MEHER BABA JOURNAL Volume 1, No.2 December 1938
A Monthly Publication of the “Meher Editorial Committee”
An Avatar Meher Baba Trust eBook July 2011
All words of Meher Baba copyright © 2011 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).
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Contents SHRI MEHER BABA ON SELFISHNESS AND TWELVE WAYS OF REALIZING ME
INDIVIDUALITY Adi K. Irani 12 SHRI MEHER BABA AND HEALING Countess Nadine Tolsto 18 THE VAISHNAVITE SAINTS OF C. V. Sampath Aiyangar 21 SOUTHERN INDIA AND THEIR ( Late of Madras Judicial HAGIOLOGY Service. ) SUFISM Dr, Abdul Ghani Munsiff 24 QUESTION BABA ANSWERS Dr. Abdul Ghani Munsiff 30 IMPRESSIONS SHRI MEHER BABA Princess Norina Matchabelli 31 IMPRESSIONS SAYING OF SHRI MEHER BABA 35 THE NEED FOR A MASTER Dr. C. D. Deshmukh 36 M. A., Ph. D. ( London) YOU MUST BELIEVE IT Dr. Abdul Ghani Munsiff 41 HOW I MET THEM AND Abdul Kareem Abdulla 43 WHAT THEY TOLD ME NEWS ABOUT THE MASTER F. H. Dadachanji 49 REDEMPTION ( Poem ) Malcolm Schloss 53 (California) ST. TERESA OF SPAIN Will Backett ( London) 54 “MEHERABAD” INTERESTING F. H. Dadachanji 59 FACTS OF ITS FOUNDATION SUFI THOUGHTS Dr. Abdul Ghani Munsiff 64 SPIRITUAL ANECDOTE Dr. Abdul Ghani Munsiff 65 SHRI MEHER BABA'S TOUR Princess Norina Matchabelli 66 OF NINE DAYS THROUGH CENTRAL INDIA LIFE ( Poem) Adi K. Irani 72
"I have come not to teach but awaken" -Shri Meher Baba MEHER BABA JOURNAL VOL. 1 DECEMBER 1938 NO. 2
Shri Meher Baba on Selfishness
Selfishness comes into existence owing to the ten- dency of the desires to find fulfilment in action and experience. It is born of fundamental ignorance about one's own true nature. Human cons- Analysis of ciousness is clouded by the accumu- Selfishness lation of various types of impressions deposited by the long course of the evolution of consciousness. These impressions express themselves as desires, and the range of the operation of consciousness is strictly limited by these desires. The sanskaras or impressions form an enclosure around the possible field of consciousness. The circle of sanskaras constitutes that limited area in which alone the individual consciousness can be focused. Some of the desires have mere latency of action, but others can actually translate themselves into action. The capacity of a desire to find expression in conduct depends upon the intensity and the amount of the sanskaras connected with it. To use a geometrical metaphor we might say that
2 MEHER BABA JOURNAL when a desire passes into action it traverses a distance which is equal to the radius of a circle describing the boundary of the sanskaras connected with it. When a desire gathers sufficient strength it projects itself into action for getting fulfilled. The range of selfishness is equal to the range of desires. Owing to the hindrance of multifarious desires it becomes impossible for the soul to find free and full expression of its true Wanting ends in being, and life becomes self- Dissatisfaction centred and narrow. The entire life of the personal ego is continually in the grip of wanting, i. e., an attempt to seek fulfilment of desires through things that change and vanish. But there can be no real fulfilment through the transient things. The satisfaction derived from the fleeting things of life is not lasting ; and the wants of man remain unfulfilled. There is thus a general sense of dissatisfaction accompanied by all kinds of worries. The chief forms in which the frustrated ego finds expression are lust, greed and anger. Lust is very much like greed in many respects. But it differs in the maner of its fulfillment which is directly Lust, Greed related to the gross sphere. Lust finds And Anger its expression through the medium of the physical body and is concerned with the flesh. It is a form of entanglement with the gross sphere. Greed is a state of restlessness of the heart, and it consists
SELFISHNESS 3 mainly of craving for power and possessions. Posses- sions and power are sought for the fulfilment of desires. Man is only partially satisfied in his attempt to have the fulfilment of his desires. And this partial satisfaction fans and increases the flame of craving instead of extinguishing it. So greed always finds an endless field of conquest, and leaves the man endlessly dissatisfied. The chief expressions of greed are related to the emotional part of man. It is a form of entanglement with the subtle sphere. Anger is the fume of an irritated mind. It is caused by the thwarting of desires. It feeds the limited ego, and is used for domination and aggression. It aims at removing the obstacles existing in the fulfilment of desires. The frenzy of anger nourishes egoism and conceit, and it is the greatest benefactor of the limited ego. Mind is the seat of anger, and its expressions are mostly through the activities of the mind. Anger is a form of mental entanglement. Lust, greed and anger respectively have body, heart and mind as their vehicles of expression. Man experiences disappointment through lust, greed and anger, and the frustrated ego, in its turn, seeks further gratification through lust, greed and anger. Consciousness is thus aught up in a The Vicious vicious circle of endless disappoint- Circle ment. Disappointment comes into exis- tence when either lust or greed or anger are thwarted in their expression. It is thus a general reaction of the gross, subtle and mental entanglement. It is a depress- sion caused
4 MEHER BABA JOURNAL by the nonfulfilment of lust, greed and anger which together are co-extensive with selfishness. Selfishness which is the common basis of these three ingredient vices is thus the ultimate cause of disappointment and worries. It defeats itself. It seeks fulfilment through desires, but succeeds only in arriving at unending dissatisfaction. Selfishness inevitably leads to dissatisfaction and disappointment, because desires are endless. The problem of happiness is, therefore, the problem of dropping out desires. Desires, how- The Road to ever, cannot be effectively overcome Happiness through mechanical repression. They can be annihilated only through knowledge. If you dive deep in the realm of thoughts and think seriously just for a few minutes, you will realize the emptiness of desires. Think of what you have enjoyed all these years and what you have suffered. All that you have enjoyed through life is today nil. All that you have suffered through life also is nothing in the present. All was illusory. It is your right to be happy and yet you create your own unhappiness by wanting things. Wanting is the source of perpetual restlessness. If you do not get the thing you wanted, you are disappointed. And if you get it, you want more and more of it and become unhappy. Say, "I do not want anything," and be happy. The continuous realization of the futility of wants will eventually lead you to Knowledge. This self- knowledge will give you the freedom from wants to the road to abiding happiness.
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Wants should be carefully distinguished from needs. Pride and anger, greed and lust are all different from want. You might think, "I need all that I want." But this is a mistake. If you are Renunciation thirsty in a desert, what you need is of Wants good water, not lemonade. As long as man has body there will be some needs, and it is necessary to meet these needs. But wants are an outcome of infatuated imagination. They must be scrupulously killed, if there is to be any happiness. As the very being of selfishness consists of desires, renunciation of wants becomes a process of death. Dying in the ordinary sense means parting with the physical body. But dying in the real sense means renunciation of low sense-desires. The priests prepare men for the false death by painting gloomy pictures of hell and heaven. But their death is illusory, since life is one unbroken continuity. The real death consists of the cessation of desires, and it comes by gradual stages. The dawn of love facilitates the death of selfish- ness. Being is dying by loving. If you cannot love one another, how can you love even those who torture you? The limits of selfishness are created Love and by ignorance. When a man realizes that Service he can have a more glorious satisfaction by widening the sphere of his interests and activities, he is heading towards the life of service. At this stage he entertains many good desires. He
6 MEHER BABA JOURNAL wants to make others happy by relieving distress and helping them. And though even in such good desires there is often an indirect and latent reference to theself, narrow selfishness has no grip over good deeds. Even good desires may, in a sense, be said to be a form of enlightened and extended selfishness, for, like bad desires, they too move within the domain of duality. But in entertaining good desires selfishness is embracing a larger conception which eventually brings about its own extinction. Instead of merely trying to be luminous, arrestive and possessive, man learns to be useful to others. The desires which enter into the constitution of the personal ego are either good or bad. Bad desires are ordinarily referred to as forms of self- ishness, and good desires are referred The Arising to as forms of selflessness. But there of Selfishness is no hard and fast line dividing selfishness from selflessness. Both move in the do- main of duality, and from the ultimate point of view which transcends the opposites of good and bad, the distinction between selfishness and selflessness is chiefly one of range. Selfishness and selflessness are two phases of the life of the personal ego, and these two phases are continuous with each other. Selfishness arises when all the desires are centred round the narrow individuality. Selflessness arises when this crude organisation of desires suffers disintegration, and there is a general dispersing of desires, with the result that they cover a much wider sphere. Selfishness is the narrowing
SELFISHNESS 7 down of interests to a limited field ; selflessness is the extension of interests over a wide field. To put it paradoxically, selfishness is a restricted form of selflessness: and selflessness is the drawing out of selfishness into a wide sphere of activity. Selfishness must be transmuted into selflessness before the domain of duality is completely transcended. Persistent and continuous performance of good deeds wears out self- Transfor- ishness. Selfishness extended and ex- mation of pressed in the form of good deeds Selfishness becomes the instrument of its own into Self- destruction. The good is the main link lessness between selfishness thriving and dying. Selfishness, which in the beginning is the father of evil tendencies, becomes, through good deeds, the hero of its own defeat. And when the evil tendencies are completely replaced by good ten- dencies, selfishness is transformed into selflessness, i.e., individual selfishness loses itself into universal interest. And though this selfless and good life is also bound by the opposites, goodness is a necessary step towards freedom from the opposites. Goodness is the means of the soul to annihilate its own ignorance. From the good the soul passes on to God. Self- lessness is merged into Universal Selfhood, which is beyond good and bad, virtue and vice, and all the other dual aspects of Maya. The height of Universal selflessness is the beginning of the feel- Selfhood ing of one-ness with all. In the state of
8 MEHER BABA JOURNAL liberation there is neither selfishness nor selflessness in the ordinary sense; but both of these are taken up and merged into the feeling of selfness for all. Realization of the unity of all life is accompanied by peace, and unfathomable bliss. It does not, in any way, lead either to spiritual stagnation or to the obliteration of relative values. Selfness for all brings about undisturbed harmony without loss of discrimination, and un- shakable peace without indifference to the surround- ings. And this selfness for all is not an outcome of merely subjective synthesis. It is a result of an actual attainment of union with the Ultimate Reality which includes all. Open your heart by weeding out all desires and by harbouring only one longing—the longing for union with the Ultimate Reality. That Ultimate Reality is not to be sought in the changing things Union of external environment, but in ones own with the being. Every time your soul intends Ultimate entering your human heart, it finds the Reality doors locked and the inside too full of desires. Do not keep the doors of your hearts closed. Every-where there is the source of abiding bliss, and yet all are miserable because of desires born of ignorance. The goal of lasting happiness shines forth fully only when the limited ego with all its desires finds its complete and final extinction. Renunciation of desires does not mean asceticism or a merely negative attitude to life. Any such
SELFISHNESS 9 negation of life would make man inhuman. Divinity is not devoid of humanity. Spirituality must make man more a human. It is a positive attitude Spirituality is of releasing all that is good and noble Positive atti- and beautiful in man. It also con- tude to Life tributes to all that is gracious and lovely in the environment. It does not require the external renunciation of worldly activities or the avoiding of duties and responsibilities. It only requires that while performing the worldly activities or discharging the responsibilities arising from the specific place and position of the individual, the inner spirit should remain free from the burden of desires. Perfection consists in remaining free from the entanglements of duality. Such freedom from entan- glements is the most essential requirement of unhindered creativity. But this freedom cannot be attained by running away from life for fear of entanglement. This would mean denial of life. Perfection does not consist in shrinking from the dual expressions of nature. The attempt to escape from entanglement implies fear of life. But spirituality consists in meeting life adequately and fully without being overpowered by the opposites. It must assert its dominion over all illusion—however attractive or powerful. Without avoiding contact with the different forms of life a perfect man functions with complete detachment in the midst of intense activity.
Twelve Ways of Realizing Me BY SHRI MEHER BABA
1. LONGING If you experience that same longing and thirst for Union with Me as one who has been lying for days in the hot sun of the Sahara experiences for the longing for water, then you will realize Me.
2. PEACE OF MIND If you have the .''peace of a frozen lake, then too you will realize Me.
3. HUMILITY If you have the humility of the earth which can be moulded into any shape, then you will know Me.
4. DESPERATION If you experience the desperation that causes a man to commit suicide and you feel that you cannot live without seeing Me, then you will see Me.
5. FAITH If you have the complete faith that Kalyan had for his Master, in believing it was night although it was day (because his Master said so), then you will know Me.
6. FIDELITY If you have the fidelity that the breath has in giving you company, even without your constantly feeling it, till the end of your life; (that both in happiness and in suffering gives you company and never turns against you), then you will know Me.
TWELVE WAYS OF REALIZING ME 11
7. CONTROL THROUGH LOVE When your love for Me drives away your lust for the things of the senses, then you realize Me.
8. SELFLESS SERVICE If you have the quality of selfless service, un- affected by results, similar to that of the sun which serves the world by shining on all creation—on the grass in the field, on the birds in the air, on the beasts in the forest—on all mankind with its sinner and its saint, its rich and its poor, unconscious of their attitude towards it, then you will win Me.
9. RENUNCIATION If you renounce for Me everything physical, mental and spiritual, then you have Me.
10. OBEDIENCE If your obedience is as spontaneous, complete and natural as the light is to the eye or the smell to the nose, then you come to Me.
11. SURRENDERANCE If your surrenderance to Me is as whole-hearted as that of one, who, suffering from insomnia, surrenders to sudden sleep without fear of being lost, then you have Me.
