelfth century and who held situated in a cup-shaped valley sway over nearly the whole of where tigers and wild boars are India to the south of the river said to roam in freedom. These Krishna, is now legend to most places were visited by Shri Meher people, but to one like the Master Baba and his party of Eastern and to whom past, present and future Western disciples at the com- are one, coming to such a place mencement of the important year must have a deeper meaning. 1940. Halebid or the 'Old Town' The Master knows best the became so-called by the people in purpose of his visit, but it is well the seventeenth century, when the known that the spiritual signifi- then Vijayanagar rulers built a new cance of these out-of-the-way city at Belur and made it their places, still lingers as symbolized capital. To-day both these ancient in their uniquely beautiful temples capitals that vied in splendour with that were wrought by a people of Delhi of those days, are a series of highly developed art. The glory of ploughed terraces awaiting the • * Continued from March 1940 issue. SIDE-TRIPS TO SOUTHERN SANCTUARIES 359 spade of the excavator. Beneath observes that no religion has a this ground how many aspirations monopoly on symbolism. Just as to material power, how many human nature at its base is the same, aspirations to spiritual attainment, so spiritual faith at its base is lie buried! It has been said that, founded in one Divine Creator, "where a saint walks there flowers though being rekindled at different grow up", so how much greater periods of time by saints. and may be the flowering in human avatars who lived on earth the lives, where a Perfect Master treads! divine life. We are told† that a Hoysala king That this vast plateau of Mysore named Vishnuvardhana, popularly was sanctified by the presence in known as Bittiga, succeeded to the past of the great saint power in about 1106 A.D. He was Ramanujacharya whose teaching converted to intense faith by the has followers to-day throughout great saint and philosopher, Rama- India, is only one incidence of the nujacharya. In commemoration of flower of perfection which this his victory against the Cholas who ancient land has produced. Shri were the enemies of his state and of Baba has stated that there are three his religion, Bittiga built several saints living to-day in Southern temples in various parts of his state, India, one of whom is with the the largest being at Belur. The chief Master at his Mast Ashram having interest in the plan of this Vishnu been contacted by him and brought temple consists in the fact that the there the end of last year. In his sanctum has a beautifully designed 'Abode for Saints' which will be star shape while the hall is like a established at Byramangala. as part cross. It would be very interesting of the Universal Spiritual Centre, to compare this with some of our there will be various types of these early Western type of churches. from many corners of India, all The more one travels the more one doing their • •† Historical facts therein are quoted ad lib from booklets of Belur and Halebid by Dr. M. H. Krishna, M.A., D.Litt. (Lond.), Director of Archæology in Mysore. 360 MEHER BABA JOURNAL part in the Master's work for Chapel in Rome, where the great the spiritual upliftment of artist Michel Angelo has humanity. decorated the inside of the dome Concerning the temple at with his artistic genius and Halebid which Shri Baba told his spiritual conception, the parallel disciples, as we passed through, of man's highest aspirations that it had the greater spiritual occurred to mind. It was at that atmosphere of the two temples; time the Master remarked to those the art critic Ferguson states that accompanying him, that the great the images which elaborate the Italian artist's work was for the exterior are carved "with a minute first time blessed and we could elaboration of detail which can not help but think that Halebid only be reproduced by photo- temple was, also, blessed by the graphy, and may probably be presence of the Master. considered as one of the most One morning at the Hassan dak marvellous exhibitions of human bungalow where our party had labour to be found even in the their headquarters, Shri Baba gave patient East. . . The mode in us a dissertation on suffering, the which the Eastern face is broken deeper meaning of the war and the up by the larger masses, so as to ultimate spiritual outcome for the give height and play of light and world. That the masses, like the shade, is a better way of individual, must achieve their accomplishing what the Gothic spiritual liberation and that this architects attempted by their liberation for the world would transcepts and projections. This, come about and remain for however, is surpassed by the centuries to come. Therefore any Western front where the variety of amount of suffering and war outline, and the arrangement and would have its future meaning. subordination of the various facets Our last place of visit during in which it is disposed, must be this six days sojourn, was to the considered as a masterpiece of Baba Budan Range which is design in its class." To those of visible from Belur and separates the disciples who once went with the western tracts with their tall the Master to view the Sistine forests and SIDE-TRIPS TO SOUTHERN SANCTUARIES 361 coffee plantations, from the eastern Bangalore with the Master. One country with its drier climate and more "last sheep" has been added scrub-covered hills. The coffee, to the fold of his Mast Ashram. such a boon in industry to the The Baba Budan Range rises peasants, was first brought to 6,000 feet above sea-level, the Mysore from Arabia by the great summit of the hills consists of Mohomedan saint for whom the steep grassy slopes well wooded in Range is named. the ravines, through which flow On our way to the Baba Budan perennial streams. Numerous Range we passed a sizable town coffee plantations are seen along named Chickmagalur and we its slopes. It is best approached stopped for a short time. Shri Baba from Chickmagalur where there is had sent two of his mandali the day a motorable road, and our party before and had told them where found the scenery remarkable. On they might contact a particular top the range called in the Hindu mast. With the usual 'coincidences' Puranas "Chendra Drona" is a of meeting they discovered the one cave containing what the described and brought him to the Mohomedans assert to be the tomb Master upon his arrival. This mast of Baba Budan or rather the place was small in build and had the where his disciples were buried unusually happy expression of the and he himself disappeared. The 'God-intoxicated' souls which the Hindus