The Planes of Consciousness
So, a friend of mine had some questions about the planes of consciousness. She had been reading the Divine Theme blog, as well as books by Meher Baba, particularly, God Speaks. I knew that intellectually she understood that the higher planes of consciousness were connected to what Meher Baba calls involution, but where they were and what significance they had to a follower of the Avatar was unclear. This is what she wrote to me in an email:
“Well, I think that I’m just trying to get a full intellectual understanding of the whole process that Baba describes, I’m still not all that clear about souls that are in those planes. And do we want to get to those planes?? Or are those planes the part that Baba will take us speedily through? I was hoping that this gross plane is the part that He will speedily take us through since this is getting kinda tiring.
“I just don’t get yet the part about the souls on the subtle and mental planes. And I want to understand it fully.
“And I still think that there must be some difference between someone like you and the average person who is not conscious at all—how could you be on the same plane as say a murderer or rapist?? Is it just that you may have experienced more lifetimes in the gross world and are farther along that way?”
I thought my friend’s questions about the planes of consciousness were interesting and that there might be others too who shared her interest. So, based on the explanations given by Meher Baba, I will attempt an answer based wholly and solely on Meher Baba's explanations, and that I personally have no conscious experience of anything other than the gross plane—the plane of evolution—the plane before the higher planes of consciousness.
“Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream;
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.”
The gross plane of consciousness, and all the higher planes of consciousness, exists as a dream—nothing more than a dream. As such, the gross world—where evolution of consciousness occurs—and the subtle and mental worlds—where involution of conscious occurs— are not real— and when the goal of union with God—God realization—is achieved, the knowledge of this dream becomes self-evident.
Imagine that you are asleep and dreaming. You are dreaming yourself to be a beggar or a king; you are living on the street, or in a palace; you are eating garbage, or succulent meals. But you are not a beggar or a king, and you are not on the street or in a palace, you are asleep in your bed, and your bed can be anywhere. Your dream has no gross physical location, it is within you; it is a state of consciousness—and so are all the higher planes of consciousness, they are within you.
The dream of the gross conscious soul is the gross world and his dream-life is experienced—led—within that world. When that same gross conscious soul enters the higher planes of involution, his experience of the gross world ends, but other gross conscious souls continue to experience his dream as part of their own through their gross conscious eyes. His gross body exists for them, but no longer for himself.
“I’ll let you be in my dream, if I can be in yours.” Bob Dylan – Talking World War Three Blues.
Meher Baba is very clear on this point; involution and the goal of involution—consciousness of the soul of I am God State— is achieved in the gross world in gross bodies. The fact that the consciousness of the soul may not be aware of the gross world or the gross body it is associated with is of no concern.
Meher Baba also makes it very clear that the odyssey of every soul must progress through the higher planes of consciousness on its journey from the gross world and gross consciousness to the consciousness of the I am God State. Individual differences have to do with the degree the soul is conscious of the planes it is progressing through and what its experience of that consciousness is.
This is where one of my friend’s questions comes from, because Meher Baba says that the Avatar takes His lovers and followers through the higher planes blindfolded—veiled. The experience of the planes is very intoxicating, so much so, that one could become enchanted by the experiences—the sights and sounds, the powers; the knowledge; and the bliss. The term used by the Sufis is jazd—one can become jazd—lost—in the experiences.
(Please allow a short digression here to suggest that the moniker attached to the music of Miles and Ellington and Coltrane and Monk etc. is derived from that same Sufi term.)
Remember my friend said, “I was hoping that this gross plane is the part that He will speedily take us through since this is getting kinda tiring.” Tiring, that is an important and accurate observation; for the gross world, with all it planets, stars, solar systems and galaxies; all of its phenomena; all of its life forms and experiences; is in the end, most limited and finite. Our bodies are cramped and confining; no matter how great the pleasure, it is always short-lived and followed by inevitable pain. Satisfaction of desires gives way to more cravings; suffering is the hand-maiden of all gross existence. After millions of lifetimes do not cracks in the veneer of life’s promises begin to show? And it is only when they begin to show, only when we stop buying into life’s promises and invariable disappointments that we begin to ask the right question; is there not anything else beyond this? And it is only when we begin to sincerely ask this question that we begin to travel consciously on the journey to God. Meher Baba puts it so poetically when he says in Bhau Kalchuri’s book, The Nothing and the Everything, “When what one sees has no reality, the inevitable must occur: the consciousness looks within and begins the inner journey, and the Jeevatma (embodied soul) again dreams, but this time, the dream is divine…the Divine Dream of becoming God.”
So once the consciousness of the soul has realized the requisite poverty of the gross consciousness, why would the Avatar, who knows by direct experience, the bliss that awaits us, allow us to then enter the planes of consciousness and spend countless more lifetimes lost in the illusory experiences of the planes?
