Embedded with the Kali Yuga

Things Are Not What They Seem (Part 2.)

2012-01-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

First a little housekeeping; Keysunset left the following comment on part one of Things Are Not What They Seem to Be.

“Just need a little clarification. Your quote says, ‘There is nothing to say or to hear,
‘There is nothing to do:
‘It is he who is living, yet dead, who shall never die again.’”

“But then you say, ‘But, as Kabir says, when what appears to be so real is seen for what it is, then one becomes living, yet dead, and is never born again.’”

“Is it ‘never die again’ or ‘never born again’? For me, at least, it changes the thought.”

So, to answer her question, it was not my intention to change Kabir’s statement in my paraphrase. It should read; "But, as Kabir says, when what appears to be so real is seen for what it is, then one becomes living, yet dead, and never dies again."

Thank you Keywest for catching my mistake.

But her comment made me wonder—I mean the part about it changing the meaning for her. I thought it had something to do with the fact that Keysunset is a Christian, and the concept of ‘born again’ holds tremendous significance in her faith. So I asked her about it, and in fact, my assumption was correct, that in her faith, the end, as in the goal, is to be born again into Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven.

I remember the story of Lazarus in the New Testament. Lazarus was dead until Christ walked by and told him, “Lazarus arise!” And Lazarus arose and was ‘born again’ in Him. I recall that Andre Segovia, the great classical guitarist once referred to that story saying, “from that moment, Lazarus belonged more to Christ then he did to his own mother and father.”

Still, I wonder, what the distinction is between ‘born no more’ and ‘die no more’. The soul is eternal and in eternity there is no birth—no beginning—and if there is no beginning there can be no death—no end. Birth and death only have meaning in life—in illusion.

Additionally, I think the distinction Keywest makes brings up the difference in belief held by modern Christians and Muslim—that there is only one birth and one death—and the Vedic belief in reincarnation (many births and many deaths).

I love how Meher Baba deals with this distinction in God Speaks:
“…it is made clear that it is God who plays the different roles, real and imaginary. The beginning is God and the end is God; the intermediary stages cannot but be God.

‘Maulana Shabistari, in Gulshan-e-Raz says:

“He returns to the door from which he first came out, although in his journey he went from door to door.’”

(To be continued.)

Things are not what they seem (part 1.)

2012-01-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

I have looked up the word “faith” in various dictionaries and the definitions are quite consistent; “faith” is a confidence or trust in a person, entity, or idea that does not rest on material evidence or logical proof. A common and consistent application of the word is to the existence of and belief in God. The average person does not see God, does not experience God directly, but is confident and trusts that God exists. Some say they see the hand of God working, but this seeing is like inferring the existence of the wind by observing the movement of the leaves on the tree.

But there is another side to “faith” that is not generally recognized or understood. This other side cannot be found in the definitions of dictionaries and thesaurus’ and yet, without this other side, the first side of faith cannot stand; it this other side of faith that I wish to address in this blog.

“I am called Shri Nazar,” she said. I guess my surprise was quite obvious all over my face.

“Yes, it is unusual for a woman to be addressed as Shri,” she said. “It was my spiritual master who gave me this name.” She smiled, adding, “In the spiritual world, things are not always what they first appear.” – Lovers of Silence; Lovers of Sound – Michael Kovitz

“In the spiritual world, things are not always what they first appear.”

Kabir, the great 15th Century poet and Perfect Master said:

“Lamps burn in every house, O blind ones!, and you cannot see them.

“One day your eyes shall suddenly be opened, and you shall see:
And the fetters of death will fall from you.

“There is nothing to say or to hear,
There is nothing to do:
It is he who is living, yet dead, who shall never die again.

“Because he lives in solitude, therefore the yogi says that His home is far away.
(But), your Lord is near: yet you are climbing the palm-tree to seek Him.

“The Brahman priest goes from house to house and initiates people into faith:
Alas! The true fountain of life is beside you,
Yet you have set up a stone to worship.