claim it to be the throne of Master has found on his previous Dattatreya and thus it is venerated journeys throughout India, but in as a place of pilgrimage for this case there was something adherents of both faiths. As a whimsical and almost humorous matter of fact Shri Baba told his about the man. Whatever his stage disciples that both versions are true, of spiritual advancement was, the the Hindus sanctum being first and "wine of the spirit" was effecting that Baba Budan the great him like the ancient Sufi poets Mohomedan saint known as Dada describe the longing for God, as Heyat Qalander, took it as his "God-intoxication". On our return abode in later times. Dada means route, this mast was taken back to 362 MEHER BABA JOURNAL 'Master', Heyat means alive and of a Saint or Prophet but that they Qalander means 'Perfect Master' or brought regeneration to their Sadguru of the Qalander type. Shri people in their times and this Baba further explained to his spiritual influence in the lives of disciples that Qalander is a Sufi their people, is an historical fact, term for one who having reached just the same as we know that a perfection and having regained King Solomon or an Emperor normal consciousness, does not Vishnuvardhana ruled in their follow his own religion or any respective times among their own other external form of religion. The people, leaving behind a material Sufis would call him both Qutub imprint called "history". and Qalander. 'Spiritual history' may some day Such facts of a saint not drop- be co-ordinated when there is a ping off his mortal coil, may seem Great One revealed on this earth foreign to Western minds, but who will synchronise all religions. then do most Christians fully The world to-day is waiting for the understand the meaning in their great Re-Uniter in the hearts and own religion, as for example, that minds of humanity. Would not the great Prophet, Elijah, was India, the mother of all races, be a "transilated into heaven", which likely place for such a One to have certainly implies that he did not die! taken birth in order to give the Yet it was not these super-ordinary spiritual impetus to our times? facts which constitute the greatest ______ THE SAYING OF MEHER BABA There is greater valour in conquering the heart of a single enemy than in gaining victory over the bodies of thousands of enemies. The mind is capable of turning the bitterest enemy into the sweetest friend by constantly thinking well (charitably) of him. Those Who Follow the Master* PRINCESS NORINA MATCHA- type. Due to her innate spiritual BELLI—under the 'nomd'art' of gifts she made of this role of the Maria Carmi, obtained interna- 'Divine Mother' the unique tional fame as the spiritual performance which remained interpreter of the 'Mother of Christ' unforgettable in the hearts of those in the great Pantomime 'The who have seen it. Throughout all Miracle'. This unique spectacle— her life she was known as a deep the only one of its kind as artistic worshipper of beauty, art, and beauty and success, was for the progressive ideals, and lived in first time staged in London in close contact with the prominent 1912 by the world famous personalities and leaders of the Producer Max Reinhardt who cultural Western world of this through his genius revived for our time. Thus lived an international modern age and made immortal life of worldly glamour, wealth the great classics of all times. A and fame. group of English capitalists who In 1916 she became the wife of produced 'The Miracle' as a Prince Georges Matchabelli who revival of the traditional spiritual was well known as a distinguished Christmas Pantomime, made a diplomat and hero to his country, condition that the holy part of Georgia (Caucasus), Russia, and the 'Madonna' should be shared the ups and downs of those interpreted by someone who was turbulent times. not an actress, someone, who did In 1924 she was invited to per- not belong to the professional form 'the Miracle' in United States world of the theatre, but a spiritual and altogether personified this role type as personality and in over 1,000 times in Europe and appearance. This they found in her America. Since that time Prince Florentine and Princess Georges Matchabelli • * A series of life-sketches of Meher Baba’s disciples. 364 MEHER BABA JOURNAL have lived in U.S.A. They have give her the strength and acquired the American citizenship confidence as to forsake the world and chose as their domicile New for the Spiritual Path. York. Prince Matchabelli Prince Georges met Meher established in U.S.A. an industrial Baba in 1934. This meeting of concern "The Prince Matchabelli only two minutes with the Master Perfumery Inc.", which after a brought about in him a most few years came to be one of the unexpected change which deter- five greatest Perfumeries of the mined an entirely new outlook on world. After the Prince's death, life, remarkable to all his friends Princess Norina became the who witnessed it. At the moment executive President of the great of his death he had the experience and flourishing establishment. of reincarnation and transmig- During the fifteen years of their ration of the soul—a standpoint life in U.S.A., Prince and Princess which he definitely denied before Matchabelli were admired and he had met the Master to whom he loved for their courage, their owes this change of consciousness. initiative, and character to face the Through this vision his Crossing struggle for the reconstruction of of the Threshold was blissful and their material life in the 'new fully conscious—an experience world'. rare indeed for an ordinary worldly minded human being. When their good luck mate- Prior to his death he remarked to rially had reached the prime, the Princess, "You are right, Princess Norina Matchabelli Meher Baba is real." contacted Meher Baba who came The Princess came to India for to U.S.A. in 1931. The meeting the first time in 1933 together with with the Master marked the the group of Western disciples of complete 'turning point' in her life. the Master and participated in a Although having been an old tour to the Himalayas with him. seeker of Truth and having tried She was sent back to the West on to find help and guidance through a special mission for the Master's teachers, Yogis, well-known spiritual work. She returned to spiritual leaders, none was able to India in 1936 and UNIVERSAL RELIGION AND WHAT IT OUGHT TO BE 365 stayed 8 months together with the Ashram at Meherabad, Ahmed- group of Western disciples at the nagar. Having fully surrendered Nasik 'Meher Retreat' of which she her life to the Master, she is at his was made the 'managing mother'. service and command for any duty In 1937 after a short