Meher BAba

Divinity is not devoid of humanity - it lifts manhood and womanhood into God; nor does spirituality necessarily imply the renunciation of worldly activities. True spirituality signifies the internal renunciation of mundane desires. Mere external renunciation ­

asceticism - does not lead to spirituality. Perfection is a misnomer if it tries to escape from entanglement by shrinking from the dual expressions of nature. The perfect man must assert his dominion over all illusion, however attractive and however powerful. A Perfect Being functions with complete detachment in the midst of the most intense activity and in contact with all forms of life.

Eruch Jessawala:

Do you all know the story of the worth of a kingdom? It is a very fine, very touching story that throws light on many aspects of our life. Meher Baba has told us there are only five Perfect Masters on earth at anyone time. This is something very great, but to have such a Master in an emperor's kingdom is priceless - and especially so to one who knows the worth of a Perfect Master.

It so happened that the emperor of a certain country came to know that such a Master was in his kingdom, and exclaimed: 'What a

blessedness this is. I must go to him and pay my respects.' He set off with a large retinue, but knew that no amount of wealth, pomp and splendour would ever gain the attention of a Master who is only drawn to one who is humble, natural and loving. So five miles from the Master's village the emperor left his horses, tents and servants, and walked the remaining distance with his courtiers. Near the Master's dwelling the watchman stopped the party, asking who they were. 'I am the emperor of this country, and we have come to pay homage to the Master. Please seek his permission on our behalf for us to see him.' And the emperor with his courtiers waited there.

When ushered in, they all remained standing and were introduced by the emperor. The Master was very happy, asked them to be seated, and then talked to them about all sorts of mundane things. Here Eruch commented that Masters never talk of spirituality; they are not the ones to teach from a pulpit, but within their informal talk there is often a dissertation - they may for example ask you about your health, and while doing so, some sentences may not strike you personally but 'the cap will fit' the others who are listening and everyone feels happy. The Master asked about the emperor's wives, his children, his last war, the economic condition of the country, and the journey to him. Naturally the emperor answered politely, although he had come with the wish to pay the Master homage and to hear spiritual advice. The Master went on, but soon said 'Now it is time for you to go back.' This was his order, so all rose, and the king with folded hands asked for some parting words of advice. In reply the Master said 'Some advice? I'll tell you a story. You are a hunter, I believe?' 'Yes.'

'This story is of a king, a great hunter. On one occasion it so

happened that the whole day was spent chasing a prey. The king would not give up. He became separated from his courtiers, his steed finally fell dead from exhaustion, and the king found himself alone in a desert, far from his kingdom. The prey had escaped, the king was exhausted, did not know where he was, and now was faint from thirst, moved with

difficulty, and continually fell. Thinking he saw water at a great distance he crawled and crawled towards it, but it was only a mirage. Extremely weak and distressed, he was about to die.'

'Just then,' continued the Master, 'I appeared with a pitcher of cool water, and offered it to the king, but said he would have to pay a price for it.' 'Anything - ask what you will,' gasped the king, 'but please give me water.' 'I told him, just half your kingdom.' He readily agreed, was given the water, soon regained his strength and began to return homewards. The Master resumed the story: 'But now another crisis occurred - the king became unable to pass water and eventually suffered such agonising pain that again he felt near death. 1 appeared once more, bringing a remedy but saying that the price is the other half of the kingdom, and he gladly gave it so that he might live.'

The Perfect Master now looked at the emperor and said: 'That story is my parting advice. Remember, rule over your subjects honestly, do everything possible for them, but at the back of your mind remember that half your kingdom is worth having water inside your system, and the other half is worth throwing it out of your system.'

Dr Ghani MunsifJ:

Four travellers - a carpenter, a tailor, a goldsmith and a spiritual mendicant - became associated with each other. As their journey lay through a dangerous tract of country infested with wild animals, at nightfall they decided to camp by the roadside underneath a spreading tree. It was also arranged that each one of them should keep watch a part of the night against possible danger.