“Kabir says: ‘I may never express how sweet my Lord is. Yoga and the telling of beads, virtue and vice—these are naught to Him.”

We always think there is something to say—something to do—something to learn—something to know. But, as Kabir says,when what appears to be so real is seen for what it is, then one becomes living, yet dead, and is never born again.

(To be continued.)

The Planes of Consciousness

2012-01-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

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.”

Lovers of Silence -- Lovers of Sound (Complete)

2011-12-21T08:03:00.000-08:00

Lovers of Silence—Lovers of Sound is an unfinished manuscript, the sequel to my book From Silence to Sound—Richard Kyle’s Journey to Musical Competency (available through my website http://eladi-publications.com/silence-sound.htm).
The person speaking is Mera, one of Mr. Kubadi’s senior students. Lovers of Silence—Lovers of Sound is her story—Mera’s tale.
The ideas expressed in the book are taken from the teachings of the Masters, specifically Avatar Meher Baba and Upasani Maharaj.
What follows is the first chapter of the book. Mera is speaking.

“From my childhood I began to sense that music comes from within—from that silence which is the source of all sound and can be, as my teacher often reminded me, the messenger of that silence. Silence manifests all sound by thinking all sound—by dreaming all sound. When sound remembers it source, then sound becomes the messenger of that silence and can fulfill the promise of its existence. Mr. Kubadi says, “When music becomes the messenger of silence, it has real meaning, but of what value is the messenger without a message?”

Once when I was in India, I had the good fortune to meet a man who was a Nada-Brahma yogi. His way involved working with vibrations, or sound currents, within his body. I was told that microphones were once placed around his body and that sound was detected coming from the area of his spine—even though he was not speaking or singing or playing any kind of instrument at the time.

Our meeting was private, in a little room barely large enough for the two us. He sat on a cot; I sat on the floor. He spoke about the ancient Vedic chants and the necessity for impeccable articulation and pitch for them to have the correct effect. He talked about life and how we had to learn to let it come in and let it go out—“…like food,” he said, “if it gets stuck inside, there is disease.”

When I talked about my music he appeared to listen with his full attention—as much, it seemed, to the sound of my words as to their meaning. The effect on me was interesting—I began to hear my own voice as if it belonged to someone else.

“Kubadi,” he repeated, when I mentioned my teacher’s name, “it is an Indian word; do you know its meaning?” I smiled and shook my head.

“There was once a great saint called Ramadasa who kept with him a kind of armrest called a kubadi. It looked like a heavy short stick with a curved piece on the top—like a crescent. To explain the significance of the kubadi I must first tell you something about the science of breath called pranayama. It is yogic knowledge that respiration is not only essential for life, but is very useful in attaining higher experiences of things related to God. Hatha yogis are seen to control their respiration for this purpose.

“Normally, the breath can be observed to flow sometimes through the left, sometimes through the right, and occasionally through both nostrils simultaneously. The flow of the breath is directly linked to certain states of consciousness. These states are termed the ida, pingala, and sushumna respectively. It is this last state, the sushumna state, that is of interest to the yogis, for if the respiration goes on through both nostrils simultaneously, then one can attain higher subtle knowledge. To attain the sushumna state, many procedures have been laid down for those individuals who are suitably prepared to practice the control of the breath—they are always undertaken in conjunction with certain postures, dietary restrictions, meditation practices, and austerities.

“To take breath through one nostril, retain it for some specific time, and then exhale through the other nostril is one of the important techniques that comprise the science of pranayama. This practice of alternate nostril breathing and retention is practiced to attain the state of sushumna. The study is a bit difficult and requires considerable help and guidance. There is, however, a quicker and simpler method to attain the state.