12. LOVE If you have that love for Me which St. Francis had for Jesus, then not only will you realize Me but you will please Me.
Individuality By Adi K. Irani
Taking into view the entire creation, adopt. Every thought and act of us the whole manifestation of the chang- betrays a sense of secureness and sta- ing material coming out of the Infinite, bility beyond words amidst the seeming its varied spheres of existences colour- changes and the vicious vicissitudes of ed by their difference in makeup, their life. To try to believe that all are one, substance, their constitution, their mo- and the outward differences exist only tion or inertness, their utility or ap- in so far they are seen, is to be happily parent uselessness and all their relative practical about it. The deeper you go differences, the wide un-compromising the sooner the differences come closer contrast these differenciations present, to each other, lingering for a time in we would believe that to think for a their individuality, visible only to the moment of the birth of the universal lenses of intuition and insight. Finally change to have precipitated in one all change, all relativity and all individual absolute entity, is false. It is individuality is hushed into one silent difficult to think wherefore this current Supreme Being. of mass-unsteadiness should lead us to To have lost individuality, however a realm of insecureness and uncertainty great and powerful the idea of oneness, when it has been the outcome of a is to have lost faith in everything; in all stable unshakable state of oneness. To greatness and goodness which have believe that the universal flux of affairs blessed the world ever since the first with its evil and relative goodness is a individual came into being. By the first permanent inconsistency wherein lies individual we mean he who, having the aim of our life and the panacea of sacrificed the abundance of ecstacy, of our happiness, is too gloomy a picture righteousness and power squeezed to paint and too unjust an attitude to himself down to the limitations of an individual
INDIVIDUALITY 13
for the purpose of manifesting the rowed, limited and partial. The Ordi- vastness of experience, of knowledge nary Individual labouring under the and of bliss in a way palatable and delusion of a true perceiver is not a understandable to other individuals charlatan. He is true, he is honest and whom, for our exposition, we call the he is sincere. He sees what comes Ordinary Individual. before him and says what he sees. His There are three individualities in the faculties of smell and sound and of main throughout the cosmos; Ordinary understanding are exactly how they Individual, Divine Individual and The reveal to him. Should he disclaim them, Individual as the most general he disowns them; should he refuse classification of individuals. The first them, he sees nothing higher than them; and very common is an Ordinary should he deny them he finds hard to Individual who, beside himself, his thwart the in. This is the Destiny of our intellect, his feelings and his habits is Ordinary Individual or his hereditary not conversant with anything outside of principle; this is the harvesting of what himself or outside of anything that can- he sowed, or the chance that has made not bend and twist through the narrow him so. This is the stage in his windows of his perception and development or a well t bought out plan subjective under-standing. Anything he of nature; this is the curse of a god or a sees is what he sees and is not what it vision in synthesis. He is not a charlatan really is. Anything he hears and smells but he surely is an obstinate. He thinks, is not the sound or fragrance that objec- does and moves right, but he insists on tively exists. The touch of things he what he thinks, on what he does and senses also suffers from the perversion how he moves to be considered the of a faithful perception. All his senses only way how all should behave and all are the interpreters of the true should think. He has his ways and he knowledge of things. Their interpret- wants to standardize them. He wants all tation is not false from being true, or to be crushed within the precincts of his wrong from being right; they are nar- subjective understanding
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and partial perspective. He fails to find of its own. Reality, the only substantial out how much unexplored the layers of Being ever sustaining and never chang- consciousness are which are yet to be ing, is the back-ground of all activities enlightened. This is what he is and how material and spiritual, and is the state we see him. There is no denying that which the Divine Individual enjoys. He our tiny perverted visioner, claiming all is free from the miseries of life, from the glories of the world, is but a mighty the happiness of the world with its speck of an individual only perfect in reaction, free from the good and ill purity of consciousness and mightily effects of his surroundings. He does not imperfect in its widened application. desire to be jealous; he does not live to An Ordinary Individual has fully face death; does not think to be developed consciousness but he cannot confused; does not move to be tired; make use of it extensively. He can only does not see to be deluded; does not let it shine through the appertures of his smell to be nauseated; does not touch to senses and cannot connect himself with be contaminated. His desire is his inex- the universal understanding which, by clusiveness; his death is his sustained its very universality, can see and life; his thoughts are his overflowing understand things irrespective of time consciousness; his movements are his and space. abounding presence; his sight is his One universally conscious we call a Self; his smell is his divine fragrance; Divine Individual. He is not divine in his touch is his infinite contact. He the sense that another is void of experiences everything in him-self and divinity; divine and not divine are everything begins in him. He is God terms only in relation to each other and conscious and he is the identity of God die when faced with Reality. In the on earth. He is an individual still, light of Truth and higher understanding infinitely more individual than the they drown into insignificance such as Ordinary Individual. He is forever in not to sustain an independent existence the 'I am God' state. Individuality here is at its
INDIVIDUALITY 15
paramount state. From the heights of which he usually needs being uncons- this state, which words fail to describe cious of his body and the world, is said and actions fall short of expression, the to be serving God in human form. He, Divine Individual sees every thing in on his own, cannot help or advise a him, yet cannot spare a look into the Truth-seeking soul, neither can he practical lives of those who are the contribute to the spiritual uplift of members of the family of Ordinary humanity. The work of understanding Individuals. He is too full with the the Ordinary Individuals and from the richness of his experience; too stuffed base of their respective levels, raising with the contents of the Infinitude and them higher and also contributing to too en-grossed in the effulgence of the mass-welfare of a spiritual uplift, is Almighty. If he were to look low upon entirely left to our third and last the affairs of mankind, he could not be Individual we treat next. self-contained. The most destructive The Individual, as the name signifies, upheavals of modern times bearing is one of those very rare beings mass-suffering and heart-rending infinitely above the Ordinary Indi- sorrows cannot invoke his blessings. vidual as well as the Divine Individual He is engaged in the divine state of who, besides being a Divine Individual, ecstacy and in its merging, relieved functions as an Ordinary Individual only by a feeling of subjective distinc- least unaffected by the weakness of the tion running concurrently with the Ordinary Individual during and after divine experience. the period of such functioning. He has The impersonal God is personified all the attributes of the Divine by the Divine Individual, but the individual, all the richness and depth of personification is mute and inarticulate. experience, and is endowed with the He can neither think nor help the knowledge of how his achievements thinking man. He is all for himself; should be practically applied. His except by the force of his transcend- knowledge is unlimited; he has become dence he can make one like himself. one with the Infinite; and his universal People by rendering service to him, activities are the
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additional phase which gives him a review and know things and incidents marked distinction from the Divine of any other consciousness. The falsity Individual. He is conversant with all of experience arising out of a malad- the spheres of the existence of mind, of justment of consciousness can have no body and of emotion and of all the hold on him. He can arrange objects of moving bodies in space. He has a grip experience in their due place of im- over collective life as strong as portance, but cannot overestimate or individual. His infinitely deep insight is underrate their respective values. To so overflowing and so adjustable that him the super-conscious state is the for a thing to remain unsighted in any only reality, but, for his universal domain of consciousness, in the face of functioning, he has to make use of the a deliberate search, is impossible. He lower consciousness. As a Divine Ind- can see through men and things and can ividual he is all power and authority, place himself objectively, so as to and as The Individual he is free to appreciate and feel as adequately for choose his own living. What living others, as they would for them-selves. could he choose but the life of others; He has achieved the art of objective what breath could he breathe but the knowledge and feeling through breath of others; what thinking could he adjustability in consciousness that he do but the thoughts of others; what has gained alongside the super- feelings could he enter but the hearts of consciousness of the Divine Individual. others; for verily he is all, and all are in Normal consciousness runs concur- him. The Individual is nature's Creator rently with super-consciousness and and Creation in One. can be attached or detached whenever In nature does Meher Baba find as desired. Various other forms of con- much joy as in The Individual Himself; sciousness, of more or less intensity and in the welfare of others finds as between normal and super-normal, are much happiness as in His own blissful also an open hook to him. He can poise state. To Him all bodies are His body, on any consciousness, and, from here, all minds are His mind and all hearts are
INDIVIDUALITY 17
His heart. He cannot live without the versal expression. His message and His thoughts of others; He cannot long but writings bear His original import. The in keeping with the wishes of others varieties of His self-chosen spokes-men and cannot act but for the benefit of are the different beads on one string of others. He is what all bodies, all minds, His knowledge of divine facts and their all hearts put together, become. He is relation to Truth. cosmically alive and free from all He is the one source of our fetters of thought, word and deed. He inspiration, and an Infinite one. He is thinks through anyone He finds fit. He the incentive to this organ, our small moves through those whom He sized monthly with a big flow of ideas. chooses. He expresses through the pen He does not talk except through an of whom He wants to speak. He is the alphabetical parchment, and invariably organ, and the varied vehicles are His writes through His disciples. He is the mouthpiece. He has His first-hand ex- spirit of our book and through-out the periences of Truth and in the light of varieties of language and style in His this stand His ideas. He is Truth incar- articles written by His chosen expos- nate, He chooses His medium for uni- itors, runs a consistency of His well chosen words.
Shri Meher Baba and Healing BY COUNTESS NADINE TOLSTOY "Death is better for him that lives for himself; that man lives, who lives for others." "I am the Lord and the servant of men." Shri Meher Baba
Since I have met Shri Meher Baba, convinces without words and sets the all my existence with all life's common awakened soul on the Path. From and uncommon interests and activities, duality and bondage of attachments, joys and sorrows, has received a new from 'many-ness' and its illusion, the perspective and significance. It became Master lifts men to Oneness and true a fascinating fact in view of one sure Reality, which He Himself unceasingly end to achieve. enjoys. To make men free, He comes The contact with the God-realized down to meet them on their level. His man became the source of all good and spiritual genius per-forms His life work of a new pure and true vision of life. as the Infinite One in all life's aspects; Standing as a perfect example to fol- in His own subtle way He links all life low, Shri Meher Baba guides men with experiences with their deeper spiritual supreme authority and knowledge. He connections and outcome, thus through does not make them follow patented ever growing purer expansion He helps courses, artificial and often dangerous the growth of new consciousness of the practices; He does not promise easy perfected man. ways for great outcomes. He awakens In this ashram, the Meher Retreat of within men the immanent resources that "Meherabad," we witness a microcosm gradually and naturally unfold in the in full function, individually and disciple or devotee into a true stature of collectively. Here we see all expres- full Being. The grace of His love is a sions of human nature, all needs and profound and pure experience which inclinations, all
SHRI MEHER BABA AND HEALING 19
varieties of works done. On the top of To the hospital, came mostly the the hill, overlooking the wide horizon, poorest elements of the country wrap- in the centre of a vast circle of space, ped in their rags and wornout saris, stands the new building, interesting in emaciated and panting, they dragged up its symbolic simplicity of balance and the hill. Others were called for in cars unity—the Meher Retreat. The high or were brought on a stretcher to the white tower in the centre bears the door of the hospital. Mostly unwashed insignia of all spirituality—"Mastery in and heads uncared for, which one could Servitude". Being situated on a hill it well see and smell, help-less in their gives a wonderful feeling of floating in ailments, they are the real destitute. vastness of pure sky and space; only Often they brought their children along, the etherial line of distant mountains on having no one to care for them at home. the horizon gently breaks the Patient and enduring, humble and fascinating monotony of landscape. childlike, one could not help loving Right beyond the wall, our Ashram has them. These people we had to wash recently expanded into a few additional immediately, change into new clothes, buildings to suit the extended activities put to bed and made them feel at home. planned by Shri Meher Baba for the I will always be grateful for the group. In this simple unpretencious opportunity in contacting these simple building is the Free Hospital for the people. Faith and devotion to our poor, women and children; right next is Beloved Baba always beautifully shines the office of the new Meher Baba in their expressive eyes! When Baba Journal. used to come to the hospital, giving an Baba has said: "There are thousands embrace to one, a loving pat to another, of hospitals in the world, I could have touching with His healing hand the here thousands of nurses to work. If I ailing body, how quick and sincere was have given this work in the hospital to the spontaneous response of the heart. you, it is because I want you to learn Sick, they dragged their paining limbs serving in real spirit, selfless service." to Baba's
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feet, with surrender, paying him the failings of the ego, thus showing the holy Darshana. When the medicines results of the test. and injections given by the professional Baba's frequent visits to the hospital doctor could not bring its due relief, have been to all a source of great Baba's appearance and loving embrace inspiration, of renewed inner efforts to acted as the `holy wine', reviving their be in order to do well. To be is to act hopes and giving them the lasting quietly; to be is the impersonal aloof- impetus of recovery. The joy of seeing ness and detachment from results of Baba and the faith that He alone can action; to be is less self-consciousness really help, acted within their hearts as in our outer and inner efforts equally a sure remedy. This injection of new ready to act in spontaneous response to life and love, of real awakening within the moment's need. To be, that is what them was that miracle, that unseen cure we are, and how in the spiritual pure which spared life and despair of many. sense, we do. It is this that counts as a In death, when it had to be so, as well spiritual act. as in birth, it is again Baba who was the The act of pure love freely given, consolation of the forsaken and the joy disinterested in motive and result is a of the mother in relief of the new born. pure act; it obliges none and bears no It is Baba who was always the source mark of self-satisfaction. The Master's of their strength in supreme effort of guidance brings it out in the devotees life and hope. as an in-ward urge, of its pure volition, The hospital presents a natural med- constantly purified through His Infinite ium of spiritual learning—serving the Being. sick and suffering, one spontaneously is As Shri Meher Baba says: "Do not led to self-forgetfulness; the response think that in serving others you put to Baba's guidance becomes natural and them under obligation to you; be happy easier. Yet, even the portion of unres- that they have given you the oppor- Ponse brings to greater evidence the tunity to serve."