The first watch fell to the carpenter, who just to kill time took a twig from the tree, and using a few instruments with him began carving out a human figure. By the time he fmished the job his watch for the night ended, and waking up the tailor he retired.

Witnessing the fine craftsmanship of his companion, the tailor too felt like doing something to while away the time. He could think of nothing better than to give an exhibition of his sartorial art. The result was a fully draped figure of a beautiful doll.

The third watchman, the goldsmith, could not help being impressed with what the two had done. With a few be_ and pieces of wire, he adorned the figure round its neck and arms with what looked illre jewellery.

The last one, the fakir, was greatly amused on seeing the beautiful piece of art, to finish which every one of his companions had contributed. At the same time he felt dedressed at the thought of them looking down upon him because he was not able to contribute. In this frame of mind he began to pray ardently, saying: 'Oh, God, my honour and shame is in your hands; don't make me look small in the eyes of my companions. Deign to put life into the image; you are Almighty and Powerful. '

The heart-felt prayer, rendered in humility and helplessness, was answered; the figure was miraculously transformed into a damsel, transcendently beautiful. In the morning a battle royal of fists and wits ensued amongst the companions, everyone claiming her for himself. The carpenter asserted priority of his claim on the originality of the idea; the tailor and goldsmith based their claim on the development and beautification of the theme; the fakir flouted everyone on the ground of his miracle. To end the impasse, they all decided to approach the kazi (magistrate) for a decision. What a maze they found themselves in. Struck by the unsurpassable charm and beauty of the damsel, the kazi himself wanted to possess her. He denounced the claimants as impostors and declared she was his maid-servant who had been missing

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smce mornmg.

There was nothing left to do but approach the king, the final tribunal of justice in the land. The heavenly glamour of the beauty before him disturbed the impartiality of the king. He declared the damsel was one of the wives from the harem and threatened everyone with punishment for molesting her. This was more than they had bargained for and a tumultuous uproar ensued.

A sage happened to pass by and enquired as to the cause of the trouble. Taking in the situation, he suggested that all should go to the place where the matter had first developed and where, perhaps, even the tree itself might suggest a solution. No sOOIier had the king, kazi and all led by the sage approached the spot, than there appeared an opening in the tree and the phantom of their fantasy disappeared in it. Thus eluded, the claimants, one after another, sulked away, crestfallen.

Such is the predicament qf man on earth. No sooner does he become 'grown up' than all sorts of impostors and claimants crowd upon him

for recognition. The parents demand filial duty for his upbringing, the teachers insist upon respect to them for his education, the wife and children claim his love, the community his services, the country his patriotism, and the Church its dues for saving his soul from damnation. Distracted and tom by different passions, to escape it all he takes refuge in death, but the remedy proves worse than the disease. Thus caught up in a vicious circle of births and deaths engendering hopes and disappointments seemingly eternal, he at long last comes across a master mind, who gives him the Knowledge of his Real Self. No sooner does that part of him - the individual self - become one with the whole, the Real Self - than the various claimants to his body, mind and soul, namely kith and kin, community and country, teacher and preacher, all vanish into the air.

Meher Baba:

Everyone is unconsciously tired of this life, because everyone seeks happiness, but knows not how to get it. But life is so beautiful. It is meant to be happy. I will help you. Then things will appear changed. You will see it. It is always the outlook that counts, and not the object. Today you feel tired, upset, seeing nothing beautiful in the things around you in life. If tomorrow you do not feel bored but cheerful, the same things that appeared black yesterday will seem changed. It is all due to

changed mentality and outlook. The easy way is not to make much of

things. Take them lightly. Say to yourself, 'I am meant to be happy, to make others happy,' and gradually you do become happy yourself and make others so too. Don't suggest to your mind, 'I am tired, haggard, depressed.' That will make you feel worse. Always say, 'All is well and beautiful. I will be happy.' I will help you spiritually. [From an interview.}

Dr Ghani Munsi.ff:

Once Avicenna, an Arabian physician and philosopher (AD 980­1037), hearing of the spiritual fame of Abel Hasan Khargani, visited the Master at his home in Khargani. At the time the Master was absent, having gone to the nearby jungles to fetch firewood at the request of his

wife. When his wife was asked by Avicenna where the Master was, she replied hotly: 'Why do you wish to see that lunatic and impostor? What business have you with him?' And she went on at length, criticising and belittling the Master, and disparaging his spiritual status. Avicenna was greatly perplexed. What she said contradicted what he had previously heard, and he felt disinclined to continue his search for him. However, seeing he had come so far just to see the Master, he finally decided to do so. On going towards the jungle, he was astounded to see the Master returning with a great bundle of firewood loaded on the back of a tiger. The philosopher, after paying respects, enquired of the Master the meaning of and difference between what he had been told by the wife and what he had seen. The Master replied: 'There is nothing amazing .about it. It is a mere equation of labour. When I put up with and bear the load of suffering from the wolf (wife) in my house, then automatically this tiger from the jungle carries my load for me.'

Dr William Donkin:

I have tried to give an idea of the trials and hardships of the preliminary journeys, but these are leisurely and frivolous holidays in comparison with the final tours with Baba, when the real work is done. Travel can be fun, and hardships have something stimulating about them, if one is allowed to renew one's physical and nervous forces by adequate food and sleep. But this one can rarely do on a mast journey with Baba. After two or three days of work from dawn to dusk with little or no food, and after two or three nights with little or no sleep, the world simply becomes umeal, and one lives a kind of reflex life in which the parts of one's body move and work; but the zest for living, and that sense of well-being, dependent, one supposes, upon a nervous system refreshed by sleep, and upon tissues nourished by adequate food, are simply no longer there. But mast tours do not last just two or three days, they go on for two or three weeks, and this tempo of work goes on and on, Baba ever spurring those with him to the very limits of their powers. On one of the tours in 1946, Baidul estimated that in eight

days, they had a total of fourteen hours sleep, which is an average of about two hours sleep a day. Finally, add to all these things the infliction

of a tropical climate, and the drain on one's vitality through constant perspiration, and you will get an approximate answer of what a mast tour is like.

Meher Baba:

Try to be always happy. Never think 'life is dreadful,' 'I am tired of

life.' Such thoughts really make life miserable. _ut if you think' life is worth living,' all difficulties will appear insignificant. I will help you try to develop love. Never think 'I am alone,' 'I have so much to do,' 'I am poor,' and so on. All are poor. The whole world is poor. Even millionaires are poor because they have greed and want more. Love someone and I will help you. Do not worry, My blessings.' [Prom an interview.}

Dr Ghani Munsiff:

Khawaja Shamshuddin dedicated himself to the service and company of the spiritual Master Ali Ahmed Sabu. After a period, he was given true knowledge. He was later advised to take leave of his Master and at the same time to seek service in the cavalry of the Sultan. When the Master had said this he also remarked, 'The day you happen to work a miracle, that will be the day of my departure from earthly life.' Khawaja Shamshuddin became a cavalryman in the service of the Sultan. _

When the Sultan sought to capture the fortress of Chitodgarh and failed to do so after much effort, he searched for a saintly personality to intercede for him in the matter and pray for his success. In his search, he met an advanced spiritual man who said to him, 'Why are you wasting your time wandering hither and thither? In your own service there is a cavalryman who is a Perfect One. If you prevail upon him to pray for you, the fortress will immediately fall. The truth is that God has decreed the fall of this fortress to be dependent on the words to be said by him.' 'How am I to recognise such a one?' 'At midnight a great wind will pass over the camp of your army extinguishing all the fires and torches but one. A lamp will be found burning despite the high winds and that will be the pointer to the man you seek.'