“In a normal and healthy individual it can be observed that the breath naturally predominates in one nostril and then, every few minutes, changes to the other nostril. To create the state of sushumna it is only necessary to change the rhythm artificially. By simply lying on the side of the active nostril, the breath can be made to change to the other nostril. An even quicker change is accomplished by merely applying pressure to compress the nerves in the armpit on the side of the body of the active nostril.

“It is on this principle that the great saint Ramadasa invented the kubadi. He kept it with him, only revealing its true purpose to a few. It became an emblem of his followers, though I doubt that not more than a few have ever understood the principle of this implement.”

“In fact, my teacher has been a kubadi for me,” I said.

“That is why you are here today—do you understand?”

I nodded.

The yogi raised his index finger to his lips. “Listen.” he said, and closed his eyes. His body became very still—it looked like he had flipped some invisible switch. Thinking that he was meditating, I followed his example and closed my eyes. After a few moments he stopped me.

“What did you hear?” he said.

“Inside or outside?”

“I don’t make a distinction.”

“Inside, I heard my thoughts; outside, there were voices, a motor, and, I think, a cow nearby.”

“Did you hear silence as well?”

“Yes, I was aware of the silence. I love the silence.”

“So the silence doesn’t end with the sound?”

“In a way, the sound makes the silence more apparent.”

I thought I detected that the yogi, in just a fraction of a second, seemed to ponder something.

“Will you go where I tell you?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered without hesitation.

With that, the yogi was on his feet and moving out of the room—fast! I scrambled to my feet and chased after him—my state was almost giddy. By the time I caught up with him he was already talking to an Indian woman and man. They both appeared to be about my age. They smiled at me when I approached. “We will take you to Shri Nazar,” the woman said. “It is about an eight hour ride by automobile. I cannot tell you how long you will be staying. When will you be ready to leave?”

“Whenever you are ready to go,” I replied.

“Now?” asked the man.

“Now.”

“We will ready the automobile, while you take some food,” the woman replied. “Come with me.” I followed her to the small enclosed porch I had passed through when I arrived to see the yogi. She indicated a small cot with pillows near the wall.

“Sit and relax. I will bring your food.” A few minutes later a very sweet elderly lady appeared with a large metal plate containing a chapatti, dal with rice, and a dish I knew as palak paneer.

It was a wonderful lunch and by the time I finished my cup of chai the young woman had returned to inform me that the car was now ready for us to depart. I grabbed my backpack from beside the door and we were off.

The car was a small version of an American van. It was air conditioned and quite comfortable. The woman drove, the man sat beside her in the front seat, and I was in the back. As we set out on our journey the man made the introductions. Their names were Anita and Amrit and the yogi, they called him Babaji, had arranged their marriage. They had been married for almost a year.

After skirting the suburbs of Bombay, where the road was choked with traffic and the air was much polluted, we struck out over the western ghats of the Deccan plateau. The view was rugged and mysterious—like the background of Da Vinci’s portrait of Mona Lisa.

Driving in India is a very different affair than driving in the United States. That is to say that regarding degree of difficulty on a scale of one to ten, the United States would most likely rank as a one or two, while India would be a nine. Even an experienced Indian driver has little time to chat or fiddle with a radio because of the constant need to make split second decisions regarding the road, trucks, cars, motorcycles, carts, bicycles, pedestrians, not to mention all the various kinds of animals who share the roads—like cows, goats, dogs and even the occasional elephant or camel.

Our destination was near an ancient site not far from the famous Ellora Caves, called Khuldabad. Named The Valley of the Saints, or Abode of Eternity, Khuldabad contains the graves and tombs of hundreds of real Sufi saints who migrated to the area in the fourteenth century. Though we did not stop at the site itself, just from being in the vicinity, I knew we were on holy ground and sensed a profound energy, mystical and etched in mystery.