The Vaishnavite Saints of Southern India and their Hagiology* BY C.V. SAMPATH AIYANGAR
This is given in Mahabharata Shanti These are called the Dravidian Parva, Moksha Dharma. Saints. Their wonderful lives clearly Uparichara-Vasu was a great king; show the significance of God's love to but by a Rishi's curse he had to live man, and man's love to God; the former with the demons of the nether regions. being the fulfilment of His object of There he worshipped the One Great creation, and the latter being man's God with intense devotion. The demons aspiration to 'know' Him. As St. Francis harassed him, but to no effect, as he de Sales observes: "The end of specul- was His devotee. Then they requested ative theology is to teach us to know their teacher, Sukra, to suggest some God; and the object of mystical way by which they might conquer him. theology is to teach us to love Him. The teacher told them that they could One produces learned men, doctors, easily conquer him if they could turn theologians; while the other forms him from his God. The more the Saints or ardent lovers of the Almighty, demons tried to do so, the more stead- devoted to His service and burning with fast he became, and his heart was full zeal for His interests." of pity for those unfortunate sinners. It has been said that the power of He prayed to God that He might salvation, which these great Saints shower His mercy even on those people possess, exceeds even that of God. For and this prayer of that great Saint had do not we, who are the disciples of its immediate effect. The vile demons Baba, realize this important truth? This became loving devotees of God and spiritual fact is very well illustrated by were blessed. the story of Uparichara-Vasu.
______* Continued from November 1938 issue
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A great book says: "Not all the with those who love him ardently as the copious waters of the sacred rivers, not Ignatiuses, the Cyprians, the Chryso- all the idols made of mud and stone, stoms, the Augustines, the Hilaries, the but Saints alone purify by mere sight." Ephrems, the Gregories, the Bernards If we live our lives we are sure of and several other illustrious men of salvation through them, for Saints are antiquity, oh, what a difference shall Gods on earth, they intercede for us we discover in their language. We all with Him. The great Nanjiyar often use the same expressions, but the words used to say that when-ever he saw a pronounced by those lovers of the Saint, a devotee of the Lord, he fell at Almighty were inflamed and em- his feet with his head touching them, balmed, if we may say so, with the exclaiming that he felt as if he had delicious perfume of divine love; eaten his fill, and his hunger had whereas with us they are only cold vanished. What is the secret of this? expressions which contain neither the Our dear Baba, in his own inimitable energy nor the sweetness of charity." way, said: "The root of all our Thomas a Kempis said: "The love of difficulties, individual a n d social, is self is more hurtful to the soul than the self-interest." Self-ness is spiritual united power of the world." death. It is this selfness ahankara and We find complete sacrifice of self-love selfishness mamakara which are the in our great Dravidian Saints of cause of one's spiritual retardation. Southern India. Their chief charac- To Saints all things in this beautiful teristic is love. The great Nanjiyar once universe remind one of God. They have said: "The test of a real Vaishnava is conquered self-love. In this connection this: if on seeing a person in adverse the beautiful observations of St. Francis circumstances his pity is excited, he is de Sales on 'Love of God' are very then a true Vaishnava; but if his heart is instructive: "If we compare several then one of steel he is not a Vaishnava. theologians who speak eloquently of To be a Vaishnava is to belong to the the Almighty, but who love Him little, One great God, and to belong
THE VAISHNAVITE SAINTS OF SOUTHERN INDIA 23
to the great God is to be a Vaishnava. There were a dozen Vaishnava Azhvar To belong to God is to conform to the (Saints) whose lives show that they ideals He has laid down, one of those were real Vaishnavas and they are ideals being to be the friend of all really worthy of worship. creatures." They were: And surely those great Saints were 1 St. Tondar-adippodi Azhvar the friends of all creatures, just as our 2 St. Peri Azhvar. great living Saint, Meher Baba, is. Has 3 St. Andal He not taught us the spiritual dignity of 4 St. Poygai Azhvar humble service by his own example of 5 St. Pudat Azhvar cleaning the latrines of the God-mad 6 St. Pey Azhvar men and the destitute, to feed and tend 7 St. Tiru-mazhisai Azhvar to the sick and give our less fortunate 8 St. Kula Sekhar Azhvar brothers a spiritual bath? Such were the 9 St. Tiruppan Azhvar real Saints of old. 10 St. Tirumangai Azhvar 11 St. Madhura Kavigal 12 St. Namm Azhvar
(To be continued)
N.B.—Vishnu connotes God's Omnipresence—a Vaishnava is one who realizes God as such. On realization of this Truth he becomes one with all. Vaishnava means God.
Sufism Dr. ABDUL GHANI MUNSIFF
Sufism is the esoteric cult of Islam, (prayers), fasting, Haj (pilgrimage to the religion founded by the Prophet of Mecca) and Zakat (poor tax) was a Arabia. Historians differ very much as sufficient guarantee of a moral life on to its origin in time and place. Some earth and a sure passport to heaven ante-date its source to a pre-Islamic after death. They were deeply imbued period, and a few consider it a later with the idea of sin, and, to them, infiltration after the conquest of Persia salvation meant escape from the fires of by the Mohamedans. The majority, Hell and the attainment of Paradise—a however, do not countenance the theory highly magnified picture of the sense that Sufism is an Hellenic product or a pleasures of this life. They looked upon Persian complex acquired by Islam. (Allah) Almighty God, as the supreme They strongly maintain that it is a by- judge perched up high above the (Arsh) product of the Quranic teaching itself. seventh heaven, dispensing justice to There is no denying the fact t hat the sinners and His mercy to the righteous. Quran itself is responsible in devel- The Muslims, his slaves must, of oping the mystical aspect of Islamic necessity, because of their sinful origin, religion, popularly known as Sufism. dedicate their lives to avert his wrath The exoterics laid emphasis on the and induce his grace by acts of letter of the Quranic text and they form worship, repentance and humility. In the preponderant majority as repre- short, the God of an orthodox Muslim sented by the Church of Islam. With is a God of fear, not of love. these on the side of Faith-belief in one The esoterics—the Sufis insisted God, Mohamed the messenger, Al- upon interpreting the spirit of the Quran the angels, the day of judgment Quranic teaching and believed in indi- and on the side of action, Namaz vidual
SUFISM 25
initiative and effort as more conducive means 'spiritual' Truth, and bones to spiritual benefit than the levelling signifies the quibbling of words by influence of common dogma and ritual. learned divines which very often gives Not feeling satisfied at being spoon-fed rise to mutual bickerings and condem- by the established Church of Islam on nation. questions concerning the why and It is an admitted fact that Sufism in where-fore of existence, the origin and some covert or overt form did exist the ultimate destiny of man, etc., they during the life-time of the Prophet began to probe into and investigate the Mohamed and his famous companions. matter independently. Like the Nay, the Prophet himself is looked exoterics they, too, based their upon by the Sufis as the first illustrious Philosophy on the Q u r a n i c text, and mystic of the order, and Hazrat Ali, the claimed to derive authority and first one to be endowed with the sanction for their Theosophy from the esoteric or spiritual charge of the common source. The Sufis ignored the domain of religion symbolized by the letter and imbued the spirit of Quranic Prophet bestowing the 'black mantle' to teachings. They affirmed that there was the latter in the presence of all his a world of spiritual knowledge and companions. Hazrat Ali has an unique information hidden away behind the position amongst the mystics of Islam. words of the Holy Book waiting to be Practically all the Muslim saints, the explored by a sincere student. One such world over, trace their spiritual lineage successful seeker of Truth, Moulana to him, and, in him, all the different Rumi, could not resist blurting out the orders of Sufism are said to converge. truth when he said, ASCETIC STAGE "Marrow have I extracted from Quran to be sure; The first stage of Sufism was charac- Discarding mere bones for dogs terized by ascetism and quietism, and to fight over." there was little mystical about it. The The word 'marrow' here evidently early Sufis attracted very little
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notice and were considered to be It is at this crucial stage in the history harmless maniacs suffering from some of Islam that the famous Theologian, form of neurosis. Imam Ghazali, assumed prominence by successfully trying to harmonize the ECSTATIC STAGE rivalry between dogma and reason It was in the ecstatic stage, about three which threatened to accentuate the centuries after; the Prophet, that Sufism cleavage past redemption. The execu- compelled the attention of orthodoxy. tion of the renowned Sufi, Mansoor- The Sufi poets, of this era, made free bid-Hullaj, by orthodoxy for the use of sensuous terms like beauty, love, utterance of the famous blasphemy wine, tavern, etc., to describe their Anal-Huq (I am God) is symptomatic individual approach and experience of of the resentment felt by the Islamic divinity. This unlicensed form of Church towards latitudinarianism in address to God, smacking of familiarity matters religious. On the contrary, the and insolence, compelled orthodoxy to defence of Mansoor by prominent Sufis denounce them as heretics. Never- of the day, who called him a martyr in theless this libertinism in matters divine the way of God, is a pointer to the had a subtle appeal to the masses who extent of their drifting away from the found therein a refreshing change from moorings of conventionalism. a life of restraint and discipline Orthodoxy, faced with an ever- imposed by the Church. In course of increasing wave of rationalism and time the 'man in the street' openly mystic individualism, thought it began to advocate the Sufi way. Some expedient to give Sufi saints and their miracles, evinced by a few notable miracles an Islamic status, but not Sufis of the day, not only invested them without some reservations. The Sufi with an halo of sanctity and saintliness saints came to be tolerated as religious but made the cult of Sufism a serious freaks, an exception rather than the rival to the established Church of rule, and not a pattern not to be Islam. emulated by a true Muslim. There was no harm in their being approached for THEOLOGICAL STAGE material
SUFISM 27
gain, but to entrust one's spiritual objective attitude towards established welfare to such irresponsible guides no religion. true believer should think of when the Sufi is another term, in Islamic sure 'path of religion' (shariat) was world, used very loosely to signify there for all. anyone from a beginner to one of highest spiritual attainment, like the MYSTICAL STAGE word Wali designating anyone from a Henceforth, fear of ostracism and neophyte to an adept (Kamil). A Sufi persecution being removed, the is generally one who is undergoing mystical aspect of Sufism became more prep a ration and inner training on the pronounced. The Sufis, in spite of their spiritual path irrespective of the length rationalism and mystical experiences of time and severity of his ordeals. But had, up to now, invariably conformed no sooner some-thing in the nature of a to the external form of religion. Now miracle occurs round about a Sufi than the tendency was notice-able to he comes to be known as Wali (saint). dispense with externalism altogether. For the purpose of this article we are The Islamic Church had, by now, only concerned with Sufis of the learned to canonise many Sufis of a highest order and what they have to say high spiritual calibre as saints, in spite with regard to spirituality within and of their non-conformity to dogma and beyond the pale of Islam. ritual; but it refuses, even today, to A comparative statement of some of accord official recognition to any saint the Sufi beliefs against orthodoxical or spiritual Master out-side the pale of canons of faith would be found inter- Islam, whatever be his spiritual worth. esting: After this synoptic survey of the A Sufi affirms the seat of God to be origin and growth of Sufism meant for man's heart, while the Church points to the edification of those not familiar God some-where above the clouds. with the subject, let us study what a The formula of Divine Unity (Tauohid) real and perfect Sufi is like; what is his la-ilaha-illallah to an orthodox Muslim subjective experience of Truth and his means, there is no second God; a Sufi there-
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by understands that there is nothing but as sin and error; to him everything is God. relative truth. the Church cannot shake A Sufi believes in only one prophet off the idea of original sin. or Avatar, appearing at different times A Sufi believes in the brother-hood in different places assuming different of man; the Church believes in the names, the latest being Prophet brotherhood of Islam. Mohamed. Islam recognizes only A Sufi conceives the divinity of man; Hazrat Mohamed as the perfection of the Church concedes only the vicinity all prophets mentioned in the Quran. of God. Sufis say, the angels are symbolic of The Islamic Church canonizes only one's awakened spiritual powers; the Muslim saints; the Sufi admits the Church imagines them to be an inde- possibility of sainthood to Muslims and pendent creation by itself. non-Muslims alike. Hafiz has voiced According to Sufis there is no such this thought in the couplet: thing as Heaven or Hell. It exists in "If only the Holy Ghost were to imagination, what you think, you help once again, others also can realize. For orthodoxy it is the 'end all' have what Jesus did attain." and 'be all' of their religious endea- A Sufi does not discard evolution vours. and reincarnation. Mansoor Hallaj, Abu The Church looks forward to day of Muslin) Khorasani, Ahmed-ibni-Sabit, reckoning with hope and fear, to some Shaikhul-Ishraq were avowed reincar- point of time in futurity. With the Sufis nationists. Omar Khayyam not only the day of judgment is here and now; expounded reincarnation (Naskh), but they interpret the text in the Quran, even admitted retrograde incarnation "Those who are blind in this life will be (Maskh). Jalaluddin Rumi openly blind in the hereafter," to mean that preached evolution (Iteqa). The those who do not see God in this life orthodox condemn such ideas as will not see Him after death. preposterously heathenic. With the Sufi there is no such thing The Sufis divide the world
SUFISM 29
into two main divisions. viz., Muslim- persecuted by the Church, be- bil-lisam (Muslims by profession) and cause, being with God, they do Muslim-bil-qalb (Muslims by convic- not profess the faith of the tion). The first category consists of all masses." Muslims, Sufis or otherwise, who -Omar Farooq conform to Shariat (cannons of Islam). "One observing external forms of To the latter category belong all religion, even after realization, is Muslims and non-Muslims who have a dualist (Mushrik)." realized Truth and God irrespective of -Ghaosul Azam Gilani their external form and behaviour. "He is not a God who allows Muslims, by conviction, look upon Himself to be temperamentally Shariat (the Law) as the means to an controlled and affected by hu- end and not the terminus of one's man acts, good and bad." religious life. There are higher realms -Abubkr Wasity of spiritual progress to be explored, "Man is the offspring of Eternity viz., Tariqat (the mystical journey), without beginning and end and Maarifat (Gnosis) and Haqiqat reality). not the composition of clay." A few bold utterances of the Sufis, -Niyaz Ahmed expressed in different stages of spiritual "The heresy that takes one to unfoldment, are given here, and will be God is much preferable to faith found very illuminating. Some of these which keeps one away from utterances have been responsible for Him." causing the Sufi concerned untold diffi- -Bu Ali Qalander culties and persecution at the hands of "I am Truth; so need no religion. orthodoxy. This heresy is incumbent on me; "A man divested of all desire is but Musalmans ignorantly veritable God " condemn it." -Abu Mohomed Martash -Husain Ibni Hallaj "Prophet Mohomed was God "One moment in the company of Himself and none else." a saint is better than an hundred -Mohomed Shareef years sincere piety." "The Kafirs ( infidels ) are not -Moulana Rumi the non-Muslims, but men of "Men of God are equally at home God who are condemned and in a mosque or a tavern." -Abu Sayeed Abul Khair
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"One who prays does not know "Muslims and non-Muslims God, and one who knows God achieve and impart spirituality has no need of prayers." alike. The difference is in -Yusuf Husain Razi quantity but not in quality." "It is the intention and not the act -Ghaosali Qalander that matters." This, in short, is Sufism. Against this -Hadis background, in the next issue of this "God and Truth is no single Journal, it is intended to give a pen religion's prerogative." picture of the Perfect Sufi of the age, -Abu Bakr Wasity Hazrat Meher Baba.