It happened as the holy man had predicted. A cyclone wind developed, and the king found all lights extinguished except one. Approaching that place, the Sultan found the saint deeply engrossed within himself and the lamp flickering before him. When the saint raised his eyes, he found the Sultan standing before him, and immediately knew the worst - the consequence of the Sultan's presence foretold the death of his Master. However, he received the king respectfully and asked why he had come at such an hour. The Sultan apologised for the

intrusion and expressing his ignorance of the real state and stature of the saint, requested him to pray for the fall of the fortress. The saint did his best to put the Sultan off, saying that the king was misguided and misinformed but he found the king adamant in his request. Ultimately the saint said: 'I shall have to pray for your success but on condition that you immediately pay my salary and accept my resignation. Six miles from here 1 shall pray as you desire, and early the next morning you are to attack the fortress. It will fall to you. This means that my Master Ali Ahmed Sabu will bid farewell to his earthly life today.'

The king did as requested, and the saint prayed at a point six miles from the camp. The fortress fell to the attack of the Sultan the next mornmg.

Reaching Kalyar, Khawaja found that the Master had indeed died, and that through lack of other attendants, the body was guarded by tigers and other wild animals. On his approach, they departed and left

him to attend to the burial of the body of the Master Ali Ahmed Sabu.

Dr William Donkin:

It is unfortunate that scant justice has been done to the general atmosphere ofthis ashram, and to that subtle quintessence oflove which pervades everything that Baba does. His physical presence and the brilliance of his leadership have that impossible quality of the philosopher's stone, that, by their magic touch they transmute the base metal ofthe most commonplace routine into a treasure ofliving service. This is perhaps an ornate way of describing something that is at once so real that one might think it easy to describe quite simply, and so transcendental that the spirit of it eludes the grasp of words. But this

magic, this imponderable something, weaves itselflike a golden thread into the fabric of everything that Baba does, and when the factual details of a phase ofBaba's life are burled so deep in the ashes of one's mind to be almost forgotten, the memory of this splendid thing is there still.

Meher Saba:

One can by reading books and having theories, get some intellectual understanding of Truth, but that is not real understanding. One must experience, Truth, live Truth, realise Truth. It is very easy to do this ­if one takes it to mind. But people make it so complicated that it seems

a gigantic task. I will help you. Think much of others and very little of yourself. When you have a scarf and this other lady needs one, spare your scarf for her. Even if she has more and you nothing, don't feel that. This is an example, don't take it literally. It is also simple. Think less of yourself. I will help you spiritually. [From an interview.}

Dr Ghani Munsiff:

Once Harun-ar-Rashid, the Caliph of Baghdad, was celebrating a royal occasion. He ordered a grand display of all manner of jewellery and artwork for it, and invited not only courtiers and nobles but many commoners also.

At the height of the celebrations the Sultan developed a magnanimous mood, and all of a sudden he ordered every person present to touch any article they liked, and that article, no matter how precious, would belong to that person. No sooner was the royal command given than a rush was made to possess the costliest thing within reach.

A beautiful slave girl, remaining composed and serene by the side of the throne, asked the Sultan to reaffirm his command. On hearing it, she immediately touched him on the arm, saying, 'Why should I run after secondary things when the primary object is here?'

The Sultan never bargained for this, but in admiration of the high 1/ standard of discrimination shown by the girl he complimented her and V said: 'Now that you possess me, the whole of my kingdom is yours. Greater than all these hundreds of men, you have shown high moral courage and discrimination. '

Meher Baba:

Spirituality sought apart from life, as if it had nothing to do with the material world, is a futile search. Creeds and cults emphasise some aspect of life, but spirituality is totalitarian in its outlook. Spirituality is an enlightened attitude to all oflife. It includes the whole oflife.

Eruch Jessawala:

Some young people in the West say they want to go back to the country and live in a more simple, more primitive way. But what is the primitive life? Is our present civilisation 'primitive', or is a simple, frugal existence in the country 'primitive'? It all depends on the values one attaches to life. If one can tolerate the city life it is all right, otherwise one can go to the country.