Just about a kilometer or two past the dargah of the highly esteemed Sufi saint Muntajib al Din, more commonly known as Zar Zari Zar Baksh, there was a small unmarked dirt road which we followed for about another kilometer to a triangular grouping of three old stone buildings. One building appeared to be a temple; another was a small tomb, and the third, a residence of some sort. Anita stopped the car near the third building and after telling me to wait, got out of the car and approached the building. There was a brief exchange with someone at the door and she returned to the car. She told me that she and Amrit would be leaving, but would be informed and would return for me when it was time for me to go. She indicated a path alongside the building which she directed me to follow and after exchanging a brief hug she got into the car and drove off.

I followed the path to a gate that opened into a most spectacular garden with roses, jasmine and all kinds of flowering plants. There was a fig tree and a pomegranate tree; there were benches and seats arranged along an intricately laid stone path, and wood carvings, like screens, with Middle Eastern geometric designs. I was met by a rather tall Indian woman wearing a traditional Indian sari and head cover. She was followed by two young men carrying a rolled-up oriental carpet and an assortment of brightly colored cushions. The woman spoke to them in Marathi, indicating a small grassy area where they were to arrange the carpet and cushions. Then, speaking to me in English, she asked if I needed anything. I smiled and shook my head and she indicated a place on the carpet for me to sit. She dismissed the men and took a seat facing me. Her movements were very flowing and graceful and there was a refinement and elegance to her features that spoke of an almost ethereal beauty.

“I am called Shri Nazar,” she said. I guess my surprise was quite obvious all over my face.

“Yes, it is unusual for a woman to be addressed as Shri,” she said. “It was my spiritual master who gave me this name.” She smiled, adding, “In the spiritual world, things are not always what they first appear.”

“I understand,” I replied. “My name is Mera Estrel.”

One of the men returned with a tea service and snacks. He poured a cup for Shri Nazar, then one for me and then he turned and left.

“So your journey has led you to me. Do you know why you are here?” The authority in her voice was without pretense or distance. Like my teacher’s voice, it was totally natural and unforced, compelling, yet allowing me the choice as to how to receive it.

“I believe you have something for me,” I replied.

“When you told the yogi that you heard the silence as well as the sound, it was a sign to him that he should send you to me. It wasn’t so much the words you used, or even the idea you expressed, the yogi read your vibrations and knew you were ready to receive what I have to give you.”

“When I spoke to the yogi I heard my own voice in a different way.”

“Yes, it is because the yogi has no physical consciousness at all—of himself or the universe. His consciousness is subtle. He knows himself and the universe to be energy. This is his experience—it is not an idea, or a concept, or a belief for him. Physically conscious individuals see him walking, talking, taking food, like they do, and assume that his consciousness is the same as theirs, but, as I said before, in the spiritual world, things are not always what they first appear.”

Shri Nazar’s words trailed off into a comfortable silence that evoked in me a most unusual state in which the sounds of the garden, and even those of my own breath and thoughts, were experienced in a space, like a void, that was characterized by neither darkness nor light nor substance nor place. In this silence we conversed and drank tea and I spoke about my life and work in music. But at some point something changed and I again began to hear her voice in a different way—like it was coming from inside me—as if it were my own voice. And it was then that Shri Nazar began to speak about the relationship between silence and sound and the states of being and manifestation; and it was then that I knew, without doubt, that to hear this explanation was the purpose for my being there.

How long it lasted, I have no idea, because time ceased to exist in any ordinary way and I experienced her words not so much as thoughts, but like waking dreams made of lucid images and feelings.

“The most original state, beyond all experience and existence, is silence,” she began. “This original silence is immeasurable, beyond comparison, non-dual and eternal. This original silence is beyond all and every action, reaction and inaction. It is the most pristine state—even before the dualistic state of silence and sound. This original silence is so perfect that it is not even disturbed by the awareness of its own silence—by the awareness of itself. Original silence neither knows nor does not know that it even exists—it neither hears nor does not hear itself. Yet it is the nature of original silence to hear, for hearing is the means by which it comes to know itself. But, in its original state, nature is not linked to desire and consequently silence’s knowledge of itself remains unmanifest.