“It is as difficult for a man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.” – The New Testament.
And so, I think that the only question left from my friend is whether consciousness accounts for the differences between people. She said, “And I still think that there must be some difference between someone like you and the average person who is not conscious at all—how could you be on the same plane as say a murderer or rapist?? Is it just that you may have experienced more lifetimes in the gross world and are farther along that way?”
There are so many assumptions buried in this question; let’s see if I can ferret out a few themes:
A murderer or a rapist cannot be as far along the spiritual path as a good and moral person.
Meher Baba reminded us, “A saint is bound by a golden chain, a sinner by a spiked one; but the goal is to be free of all chains.”
To a few of his close followers Meher Baba revealed, “With me, no one can live what the world considers a moral life. Here, we are concerned with spirituality, not morals. A spiritual life is not ruled nor bound by any principles. The sanskaras of each one are different, and so the behavior and temperament of everyone are different.
“In a virtuous life, evil is suppressed and good surfaces; but the evil is still there. The bad sanskaras remain and have to be worked out, if not in this life then in the next or the one after. In the spiritual life, both good and bad sanskaras express themselves, and both get nullified. A spiritual life leads one toward naturalness, whereas a virtuous life, in the guise of humility, inflates the ego and perpetuates it! A spiritual life, though, is only led under the guidance and orders of the Avatar or Perfect Master, who knows the pulse of everyone and treats everyone according to his particular malady.
“You do not like Aloba's behavior, but his behavior was quite natural and necessary for him. How can you understand that? People of the world act according to moral standards and socially acceptable behavior, but the Avatar or Perfect Master deals with everyone according to his or her sanskaras. Thus spiritual life is totally different and cannot be judged on the basis of morality, ethics or any principle.”
In my most recent book, SuperVisions – by Dr. Dorothy Mead and Michael Kovitz, eladi-publications.com, we tell a story I first heard from Bhau Kalchuri, one of Meher Baba’s close disciples, of a mass murder’s encounter with a Perfect Master:
“A mass murderer went to a Perfect Master for help. He realized his soul was in grave jeopardy because of all the people he had killed. So he joined a group who had gathered in the presence of a Perfect Master. He was an old and grizzled looking man who wore nothing but a piece of burlap cut from an old gunnysack. Seeing the stranger in their midst, he nonchalantly inquired why he was there.
“The man spoke quite openly and honestly. ‘I am a bad man,’ he said. ‘I have killed many people and I am terrified for my soul. I have heard about you and come begging for your help.’ Of course, all in the group had turned to see the man who was confessing to being a murderer.
“‘Let me get this straight,’ said the Perfect Master, feigning the tone of a scholar or a philosopher. ‘You are a murderer?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘And you have come to me for help for your soul?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘I see. Now tell me, how many people have you killed?’
“‘Ninety-nine,’ the man replied, and all of the people gave a collective gasp.
“‘I see,’ said the Perfect Master. ‘You have killed ninety-nine people, and you want my help for your soul?’ his voice sounding thoughtful and inquiring.
“‘Yes, that is the truth.’
“‘I see. You have killed ninety-nine people. You are sure it is ninety-nine?’
“‘Yes, I am sure,’ said the murderer, who was beginning to wonder at the Perfect Master’s questions.
“‘Ninety-nine and not one hundred,’ the Perfect Master persevered while the murderer grew more impatient.
“‘Yes, I have killed ninety-nine and not one hundred.’
“‘And you are coming to me for my help?’ The man jumped to his feet. He felt the so-called Perfect Master was either crazy or teasing him.
“‘Where are you going?’ asked the Perfect Master in mock surprise.
“‘I feel I have made a mistake in coming here. I don’t believe you are taking me seriously. I am leaving.’
“‘On the contrary,’ replied the Perfect Master, ‘please sit down. I promise I will help you.’ The man sat down again.
“‘Now let me get this straight,’ said the Perfect Master. ‘You are a murderer and you have killed ninety-nine people and you are coming to me for help for your soul?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘And you are sure you have killed ninety-nine people?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘And not one hundred?’ Again the man jumped to his feet.
“‘What are you doing?’ asked the Perfect Master with all the innocence of a child.
“‘I am leaving.’
“‘Please sit down. I promised I would definitely help you,’ said the Perfect Master. The man again sat down.
“‘Now listen carefully to what I tell you. Will you do as I request?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘Very well. Do you see that tree by the road over there?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘This is what I want you to do. I want you to go and sit beneath that tree. You are to stay there; I will see to all your needs. You will have food and protection from the elements. You are just to stay there, but when people pass by on the road, you are to go to them and bless them.’