sojourn in the and work he may demand in his West with Meher Baba, she great Cause for the spiritual returned to India and stayed at the upliftment of mankind. ______ Universal Religion and What it Ought to Be BY ACHARYA M. CHAKRAVARTHY, M.A. (HONS.) THE world is passing through a remedy. It is the spiritual Regen- crisis. The entire humanity is in a eration of the civilised peoples of chaos. Confusion is worse the world. Reason and Science, the confounded. Intelligence has handmaids of the Spirit in man ceased to think in the fields of must change their courses and Reformation and Regeneration. the Objective Realities must be The policy of drift is dividing adjudged on the subjective society and man is on the verge of Analysis irrespective of personal a precipice, his natural instincts equations or national inclinations and impulses having died out due or even international evaluations; to selfishness and rank materialism. in other words, an aggressive The world war may start to a finish spiritualisation of things material or may not start; but all of us are must take place resulting in man dying every moment. Under such a becoming a spiritual dynamo. state of things civilization is Who should bell the cat? Not the doomed to finish. kings, nor the politicians; not the What is the remedy or is there statesmen, nor the diplomats; not no remedy? We say there is a the Social Reformers nor even the remedy and that is the only Universities but 366 MEHER BABA JOURNAL only seers or sages. India has Perhaps for the second time in always been the land of seers and world’s history one religious sages and we trust that there are leader or a Sadguru wants to such seers even today. They are in awaken the Humanity to the the background as in all material Consciousness of their pristine advancement of the general purity and spiritual Reality. When communities and history has that is done successfully, we see taught us again and again that only two castes, viz., Caste Divine dynamic personalities appear on and Caste Satanic. The former the scene when the entire creation shall absorb the entire civilized seems to be wiped off under races into its bosom and the satanic influences. If these two spiritual Union thus effected shall factors, viz., the catastrophe drive away the devils out of the threatening the entire civilization earth. Thus only, millennium shall and that sages and seers are the set in. only saviours of the Races, it is Here we see the seeds of clear why we welcome Shri Meher Universal Religion sown, which Baba into our midst and hail him shall stand for all times. Meher as our Saviour. His one Theme of Baba and Byramangala in Mysore Life is 'Love and Service' and his Raj will stand for the founding of plane of action is the entire the Spiritual Congress on the basis Humanity. of (1) Oneness of God, (2) God, It is true that spiritual uplift is the means and God, the End, (3) seen partially amongst mankind at selfless Love and selfless service some time or other, but nobody and (4) equality of the races. has really identified himself with These four corner-stones of this the entire Races so far in evolving wonderful super structure of the a scheme for the spiritual uplift of Spiritual Congress of the world the entire Humanity. Shri Meher shall be a welcome thing to the Baba is really Universal in that, aggrieved peoples of the Earth that Brahmins, Hindus, Mohom- who shall be drawn together under edans, Christians, Zoroastrians, the Common Banner of Sadguru etc., are working together under Meher Baba. his banner for the Common Cause. All hail to Thee, Thou Saviour of the afflicted Humanity! Science and Spirituality* BY PRINCESS NORINA MATCHABELLI TO be in science explorer of God theme. For you here in reaction is indeed a great theme. To do the of life for self-sacrifice as the exploration for the self- scope of your exploring I, in experience—is a very small science, it is good wonder doing theme. To live for good and bad work but it will only have its pure self-experience—is also small value and fulfil its real scope when it and individual as self-realization. is done unselfishly. To grow small or huge Within in The state of a Truth realized Being is a theme of 'No-one'. human being is to be egoless. That That is given. means to be without self-reaction, That is Grace. That is given to impersonal—and without I-life us when we show in us the real impersonal. It is to be unself- Oneness-Aim or the Divine Life reactive in intellect. It is to be free as longing to unite with God. of all that which is in us Creation The divine state of Being in us as "bindings". That life of ours is latent—it has to be awakened. that we seem to live and do and He who has God—is the Being in experience is more or less a form love with Truth. One among of life that is impersonal because millions could become One in we come to think in an objective Being as God-man if he had such order of thought. a huge aspiration, if he were so Our Inner Life is Self in imperative in winning will to experience. Our External Life as aspire unconditional in self- intellect is the I as Self- sacrifice—to become God. It is to realization. This we as Human be Knowledge, Power, Bliss. For Creation do in life experience. us all it is indeed a far-going The Real I, the Pure One • * Notes from a lecture delivered by Princess Norina Matchabelli at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. 368 MEHER BABA JOURNAL as Self in us established and and feel the Infinite Realization realized, is in the head and in the reaction grow, evolve and within heart in unison a reactionless state, us self-experience. When we impersonal in Self Existence. This speak of spiritual experience we see, Self Existence is the show in us know and feel. It is a life of Self in that is indivisible and pure and us which is no more experience in impersonal and right and real in intellect as finite Existence. To see, its existence. What we see, know to know, to feel is to see, to know and realize in us in intellect, is the and feel the Unison of all as Portion of us in the Universal Existence in a realized state which is Mind that in its realizing reaction the inherent divine state in us as the is unconscious of the Divine I. Self. That is to be given from the This is to say when we in us see, Realized Show in us which is the know and feel, and that is a form of Existence of Truth—of God. existence which is in no way an In the plane of life impersonal executive function in us as the this is clear; to mind impersonal it intellect, we in us realize the Real is in no way obscure; in us as the I as a state of Pure Existence. In ordinary intellectual finite type— this state we arc unself-reactive