“Now between the original state of silence and the original state of sound lies the nascent state of silence—the state of unmanifest and unrealized possibility. It differs from the original silence only in the fact that it has a relationship to sound—like the surface of the ocean is materially the same as the ocean below the surface, yet by virtue of its relationship to the sky, the surface begins to exhibit different qualities than the ocean below. This nascent state is formed as a result of a most unfathomable act—unfathomable, because it has no inherent cause and is not the manifestation of any effect. This unfathomable act arises neither from destiny nor desire, but purely from whim.

“The qualities inherent to the nascent state—the state of silence’s surface—are the capacity to create sound and the capacity to hear sound. Creation, and the hearing of sound, is the mechanism by which original silence becomes conscious of itself.

“Hearing and consciousness are the same—in the sense that one cannot exist without the other. When silence hears, it is conscious; when silence is conscious, it hears. Now, since the most original silence is infinite, it’s hearing must be infinite to hear it, but in the beginning hearing is not sufficiently developed and thus hearing must be acquired through the process of creating and experiencing sound.”

Shri Nazar then illustrated the situation with an analogy of sleep and waking. She said that as one is gradually drawn away from the deep sleep state, one passes through various levels of dreaming before experiencing the awake state. The dreams of the early dream state are mixed heavily with the deep sleep state, but as the dreams percolate towards the awake state they are mixed more and more with experiences of the awake state.

“At first, you are asleep on your bed and dreaming,” she said, “but you are not at all aware of the room you are in or anything in it, including yourself. Then, as you are drawn closer to the awake state, sensations of the awake state, like light, sound and temperature begin to migrate into your dreams and you begin to experience a transitional state made of elements of both the dream and awake states. You are awake, yet still dreaming, and consequently your first impressions of the awake state, even including your experience of yourself, are vague and shadowy—very limited and finite.

“As I mentioned previously, the capacity to create sound and the capacity to hear sound is inherent in the nascent state, but the difference is that the capacity to create is perfect in the beginning while the capacity to hear is, in the beginning, most limited. Consequently, the first sound that silence hears is most limited—like the most vague and shadowy impressions experienced in the transitional state between dreams and awakening.

“Now, all of creation—all the worlds and everything and everyone in them: the stars, the planets, the sun and the earth, all the creatures of the sea and the sky and the earth, you and I—is nothing other than the original silence in the state of experiencing itself as sound. But since the nature of the original silence is infinite and eternal, then nothing other than or beyond itself exists, and so sound must be an illusion. If sound is an illusion, than we, as sound, do not exist—but we, as silence, do exist. Yet Mera, you feel that you exist—do you not?”

“Yes.”

“But who is having this feeling that you exist? The original silence must hear itself to know that it exists. To hear, to become conscious, original silence produces sound in its imagination, in its dreams, and then imagines that it hears that sound. Through this act of imagining it begins to identify itself with what it is hearing. Do you follow? First is the original state of silence before the rise of the whim to know itself. In this state there is not even the possibility of creating or hearing sound or becoming conscious of itself. The second state—the nascent state—manifests with the manifestation of the whim to know, to hear, itself. It is in this nascent state that the possibility of creating and hearing sound exists—though this creating and hearing is still only a possibility. Now, when this possibility is manifested and sound is created and heard in imagination, a new state — the composite state—is created and experienced.

“It is in this composite third state that the original silence, as you, experiences yourself. The original state is real, the nascent is imaginary, and the composite state is mixture of both reality and imagination. It is this third mixed state, the state of sound in silence and silence as sound that original silence experiences itself as you, as sound, as imagination. Now, to experience itself as silence, silence, in the beginning, imagined sound and so the third state, the composite state, cannot be considered the final state. To experience the final state the third, the composite state of silence and sound, must join with the first state of original silence. But to accomplish this, the sound—the imagination—must be removed, but without losing silence’s capacity to hear. For when sound disappears what is left for silence to hear except itself—except the original silence?”