Question Baba Answers SERIES BY DR. ABDUL GHANI MUNSIFF
Ques. What is the spiritual significance of Mantra (Persian 'Zikr')? How is a neophyte helped by a monotonous incantation or repetition of a certain word or words? Ans. Mantra is very beneficial to a neophyte on the spiritual path, particularly so when it is given by the Guru. The first and immediate result accruing from the oft repetition of word or words is the concentration of the mind on the subject to be gained. Secondly, the sound vibrations as a result of continuous repetition induces, in course of time, an harmonious sympathy to the sound vibrations of the higher planes engendering a blissful feeling—a factor greatly encouraging to a beginner. This blissful feeling, coupled with the awakening of mental powers, is called the Mantric force, and it has immense possibilities for good as well as bad.
Shri Meher Baba IMPRESSIONS BY PRINCESS NORINA MATCHEBELLI
It is the 'New Life' in external perpetual know and feel. In the self-ordering state opposition that in Being in 'I' cons- in new awareness of Truth within, men cious, indivisible in Him who is our will feel equal; men will have confi- own very Being, has come to the pure dence in each other. He will bring to point of new awareness. This new form fulfillment the human being who will in conscious order in man He, as the create better living conditions in the Pure Power, is stirring, awakening. He world. creates the opposing order when men in A joyful pilgrimage towards God is themselves become indifferent and life in action for Him. No one but He, satiated with life inert within. We the Perfect One can assure in us the old become under His guidance the alive Faith which is infallible Wisdom. God Being in constant adjustment. The in His abstract state of OM, will remain indispensable strife in life He can mental illusion until one like Him gives accentuate if need be. He can arouse us the experience of God as the 'Living the 'Divine Theme' in any individual. Reality'. When the personal impersonal Our mind, that busy factory of habit God appears it is the tangible sign for thoughts, misery, illusionary schemes man to make good. That time is on. It is of material happiness, making us feel now. We need to be in readiness to separate creatures with separate lives, react for the 'pure exchange'. with separate goals, with expectation of When Shri Meher Baba took upon reward for our good or bad deeds, these Himself the superhuman self-imposed He will transmute in new conscious sacrifice of silence that until now has order in idea and make man see and lasted over thirteen years, He did it
Continued from November 1938 issue.
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to serve the divine plan, to benefit He uses the crude energy of the masses, mankind. Operating within He fulfills and He searches out of the individual the 'One Way' towards Union, which the more subtle contribution. The ex- we, by the use of mind, by finite dual pansion of human qualities, jealousy, thinking order, too easily counteract. hate, anger, lust, are the impure work in Being in us Life, Truth in Being order, our spiritual soil. Vice and deprivation He can within readjust the purls aim are the manure He uses to fertilize the and that is the straight 'One Way' to spiritual show in advancement. He God. removes fear through the awakening His instrument to operate with is life life in Being that in itself is the state of itself. Life positive and negative, a s t fearless pure existence wherein one he opposites that we call unconditional experiences security, safety, hope. He form in strife, to evolve into the one all awakens in us the optimism that results state that is pure. He designing into our from this knowing experience. We 'intuition' does the new stir. The Truth realize that we are part in Him in Being in its 'one all fulfilling plan', achieves which is divine. He forms in us a life of the exchange in consciousness. Hope that in us is divine humour. We Traveling in foreign lands and walk- can in this state of divine Being in 'I' ing through cities which have no other conscious see, feel and know the Truth importance than to be the accumulation in full order in Being, and that is to see of the masses driven in self-experience life pure, good, unconditional in its by the illusion making mind, He, the onward hope to readjust in all the unfathomable All Fate causes the in- Truth. We react in Him alive, sure, evitable evolution. simple and natural. He, the pure 'Love Moving about like any ordinary Being,' in love with life, in love with all human being, He uses motor cars, and any show in the human creature, trains, airways. He lives in small huts, designs into life the Truth as the form in luxurious abodes. He communes in which we know to want to become with the rich and with the poor. the
SHRI MEHER BABA 33
form in which we result free, liberated within. We learn to detach ourselves human. We then have the winning will from the act in Being when in our own to overcome the show of the old pessi- selves we awaken to profess love as mist who, as He humorously says, life, and in the external act are unsel- makes the worst of the best; we shall fish. We learn to exchange the personal become true optimists and true use of our individual experience with idealists. the optimist that makes the the divine order in Being that is best of the worst, and the idealist that unconditional in selfless use of its makes the best of the best. In the new reactions and expresses external life state in consciousness we make good, unattached to any result, to any self- feel good and see good in all in life, as satisfaction. "Do no more than you can it is. The New Awakening in man will feel," says Shri Meher Baba. "By pre- bring the fruit of hard labour, hard meditated giving you give parts of struggle, long-lived longing, long-lived yourself, and by feeling in giving you immune making work in the dual give of your divine Self." He awakens human. Love divine will make the in us the divine wisdom of the heart. miracle. No one can do the ultimate good until Shri Baba is poor. He is impersonal he has realized the good within. We in the use of gold and silver. We are exchange free and light life impersonal supposed to give love while we with life personal; the lower mental perform the charitable gesture, and the intuition with our Being intuition. We material gift has to serve merely as a are determined not to resist to the symbol. The fact of giving becomes changing work that He in us stirs, ad- impersonal when we begin to be justs and forms to new life. unattached to the object that we have He may reveal Himself to the most cherished as possession; we then humble form in consciousness and hide realize the difference between giving before the most creative erudite intel- for sharing and giving for self- lects. Blessed are the pure in mind, to satisfaction. It is the same in the work them God will reveal in Being. The meaning of this
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thought is pure, wise use in us. Pure We can in no way see above the line thinking is that state of stillness of the of our finite mind. He will lift the veil mind, it is non-reaction in 'I' individual. of ignorance and help us to see the face Stilled in mind, freed from experience, of God. The veil is the ego. His love we become conscious of the expansion does the pure clearing work of the of, pure love, of the pure living exode elimination of the ego. We in our own that is fusion in light winning rhythm Being in exchange in consciousness of pure indivisible joy. We live life as a react in pure winning will to our own child, we then have the blessed state to qualities. These to us in life in finite be pure in mind, rich in heart ; it is like existence seem crude, harsh, and give playing in Being, playing in life with pain, and are the cause of our illusion, as a child whose life is an individual misery; they constitute in unbroken dream state, whose life is our own life the problem of individual pure exode in breathing, fulfilling reaction in experience. We know that unconsciously the unconditional expan- life can in no way be seen as Truth- sion in consciousness without resis- order as long as man has to react in tance. finite mind in experience. Man is Baba makes us become humble. He bound to react to the low order in ex- does the act of joining in us life as the prience of lust, jealousy, anger, greed, individual form in external existence avarice. Resigned in Him, the with the inner life in Being, that in its Redeeming Pure Form, these low fulfilling order in awakening, works out experiences of life finite transmute into in us—God. He joins God and human pure energy and become the impetus of life, life individual with life immutable. divine life indivisible. It becomes Truth He liberates us from the ordeal of life action in pure winning will. Love in in ourselves that in us is dual experi- Being. Joy in Being. It becomes the ence. He merges the opposites into the divine action as the unfathomable one all form and that is Love that gives longing for Union with the Beloved. He and never demands. in His work indivisible realizes in us life
SAYING OF SHRI MEHER BABA 35
indivisible. He transforms, redeems, calm, pure Bliss. He is like Jesus. He resurrects. Awakening in 'I' conscious never sleeps, His sleep is indivisible we become fearless and doubtless; we Intuition work, indivisible love expan- are freed from prejudices, free from sion, un-interrupted conscious action. divisionary ideas. When man resigns in He loves within, without, above, be- Him, man will realize Liberation. His yond all and everything—All Knowing, alive breath is our own life in ex- Immutable. With His head he feels. change in life and death. As human With his heart He devises. He says: "I Being He reflects our life in joy and do not think, I feel." Shri Meher Baba pain. His pure order in suffering is our works, still, silent, knowing, from own life in Him suffering expiation. working field to working field, from His Grace performs the work of Re- type to type, from nation to nation. His demption. head includes God, universe, and every Within the realm of pure expansion individual in Being. He will awaken in in Divine Existence He is painless, us the pure need to want to be like Him.
( T o be continued)
The Need for a Master BY DR. C. D. DESHMUKH, M. A., Ph. D. (London )*
The human soul finds itself in a world which it does not completely such complete overhauling and reconst- understand and where it does not itution of the mind is indispensable for recognize its own true nature. It right search. There cannot be right identifies itself with the limited indivi- search without some perception of the duality or finite consciousness; and its goal; and there cannot be perception of actions are impelled by sanskaras the goal unless there is profound which use the mind for finding disturbance in the normal limited expression and fulfilment. In life, the outlook which, owing to previous ego tries to adjust itself to the world, or sanskaras, is false and binding. adapt the world to itself. But as long as Some aspirants rely solely on their the mind is clouded by past sanskaras, conscience for guidance in life. But the its actions are not free and inevitably conscience of most persons is often just lead to conflict, chaos and suffering. a collection of prejudices and opinions Human suffering would thus have been which they absorb for the social atmos- end-less had it not been for the help of phere; it is at best based on experience the Perfect Masters who have Self- and is therefore sanskaric, limited and knowledge and are free. binding; and even where the aspirant The Perfect Master imparts light to has begun to think for himself, he is the groping soul and gives a new likely to come to wrong conclusions direction to life. The aspirants who owing to the operation of sanskaras. have met Shri Meher Baba are always He may embrace a false view firmly conscious of a reorientation of life; for and cling to self-delusion without his contact effects the entire over- knowing his error; and he may take hauling and reconstruction of the mind. very long to realize his limitations unless he is lifted out of his groove by the Grace of the
*Lecturer in Philosophy, Morris College, Nagpur (C. P.)