it is no more experience. What we and unself-conscious in the when we as mystical aspirants intellect. speak of Being means to have the As the Spirit in us, is the Self Life within imperative and clear Impersonal the non-reaction as order to realize in us God. We Existence and as such is non- have to realize God in us—it is experience in intellect. In other Order in us. We as disciples of a words—God has to be in us Real man who is God-realized have to Existence which we know, see and live for the Self. We have to live feel. God in us is the Act that is in for God. We must see, know and Creation, all that which is reacting feel in us Truth. and as such all that has an As Life Motion as mind in self- experience whether conscious or sacrificial reaction to surrender unconscious. We come to know the individual I-Order-Impersonal, in us God when we in us see, know we do in us realize SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY 369 The Order of Self. That is to say, as a life of realized reaction. We we think for objective purpose and have to be free in us of Self and of give-in in objective reaction and I and of the life as function of the self-react in objective order head; and in us form, to be able to impersonal through experience, till live in us real and true, a life that is we do in us realize the I-State that deep in Self-Realization. is Self imperative Realized. This is To see, to know, to feel is to give the difference of our being up the individual I and in it to make objective impersonal in Life new the I as idea, as motive, as within; and subjective in us as form, as Self—as Realizing Reac- head, as intellect in self reaction. tion for the Realizing Use that is to This I in us, is life of mind and be free and true and unselfish. This in it we as subjective realize is the State of being as Liberation. Wonder Impersonal, grow in it That Self-state Impersonal, real, self-reactive to the Self that is is good and bad in one all-Being impersonal. This means—we do in Order that is unselfish. This is the us see, know, feel God unrealized— high realized I in us that in us has to as state objective; and we feel in be awakened. Good and bad has to us God as Life Imperative self-react in us unselfish. To be a Subjective. In other words, we live Real I of Being-Order unselfish, in us as object of the Real I that in one has to see and be the real I. To us is realized; and we grow in its obtain Grace, which is giving in us subjective experience. We live in Truth, one must find the Pure Human our I, self-deluded of a life of Self Selfish Divine Guide. that is unrealized. Now is the time to realize in us What is the Wonder in us, in the One-All-I-State as real Faith. this you, or I—may I ask? It is that Now is the time to see in us God, we in this I, owe to be conscious of when one of the real Masters in God in any or all states of I as Being, and as human creation—is human creature. We in us, Self- Life Realized, is Order Imperative Impersonal, unrealized—know, see, in us in Conscience. feel the Realization Reaction Looking around in this world 370 MEHER BABA JOURNAL of chaos to-day must we not as inspiration as life impersonal. acknowledge that we act foolishly God in us is God as the Wonder in this individual life? Why do we Impersonal. God is All-in-All— act so foolishly and so individ- the I. ually in our I as human head and We have to draw one only line selfish heart? Because we still of demarcation in all the must know, see, feel in us Truth as differences of the head and the form; God as spirit; life as means heart, and that is, that in both, we to the end. show no further sign of Life Real. We have to see God being in us No one is real in I individual or in as actual Use and so in any one I finite in experience. No one is who Within has the Imperative pure impersonal or real imper- Order as the Selfless Conscience. sonal, or true or untrue impersonal. This is the Life of Being when our All in us is indivisible unself- Portion Imperishable is Self- reactive, impersonal in reaction to Realized; when mind is Self this Imperative Realized I-Life; impersonal; when mind is Truth- all in us is unself-reactive realized. When God in us is unrealized impersonal, uncon- realizing imperative in Self—then scious Imperative as I. We as I as we know, see and feel the Act of human creation show no Divine I- Being demonstrate or show in us Life till we in us sow-in the Divine the Wonder of Realization. I—as Life realized. We have to self-realize to the No one is able to realize Selfless Point, where we in us himself as God—unless drawn to have no more realizing reaction, God by one who is God. no more existence order, no more The Final Form of Existence real or false show impersonal; no cannot be adjusted within the Motion Imperative in I, as the Knowing Order of the Finite Order Imperative as Self-State of Mind. Being—but have become non- It is useful to have a form of realizing impersonal; non-acting knowing as feeling of what is impersonal. doing beyond the realm of this God is the aim, God is the Use divine intellect of man. in exploration. God is use in head, We have come to-day to you in mind as intellect, as intuition, here to enforce the statement FORGETFULNESS 371 that we believe and not through We believe that Meher Baba has words and explanations but come into the world to effect the through deep experience that transmutation of consciousness Meher Baba is such a Pure Being in this new evolutionary cycle as as Jesus was, as Buddha was, as the necessary prelude to the all your great Masters were who establishment of the new civil- have stamped you in India as the ization. spiritual vanguard of the world. ______ Forgetfulness BY DR. ABDUL GHANI MUNSIFF FORGETFULNESS is not renun- merely a symbolic expression ciation. It simulates renunciation thereof. He says— only in its lower aspects. Forget- ''What is after all paradise which is fulness is purely a psychic so largely advertised by the phenomenon, which gradually Church? develops into spiritual experience. It is one of the beautiful boquets Renunciation includes both the adorning the mantlepiece of my factors connected therewith, viz., mental state—forgetfulness. physical and mental. It is only Forgetfulness may be an when renunciation becomes mental unscientific term but it explains the that it assumes the quality and science and secret behind all dignity of forgetfulness. happiness and pleasure, spiritual or One may renounce the world but otherwise, which human beings one may not necessarily forget it. experience or enjoy. The Sufis One may give up the allurements term forgetfulness as Bikhudi of heaven and deny the horrors of which has a spiritual significance