Shri Nazar adjusted the folds of her sari, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. A most complex expression spread over her face—like one sees on the face of a newborn baby. She lifted her right hand from her lap. It was of good size with graceful tapered fingers; deep lines in her palm were clearly visible. Then she softly brought the tips of her thumb and index finger together, forming the shape of an oval. Without opening her eyes, she continued to speak.

“The first sound that silence imagined and heard in the composite state was stone. The experience was so profound that silence forgot that it was silence and took itself to be stone. The form of stone represents the most limited awake state in the process of silence’s awakening because the stone form is the most limited in its capacity to experience.

“The association of silence with stone lasted quite a long time, but eventually all the experiences silence could gain as stone were exhausted and silence then created and began to experience the next form. The process continued through the eight million four hundred thousand forms of creation, the last one being the human form.

“The process was consistent; first, the original silence imagined a sound, then associated and identified itself with that sound, gaining experience and consciousness through the process, and then, ultimately, after gaining all that could be gained through its association, silence disassociated itself with that form—that sound—and began the cycle anew by imagining the next sound—which was, in fact, the consolidated mold of all the experiences and consciousness gained from its association with the previous sound. All this took place naturally up to the creation of the final sound—the human form.”

Shri Nazar opened her eyes. The subtle way she cocked her head clearly conveyed to me a question. I felt my head lean my body slightly forward in her direction—my closed eyes and smile indicating I had understood.

“Then I will continue,” she said. “Here we use a term to describe the original silence in the process of imagining and experiencing itself as sound. You have no doubt heard it before—jiv-atma. The common understanding is that atma represents the soul and that jiv signifies the embodiment of that soul, or as my own guru used to say so beautifully, ‘a pure, celestial, soul identified with the projections of the mind.’ In fact, we can see from my earlier description that this division into two, the jiv and the atma, is not exactly correct because the division is really into three, though this division also must be understood as a division in imagination only.

“In speaking about the atma, or soul, or God, or the original silence, we must always remember that the original state always remains pristine, aloof, untouched and unaffected in any way. The original state is always non-dual, beyond comparison, and immeasurable. In reality, this atma—this soul— never speaks, or hears, or experiences in any way. It remains always as it always is, beyond the beyond, and it is only in this illusory false composite state that the atma, through the instrument of false mind, imagines itself to be separate and individual and vulnerable in order to acquire the consciousness to know itself as original silence.

“In other words, the ever-silent atma, associating with sound as jiv in the second state must, in the end, lose its identification with the state of jiv while still retaining the consciousness derived through that association in order to consciously merge into its original state of silence. But for this merging to take place, the perfected consciousness must first be purged of the impurities acquired along its journey of sound, or as my own master used to say, ‘How can tainted water be mixed with pure water? How can gold mixed with baser metals be melted into pure gold?’

“The eight million four hundredth sound is called the human form. Achievement of this form signifies that the requisite consciousness has been achieved and that silence, as atma in the second state, is now capable of hearing itself as silence. To do this it must merge with itself but, as I said, it is in a tainted state and must be purified before this merging—this hearing—can be accomplished. Of what does this purification consist of? The answer is that all remaining vestiges of the imagined sound must be removed; but since this sound is imaginary and does not really exist, it is really the dissociation of silence with sound that needs to be accomplished. For silence still believes that it is sound.

“This dissociation of silence with sound takes place in three stages often referred to in the spiritual language as reincarnation and involution of consciousness. During reincarnation, silence continues to create, associate with, and dissociate from a myriad of different sounds that are perceived by it and others as different human forms—sometimes male, sometimes female; sometimes rich, sometimes poor; sometimes strong, sometimes weak… in other words, silence experiencing itself in all possible opposites and dualities. This process of reincarnation occurs at the level of gross sound—sound that is audible to it and others who are journeying through the process of reincarnation. The limit of possible sounds is fixed at eight million four hundred thousand sounds.