“‘Bless them?’
“‘Yes bless them; you can say may God’s blessing be upon you—anything like that you wish. Can you do it?’
“‘Yes,’ replied the murderer, who was happy to be given a penance for his sins.
“And so the man began to stay under the tree and bless people when they went by. He stayed there for years—after a while, people even began to think he was some kind of great saint.
“It so happened that one day a messenger on horseback came galloping down the road at top speed. The murderer was out in the road, busy doing his blessings, when the man rode by. Not seeing him coming, the murderer stepped in front of the charging horse, the horse reared up and the rider was thrown into the air. Picking himself off the ground, the rider was absolutely furious.
“‘What the hell are you doing, man?’ he shouted at the murderer. ‘Are you crazy? You fool! I am delivering an important message from the king. See what you’ve done, you piece of shit?’ and he went on like that, railing against the murderer, who himself was getting more and more angry.
“Finally, the murderer could stand the abuse no longer and picked up a large stone and crushed the messenger’s head. Just then, at that very moment, the Perfect Master arrived, said simply ‘One hundred,’ and bestowed upon the murderer the highest state of liberation. The Perfect Master gave him the state of God Realization.”
“Victor, I have absolutely no idea what this story means,” Anne said after a long pause.
“You see, Anne, the messenger was carrying orders from the king for the execution of one hundred innocent people. By killing the messenger—his one hundredth murder—he saved one hundred people. The Perfect Master knew this in the beginning, knew exactly what was necessary to balance the murderer’s actions and liberate him from their consequences.”
Along the spiritual path it is impossible to judge the degree of advancement based on appearances, worldly morality, goodness or badness. Here, from these two quotations, we recognize that the issue is not one of consciousness at all, but the impressions—the sanskaras—that cover consciousness like a shade covers a light bulb.
For the sake of example, consider gross consciousness to be a forty-watt light bulb. When it is turned on it will give a certain amount of light, and by that light we will be able to see the gross world and its paraphernalia. The gross world, with all its paraphernalia, is the projection of our mind and is the creation of our sanskaras which form the shade that covers the bulb. As we look around, we see our projection, but out of ignorance, we assume that what we see is outside of us and independent of us.
We look here, we look there, we look everywhere and our projection seems unlimited, but it is not. We can only see, we can only project, that which can be seen by a forty-watt bulb. To see—to project—more, like the subtle and mental worlds with their planes and heavens, we need a stronger bulb—we need a sixty watt bulb.
The consciousness of the Avatar and Perfect Masters is Infinite and Limitless Light—the Source of all Light, and with that Light they can see the light of all consciousness’s and the impressions of all souls in creation. That is how they can work at another level—freeing souls from the bondage of illusion so that they may recognize the Light of Infinite Consciousness as their own.
“One Light; Light that is One though the lamps be many.” Incredible String Band
“And I still think that there must be some difference between someone like you and the average person who is not conscious at all—how could you be on the same plane as say a murderer or rapist?? Is it just that you may have experienced more lifetimes in the gross world and are farther along that way?”
So onto the remaining assumptions:
“…the average person who is not conscious at all…” What is an average person? Perhaps what is being suggested is a typical worldly person who seems to be disinclined towards anything spiritual. But again, here, looks are deceiving, and apparently very worldly people can really be very spiritually advanced.
Only a real master can look inside a person and see his state and status. Perhaps a person in a previous life led a life of renunciation and austerity—maybe he was a yogi or sincere seeker. He made real efforts, but did not achieve the goal. Upasani Maharaj tells us that when spiritual efforts do not go their full term in a lifetime—do not end in fulfillment—the results of those efforts are transformed into worldly gifts and riches called punya. In other words, that soul, now attached to a worldly life, is experiencing that life in order to balance his previous spiritual life.
Perhaps it is for this reason that, as Upasani Maharaj suggests, with real progress along the spiritual path, the individual is seen to adopt more and more the attitude of live and let live. This attitude springs from the very wisdom of his soul and may, or may not, manifest in any lifetime. The lesson here, I believe, is that the more we are inclined to judge and differentiate others, the further from our dharma (our personal spiritual path) we are.
There was man whom nobody liked. He acted badly, always said and did the wrong thing. Nobody wanted him to be around. A few of Meher Baba’s followers were talking about this man—criticizing him—backbiting. Of course, Meher Baba knew this and called them on it. They openly complained to Baba about the man and how much trouble he was. Meher Baba listened to them and then said, “You fools! You don’t see anything, but I tell you that this man is doing the very best he can with the sanskaras he has in this lifetime. I am very happy with this man.”
It’s like we’re playing cards with someone and can’t see the hand he has been dealt. How can we tell if he is playing a good hand badly or a bad hand well? Hence the wisdom of the attitude, live and let live.