THE NEED FOR A MASTER 37
Master. It is true that the Source of get the help of a Perfect Master. Light is within; but as it is hidden by There are some who sincerely the cloud of sanskaras, the Light does believe that a Master is not necessary not always come through in its purity. for spiritual life. This view is erron- It is, therefore, not sufficiently effective eous, and overlooks the significance of in guiding human search. On the other many ordinary facts concerning the hand, the Light coming from the process of learning. A child has to be Master comes through an unclouded taught how to walk, talk, dress, read mind and, when it is received by the and write before it learns to do these finite consciousness of the soul, it helps things for itself. Even for adults it is the soul to bring out the Light from always easier to assimilate the truths within. imparted by others than to discover and The awakening which many aspir- realize them independently. This will ants experience by coming into contact be seen in practical life as well as in the with Shri Meher Baba is due to the pursuit of scientific knowledge. It took divine touch which he gives to the many years of work for a scientific inner Self. It is a mistake to imagine genius like Newton to discover and that the Master works only from establish the Law of Gravitation; but without in a semi-mechanical fashion. today even ordinary persons can By the Divine Love which Shri Meher understand it in much less time. In the Baba pours into the aspirant, he gets same way it took a mechanical genius into his heart and works from there as to invent a motor engine; but even ordi- an abiding source of happiness and nary persons can understand and inspiration. The effect of the contact control its mechanism when it is with the Master, however, depends also explained to them. In short, human upon the receptivity of the aspirant. progress in the various departments of Spiritual progress is thus most rapid life would have been considerably less, where the soul, which is ready through had it not been for the capacity of man its past efforts, has the good fortune to to profit
38 MEHER BABA JOURNAL
by the experience and understanding of suffering which is wrong valuation. others. The same is true of spiritual life. When he is thus turned to-wards the The need for a Master is even greater in Light and yearns with all his heart for spiritual life, because ordinary man is the Light, every experience clarifies at the mercy of ever increasing and strengthens his spiritual intuitions. Sanskaras. His ignorance leads to The Master, however, is necessary not ignorant actions which further fortify only to initiate the aspirant into the ignorance. For example, if he develops Path but also to secure his steady pro- a craving for wine or greed for money, gress; for he is likely to slip and fall with the lapse of time he becomes more into the abyss of ignorance again, un- and more a slave of his desire, and less he is constantly warned and en- clings more and more firmly to the couraged by the Master. wrong belief that it is absolutely The greatest hindrance in spiritual necessary for his happiness. Attach- life is egoism which increases not only ment makes him feel helpless and through bad actions but also through dependent upon external circumstances. good actions. No amount of 'thinking' It is true that the suffering which a man is in itself sufficient to purify con- experiences, as a result of his ignorant sciousness from egoism. Just as a man actions, often provokes thinking, and cannot stand upon his own shoulders, compels him to revalue everything in a the ego cannot annihilate itself. It feeds new Light. But the impact of the upon everything it does, and grows suffering is not in itself sufficient to through its actions and achievements. lead him to wisdom, because the mind Complete self-surrender is the only has a general tendency to attribute all way to oust the ego from conscious- suffering to unfavourable circums- ness. The Master alone can, by using tances rather than to its own assump- the various circumstances of life, lift tions. Man, therefore, needs guidance from the mind of the aspirant the from the Master who can effectively woeful burden of egoism. The aspirant impress upon him the true cause of cannot independently
THE NEED FOR A MASTER 39
shake it off even if he wants to. he has read in the books, but it can With the help of the Master the hardly affect his life seriously. And aspirant cannot only eliminate egoism even when the ideal is born of his own but also develop divine qualities. The speculation, it is bound to be deficient spirit of love and selfless service which owing to the limitations of his Shri Meher Baba awakens is due to his experience. Further, though the ideal divine intervention and the supreme may seem to him as being reason-able, insight which he has in the working of it still comes to him as a mere pos- the human mind. The impersonal path sibility, and, therefore, remain inef- of seeking the abstract Truth, or the un- fective. It may appeal to him as manifest, is bound to be mainly desirable, but he continues to doubt its intellectual and, therefore, does not actual practicability in life. provide sufficiently for the develop- In fact, to set up a conception as an ment of the heart or the perfection of ideal often brings about more or less activity. The Path of the Master, permanent despair about realizing it in however, is rich with potentialities for practical life. The ideal appeals to the the expression of love and action. And, imagination as an inviting possibility. further, the aspirant can always depend But the aspirant who relies only on upon the knowledge, love and power of himself for realizing the possibility also the Master who sees him safely through knows, or will discover, his own weak- the pitfalls and the dangers of the Path. ness, and is, therefore, unable to have In spiritual life, teaching can in no sufficient self-confidence. The ideal is way be an adequate substitute for the for him an intellectual theory or merely Teacher. Teaching has undoubtedly an the hope of imagination, while his important function in spiritual life, but limitations are a matter of experience in it cannot give the same inspiration as everyday life. He is, therefore, likely to personal contact with the Master. A be over-powered by these limitations man can construct his ideal out of what and come to look upon the distance between the actuality
40 MEHER BABA JOURNAL
and the ideal as unbridgable. This tant than mere speculation or the read- means acquiescence in the actual, and ing of scriptures. The doctrine that the ends in the cessation of serious Light can only come from within and endeavour, although the aspirant may not from the Master presupposes the continue to harbour idle longing for the "dire heresy of separateness." The divi- ideal. sion of within and without is based On the other hand, contact with a upon duality which is created by the Perfect Master inspires confidence, false identification with the body. The since, in him, the ideal of the Master is and knows himself to be that imagination is apprehended not as a Unity of life in which there is no theoretical possibility but as a realized division. To externalize the Master is, actuality. The speculative ideal is only therefore, to identify him falsely with a construction of ideas, while the nothing but the form. Really speaking Master represents Reality and therefore the Master is neither merely internal has all the Infinite Powers of the life- nor merely external—but both. He is force at his disposal. Contact with Shri the all-pervading Divine Life. He takes Meher Baba not only keeps spiritual form only in order to help aspirants aspiration alive and intense, but in. towards the goal of Truth-conscious- spires active effort, because he is the ness. By meditating on the Master, the ideal which has become Real. aspirant is generally transformed into Knowledge of the reality of the Ideal is his likeness, because the mind becomes a much greater stimulus than a vague like that which it contemplates. And hope. just as one torch sets aflame another For spiritual transformation, the help torch, the Light which the Master of the Master is thus much more impor- brings imparts Truth to the seeker.
You Must Believe It BY Dr. ABDUL GHANI MUNSIFF
Thirty-six years fast, penance and you come to learn perfection or to de- solitude by Hazrat Baba Farid Shaker- monstrate cheap powers born of long ganj found him nowhere nearer the goal asceticism? Divine nature wants the i. e. Realization. He, therefore, came to tree to be dry and leafless; who are you Ajmere (Central India) to seek disciple- to interfere? Go straight to Delhi where ship of Khawja Moenuddin Chisti, the Kutubuddin, my disciple, will teach Perfect Master of the time. When Baba you a lesson." Farid approached the Master, he saw Baba Farid went to Delhi as ordered the latter seated on the ground leaning and sought out Khawja Kutubuddin, against a tree which was dry and whom he found playing with children. denuded of all foliage. His psychic ego Baba Farid was very advanced in age, protested against the phenomena and at the time, and he thought the Master wanted the tree, against which the Khawja Kutubuddin looked very much Master of the age Khawja Moenuddin younger. In a flash this thought was was resting, to be exuberantly green read by the Master who immediately and leafy. He cast a glance at the tree, left the children playing and retired. and with the pychic power made the After a time the Master emerged from tree verdant and green. The Master his house completely transformed, looked up at the tree and made it dry robed, white-bearded and leaning on a again. Again Baba Farid turned it long rod, and addressed the visitor thus: green, and again Khawja restored it to "Tell me, Farid, do I now look old its early state. enough to be your Master?" The utter- After this thaumaturgic duel, the ance of these words instantaneously Master pulled up the well meaning but imparted to Baba Farid God-conscious- misguided visitor, saying: "Farid, have ness. After a period, the master
42 MEHER BABA JOURNAL
bestowed upon Baba Farid the robe of reason is this. Baba Farid had spiritual discipleship and allowed him to depart. connection with the Master of Delhi The above historical episode brings and not Ajmere. Hazrat Meher Baba's into prominence two points often experience is somewhat parallel to the emphasized by Hazrat Meher Baba. above. After achieving and experien- The first is, that however long and cing God ( Mushahida ) from Hazarat severe one's self-imposed asceticism or Babajan of Poona, he was spiritually yoga may be, the goal of Self- directed by the latter to seek another realization cannot be achieved without Master for the completion of the exper- the Grace of a living Master. The ience by knowledge (Gnyan-Taleem). second point is the question of con- Hazarat Meher Baba there-after met nection or spiritual relation-ship, the Baba Tajuddin of Nagpur, Sai Baba of result of past preparation. Now here, in Shirdi and Narayan Maharaj of the above episode, is a Perfect Master Kedgaon, all Perfect Masters of the Khawja Moenuddin of Ajmere quite time. But it was Upasani Maharaj of capable of giving Realization to Baba Sakori who received him and helped Farid. Instead he directs the latter to him to Perfection. This is what Hazarat Khawja Kutubuddin of Delhi. The Meher Baba means when he speaks of spiritual connection with a Master.
(to be continued)
How I Met Them And What They Told Me
BY ABDUL KAREEM ABDULLA
The world is always changing. Every tendency to cling to the prevalent split second a change takes place in customs, formalities and rituals, as if every part and particle in existence. In they were as eternal as some of the some cases the change is prominent, in laws that govern day and night, life and many cases it is scarcely perceptible. death, right and wrong, and love and But all the same, a change in all beings hate. Consequently the moment a man is an incessant process in nature. This does something contrary to the applies equally to mind as well as to established practices and popular matter, since beliefs, ideas, theories and routine, a hue and cry is at once raised opinions are no less being shuffled and as if the whole structure of society was reshuffled all the time. And yet a about to topple down to pieces. change is the last thing that the world Some eighteen years ago, when can stand fairly and squarely. Mankind Hazrat Babajan of Poona and Shri has to be hammered or humoured to Upasani Maharaj of Sakori had not yet accept any new departure in life. made the formal declaration about Although history is hoarse shouting Baba, when he was still popularly from the house tops the inevitability of called 'Merwanseth' and only a handful the change in all mundane laws in of friends whispered about him as keeping with the ever changing situa- Baba, one afternoon the change of all tions in the world, and Masters have changes came about quite simply and from, time to time, clearly drawn the inostensibly in my life, which was till distinction between the form and then materially and spiritually quite substance of all religious laws, and insignificant. humanity has an inveterate and grim We were traveling from Bombay to Poona, and in the
44 MEHER BABA JOURNAL
third class compartment of the moving not satisfy the curiosity of friends and train Baba was pleased to offer me two relations as to why I was in such a options. I do not remember the exact desperate hurry to carry out the peculiar words, but the purport was that either I plan on that particular day. But what I could ask him for any boon for m y had not bargained for were the forced material benefit, o r promise to carry smiles, foreboding frowns, nods of out his orders literally in all matters disapproval and suggestive shrugs of hence-forth if I preferred spiritual the shoulder from most of the people betterment. I was advised to think well concerned. and take my own time before giving a Shortly following my resignation reply. I was also warned that complete from public activities, I had orders to surrender meant a difficult life ahead. arrange disposal of my business, and Electing to follow Baba in letter and prepare to leave the place with which I in spirit there and then, the first order had twenty-five years of family con- immediately given to me was to get nections, without knowing where I had disassociated from all public active- to go and what I had to do next. In fact, ties—social, political and religious the every little detail had to be settled in a very next day. It was a difficult task to particular way and on a particular day. carry out, as I was one of the office- I caused no harm or loss to anyone, bearers of about half a dozen public and I did not fail in making good my institutions at that time, and, therefore, obligations to my family and friends; had to find successors, complete the but I had often to disregard formalities, accounts and hand over charge of all customs and rituals when these clashed within a few hours. I succeeded in all with my duty, and, above all, I could this without detriment to any individual not quite explain the whys and or institution, but I had to be relent- wherefores of all my actions. But this lessly resolute in refusing to postpone was enough to shock the slaves to the my decisions on any account, and could routine of everyday life who could not tolerate the liberties I was
HOW I MET THEM 45
taking with society in trampling upon scribbled with pencil on a small piece its 'eternal' rules and regulations with of paper. "Will you please come and its insignificant details. see me as I want to see you, but I do Within one month I found I had not know why I want to see you." brought the hornet's nest about my ears With curiosity pitched high I called and felt the surrounding world on my friend and found him sitting in completely estranged from me. Some his study simply killing time. I was took pity on me for having lost my soon disarmed of any ulterior motive bearings, some attributed sinister behind that simple note when my friend motives to all that I did, and, on the explained, "I just felt I should see you whole, I became the laughing stock of and so I wrote that note. Perhaps it is the town but with a new world of due to the long time that we have not wonderful possibilities opened up met. Now that you have come, let us before me in which the life of the have tea together." We then sat talking average human being just appeared to about nothing in particular for half an be a fleeting shadow chasing after hour, and, just as I thought of leaving shadows, so I did not mind the gibes our conversation, was interrupted when and jeers flung at me from all corners. the door of an adjoining room was What I could not help feeling was the lightly opened from the inside and, for bleak loneliness of a solitary life. a few seconds, there stood framed in It was amidst this fateful transition the doorway the silent figure of a man that there came about my first mystical beyond fifty, short in stature and sparse meeting with a saint. Probably it was in build, with ordinary features but the last Saturday in January or the first remarkably liquid greyish blue eyes. He Saturday in February 1922 when, at had two flowers in one of his hands. about 3 p.m. I received a note from one For those brief seconds in which he of my previous colleagues in public stood still like a statue looking at me I life. I t was a very short communication felt a
46 MEHER BABA JOURNAL
passing fancy that there was a look of almost forgotten about Mr. L., until I 'smiling recognition ' in those eyes. He arrived at the railway station and found then advanced toward where we were him looking for me. He appeared just sitting, offered one flower to me and the same as any other passenger passed on the other to my friend. After waiting there on the platform. But from the stranger had taken his seat, my close quarters it did not take me long to friend broke the momentary silence and distinguish that he was as much introduced me to Mr. L. as his guest, serenely unconcerned with the sur- and added, "I am sorry I forgot to tell rounding animation as he was found you about my guest and introduce you averse to idle conversation. to him earlier." After exchanging a The meeting between us now word or two of formalities with Mr. L., appeared to be a well carried out plan I left my seat saying, "I am sorry I must by nature, starting with an impulsive leave you abruptly as I have to finish invitation and culminating into the some work and catch the evening coincidence of both of us having express for Poona." "Oh, you are going decided to travel by the same train. to Poona by the express," said Mr. L., When we found seats to ourselves in and added, "I am also going there by the train I looked forward to interesting the same train." It was more out of discus-sions. But neither did Mr. L. put politeness than with any particular to me a single question nor give me an intention that I remarked, "I hope we opportunity to ask him one. As soon as shall meet at t h e station," and then I the train moved out of the platform and hurried out. began to rush to Poona, Mr. L. com- There was no time to think about menced telling me all about himself in these strange happenings as I had to a matter-of-fact way. All the time that meet Baba that evening in Poona, and, he talked, he did not even look at me or before I could start, it was necessary to see whether I listened or not. He finish some work. I had, therefore, appeared to take it for granted that I was bound to lend him
HOW I MET THEM 47
my ears, and the fact was I could not such. They neither came, nor were they help following him with rapt attention. invited, excepting one of the frequent Here is the gist of his story as far as I visitors of my father, who continued to can remember, in his own words: see me of his own accord now and "My father was very fond of sadhus again After prolonged perseverance he and fakirs.. There was hardly a day succeeded in inducing me to go with when I did not find him surrounded by him, from time to time, to his out-of- such people. In fact our house was a the-way hole of a place that used to be regular dharmashala (free waiting full of dirt and filth. I used to be room) for ascetics and mystics who shocked with the surroundings and it were always very welcome. Many was with effort that I could remain by came and went, but a few of them were his side there. The more aversion I felt, regular visitors. I neither felt any the more he persisted in making me attraction or repulsion for these people. share with him his indifference to the As a rule, I always kept myself aloof repulsive surroundings. He would put from them. his finger into the filth and brush it on "I had my own hobby. Since my my hand, and when I shrank with childhood, I was very fond of distri- dislike, he would bite his own hand. I buting money to the poor, but I never could not also stand the sight of his liked to give coppers. I always tried to hurting himself, particularly when he collect silver pieces and then distribute bit himself to bleeding." them. The more I could give, the more I As abruptly as he had started the felt pleased. narration, he stopped it, and for the first "After my father's death, many time asked me point-blank: "Where are changes came about our family life. For you going to Poona?" I was going to one thing, all the holy men disappeared meet Baba, but I did not disclose the into thin air. Our house ceased to be the fact and replied, "I am going to call on meeting place and waiting room for a friend." In spite of an evasive answer that I gave him, after he had taken me
48 MEHER BABA JOURNAL
into his confidence, he neither appeared back to the propriety of the attitude offended nor inclined to probe further. adopted by me in looking for Mr. L., He then asked me how long I was and felt, that for the very fact that I going to remain in Poona. Hearing that belonged to the "Imperial Order," I I was going to Bombay by the next ought to have been all the more humble morning train, he again declared that he in my attitude. To the surprise of those also happened to be going there by that sitting beside me, I jumped from my same train, and this time I meant it seat and shot out of the carriage with a when I promised to meet him the determination to go through all the following day. compartments once again, although When I came to the station, the train only a few minutes remained for the was already along-side the platform, train to start. and I had no alternative but to look for Practically I did not have to search at Mr. L., in every compartment. While all. There he was in the next but one doing so, I had an impulse that, granted compartment, his eyes twinkling with Mr. L. was a saint, why should I look welcome. "You are very late," I told for him when I belonged to the him after I had taken the seat beside "Imperial Order"? Thereupon I lost all him. But he simply took my breath interest in looking for him, but as I had away by replying: "How do you mean promised to meet him, I finished late? I am sitting here looking for you searching all the carriages, and feeling since half an hour." We were then a pleasure in not finding him, I got into together for nearly four hours in the the train. train, but we might scarcely have talked For about ten minutes I was all in all for ten minutes. It was all a silent absorbed planning the details of the but pleasant companionship. work I had to carry out in Bombay, "You will meet many more of the when, quite abruptly, my mind swung type," was all that Baba told me when I described to him this unusual meeting.