hell, but the inborn hope and fear and it should not be mixed up with associated therewith cannot alto- unconsciousness (Bihushi), which gether be forgotten. According to a is a physical phenomenon . Sufi poet, the secret of happiness is The psychological difference in forgetfulness and paradise is 372 MEHER BABA JOURNAL between these two states of mind thread of consciousness which is very sharp and well defined. affords temporary relief by Forgetfulness is the detachment of enabling one to forget the pain. the mind from the physical world Sleep likewise is the state of and unconsciousness is the dead- unconsciousness which affords a ening of the mind towards things temporary respite and recovery material. The former gives rise to from the wear and tear of life a feeling of spiritual ecstacy and experienced by day. It has been happiness while the latter results argued that 'life is evil because in mere cessation of pain. pain is its basic stimulus and Physiologically also, it is an reality and an escape from this admitted fact that in a perfectly predicament is afforded by nature healthy condition of the body one in death for the species and sleep is not aware of the existence of for the individual'. the vital organs like the brain, the The whole philosophy of heart, the lungs, the liver or the happiness therefore hinges round kidneys. That means one forgets the question of memory and that these organs are functioning memory is nothing but an ceaselessly in the human anatomy, attachment of the mind to a resulting in a feeling of well-being particular idea, person or place. and health. No sooner any of these Forgetfulness is memory inverted. organs assert themselves and Genius suffers most because he remind the possessor thereof of knows and remembers too much. their presence and function in the It has been said, "He that system, it means an unhealthy and increaseth knowledge, increaseth diseased state of that organ, which sorrow. Memory and foresight is a condition of pain. The more add to human misery; for most of the mind stuff is directed to or our suffering lies in retrospect or monopolised by a particular organ anticipation; pain itself is brief. or part of the body, the more is the How much more suffering is pain felt and when it reaches its caused by the thought of death climax, unconsciousness inter- than by death itself?" venes—a saving break in the Memory therefore is pain, FORGETFULNESS 373 which can be overcome in two himself and the world and knows ways—the negative and the no peace. positive. The positive method is In the exercise of forgetfulness, that of forgetfulness in which the not only non-reaction to adverse mind remains active but refuses to circumstances is essential but even react to external stimuli. The favourable and pleasurable impres- negative method is either to sions ought not to be cognised. It become unconscious, i.e., to stop is this poise or detachment of mind the mind altogether as in sound that is evidently referred to in the sleep or to work the mind too fast famous lines of the poet who sang: as in madness which has been "It is easy enough to smile, defined as a way to avoid the When everything goes by with memory of suffering; or to work it a song. too slowly by external means such But the man worthwhile as intoxicants or dope of some Is the man who can smile kind. When everything goes dead It can thus be seen that the wrong?" steady cultivation of forgetfulness Although forgetfulness is at the develops in man that poise and balance of mind, which automati- root of all happiness, yet it is so difficult of acquisition. Once cally enables him to express in life attained, a man with this state of the noble qualities, like charity, the mind can rise above all pain forgiveness, tolerance, selflessness and pleasure and remain unper- and service. One who is not so turbed and unaffected by his equipped with the attitude of surroundings and circumstances. forgetfulness, becomes a living Nature infrequently has endowed barometer of his circumstances and surroundings. Any the some human beings with this slightest whisper of praise, flattery, enviable trait of forgetfulness and slander or criticism disturbs his it is such people that have given to equipoise and his mind at once the world the best we know of in becomes a sea of emotions either poetry, art, philosophy or science. elevating or depressing. Such a A poet can in such moments of man is perpetually at war with utter forgetfulness or mental 374 MEHER BABA JOURNAL detachment from his material born and not made. surroundings, allow his mind and The best that worldly people imagination to soar into ethereal sometimes attempt in this direction, regions and the resultant poetry is results in developing the state of nothing but crystallised inspiration. mind known as stoicism and An artist when he completely loses epicureanism—the former is the himself in the ideal, which when it apathetic acceptance of defeat and takes form, is at once acclaimed as the latter is the effort to forget the masterpiece of art and beauty. defeat in the arms of pleasure. This The best of philosophy is uttered is not true forgetfulness. When a when a person surveys the past, man seriously undertakes to studies the present and probes into acquire the state of forgetfulness, the future from a detached angle of he may be said to have entered the vision and allows no room in his spiritual life. mind for the interplay of his And here one has to pass emotions and feelings; circum- through different degrees and stances and surroundings. Some of stages of forgetfulness until the the greatest of scientific discov- goal is reached. According to eries have been vouchsafed to Meher Baba, "Forgetfulness of the humanity, when least expected or world makes one a Yogi; thought upon. But such mani- forgetfulness of the next world festations of forgetfulness known (heaven and hell) makes one a as genius are rare and far between saint; forgetfulness of God means and it is in this sense it is said that Realization and forgetfulness of poets, artists or philosophers are forgetfulness is Perfection." ______ THE SAYING OF MEHER BABA Love resembles death in that it annihilates snobbery, vulgarity, and all distinctions. When the Heart Speaks BY F. H. DADACHANJI MEHER Baba's mission in life is tacted him there are many true purely spiritual—to awaken spiritual aspirants who have humanity to its divine birth-right themselves delved deep into the and heritage. For that purpose, he spiritual literature with which the has contacted thousands in India as world's libraries are full and have also in the West those that have actually practised various processes come to him and those to whom