And what about knowledge? Can we infer that the person who answers the questions about the planes of consciousness is more advanced than the person who asks the question? I don’t think so. Knowing and not knowing can be attributed to sanskaras—to the hand one is dealt in a given lifetime. In one lifetime a person asks and another answers. In the next lifetime, the roles are reversed—the teacher becomes the student and the student becomes the teacher. The forces that keep the pendulum swinging are pride and its counterpart envy.
I believe that the following words of Meher Baba should always be remembered in one’s mind and heart:
“Now I want to say a few words about love for God. God is to be loved, and not studied. God is to be loved, and not argued about. God is beyond intellect, so intellect can neither see Him nor understand Him. Only the heart can approach the threshold of the Beloved. Therefore, even the poorest of beings and the most illiterate can all find God within their selves through love. This love demands no riches, no powers, no fame, no learning and no ceremonies. We have to love God as our Beloved, and this love must be so intense that, just as we cannot live without air, we should not be able to live without God—the love of God.”
So this blog began with the questions of my friend:
“Well, I think that I’m just trying to get a full intellectual understanding of the whole process that Baba describes, I’m still not all that clear about souls that are in those planes. And do we want to get to those planes?? Or are those planes the part that Baba will take us speedily through? I was hoping that this gross plane is the part that He will speedily take us through since this is getting kinda tiring.
“I just don’t get yet the part about the souls on the subtle and mental planes. And I want to understand it fully.
“And I still think that there must be some difference between someone like you and the average person who is not conscious at all—how could you be on the same plane as say a murderer or rapist?? Is it just that you may have experienced more lifetimes in the gross world and are farther along that way?”
And after all the answers—answers that can, at best, in the words of Meher Baba, “appease the convulsions of the mind,” we come again to the subject of love and the words of Meher Baba mentioned before, but bearing repeating:
“Now I want to say a few words about love for God. God is to be loved, and not studied. God is to be loved, and not argued about. God is beyond intellect, so intellect can neither see Him nor understand Him. Only the heart can approach the threshold of the Beloved. Therefore, even the poorest of beings and the most illiterate can all find God within their selves through love. This love demands no riches, no powers, no fame, no learning and no ceremonies. We have to love God as our Beloved, and this love must be so intense that, just as we cannot live without air, we should not be able to live without God—the love of God.”
But what about this love—this love of God? How do we get it? How do we “do” it? For myself, I always knew I was unable to love an abstract concept—what is often referred to as impersonal God—and even the representations of personal God, the Avatars and Perfect Masters—even though they inspired me to long for what they had—infinite peace and bliss and wisdom beyond all of man’s knowledge, and yes, even their love—real love, still, because I had never met these incarnations, never stood in their physical presence, never felt their embraces, except in beautiful dreams, still, I always felt, always knew that I was less than a beggar at the table of love, that I was like a dog laying under the table hoping and waiting for a crumb to fall from the table of the masters and their saints and their angels for me to lick up.
And the more I learned, and the more I longed, the more I knew, beyond any doubt, that, for me, the way to love led to the door of a living master—that master who came to me in my dreams, called to me in my sleep of wakefulness, washed my face in my cool tears of longing and my warm tears of remorse.
But how to find that door? And once found, how to enter? Rumi said,
“The mind is a great and a wondrous thing that can lead to the threshold of the King, but like shoes before entering a holy place, must be discarded and left at the door.”
And so my mind, inspired by my heart, searched and searched one path after another and beheld beauties and miracles and experiences, and still I remained a stranger to love. “I know teachings and techniques,” I said to Meher Baba one day while sitting in His tomb shrine in India, “but I don’t know anything about love—and yet You say that the only way to hold on to You is with love. So Baba, if love is the only way, it is up to You to show me that love for I am a beggar at that table.”
And in the years to come He did just that, He showed me that love, not in myself, but in others, shining in their faces, weeping in their hearts—they were mirrors, and when I looked I saw not myself, but my Beloved, and heard these words of Meher Baba;
“To love God in the most practical way is to love our fellow beings. If we feel for others in the same way as we feel for our own dear ones, we love God.
“If, instead of seeing faults in others, we look within ourselves, we are loving God.
“If, instead of robbing others to help ourselves, we rob ourselves to help others, we are loving God.
“If we suffer in the sufferings of others and feel happy in the happiness of others, we are loving God.
“If, instead of worrying over our own misfortunes, we think ourselves more fortunate than many many others, we are loving God.
“If we endure our lot with patience and contentment, accepting it as His Will, we are loving God.
“If we understand and feel that the greatest act of devotion and worship to God is not to hurt or harm any of His beings, we are loving God.