But Meher Baba would always want us to stay where we are, knowing fully well that He is everywhere and that He can be lived and approached through the very station in life that we hold or occupy. There is no need to leave anything and go out anywhere - He wants us to

approach Him from where we are. And if we study what He Himself did, we find that He selected spots not too far from the city and yet not in the city.

Meher Baba:

Outwardly, the average man may seem to have equanimity, but his equanimity is only apparent and not real. When he gets profoundly dissatisfied with his uncritically accepted pattern of actions, he struggles

to achieve a standpoint which would be unfailing under all types of circumstances and which would ensure for him unbroken peace and fulfilment. Purely intellectual understanding '6f the world and its experience fails to provide him with such an unfailing standpoint. He therefore re-examines his previous assumptions and ways and makes intelligent and new experiments in his own life, in order that he may discover and obtain 'within' his own being, a reliable directive.

Eruch Jessawala:

We have free will to the extent that we choose to remain separated from our true being. You exercise your freedom either to become His slave or to remain a slave to yourself. That's the only free will you have.

Ramakrishna, a Perfect Master of his age who lived in Calcutta, once gave his disciples this figure on free will: a frog lives in a well, has the freedom of it, and thinks it is the whole world. He says to himself, 'I am the Lord of this place, the possessor of all, and can do whatever I wish in this world of mine.' But he does not know that his world is only just a little hole.

So we have our free will, but Baba says it is to the extent and limit of that moment when we either consciously seek to realise our true Self, or continue to remain separate from it - that is, to remain separate from Him, our true Self.

Meher Baba:

When a man is confronted with great suffering through his desires, he understands their true nature. When such suffering comes it should be welcomed. Suffering may come in order to eliminate further suffering. A thorn may be taken out by another thorn, and suffering by suffering. Suffering has to come when it is of use in purging the_soul of its desires; it is then as necessary as medicine to a sick man.

Not all suffering is bad. When suffering leads to the eternal happiness of desirelessness, it should be regarded as a blessing in disguise. Just as a patient may have to suffer an operation at the hands of a surgeon in order to free himself of persistent and malignant pain, the soul has to welcome the suffering of renouncing desires in order to be free from the recurrent and unending suffering caused by them. The suffering which the soul has in renouncing desires may be very acute, but it is endured because of a sense of greater freedom which comes when desires gradually disappear from the mind. If a swelling on the body is opened and allowed to drain it gives much pain but also much relief. Similarly, the suffering from renunciation of desires is accompanied by the compensating relief of progressive initiation into the limitless life of freedom and happiness.

Meher Baba:

Love your art, and that art will open for you the Inner Life. When you paint, for example, you forget everything except your painting. When you are keenly concentrated upon it, you are lost in it; and when you are lost in it, your ego diminishes, love appears; and when such love is experienced God is attained. So you see how art can lead one to find the Infinite. [From an interview.}

Meher Baba:

In such moments of true forgetfulness there is a mental detachment from all material surroundings in which the poet allows his imagination to soar. An artist, when he gives form to an ideal in which he completely forgets himself and all irrelevant surroundings, creates a masterpiece.

The best of philosophy is uttered when a man surveys the problem of life without reference to the ups and downs of his purely personal circumstances; and some of the greatest scientific discoveries have been made in this same frame of mind. Such manifestations of genuine spontaneity of forgetfulness are very rare indeed, and although it is said that poets, artists and philosophers are born and not made, these fleeting phases of real forgetfulness are the result of efforts made in past lives.

In an attempt to make life bearable some people develop a feeble kind of stoicism - a sort of 'who cares, anyway' outlook - and others plunge recklessly into epicurism. The former is the apathetic acceptance of defeat, and the latter the effort to forget defeat in the arms of pleasure. Neither is true forgetfulness. But when a man acquires the true forgetfulness, he enters the spiritual kingdom and passes through different degrees of forgetfulness until the Goal is reached. 'Forgetfulness ofthe world makes one a pilgrim; forgetfulness of the next world makes one a saint; forgetfulness of self means Realisation; and forgetfulness of forgetfulness is Perfection.'