he of spiritual austerites for years has himself gone. And what without the least sign of inner wonderful transformation he has development. To speak in their brought about in them? Without a own words, what this reading of word of mouth for the last fifteen volumes of literature or hearing years, he has touched the tenderest platform sermons on religious and chords of human hearts with that spiritual subjects and practising look of love in his eyes or the even Yoga Sadhanas (penances} loving touch of his hands, and couldn't bring out in years, Meher awakened the latent spark of Baba's personal contact for a few spirituality within them in a manner moments achieved in a manner that that is masterly. Its unique has amazed them. technique is simply bewildering We reproduce in these columns and too amazing for words. To a few excerpts from letters, show- awaken Divine Love in thousands ing some of the most spontaneous who never saw him or heard of him experiences of the hearts that the in their lives, just in a momentary Master has touched with the Divine personal contact and without Love that he radiates, and these uttering a syllable, is in itself a feat will speak for themselves as to unparalled In the history of Masters. what amazing revelations the Mas- Amongst those who have con- ter's contact has brought to them. 376 MEHER BABA JOURNAL (1) that the sense of separation may be My Dear Sadguru, more fully wiped out of my Your presence is fragrant with consciousness and that at the proper Divine Love. time, I may stand face to face with The beauty and magic of it can Him, in the flesh. heal all of man's wounds and free The contact has been made and his soul from bondage. in Truth I know that there is neither The spontaneous embrace time nor space, and that nothing can brought me very close to the arms separate us from the Love of God. of the Infinite, and the radiance in Humbly I come before Thee and your eyes was like a benediction I know that Thy Grace will fill my from the Heavenly Father. nothingness and Thy Unfolding Life for me holds greater con- Love burn away all my inhibitions. sciousness of joy, a deeper Hold me close to that great Love, understanding of love and high Beloved Master, and may my eyes purpose for having spent a few never turn away from facing Him, eternal moments within the warmth who through all eternity has been of your aura. wooing me. You are making a troubled I am hoping to be kept in close world happier and wiser—and I lay communication with the dear ones a humble boquet of my deep and who are leaving here to-day, everlasting love in your lap. knowing that their messages will A.M. fan up the flame in my heart and (2) make me a Light, however small, to Beloved Master, help illumine the darkened minds. That Thy Grace may fall down The dear ones who are sailing over my upward vision and undo for India to-day to be in the the laws of matter presence of him who is humanly and of mind is the sincere prayer of Divine and Divinely-human, are taking with them my heart full of M.C. (3) Love and of longing to be with them. May all America and the rest of This letter they will hand the world feel the personally to you, Beloved Master, SELF-SACRIFICE 377 Christ spirit which is Baba. We are the spiritual guidance I received by in need of his pure Love and real contact with Baba's Divinely freedom. It is not possible to illuminated soul. express adequately my deep M. appreciation and gratefulness for ______ Self-Sacrifice BY ADI K. IRANI Thou lovable, loved one and the lover of all In thy sweet precints could I give up all Earthly belongings as a matter of course On the path of Love are but crude and course Sacrifice the outer the inner comes next. Oh for the pangs and the aches divine. A little devotion, devoted thine Offer on the altar of life sublime Are not as course a matter as fine. Sacrifice the outer the inner comes next. Love's for all lovers; this lover is thine Love for all beloveds is the love of mine Things of the heart at the feet of thine On the path of love still lag behind Sacrifice the inner still inner comes next. What can the inner and outer be there In presence of " I " the inmost I bear To subdue the self and undo the veil Beloved away, did from me compel Sacrifice the I and nothing comes next. ______ A Confession* BY A WESTERN DISCIPLE Sir:—I submit this letter in my confession, and immediately confirmation of your observation there followed into my soul the joy in the Editorial of the December and love of Christ. From hence- "Forum" that "self-cultivation" forth my life was oriented to Him must eventually give place to instead of to the "World and the "self-surrender" and in witness to Flesh". To serve Him was my one my faith in Shri Meher Baba as a desire. The ecstasy of the year spiritual awakner and regenerator. following this conversion can only Obviously, the only adequate be understood by one who has proof of the faith that is in one is experienced it. But gradually a in a "changed Life". But since the dark cloud descended. Heart- fruits of such a change will be breaking disillusionment followed. visible only through living the life, Finally utter darkness filled the and not merely writing or talking place where light had been. Being about it, I shall have to confine my young I had not learned to ''confession'' to the causes which distinguish between the "Channel" produced the change. and the "Power". A simple lesson Seventeen years before meeting it would seem, but it took me Baba, I experienced my first many years to learn it. spiritual awakening. It came about During this period of darkness, through the agency of an Anglican I struggled to find again that priest who conducted a "mission" centre of light and peace, but the in our parish church. As a result Church no longer held for me the for his powerful appeal for key. It was then that I turned to the changed lives, I voluntarily made study of • * This Confession appeared first in a form of letter to the Editor, “London Forum”. A CONFESSION 379 esoteric truth, and the circum- "Every man his own Master." stances of life seemed to foster this But then life through a series of procedure. amazing circumstances, threw us "Self-cultivation" now absorbed into the range of Baba's influence, my interest. Meditation, concen- and, though thousands of miles tration, reading, study and separated us from him, we, my service—these would open again husband and myself, felt the the door, my preceptors assured me. compelling beauty of his spirit. And once, for a few weeks, the His coming to the house we had door did open and light poured in, prepared for him, the wonder and but it was only another temporary the glory of the days that