“To love God as He ought to be loved, we must live for God and die for God, knowing that the goal of life is to Love God, and find Him as our own self.”
“Well, I think that I’m just trying to get a full intellectual understanding of the whole process that Baba describes, I’m still not all that clear about souls that are in those planes. And do we want to get to those planes?? Or are those planes the part that Baba will take us speedily through? I was hoping that this gross plane is the part that He will speedily take us through since this is getting kinda tiring.
“I just don’t get yet the part about the souls on the subtle and mental planes. And I want to understand it fully.
“And I still think that there must be some difference between someone like you and the average person who is not conscious at all—how could you be on the same plane as say a murderer or rapist?? Is it just that you may have experienced more lifetimes in the gross world and are farther along that way?”
I thought my friend’s questions about the planes of consciousness were interesting and that there might be others too who shared her interest. So, based on the explanations given by Meher Baba, I will attempt an answer based wholly and solely on Meher Baba's explanations, and that I personally have no conscious experience of anything other than the gross plane—the plane of evolution—the plane before the higher planes of consciousness.
“Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream;
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.”
The gross plane of consciousness, and all the higher planes of consciousness, exists as a dream—nothing more than a dream. As such, the gross world—where evolution of consciousness occurs—and the subtle and mental worlds—where involution of conscious occurs— are not real— and when the goal of union with God—God realization—is achieved, the knowledge of this dream becomes self-evident.
Imagine that you are asleep and dreaming. You are dreaming yourself to be a beggar or a king; you are living on the street, or in a palace; you are eating garbage, or succulent meals. But you are not a beggar or a king, and you are not on the street or in a palace, you are asleep in your bed, and your bed can be anywhere. Your dream has no gross physical location, it is within you; it is a state of consciousness—and so are all the higher planes of consciousness, they are within you.
The dream of the gross conscious soul is the gross world and his dream-life is experienced—led—within that world. When that same gross conscious soul enters the higher planes of involution, his experience of the gross world ends, but other gross conscious souls continue to experience his dream as part of their own through their gross conscious eyes. His gross body exists for them, but no longer for himself.
“I’ll let you be in my dream, if I can be in yours.” Bob Dylan – Talking World War Three Blues.
Meher Baba is very clear on this point; involution and the goal of involution—consciousness of the soul of I am God State— is achieved in the gross world in gross bodies. The fact that the consciousness of the soul may not be aware of the gross world or the gross body it is associated with is of no concern.
Meher Baba also makes it very clear that the odyssey of every soul must progress through the higher planes of consciousness on its journey from the gross world and gross consciousness to the consciousness of the I am God State. Individual differences have to do with the degree the soul is conscious of the planes it is progressing through and what its experience of that consciousness is.
This is where one of my friend’s questions comes from, because Meher Baba says that the Avatar takes His lovers and followers through the higher planes blindfolded—veiled. The experience of the planes is very intoxicating, so much so, that one could become enchanted by the experiences—the sights and sounds, the powers; the knowledge; and the bliss. The term used by the Sufis is jazd—one can become jazd—lost—in the experiences.
(Please allow a short digression here to suggest that the moniker attached to the music of Miles and Ellington and Coltrane and Monk etc. is derived from that same Sufi term.)
Remember my friend said, “I was hoping that this gross plane is the part that He will speedily take us through since this is getting kinda tiring.” Tiring, that is an important and accurate observation; for the gross world, with all it planets, stars, solar systems and galaxies; all of its phenomena; all of its life forms and experiences; is in the end, most limited and finite. Our bodies are cramped and confining; no matter how great the pleasure, it is always short-lived and followed by inevitable pain. Satisfaction of desires gives way to more cravings; suffering is the hand-maiden of all gross existence. After millions of lifetimes do not cracks in the veneer of life’s promises begin to show? And it is only when they begin to show, only when we stop buying into life’s promises and invariable disappointments that we begin to ask the right question; is there not anything else beyond this? And it is only when we begin to sincerely ask this question that we begin to travel consciously on the journey to God. Meher Baba puts it so poetically when he says in Bhau Kalchuri’s book, The Nothing and the Everything, “When what one sees has no reality, the inevitable must occur: the consciousness looks within and begins the inner journey, and the Jeevatma (embodied soul) again dreams, but this time, the dream is divine…the Divine Dream of becoming God.”
So once the consciousness of the soul has realized the requisite poverty of the gross consciousness, why would the Avatar, who knows by direct experience, the bliss that awaits us, allow us to then enter the planes of consciousness and spend countless more lifetimes lost in the illusory experiences of the planes?
“It is as difficult for a man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.” – The New Testament.
And so, I think that the only question left from my friend is whether consciousness accounts for the differences between people. She said, “And I still think that there must be some difference between someone like you and the average person who is not conscious at all—how could you be on the same plane as say a murderer or rapist?? Is it just that you may have experienced more lifetimes in the gross world and are farther along that way?”