News About The Master F. H. DADACHANJI
DRAMA ACTED BY GOD-MAD MEN
On the twenty-fifth of September 'brother' Pleader. This disciple of the last, a performance of the drama "Raja Master is one of those rare types whose Gopichand" the King renunciator, was only aim in life is to realize God, and held at the Ashram of the God-mad who, for this attainment, has fully men at "Meherabad". This has already surrendered to the Master's strictest been referred to by Dr. Abdul Ghani discipline, enduring untold mental and Munsiff in his article on "The Mad physical hardships. He has, for years at Ashram" which appeared in the a stretch, observed absolute seclusion November 1938 issue of this Journal. I and long fasts; he has been sent shall not dwell on the subtle or spiritual throughout India to take Darshana of aspect of the subject, since a Western Masters and Saints (wherever he was spectator has written her impressions supposed to meet them), visiting places which will appear in the next issue. of pilgrimage under the most difficult However I will try to explain, by way conditions requiring heroic courage and of news, some significant facts steadfastness, practically impossible to regarding the performance, in order to achieve except with an undying faith give our readers an idea of this and love for a Master whose benign interesting phase of Baba's workings on grace alone would enable one to endure the physical plane as I saw it with the these. Baba's selection of such a type, eye of an objective observer. as director and organizer of this It may be significant to note that for understanding, speaks for itself of the the preparation and direction of this variety of phases and experiences unusual spectacle, Shri Meher Baba which Baba wants his disciples to go chose none other than our mandali through. Half a dozen of the mandali members
50 MEHER BABA JOUNAL
were delegated to assist and cooperate The different characters acted by these with Pleader in the preparation of the God-mad men, particularly the port- performance. rayal of the principal role of Gopi- These derelicts of humanity, in the chand was superb. The perfect gestures Mad Ashram, who can hardly stand and the kingly posture this mad-man steadily on one spot longer than a assumed while sitting on the throne moment without doing something surrounded by his courtiers, bespoke eratic, who talk vaguely and usually the dignity and versatility of a born remember nothing, could so easily have actor. The entire performance was so blurred the text of the dialogue. They true and startling that the audience have lovingly and patiently been taught could scarcely believe these actors to and trained and enabled to deliver be mentally deranged human beings. speeches at the proper moment and It was the Master's plan. His orders, even to sing songs and act their diffe- definitely issued with all the force of rent roles at the same time. To prepare his inspiring word, were literally and such a mad group for a dramatic faithfully carried out which brought the performance, standing on a stage facing amazing result. In short, the master a gathering of about two hundred made the impossible possible. people for three hours, is almost incon- One of the significant facts during ceivable. The realism of the whole the day of the performance was Baba's show could be judged from the fact that repeated visits to the Ashram, not only the actual scenery, screens, lighting, to supervise and give impetus to the costumes and all necessary require- workers but to give particular force, as ments, used for a professional dramatic was later remarked, in a 'certain direc- performance, were ordered, and the tion' which threatened to spoil the entire drama performed in its true whole show. As it was the monsoon spirit. The real beauty and charm of the season, it had been raining regularly for show were due to the interpretation of the last three days; the clouds
NEWS ABOUT THE MASTER 51
had not yet dispersed and threatened a drama as evinced by the human eye. downpour at any moment. Baba The internal aspect, which is the true presumably seemed not to want this. aspect of the work of the Master, is all The performance had to be a success. the more significant in this case since At a particular moment, in one of his Baba, from the very beginning, gave playful moods, he asked Mahomed (his great importance to this performance principal inmate in the Mad Ashram) to declaring repeatedly that out-standing order the clouds to disperse. Mahomed, occurrences in the world then 'in a in his own characteristic way, at first cauldron' would depend on the result of seemed to hesitate, but Baba's loving this performance. That is why Baba, insistence impressed on the deranged himself, gave so much personal care mind, brought Mahomed down in and impetus in making the play a consciousness to follow out the success. How strangely do all these Master's wish. Quick as lightning apparently insignificant incidents, in Mahomed picked up the hint and this desolate and quiet corner of the ordered with a childlike command: "No world, reflect on the happenings and rain." Simultaneously he insisted that a changes in the outside world. certain object, 'a pot,' in his own use, Half of the members of the Mad should be turned over. It did not rain. Ashram were sent away two days after The performance could be acted the performance. To each was given a undisturbed. As soon as the show was brand new robe, Kafani, underwear and over and the audience was leaving, a a blanket before leaving the Ashram. strong shower poured down, seemingly Sweetmeats were distributed to all, thus to hail the success of the performance. giving them a hearty send-off. After Baba was happy with the result and in Pleader had accomplished this unusual his loving way, appreciated the work of duty, he was also ordered to leave those who were instrumental in having "Meherabad," with instructions to stay it come out successfully. in Panchgani in Baba's cave and to This is the external aspect of the return to Baba on a
52 MEHER BABA JOURNAL
given date. matron of the institution with other Since their departure, significant Western and Eastern disciples residing changes in the details and method of in the "Meher Retreat" on the hill. They treatment in the lives of the remaining cooperate and work in different capac- inmates of the Mad Ashram came into ities in selfless and loving service for effect. This, Baba explained, had the poor and destitute who come certain bearing on the important aspects pouring in from the surrounding of his work; for instance, the particular villages and from Ahmednagar city, not manner in which Baba splashed water merely for treatment and loving care in on the face of each of the God-mad this free Hospital, but also for Baba's men when giving them a bath, as, also, Darshana and blessings. This bene- the process of the champi (massage) volent institution has been described in which Baba in person gave them an article in this issue entitled "Shri individually. The Master explained that Meher Baba and Healing." through these processes he gave them THE FIRST BABY BORN IN THE the spiritual push; and through the HOSPITAL ON THE HILL power of his personal touch, in other cases, he brought them down to normal On October thirteenth a crazy consciousness. woman rambling along the road, about THE HOSPITAL ON THE HILL twenty-five miles from here between Rahuri and Ahmednagar, was picked Simultaneously with the going away up by one of the Master's mandali, of half of the members of the Mad brought to "Meherabad" and admitted Ashram, commenced preparations for to the 'lying-in' ward of the hospital. the opening of the Hospital on-the-Hill On October fourteenth, at 4 a. m. the for female patients. A lady doctor was woman gave birth to her child, the first placed in charge of the Hospital. Coun- baby born in these holy precincts. It tess Nadine Tolstoy, a disciple of Shri may be interesting to note that by a Meher Baba and daughter-in-law of the peculiar freak of nature, this child, of a great Russian writer, was appointed poor, unknown, neglected wife, had the rarest of good fortune to be born in
REDEMPTION 53
this holy atmosphere, next door to the eyes of those who witnessed the abode of one of the greatest spiritual divinely touching scene. Masters of the age, Shri Meher Baba. A Master's true greatness is not in Baba was the first to hear the cry of the performing miracles as much as in new born, before dawn, and to see and doing these little acts of love and bless it. He instructed special care to be selfless service that move and inspire taken of the little one during the first the hearts of those who witness. days of its earthly life, as the poor Service is the keynote and watchword mother was mentally unbalanced. Often of the life and spiritual training under he went near the child, playfully Baba's guidance, and no example can caressing with the love he alone can be more impressive than his personal give, and bringing tears of joy to the act in spontaneous giving of his infinite love in service to the needy.
Redemption BY MALCOLM SCHLOSS
Wielder of infinite powe! Enjoyer of infinite bliss! Master of infinite wisdom! Why dost Thou come like this?
Seemingly worn and haggard; Seemingly wracked with pain; Seemingly utterly puzzled; Seemingly all in vain?
The woes of the world are heavy; The faults of the world great; I have assumed its burdens; I will redeem its state.
Then shall my infinite glory, Which Thou hast known in part, Reign for unnumbered aeons, Enthroned in every heart"
St. Teresa Of Spain Adapted by Will Backett (London)
"Shri Meher Baba visited the carpeted with thyme basil and other birthplace of St. Teresa, in 1933, as he herbs... Time seemed to roll away, and had a very special work to do there. He it was wonderful to be with Baba there. and His disciples all fasted for twenty- The fast was broken on their return. four hours, and during that time they Baba explained that in Europe, as in were not to touch Him, and together other countries, there are Saints and they walked over the hills. The next advanced Souls whom He calls His day they saw many of the treasures of dear ones; and to manifest externally the cathedral and were very exalted; the His expression of love for His dear spiritual atmosphere was not unlike that ones, He abstains from eating when of St. Marks in Venice or the one at blessing their places. There are many Assisi. After visiting the shrine of the holy places connected with spiritual Saint, on the sight of her former home, workings in Europe. The four in they walked to a hill behind the town, Europe—St. Marks in Venice, a place looking back at Avila, as they climbed on the Ligurian Coast, Assisi and Avila up a dusty donkey track, just the same had now all been visited with Baba... as Teresa had travelled during the Baba arranged that one of the party thousands of miles she journeyed in should visit this spot in ten days every Spain. Baba had been there long ago. day for seven days in succession."* They came to a small plain between "From her earliest years Teresa had two rocky summits and strangely heard of saints and lived in the shaped boulders. Twenty miles away atmosphere of romance and chivalry, were the snow topped peaks of the which her nature strove to express in Sierra Gredes. They reached the action. When only six years old, she memorable place, a sandy lonely rock was fired to emulate
* Extract from "Perfect Master" by C. B. Purdom.
ST. TERESA OF SPAIN 55
the martyrs, and left her home with her mitted to the barbarious treat-ment of little brother, a few years older, and the village Curandera, as medical with provisions for their journey set out science of the time proved ineffectual. to seek the Meers and suffer death at Her limbs were stretched until they their hands. But they had to content cracked and life was almost extinct. themselves by building tiny monas- Teresa adds that touch humour which teries in the garden, as a chance sometimes gleamed through her darkest meeting with a relative on the outskirts experiences, "With this gain, that life of the town cut their journey short. was almost extinct." At her own request Despite the opposition of her father she returned to the Convent, when a whom she dearly loved, she vowed her profound trance came over her; so she life to the Church. "I do not think that remained four days; the others thought when I die, the wrench will be greater she was dead. Neighbouring friars sang than when I left my father's house, for for her soul, her grave was dug and it seems to me that every bone was rent funeral arrangements proceeded, but asunder, and there was no love of God her father watching by her side, to take the place of the love of father opposed her burial saying, "This my and kinsman. The struggle was so great daughter is not yet for the grave." that if the Lord had not helped me, my She was his favourite daughter, and own resolution would not have been since his wife's death and the marriage enough to carry me through."* of his other daughter, the bond between At that time she was not conscious them had deepened. On returning to of the Divine Love within, and the consciousness, she was too weak to do picture of hell which religion then anything, but move her little finger. presented, preyed on her imagination as The wax from the tapers was taken she felt her unworthiness. The rigorous from her eyelids, and for eight months convent life affected her health and she she lay helpless and paralysed. She was returned home to be nursed. She sub- the wonder
*Extract from " Autobiography of St. Teresa."