followed, glimpse. After this a sort of twilight the tremendous quickening that state remained. Then I redoubled took place in many of us, that is a my efforts. Surely, God had not story in itself. But there began in given me so intense a desire for those first days the self-surrender union with Him merely to thwart it. which is still going on. Could I not serve Him far more Without uttering a word, or effectively if I were filled with His apparently doing anything, he light? Thus I argued with myself, awakened in one a love so great, so but still the semi-darkness divine, that it seems a small thing, a prevailed. It was in this state of wholly inadequate thing, to mind that I met Baba, when he surrender one's life to his service. came to us on his first visit to the To say and live "Thy will be done" United States. in every detail of life would seem I think it only right to affirm that to be the only possible attitude for a upto this time I was not interested sincere spiritual aspirant. in ''Masters". My early experience, Permanent illumination did not coupled with the loose talk about then take place. Baba explained Masters and disciples of which I that this is impossible until all of had heard too much, had bred in the ego is eliminated. When the me the "impersonal" approach to little Self is annihilated with its Deity. I was much more of pride of Krishnamurti's mind regarding this. 380 MEHER BABA JOURNAL intellect and accomplishment, then the honest facing of one's short- the greater life flows in and abides comings; for courage in the dark for ever. And it is here that the aid places; for patience under the daily of a Master, such as Baba, is irritations; for faith which believes needed. In the natural course of a and loves even when the reasoning life, circumstances usually contrive mind fails to understand. This to me to rid us of a bit of ego, and if we is what the preliminary stages of are honestly trying to co-operate discipleship involves. And if any- with God in His methods for our one thinks it a lazy man’s job, I liberation, we may succeed in suggest he try it! The more subtle lopping off large slices of self. But forms of self do not relinquish their the permanent and complete hold merely for the asking! operation is only possible through But however unceasing this the agency of a Perfect One. So effort may be, it is enhanced by the Baba has told us, and my own love of the Master who inspired it. experience in tackling the wary All along the way one is aware of Beast of Self leads me to suppose the Beloved Presence. There are, of that he is correct. course, periods of testing, the After Baba left us, two years ago seeming withdrawal of the Spirit, last December, the "eliminating" but, contrary to my former process began, and it is here that experience, I find now that even in the co-operation of the disciple is the darkest places—and there have required. been many—the presence of Baba, It amuses me to hear the guides, comforts and strengthens! frequently expressed opinion And to those who may question (which I myself once had) that the "personal" guidance of a Master being the disciple of a Master in human form, I can only say that involves no self-effort. In one sense the sense of guidance which I now this is true. The effort for enlight- have, is of the same quality as in enment ceases. "Self-cultivation" the early days when the Christ not gives way to "self-surrender". The in human form guided my life. The energies are turned in a different difference now lies in direction, and any effort now is for NOTES FROM MY DIARY 381 the degree of intimacy which that which leads me to believe without sacred companionship holds for the question that when he speaks, the disciple. It is this experience of my universal quickening which he own which I have seen duplicated foretells will indeed take place. in the lives of many who have Yours sincerely, come in contact with Baba J. S. ______ Notes from My Diary F. H. DADACHANJI I—FROM DAY TO DAY Besides the allocation of dif- BABA was in seclusion in the ferent duties to members of the month of March and saw none group staying in Bangalore in except the few who had previous charge of different working appointments. In spite of this departments, personal and indivi- apparent cessation of his external dual instructions were given by contact with the outside world, his Baba to each one concerned. activities, though confined to his During the month of seclusion, intimate group and to the masts Baba also observed a long fast for inside, continued, besides his 21 days, for the first week on internal work in seclusion. liquids, the second on tea without A long tour extending over six milk, and the third absolutely on weeks had been contemplated, and water. Besides, on the last day of arranged. It covered a thousand his fast—the 20th of March—the miles of journey by road in a big entire group of his disciples, both bus with a party of about 40 and male and female, also observed with halts at several places. This fast at Baba's orders for a required a lot of details to be significant event of world looked into and these were worked importance on that day, as was out by certain members of the already referred to by the Master. group, every detail had to be This breaking of Baba's long finally confirmed by the Master fast during his period of seclusion, himself. on the 21st of March 382 MEHER BABA JOURNAL coincided with the Nature's New THE DEPARTURE Year Day when the Sun enters The Master and the group left Zodiac—and one of the famous Bangalore promptly on the 1st holidays observed since the time April. Their first halt was at of the Emperor Jamshed of Iran, Arsikere, about 84 miles from here. from whose name the day is known as the "Jamshedi Naoroz". BABA AND HIS GROUP AT * * * SHIMOGA On the 22nd of March a grand- Next morning the party left for child of one of Baba's oldest Shimoga in the Mysore State, Hindu disciples was initiated at the another distance of about 100 august hands of the Master in miles. Here the Master and his Bangalore in his small hut at the group were the guests on special 'Links '. invitation of the well-known * * * Zamindars (lords) Messrs. Syed THE BYRAMANGALA CENTRE Amir Ahmed and Syed Mahmood, both brothers. They have been After the materials (stones, lime, the cement, etc.) were collected, the residents of the place for years and construction work departmentally are very well-known as society under the direct supervision of figures in Shimoga and Bangalore. Baba's own group started from The two brothers, having come into contact with Baba during his March. stay at Bangalore, had spontan- MANDLA eously extended a cordial Simultaneously, the construc- invitation to the Master and his tion of a special structure on the party to sanctify their place of resi- grounds gifted to Baba at Mandla dence with His august presence. on the banks of the Narbada in the The Master had promised accep- Central Provinces, has been started tance of the invitation long ago and is being carried on under the and had Shimoga included in the supervision of two of Baba's spec- itinerary of the present tour. ial emissaries specially deputed True to the spirit of Indian and sent from Bangalore. It hospitality, the family had made proceeds well ahead from reports all adequate arrangements for received. * * * NOTES FROM MY DIARY 383 the party, lavishly entertaining all Baba.