There are so many assumptions buried in this question; let’s see if I can ferret out a few themes:
A murderer or a rapist cannot be as far along the spiritual path as a good and moral person.
Meher Baba reminded us, “A saint is bound by a golden chain, a sinner by a spiked one; but the goal is to be free of all chains.”
To a few of his close followers Meher Baba revealed, “With me, no one can live what the world considers a moral life. Here, we are concerned with spirituality, not morals. A spiritual life is not ruled nor bound by any principles. The sanskaras of each one are different, and so the behavior and temperament of everyone are different.
“In a virtuous life, evil is suppressed and good surfaces; but the evil is still there. The bad sanskaras remain and have to be worked out, if not in this life then in the next or the one after. In the spiritual life, both good and bad sanskaras express themselves, and both get nullified. A spiritual life leads one toward naturalness, whereas a virtuous life, in the guise of humility, inflates the ego and perpetuates it! A spiritual life, though, is only led under the guidance and orders of the Avatar or Perfect Master, who knows the pulse of everyone and treats everyone according to his particular malady.
“You do not like Aloba's behavior, but his behavior was quite natural and necessary for him. How can you understand that? People of the world act according to moral standards and socially acceptable behavior, but the Avatar or Perfect Master deals with everyone according to his or her sanskaras. Thus spiritual life is totally different and cannot be judged on the basis of morality, ethics or any principle.”
In my most recent book, SuperVisions – by Dr. Dorothy Mead and Michael Kovitz, eladi-publications.com, we tell a story I first heard from Bhau Kalchuri, one of Meher Baba’s close disciples, of a mass murder’s encounter with a Perfect Master:
“A mass murderer went to a Perfect Master for help. He realized his soul was in grave jeopardy because of all the people he had killed. So he joined a group who had gathered in the presence of a Perfect Master. He was an old and grizzled looking man who wore nothing but a piece of burlap cut from an old gunnysack. Seeing the stranger in their midst, he nonchalantly inquired why he was there.
“The man spoke quite openly and honestly. ‘I am a bad man,’ he said. ‘I have killed many people and I am terrified for my soul. I have heard about you and come begging for your help.’ Of course, all in the group had turned to see the man who was confessing to being a murderer.
“‘Let me get this straight,’ said the Perfect Master, feigning the tone of a scholar or a philosopher. ‘You are a murderer?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘And you have come to me for help for your soul?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘I see. Now tell me, how many people have you killed?’
“‘Ninety-nine,’ the man replied, and all of the people gave a collective gasp.
“‘I see,’ said the Perfect Master. ‘You have killed ninety-nine people, and you want my help for your soul?’ his voice sounding thoughtful and inquiring.
“‘Yes, that is the truth.’
“‘I see. You have killed ninety-nine people. You are sure it is ninety-nine?’
“‘Yes, I am sure,’ said the murderer, who was beginning to wonder at the Perfect Master’s questions.
“‘Ninety-nine and not one hundred,’ the Perfect Master persevered while the murderer grew more impatient.
“‘Yes, I have killed ninety-nine and not one hundred.’
“‘And you are coming to me for my help?’ The man jumped to his feet. He felt the so-called Perfect Master was either crazy or teasing him.
“‘Where are you going?’ asked the Perfect Master in mock surprise.
“‘I feel I have made a mistake in coming here. I don’t believe you are taking me seriously. I am leaving.’
“‘On the contrary,’ replied the Perfect Master, ‘please sit down. I promise I will help you.’ The man sat down again.
“‘Now let me get this straight,’ said the Perfect Master. ‘You are a murderer and you have killed ninety-nine people and you are coming to me for help for your soul?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘And you are sure you have killed ninety-nine people?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘And not one hundred?’ Again the man jumped to his feet.
“‘What are you doing?’ asked the Perfect Master with all the innocence of a child.
“‘I am leaving.’
“‘Please sit down. I promised I would definitely help you,’ said the Perfect Master. The man again sat down.
“‘Now listen carefully to what I tell you. Will you do as I request?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘Very well. Do you see that tree by the road over there?’
“‘Yes.’
“‘This is what I want you to do. I want you to go and sit beneath that tree. You are to stay there; I will see to all your needs. You will have food and protection from the elements. You are just to stay there, but when people pass by on the road, you are to go to them and bless them.’
“‘Bless them?’
“‘Yes bless them; you can say may God’s blessing be upon you—anything like that you wish. Can you do it?’
“‘Yes,’ replied the murderer, who was happy to be given a penance for his sins.
“And so the man began to stay under the tree and bless people when they went by. He stayed there for years—after a while, people even began to think he was some kind of great saint.