“After creating, experiencing, and finally dissociating from all of these sounds, silence loses consciousness of itself as gross sound but then begins to create, experience and dissociate itself from subtle sound. This is the beginning of involution of consciousness. Involution progresses through three stages of subtle sounds: one transitional stage which is half subtle and half mental, and then two stages of mental sounds. These stages are commonly referred to as the higher planes of consciousness and are held in vaunted esteem by individuals who aspire to them. What is important to remember, however, is that all sounds—any sounds—whether they are gross, subtle or mental, are still only imagination, still do not exist, and still are not the reality of original silence.

“To achieve the state of original silence, certain timeless measures have been adopted. In general they consist of the following: training oneself to recognize the true nature of all and every sound as illusion; training oneself to recognize one’s reality as original silence; and associating with one who has already achieved full consciousness of the original silence. What is commonly referred to as the spiritual path comprises the first two methods. The spiritual path is composed of all the known and forgotten yogas, austerities, penances, studies and religions that focus on the impersonal and personal aspects of God.

“But, in this cycle of time, in this yuga, the first two methods are very difficult to practice successfully. The third method, associating with one who has already achieved full consciousness of the original silence, is, in fact, the best and easiest way to achieve the goal.”

Shri Nazar’s words seemed to dissolve into the very silence she had been describing. Without effort I began to experience the gentle rhythm of my breath which seemed to connect me to her and the garden and the sky and beyond.

“Please come to the house with me to rest and have something to eat. Later I will take you to the caves to hear a very special musician.”

Shri Nazar took me by the hand and we walked slowly back to her house.

What is My Life?

2011-11-21T07:05:00.000-08:00

What is my life if not the consolidated mold of my most cherished ambitions, my deepest desires, my talents and my flaws? Is it any wonder that I am totally identified with my life?

But I am not my life! I know this with a certainty beyond my experience. I know because I know. Nothing can take this away from me. I have always known.

What is sleep? Sleep is the forgetfulness of life becoming.
What is the awakening? Awakening is consciousness exhumed from life.

In the end, this life will pass—as they all have passed, but in the very end the last will not be followed by the next and all my accomplishments and failures will have been poured from the empty and disappeared into the void. I know this with a certainty beyond my experience. I know because I know. Nothing can take this away from me. I have always known.

What is repentance? Repentance is the respect consciousness pays to life—but this respect is Self-serving and in the very end, it too, will disappear into the void.

There is no escaping life—that is not the point—but to “pay to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and keep for God what is God’s,” that is the way. As a friend once asked, “Are you running your trip, or is it running you?”

In fact, there are two lives. When the first one disappears, the second appears and stands free and unencumbered, at peace and at rest. Love alone exists; Love alone prevails. This I have glimpsed and nothing can take it from me—for, after all, how can nothing be anything to everything?

Bhagavad Gita (Complete)

2011-11-13T09:06:00.000-08:00

(The Bhagavad Gita was originally posted 11/27/10. I am posting it again, complete and in a revised form, because the following post, The Compassion of Impermanence,has a number of references to the Mahabharata the story that supplies the context for the Gita.)

The following excerpts are taken from the Bhagavad-Gita, the teachings of Krishna, which comprise the sixth “book” of the great Indian epic called the Mahabharata. It is much like how the teachings of Christ in the New Testament are found in the context of the Old Testament. The back story is this:

The Mahabharata is set in that transitional time between the end of the Dwarpara Yuga and our own Kali Yuga—somewhere around 5,000 years ago, according to most traditional calculations.

Dwapara was a great age, a time of knowledge and Satvika attributes. (The qualities of Satva Guna are lucidity and purity. Satvika actions have the power to aid one in the pursuit of the ultimate goal, Gunateeta, which is described by Upasani Maharaj, as “the state devoid and beyond the Gunas” i.e. God- Realization. Satva Guna is the golden chain that binds the real saints to this world.)