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of the nuns during her illness, and understanding were good enough, sustaining them in spiritual matters and but it might have been purer and was comforting them in spite of her own not without danger since if God had not sufferings and weakness. She had the been present, there were opportunities gift of awakening others to higher when he might have offended more consciousness. During her father's last gravely. For seven years he had carried illness when he was convulsed with on illicit connection with a woman of pain in his back, he groaned in his the place which had destroyed his agony despite his natural fortitude. To reputation—none bold enough amongst her outer events were seen in their his flock to censure. I was able to speak relation to her Lord, whose divine to him much of God, and this must humanity reached out to all. Thus she have done him good, though I believe reminded her father of the agony of what touched him most was his great Christ when bearing the cross of the affection for me." He wore copper Calvary and showed him that. "The ornaments from his mistress, and Lord had willed him to understand Teresa had the intuition to persuade something of what he had suffered him to throw them away, not because when he bore the cross on his own back she felt that there was any real power in to Calvary." The old knight never chance; they formed a physical link uttered a sound again of his sufferings, between them so long as retained. "He his own sense of it lost in the contem- was then," she adds, "like a man plation of the Supreme Sacrifice. aroused from a deep sleep and began to How Teresa shared the inner consider all that he had done in those struggles of others and awakened them years, lamenting his ruinous state." Her to their higher self, is shown when simplicity is revealed as she adds, "I during the illness described, she met a love him much, for so frivolous and local priest at confessional, as she was blind was I that it seemed to me a away from the convent. "He became virtue to prove my gratitude and loyalty deeply attached to me—his disposition to anyone who loved me."
ST. TERESA OF SPAIN 57
She prayed for him through-out, desires in full consecration of the whole often with agony which affected her nature of God, which the understanding physically and the nuns were greatly recognizes. distressed. Sometimes she was partly Thus consciousness receives, when stifled by the astral emanations, when will, memory and understanding are praying for him, gasping for breath. passive and the soul upraised. Through her inner vision she saw the A Master can expound the laws of repellent element or astral form assail- the subtle world in which Teresa and ing her, produced by his impure the saints and seers move. Baba ex- desires. It is not given to all to awaken plains. the soul of another to its real state, but "Nature is much bigger than what a her description of the effect prayer had man can perceive through the ordinary upon her consciousness shows how senses of the physical body. The hidden much greater must be the influence aspects of nature consist of finer matter when the soul consciously uplifts the and forces that interpenetrate and exist human relations, for no form of hyp- together with the physical. There is no notism or psychic influence was used. unbridgable gulf separating the finer In prayer, she writes, "The soul is aspects of nature from its gross aspects. suspended in such a way that it seems The finer aspects of nature are not utterly beside itself. The will loves. The perceptible to man, but they are never- memory is as it were lost. Under- theless continuous with the gross standing makes no reflections but is not aspects. They are remote, and yet they lost, it is not at work It is as it were are inaccessible to his consciousness. amazed." This is due to the fact that his Memory and reflection being in consciousness is functioning through abeyance, time merges into time- the physical senses which are not lessness, freeing the will entirely to adopted for perceiving these aspects of energize the love divine, resulting in nature which are finer than the gross complete elimination of personal aspects. He is unconscious of these inner planes just as a deaf
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man is unconscious of sounds; and neophytes. The veiled allusions scat- naturally he cannot also deal with them tered through mystic and gnostic consciously. For practical purposes literature, and the vast ruins of the they are ether worlds to him. places where, hidden from the world, "The pathway of a man through the these arcane secrets were demonstrated, divisions of nature's hidden part, is have left traces to show that the Path is called gnosis; the object of the various One through all ages. Gnosis is: 'The systems of religious ceremonial and internal but actual pathway inside a doctrine is to prepare for it. It is be- human being though it is not exactly lieved by some that this was the aim of like a material road, yet it is distinctly the mystery religions of the ancient perceptible to the internal eye of a real world in their original purity, when mystic or gnostic, who actually feels there were spiritual initiates to guide traveling along it."'
(to be continued)
Meherabad INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ITS FOUNDATION BY F. H. DADCHANJI
Shri Meher Baba's colony at worshipped by multitudes. Pandharpur, "Meherabad" has been one of the most two hundred miles from Arangaon is, important centres of his activities in even today, considered one of the India for about fifteen years. It is greatest places of pilgrimage in India situated on the outskirts of Arangaon, a and Vithoba's devotees flock there small village six miles from Ahmed- twice a year during the festivals. It is nagar City, the history of which can be said that on account of Vithoba's traced to the Mogul period. This region presence, during a period in Arangaon, has been the abode of many saints and the village came to be known as Choti hermits for several centuries, and its Pandhari (small Pandharpur) and as religious importance dates back to the such has been revered to this day. hoary times of Rama. A place of A Hindu saint, Buvaji Buva, who pilgrimage and also of recreation, not lived in Arangaon about three hundred far from Ahmednagar, is known as years ago, was the great Bhakta and Sat "Happy Valley" where Rama and Sita Purush. The legend goes that once took refuge during their Vanvas or when there was a Kirtan (religious wanderings in jungles. Some historical recital) in praise of Vithoba at facts, concerning the sanctity of this Arangaon in Vithoba's temple, the saint locality due to their saintly associa- in a spiritual trance suddenly began to tions, are worth recording. rub the palms of his hands against each There is in Arangaon a temple other. This strange gesture made the dedicated to Shri Vithoba, the deity of gathering of the devotees wonder, and Pandharpur, who lived about a upon enquiry as to its purpose, Buvaji thousand years ago and who is still himself
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is said to have explained that he was was Hazrat Maulana Shamsuddin extinguishing a fire which was blazing Chisti, popularly called "Maula Baba ". at the time in the sabha-mandap (hall) He lived a secluded life, completely in Vithoba's temple at Pandharpur. aloof from public activities, and never Strangely, however, both the hands of accepted any gifts. He was, therefore, Buvaji Buva bore stains of black very little known even to the inhabi- smoke. The information subsequently tants of Ahmednagar where he lived for obtained at Pandharpur accurately col- many years. Those who knew him and laborated the statement of the saint that had had personal contact said that his a fire had actually broken out in the life, habits and character were ex- temple of Vithoba at Pandharpur and emplary and bespoke the dignity of a was extinguished exactly at the time true saintly Being. Once he asked his when Buvaji made that significant ges- followers to drive towards Arangaon. ture during the religious ceremony at When he arrived at a distance of two Arangaon. It is thus a recorded fact that furlongs from Arangaon where Buvaji Buva, through his gesture, had "Meherabad" stands today, near the extinguished the fire at a distance of well, he ordered a halt in order to take a two hundred miles. Furthermore this walk around. After a while, about saint is said to have buried himself seventy-five feet from this well, he alive and his Jivant-Samadhi (living marked out with his stick a square in internment) still exists in Vithoba's the dust expressing the wish to his temple at Arangaon village in a devotees that he would be very pleased sepulchre. Ever since that time he is if his body, after his passing away, be held in great reverence and wor- interned there. The disciples wondered shipped by the people at his shrine. why of all the good locations in and Another recent personage, known around Ahmednagar, where he had locally, was a Mohamedan saint who lived almost all of his life, he should lived in Ahmednagar City. His name select this distant spot that appeared so desolate and would be so
MEHERABAD 61
inconvenient for his devotees who Masters who control the spiritual des- would later desire to pay their respects. tinies of our era. To this the Saint smilingly remarked: In Poona lived the late Hazrat Baba "You are like children, you would not Jan, a Perfect Master, whom young now understand if I told you what great Merwan (now known as Meher Baba) importance this place bears. You think met when he was nineteen. It was that those who want to pay their through her spiritual contact that Meher respects to my tomb would hesitate to Baba experienced the superconscious come to this place so distant and state. desolate. But remember, very soon Sakori, 53 miles from Ahmednagar after I pass away, a great Master will City, is the present abode of Shri come and establish his abode here. Upasani Maharaj, who is Shri Meher Then you shall know and understand." Baba's other Master. This significant prophecy, made in Just three miles from Sakori is Shirdi 1922, came to be realized within two where lived the late Shri Sai Baba, the years when Meher Baba in 1924 estab- spiritual Master of Shri Upasani Maha- lished at "Meherabad" the centre for his raj. public activities. The fact that this Kedgaon, about fifty-nine miles from particular area is so rich with holy Poona, is the present centre of another memories and, also, the fact that the Sadguru, Shri Narayan Maharaj. present heads of the spiritual hierarchy From all this, it can be clearly seen of the world have their seats in these that it was not by mere 'chance' that surroundings of Ahmednagar and Meher Baba selected "Meherabad" as Poona districts, seem to be weighing the centre for his initial public spiritual factors for Meher Baba to select this activities, as indeed we know that place which, ever since, has been whatever Perfect Master does is for preferred as his residence and the deep and significant spiritual reasons centre of his activities. Within this relating to his work for the spiritual spiritual environment live five Perfect benefit of mankind. Strange as it may seem
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materially considered, the district of centre of activities in "Meherabad" bear Ahmednagar is notorious as one of the testimony to this, as also to the driest and famine-stricken districts in teachings and life of Shri Meher Baba. India, having very little or practically Answering the question of his mandali no rainfall as compared to other parts as to why they always had to suffer of the country. The surrounding through the handicap of water scarcity, districts of Poona and Nasik have an Baba once humorously remarked: average of forty to fifty inches of "Mohamed's greatness was not in Ka'ba rainfall during the monsoon season as but in Karbala and this is my Karbala." compared to only 15 to 20 inches in Ka'ba in Mecca, Arabia, is the sacred Ahmednagar district, and even this sanctuary where the Prophet Mohamed scanty rainfall is very irregular, some manifested himself and his mission, years passing off with hardly 6 to 8 whereas Karbala in North Arabia is inches of rainfall at the most. known in history as the place of The choice of a place in a famine- martyrdom. Karbala is not only dry and stricken district may seem incompre- barren but typifies desolation and hensible from the ordinary point of destruction. Baba's reference to view, but the lives and activities of all Karbala's true greatness conveyed that great Masters and saints have been the greatness of a Master lies not in strange and incomprehensible for manifestation but in suffering in the human intellect. Yet, if one considers cause of humanity. the backgrounds, such as the barren The water scarcity that has been a hills around Jerusalem, or the desert continuous handicap throughout a11 lands around Mecca, or even the developments at "Meherabad" is an parched soil surrounding Assisi, this experience too well-known to the would seem to be in conformity with mandali all these years and quite in the lives of martyrdom of the Great conformity with the Master's training Ones. History repeats itself, and these for a life of true renunciation. Yet, it difficult conditions in the principal may be carefully marked that
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whenever Baba wanted, this and all lers and pilgrims; also the residential other consequent difficulties have been quarters for large number of the regular overcome and solved. The remarkable mandali serving at "Meherabad". In activities displayed in this place which short, life in this colony numbered at he qualified as Karbala, have left times from four to five hundred inhab- indelible marks in the hearts of those itants. Besides on special festivals and who have been associated with him holidays like birthday celebrations of during the various phases of his initial Shri Meher Baba, also of Shri Upasani activities. Baba has given ample proof Maharaj, of Hazrat Baba Jan and even and evidence, not alone of his infinite of Rama and Krishna observed here powers, controlling and superceding during these years, several thousands at even the elements, but also of his a time have gathered from all corners divine motive and his selfless dedica- of the country—when "Meherabad" tion for the well-being of mankind— was truly a place of pilgrimage. especially the poor and needy—seekers For years at a stretch, it is this holy and sinners a like. Throughout his life solitary well which has supplied water, and activities in this colony, Baba has even for gardening, although at times it established for various periods a ran down to an alarmingly low level. number of institutions of public welfare Even last year, during Baba's visit to and service, such as: the school for France when he left instructions to the boys and girls; the Ashram for over a mandali for important alterations to be hundred boys with board and lodging made to the existing quarters on the arrangements and with free supplies of hill, the mandali had to call on Baba's clothing and books; the Sadhak grace, through a special cable, as the Ashram, a retreat for seekers, here well at a certain period due to failure of named after the Sadhakas which means rainfall had practically dried out, seekers; as well as the dispensary, threatening life and activity at hospital and leper asylum; the "Meherabad". Baba quietly replied to Dharmashala (resting house) for trave- this, not by cable,
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but by a casual letter, instructing: look upon our worries and smile at the "Carry on, don't worry." When Baba's most dangerous and intricate problem, letter from France, conveying this at times involving question of life and reply, was dispatched, an immediate death. Numerous experiences of this downpour occurred in "Meherabad" and playing with the elements and even the water level rose to sufficiency. The with human lives have convinced the danger was averted and the work was mandali, time and again, that Baba is carried on as had been directed. capable of doing anything at his sweet Do not Masters play with nature and will, handling any situation however the elements as they do with souls? delicate or dangerous with a calm ease How lightly and unconcernedly they and unconcern that he alone com- mands.
Sufi Thoughts VERSIFICATION BY Dr. ABDUL GHANI MUNSIFF
How long you'll waste your precious years, In pilgrimage to tombs of this and that; Against a thousand lions-dead and gone More spiritually alive is an Adept's cat.
Wordly desires are often fulfilled By e'en invoking the dead, 'tis true; But to knowledge of Self—the Kingdom within Only a living Master can give you the clue.