“It so happened that one day a messenger on horseback came galloping down the road at top speed. The murderer was out in the road, busy doing his blessings, when the man rode by. Not seeing him coming, the murderer stepped in front of the charging horse, the horse reared up and the rider was thrown into the air. Picking himself off the ground, the rider was absolutely furious.
“‘What the hell are you doing, man?’ he shouted at the murderer. ‘Are you crazy? You fool! I am delivering an important message from the king. See what you’ve done, you piece of shit?’ and he went on like that, railing against the murderer, who himself was getting more and more angry.
“Finally, the murderer could stand the abuse no longer and picked up a large stone and crushed the messenger’s head. Just then, at that very moment, the Perfect Master arrived, said simply ‘One hundred,’ and bestowed upon the murderer the highest state of liberation. The Perfect Master gave him the state of God Realization.”
“Victor, I have absolutely no idea what this story means,” Anne said after a long pause.
“You see, Anne, the messenger was carrying orders from the king for the execution of one hundred innocent people. By killing the messenger—his one hundredth murder—he saved one hundred people. The Perfect Master knew this in the beginning, knew exactly what was necessary to balance the murderer’s actions and liberate him from their consequences.”
Along the spiritual path it is impossible to judge the degree of advancement based on appearances, worldly morality, goodness or badness. Here, from these two quotations, we recognize that the issue is not one of consciousness at all, but the impressions—the sanskaras—that cover consciousness like a shade covers a light bulb.
For the sake of example, consider gross consciousness to be a forty-watt light bulb. When it is turned on it will give a certain amount of light, and by that light we will be able to see the gross world and its paraphernalia. The gross world, with all its paraphernalia, is the projection of our mind and is the creation of our sanskaras which form the shade that covers the bulb. As we look around, we see our projection, but out of ignorance, we assume that what we see is outside of us and independent of us.
We look here, we look there, we look everywhere and our projection seems unlimited, but it is not. We can only see, we can only project, that which can be seen by a forty-watt bulb. To see—to project—more, like the subtle and mental worlds with their planes and heavens, we need a stronger bulb—we need a sixty watt bulb.
The consciousness of the Avatar and Perfect Masters is Infinite and Limitless Light—the Source of all Light, and with that Light they can see the light of all consciousness’s and the impressions of all souls in creation. That is how they can work at another level—freeing souls from the bondage of illusion so that they may recognize the Light of Infinite Consciousness as their own.
“One Light; Light that is One though the lamps be many.” Incredible String Band
“And I still think that there must be some difference between someone like you and the average person who is not conscious at all—how could you be on the same plane as say a murderer or rapist?? Is it just that you may have experienced more lifetimes in the gross world and are farther along that way?”
So onto the remaining assumptions:
“…the average person who is not conscious at all…” What is an average person? Perhaps what is being suggested is a typical worldly person who seems to be disinclined towards anything spiritual. But again, here, looks are deceiving, and apparently very worldly people can really be very spiritually advanced.
Only a real master can look inside a person and see his state and status. Perhaps a person in a previous life led a life of renunciation and austerity—maybe he was a yogi or sincere seeker. He made real efforts, but did not achieve the goal. Upasani Maharaj tells us that when spiritual efforts do not go their full term in a lifetime—do not end in fulfillment—the results of those efforts are transformed into worldly gifts and riches called punya. In other words, that soul, now attached to a worldly life, is experiencing that life in order to balance his previous spiritual life.
Perhaps it is for this reason that, as Upasani Maharaj suggests, with real progress along the spiritual path, the individual is seen to adopt more and more the attitude of live and let live. This attitude springs from the very wisdom of his soul and may, or may not, manifest in any lifetime. The lesson here, I believe, is that the more we are inclined to judge and differentiate others, the further from our dharma (our personal spiritual path) we are.
There was man whom nobody liked. He acted badly, always said and did the wrong thing. Nobody wanted him to be around. A few of Meher Baba’s followers were talking about this man—criticizing him—backbiting. Of course, Meher Baba knew this and called them on it. They openly complained to Baba about the man and how much trouble he was. Meher Baba listened to them and then said, “You fools! You don’t see anything, but I tell you that this man is doing the very best he can with the sanskaras he has in this lifetime. I am very happy with this man.”
It’s like we’re playing cards with someone and can’t see the hand he has been dealt. How can we tell if he is playing a good hand badly or a bad hand well? Hence the wisdom of the attitude, live and let live.
And what about knowledge? Can we infer that the person who answers the questions about the planes of consciousness is more advanced than the person who asks the question? I don’t think so. Knowing and not knowing can be attributed to sanskaras—to the hand one is dealt in a given lifetime. In one lifetime a person asks and another answers. In the next lifetime, the roles are reversed—the teacher becomes the student and the student becomes the teacher. The forces that keep the pendulum swinging are pride and its counterpart envy.