—Spirituality truly means for two days, at Shimoga on the the life of the spirit. It is to be 2nd and at Gersoppa Falls on the lived and experienced. It makes 3rd. They had entertained very you firm like a rock and neither distinguished guests for years, but wordly sorrows nor pleasures it was a unique experience for upset you. You attain to the state them to entertain a spiritual where desires end, and you want Master and his group of Eastern nothing. When you do not want and Western disciples. It may be anything, you have everything. said to be a rare privilege for the Look at this mast (Chatti Baba). family since Baba had been He is so innocent, always so nowhere during this eight months happy and so loving—for the of stay in Bangalore and his simple reason that he wants present tour has also been strictly nothing; and strange as it may private. seem, he has everything—happi- Although strict instructions had ness, eternal peace of mind and previously been given that Baba contentments. would see none during this The state of desirelessness or private tour, his visit to Shimoga of wanting nothing is a faculty somehow aroused a great deal of latent in everyone. It is within interest in the local residents, and you and you must find it out. I in response to the earnest request have found it and experienced it. I of the hosts, Baba allowed only know that everyone has this Darshana to a good many people faculty, but being latent, it has to drawn from all walks of life. be found and experienced. The difference between you and me is II—INTERVIEWS WITH THE that although this faculty within MASTER me is also present within you, I have actually experienced and felt We give below some of the it, while you have yet to interesting questions Baba experience and feel it. I see answered during interviews at the myself in you all as palpably as 'Links', Bangalore. you see all these material things Ques.-What is true spirituality? with your eyes. It is a fact for me. 384 MEHER BABA JOURNAL With your eyes, you see every- to an expert life-saver using thing external. At the back of this different devices to save a external aspect, there is not mere drowning person. It is a well- hollowness or spacelessness, but known fact that that a drowning also pure nothingness. When you person tries to cling to anything realize this pure nothingness, you that comes within his grasp and see how it has come out of unless the person who wants to everything which is in you. When save him is careful enough, both this experience is gained, the would be drowned together. In fact faculty of wanting nothing is the expert has often to hit the developed and you begin to drowning man hard on the head, experience it. rendering him almost unconscious Ques.—How could a confirmed so that he may not grapple in an sinner be redeemed? awkard manner the very person Baba.—From my point of who tried to save him, thus making view, no one is so bad as not to the rescue work dangerous and improve and become good. perhaps impossible. Similarly I Everyone, however depraved, can have at times to treat certain improve and become better till he persons in such an apparently cruel becomes the best example for manner that the onlookers who mankind. There is always hope for have no idea of the real situation everyone. are led to think that I am unduly * * * harsh and unjust with them. As a Ques.—Why do the ways of matter of fact as in the case of the Masters at times appear to be harsh expert life-saver, I do everything to and cruel? save the life of the particular Baba.—Masters have to save person whom I know to be ''drowning people" from the sea of drowning in the world of Maya. I Samsara (worldly life) and to that do all this for his own good and end, use different methods similar spiritual emancipation. ______ Register of Editorial Alterations Vol. 2, issue 6 Page 329, para 4, line 9, change “make to” to “make” Page 330, para 1, line 13, change focul to focal Page 332, col 1, para 1, line 10, change matter to matters Page 333, col 2, para 1, line 4, change pursuaded to persuaded Page 333, col 2, para 1, line 22, change breath to breathe Page 334, col 2, para 1, line 8, change munical to musical Page 337, col 2, para 1, line 1, change oppositon to opposition Page 340, col 1, para 1, line 1, change spiritual to “spiritual (“ added) Page 341, col 1, para 3, line 2, change widsom to wisdom Page 342, col 1, para 3, line 1, change Desparation to Desperation Page 343, col 1, para 2, line 6, change fourth to forth Page 344, col 2, para 8, line 1, change needs to kneads Page 347, col 1, para 3, line 6, change Truth to Truth; Page 351, col 2, para 1, line 11, change beckening to beckoning Page 353, col 1, para 4, line 5, change unahappiness to unhappiness Page 353, col 1, para 4, line 7, change upto to up to Page 354, footnote, change workin to working Page 354, col 2, para 2, line 4, change predominate to predominant (?) Page 361, col 1, para 2, line 21, change effecting to affecting Page 361, col 2, para 1, line 2, change last to lost Page 361, col 2, para 2, line 25, change Hindus to Hindu’s Page 362, col 1, para 2, line 8, change transilated to translated Page 371, col 2, para 4, line 1, change boquets to bouquets Page 372, col 1, para 1, line 8, change ecstacy to ecstasy Page 375, col 1, para 1, line 26, change unparalled to unparalleled Page 375, col 2, para 1, line 7, change austerites to austerities Page 376, col 1, para 5, line 3, change boquet to bouquet Page 377, para 2, line 2, change precints to precincts Page 377, para 2, line 4, change course to coarse Page 377, para 3, line 4, change course to coarse Page 378, col 1, para 1, line 8, change awakner to awakener Page 379, col 1, para 3, line 2, change upto to up to Page 383, col 1, para 2, line 9, change Darshana to Darshan Page 383, col 2, para 1, line 5, change wordly to worldly Page 384, col 2, para 1, line 4, change “that that” to “that” Page 384, col 2, para 1, line 14, change awkard to awkward
Meher Baba Journal, Vol. 2, No. 6