Spiritual Anecdote By Dr. ABDUL GHANI MUNSIFF
Once a disciple of Ghausali Shah Qalander complained of no spiritual progress in the Saint's company. The Saint flared up and said, "God be praised ! It seems you were not a babe at birth, but old, wrinkled and hoary! Yesterday you came as a disciple and today you want to be perfect! My dear boy, 'men of God' have knocked at the door of the Divine Beloved for years and from amongst thousands, one has been allowed to cross the threshold. The spiritual path is not a joke and no business of a suckling either." Having said this, the Saint fell into an ecstatic reverie and began reciting the illuminating and awe inspiring lines of the Poet-Philosopher Hakim Sanai :
Days are required for a goatful of wool, To be a robe for a priest or rope for a mule. Weeks are needed for a cotton seed to sprout, To become beauty's attire or martyr's shroud. Months go by, for a biological zero, To develop into a bride or an Ali-type hero. Years change a stone acted on by the sun, Into ruby from Badukshan and Saphire of Yamen. Decades drag on before a stripling full of promise, Turns out a philosopher, poet or an artist. Ages roll on, to induce Heavens to smile, To grant lovers a union or home for the exile. Cycles evolve a perfect soul or produce a master mind, Like Bayazid of Khurasan or Owayse of faith blind. Either depart and like women flirt away your time, Or like Sanai take your chance forgetting mine and thine.
♦
Shri Meher Baba's Tour OF NINE DAYS THROUGH CENTRAL INDIA* BY PRINCESS NORINA MATCHABELLI
We have reached Talegaon. Shri Darshana and give them a chance to Meher Baba seems, as usual, to want to meet his August Guest, Baba leniently avoid formalities and ceremonies, smiles stating, "Do as you think best." therefore the welcome of the Unique This He often does. Guest has to be rushed and hushed. Baba came especially to look into the While Baba accepts the beautiful gar- personal affairs concerning the two lands, hastily walking through the little brothers who are partners in business. It garden He lifts them off. The garden is seems there is much to adjust between sweet, filled with multicoloured flags them. All these small or huge waving us welcome. complications are the usual nightmare Baba enters His room, the usual in the mind of man that He, the true quarters prepared for Him on the friend of man, will take on to Him in occasions of His rare visits. At once compassion—dissolve and readjust. Baba, in His executive manner, calls A perfect luncheon is served at 11 a.m. for the different members of the cooked by the hostess's own hands. On family—the two brothers-in-law, the such occasions it is customary when the hostess and also R., her brother from Master visits His disciples and is a sign Nasik. Baba's order was that during this of deep respect for the disciple to cook visit to Talegaon He would not see and serve the meal for the Master and crowds of people, but when A. lays His party regardless of their number. It before Baba his practical viewpoint, is a demonstration of selflessness and that it would be better to see a few devotion. important men and a few of his best The programme for the afternoon is clients who were clamouring for Baba's to motor to the Meher
*Continued from November 1938 issue.
SHRI MEMER BABA'S TOUR 67
Rice Mill, the ancient Fortress of with venomous juice, parrot-like birds, Talegaon which Baba never misses to all seem to live with and against one see, and the Glass Factory The ex- another in natural excitement of life. cursion had its reason. When Baba All of a sudden Baba takes a running moves, heaven and hell moves too. The flight to the far end of this wild jungle- first stop is at Meher Rice Mill, not far garden. There, like a majestic solid from the official residencies including mould in human form He stands still, missions, bank, post office, etc. The right in the centre of the red, gold, mill is a huge shack; but to visit the rice purple and blue circle of light of the mill is not the only reason for Baba's setting sun. He, the Truth Being in appearance. There are two black-eyed existence throwing the divine shadow joyous young men, simple workmen, on its own phenomena, the setting sun whom Baba loves very dearly who in Talegaon. Again we realize how the have also to be looked up from time to smallest adventure can become a time and whom He has to touch and stir spiritual romance when with Him we to enhance their spiritual courage, look walk through life. We leave feeling into their eyes and renew His own Life light and refreshed. in them. Baba takes in the whole work Our next halt is at the Glass Factory. and leaves behind that unfathomable Baba's wish for us to see this little smile which is so sure and real and establishment is very definite. We walk good and makes everyone feel sure and in, and it was as if we were passing real and good. from process of making; we see light We drive on to the Fortress. It has fluid matter which in its process the appearance of an ancient gigantic through fire, becomes solid glass; we monument, huge forms towering over see a potter taking inarticulate matter, other forms in ruin seem the work of making a form which in itself is art. We some giant of obscure age—fallen see the God-man forming men and trees, jungle-like vegetation, bright expanding souls. The two young work- shining strange looking flowers filled men came to take
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Baba's Darshana. They realize that kneel and bow, making the cross in the Baba's coming has a meaning, and they order of Christ, or prostrate themselves live up to the occasion with humility. in other religious manner, in experience Also these two humble worshippers, of pain or joy, before this Grace in whether conscious or unconscious, Being who never did but smile. With- belong to the spiritual pioneers of out giving more attention to the post- mankind and are destined to participate master or the banker or the owner of in the new awakening, whether in the best shop or the schoolmaster than Talegaon or New York, in Paris or in to any soul in need, He takes in close Palestine which Baba today governs. into His pure heart, all life. Poor or We return home. A line of people are destitute, hungry pilgrims of different already waiting in the garden. castes, for all, He, impartial, pure, is the Meanwhile the weather, unusual to its same sign of divinity for whom these season, suddenly changes; it is bitter intrepid seekers for Truth cross rivers, cold and all the preparations for the valleys and mountains, taking endless evening feast which was to be held in roads on foot. It is a rush towards God, the garden, has to be abandoned. The soul and happiness. The procession little living-room has to be quickly goes on until late. transformed into the holy place. To do We are now all ordered to retire to this is easy, because wherever Baba is, our rooms. The night is good, quiet and a barren space becomes life, light, pure without dreams for all of us but for one air. These virtues replace in beauty the who is restless all night outside of external seductions. The music is heard Baba's door waiting for Grace, merged from the garden, while, in still rever- in excited anguish of his struggling ence, a few devotees are sitting at mind. At the right moment Baba opens Baba's feet. Whether good or bad, self- the door. It is 4 a. m. and A.'s brother- important or unimportant in social in-law walks in, quiet, unconditional in position, we see men, women, children acceptance. The wakeful night in front of the Master's
SHRI MEHER BABA'S TOUR 69
door has changed him into a new man, the need in the hearts of these many, he is ready to realize what in the begins to open the eternal well of His struggle of his mind the day before he great curing Life. While watching the was unable to understand. Later, the questioning anguish of all these people judge, his wife and all of us are called who call for Grace, it seems as if now into the room to witness the 'turning mankind's ordeal has come to some point'. It happens that all come out climax in suffering. Again in un-ending right, everybody feels sure and is ready compassion and patience, Baba takes to give in. The Peace-maker has recon- on the human struggle and makes light ciled the differences. Each one realizes and fluid hope in everyone's heart. in his appeased mind that within all We are invited for luncheon to the differences lies Truth disguised. We home of C.'s brother. The reception is realize that the impersonal standpoint cheers of merry love. The house is begins to be of use to us when in Being filled with young and old people and we awaken. Leaving behind order, children who, in their natural simp- clarity, peace of mind, Baba gives licity, respond lightly and unhampered signal to depart. to Baba's love. Among the events, We speed on to Bombay. It is the during this gathering, we wish to recall twenty-first of December. The air is a little anecdote. A charming young nice and cool; quiet and blue is the Parsi mother asks to be received as range of the romantic mountains where soon as possible, because she can no Shivaji, the king and great warrior, longer control her very bad tempered destroyed the Mohamedan enemies 'baba'. This little two weeks creature, who fought against him. the mother tells, is subject to fits of In Bombay, Baba is given quarters in anger so fierce that it is torture to all the home of a close disciple on Frere who have to witness. The child is as Road. Many people are already waiting small as a doll unusual in size but in the long corridor when Baba, in His almost perfect in its tiny proportions— real executive manner at once seeing to be compared
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to a small edition of Krishna or Ram or We return to Frere Road. Several of any god of some other name. Baba has Baba's disciples have arrived from been informed of the difficult case, but, various places, among them R., who for good reason, creates suspense...The left "Meherabad" at the time of Baba's atmoshere catches His Peace rhythm last trip to Europe. Not wishing to be and in it suddenly the child grows calm. there during Baba's absence, he accep- The drama handled with discretion and ted the call to teach in a girl's school in care by Baba, from a distance, indeed Bombay. R. appears to me changed, as works pure and deep. The child falls though he was going through a new fast asleep. After a while Baba calls for phase of adjustment. in his eyes is the the mother and the little one. When He fire of war. I could not follow the takes the child into His arms, under His excited arguments between him and look the child's eyes open. The meeting Baba who, unusually energetic, is hold- of the soul with the all Soul was sure. ing a long discussion on His board in The divine dream, as in a fairy story, vernacular. One sentence in English left the child must have experienced. The a definite picture in my mind. Baba's sign of Grace is on the little face. It is words were: "A man who cannot cont- the blissful glow that we in Him rol action is not a man." Baba, who worship... Never shall I forget the always gives us the ultimate outlook, beauty of the miracle on that child's no doubt wanted to enhance within all face; never have I seen the limitless who were present the impetus to drive soul radiate in so small a form. The on with unflinching courage to the very mother who is well aware of the end, that is aloofness from experience powerful unseen work of Baba, when as life of subjective reaction. going out of the room, carries the child N., from Nasik, is another friend up high like a glorified idol, herself well acquainted with Baba's work. He having the unique expression of un- tells about P., who again is put on a fur- questioned faith. ther test; such are called the intervals of separation from
SHRI MEHER BABA'S TOUR 71
Baba. Baba's message to P., on this par- families in the Baroda State. Since ticular occasion is: "I suffer every many generations they were great land second of my life untold tortures, you owners. These estates were gifts to the have to share, it is now the last phase, family for services rendered to the State when you see me again you will see me of the former Maharajah of Gaikwad. in my true Self." The family can he traced back for While N. is reporting all this in a low twenty-eight generations, having lived voice, Baba hears it, and, turning on that estate. During the evening we round, writes on His board, "Gossip." are informed of the exceptional pre- To Him, the Pure Silent One, all these parations for the marriage feast to be facts as told by us in our half conscious held in the home of the bride's famous childish manner must appear as mere uncle, the well-known author in gossip: nevertheless Baba smilingly Gujarathi language who, for many urges us to go on. Furthermore, we hear months, has been very ill...When Baba P. has to go on a begging tour, that it moves in the lives of men it is always will be very hard for him, he will be for some great warning. Baba's visit to abused by many, but he will stand it Navsari is to call for a soul. He goes to bravely. To us this seems natural. see the dying man to ordain in him the On the 23rd of December at 6 a.m. Divine will, to help him on through the we take the train called "The Flying redeeming transgression. Ranee" for Navsari. On the train a Later on while discussing among young man called M., who is to be ourselves some subtle subjects, sud- married to one of the D. girls on the denly Baba, with the speed of lightning, 27th of December, has come to interrupts the waste in exertion of our Bombay especially to escort Baba who minds, making the following statement is to be the guest of the bride's family. on Selfless Ser-vice: The D. family of Navsari is one of the "God as God alone is not consciously most influential and prominent Parsi man, and man as
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man alone is not consciously God. The hearted, unconditional and not expect- God-man is consciously both God and ing any reward. His service is an ordeal man; so the God-man is both Lord and which tries body, mind and spirit; or the servant of the universe. Lord, in the else where-in would the perfection of state of helping all souls toward reality. serving lie if it were to be easy and at Servant, as continuously bearing the one's convenience. The body suffers, burden of all. To serve Him who serves mind is tormented, but the spirit of the all is serving the universe. selfless server of the Master experi- Selfless service and love are twin ences the bliss of satisfaction. divine qualities. Only the one who Only the one who has, can renounce. loves can serve. A king giving up everything and be- Serve your Beloved God-man and coming a beggar, is his true renuncia- you are serving your own self in every tion; and so only the one who without other self. any question and regardless of con- The service He exacts is for your sequences serves the God-man, really own spiritual benefit; but this service serves; otherwise it would be just like must be spontaneous, willing, whole- paid labour."
Life By ADI K. IRANI
Life without aim is a life of drift, Life with low desires is a life of death. Let Him be the guide of you all Who can ignite the fire of longing Into a flame of love, that doth impart All lives— Knowledge, Bliss and Love.
♦
MEHER BABA JOURNAL A MONTHLY PUBLICATION Elizabeth O. Patterson, Managing Editor and Publisher for the "Meher Editorial Committee" "Meherabad", Ahmednagar, India.
MEHER EDITORIAL COMMITTEE C. V. Sampath Aiyangar, (Late of Madras Judicial Service) Dr. Abdul Ghani Munsiff, Princess Norina Matchabelli, Adi K. Irani, Elizabeth C. Patterson, Estelle Gayley, F. H. Dadachanji, Abdul Kareem Abdulla.
Contributions of manuscripts will be welcomed, and it is requested that they should be typed. No manuscript will be returned unless accompanied by a self- addressed stamped envelope. All communications regarding same should be addressed to Princess Norina Matchabelli, Literary Manager, Meher Baba Journal, " Meherabad", Ahmednagar, India. Enquiries concerning subscriptions and notice of change of address should he addressed to Estelle Gayley, Secretary, Meher Baba Journal, "Meherabad", Ahmednagar, India. Postal Money Orders and cheques should be made payable to Elizabeth C. Patterson, Treasurer, Meher Baba Journal, "Meherabad ", Ahmednagar, India. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Twelve months subscription, India rupees 3; England sh. 8; U. S. A. $ 2. ( including postage ) Single copies 6 annas, or 1 shilling, or 25 cents.
Printer:—R. B Hiray, Mohan Printers, Near Cotton Market, Ahmednagar.
R.N.B 4192