I believe that the following words of Meher Baba should always be remembered in one’s mind and heart:
“Now I want to say a few words about love for God. God is to be loved, and not studied. God is to be loved, and not argued about. God is beyond intellect, so intellect can neither see Him nor understand Him. Only the heart can approach the threshold of the Beloved. Therefore, even the poorest of beings and the most illiterate can all find God within their selves through love. This love demands no riches, no powers, no fame, no learning and no ceremonies. We have to love God as our Beloved, and this love must be so intense that, just as we cannot live without air, we should not be able to live without God—the love of God.”
So this blog began with the questions of my friend:
“Well, I think that I’m just trying to get a full intellectual understanding of the whole process that Baba describes, I’m still not all that clear about souls that are in those planes. And do we want to get to those planes?? Or are those planes the part that Baba will take us speedily through? I was hoping that this gross plane is the part that He will speedily take us through since this is getting kinda tiring.
“I just don’t get yet the part about the souls on the subtle and mental planes. And I want to understand it fully.
“And I still think that there must be some difference between someone like you and the average person who is not conscious at all—how could you be on the same plane as say a murderer or rapist?? Is it just that you may have experienced more lifetimes in the gross world and are farther along that way?”
And after all the answers—answers that can, at best, in the words of Meher Baba, “appease the convulsions of the mind,” we come again to the subject of love and the words of Meher Baba mentioned before, but bearing repeating:
“Now I want to say a few words about love for God. God is to be loved, and not studied. God is to be loved, and not argued about. God is beyond intellect, so intellect can neither see Him nor understand Him. Only the heart can approach the threshold of the Beloved. Therefore, even the poorest of beings and the most illiterate can all find God within their selves through love. This love demands no riches, no powers, no fame, no learning and no ceremonies. We have to love God as our Beloved, and this love must be so intense that, just as we cannot live without air, we should not be able to live without God—the love of God.”
But what about this love—this love of God? How do we get it? How do we “do” it? For myself, I always knew I was unable to love an abstract concept—what is often referred to as impersonal God—and even the representations of personal God, the Avatars and Perfect Masters—even though they inspired me to long for what they had—infinite peace and bliss and wisdom beyond all of man’s knowledge, and yes, even their love—real love, still, because I had never met these incarnations, never stood in their physical presence, never felt their embraces, except in beautiful dreams, still, I always felt, always knew that I was less than a beggar at the table of love, that I was like a dog laying under the table hoping and waiting for a crumb to fall from the table of the masters and their saints and their angels for me to lick up.
And the more I learned, and the more I longed, the more I knew, beyond any doubt, that, for me, the way to love led to the door of a living master—that master who came to me in my dreams, called to me in my sleep of wakefulness, washed my face in my cool tears of longing and my warm tears of remorse.
But how to find that door? And once found, how to enter? Rumi said,
“The mind is a great and a wondrous thing that can lead to the threshold of the King, but like shoes before entering a holy place, must be discarded and left at the door.”
And so my mind, inspired by my heart, searched and searched one path after another and beheld beauties and miracles and experiences, and still I remained a stranger to love. “I know teachings and techniques,” I said to Meher Baba one day while sitting in His tomb shrine in India, “but I don’t know anything about love—and yet You say that the only way to hold on to You is with love. So Baba, if love is the only way, it is up to You to show me that love for I am a beggar at that table.”
And in the years to come He did just that, He showed me that love, not in myself, but in others, shining in their faces, weeping in their hearts—they were mirrors, and when I looked I saw not myself, but my Beloved, and heard these words of Meher Baba;
“To love God in the most practical way is to love our fellow beings. If we feel for others in the same way as we feel for our own dear ones, we love God.
“If, instead of seeing faults in others, we look within ourselves, we are loving God.
“If, instead of robbing others to help ourselves, we rob ourselves to help others, we are loving God.
“If we suffer in the sufferings of others and feel happy in the happiness of others, we are loving God.
“If, instead of worrying over our own misfortunes, we think ourselves more fortunate than many many others, we are loving God.
“If we endure our lot with patience and contentment, accepting it as His Will, we are loving God.
“If we understand and feel that the greatest act of devotion and worship to God is not to hurt or harm any of His beings, we are loving God.
“To love God as He ought to be loved, we must live for God and die for God, knowing that the goal of life is to Love God, and find Him as our own self.”
Labels: Bob Dylan, Consciousness, Meher Baba, Michael Kovitz, planes of consciousness, Rumi, the teachings of the Masters
posted by Michael Kovitz at 8:32 AM
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