But Dwarpara also marked the transition between the ascending and descending cycle of the four yugas, and divine intellect, which had been the inheritance of the Krita and Treta Yugas, became lost. Consequently, the ability to think, speak, and act truthfully was also lost and life became growingly deceitful.

Mahabharata means great family—the great family of man, but as Dwarpara approached Kali, the great family had become divided by greed and distrust. It is a long story, but eventually the two sides of the family, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, were arrayed on the battlefield poised for war. Krishna, the Avatar, had done all that He could to avoid the confrontation, but even He could not stem the tide of destiny.

In the great battle, Krishna stood with the Pandavas, who represented the embodiment of Satva Guna, against the Kauravas who embodied Raja and Tama Gunas. In fact, it was Krishna himself who drove the chariot of Arjuna, the Pandava prince and greatest of all warriors, into war.

It fell to the exalted status of Arjuna to throw down the gauntlet that would begin the war. Lord Krishna drove the chariot onto the battlefield between the two opposing sides but Arjuna balked. Seeing the faces of both sides; faces of his brothers and kin, his teachers, and respected elders, and realizing that to start the war would bring suffering and death to all, he became frozen with indecision. Seeing his hesitancy, Krishna asked, “What are you doing? Why do you hesitate? Throw down the gauntlet to begin the war.”

“I cannot!” Arjuna answered back, “How can I start this war and bring death upon all of these people?” And so it came to pass, that right there, between the two armies poised for war, Krishna taught Arjuna the Great Teachings know as the Bhagavad-Gita.

“He who shall say, ‘Lo! I have slain a man!’
He who shall think, ‘Lo! I am slain!’ those both know naught!
Life cannot slay. Life is not slain!
I say to thee, weapons reach not that Life,
Flames burn it not, waters cannot overwhelm it,
Not dry winds wither it.
Unentered, all-arriving, stable, sure, invisible, ineffable,
By word and thought uncompassed, ever all itself — thus is the Soul declared!” – Krishna

Krishna is speaking here from His direct experience of illusion and reality. These bodies of ours, these bodies we cherish so deeply, exist only in illusion. It is like a man who is sound asleep and dreaming. He dreams the dream of himself and others—their joys and sorrows, their successes and failures, their births and deaths—his own births and deaths. It all seems so real— until the man wakes up.
And this leads Arjuna, and us, into a very important question. “So if it is really a dream, yet our experience tells us that it is real, then how should we act in the world—moment by moment, day by day?”

In the conversation that follows, Krishna speaks to Arjuna about the life of action and the life of meditation—the contemplative life. He extols the virtues and shortcomings of both, saying on the one hand “And live in action! Labor! Make thine acts thy piety…” while on the other hand saying, “Yet the right act is less, far less, than the right-thinking mind. Seek refuge in thy soul, have there thy heaven.” And so Arjuna remains confused. He asks Krishna which of these two paths is the better way to attain the Supreme Reality.

Seeing Arjuna’s mind impaled on the horns of this dilemma, Krishna slips between the horns saying that the two paths are, in fact, really one.
Krishna —“Yet these (two paths) are one! By shunning action; nay, and none shall come by mere renouncements unto perfection.”

We have probably all heard the saying, “…to be in the world, but not of the world.” This is quite consistent with what Christ told His disciples, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and save for God what is God’s.” But Arjuna’s questions persist—our questions persist—and in order to explain the why and how of His proclamation, Krishna begins to talk about the three qualities that inform action—namely our friends Satva, Raja, and Tama Gunas.

In the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, “Satva, Raja, and Tama—so are named the qualities of Nature—Lucidity, Passion, and Ignorance. The three bind down the changeless Spirit in the changeful flesh, though sweet Satva by purity living unsullied and enlightened, binds the sinless Soul to happiness and truth; and Raja, being kin to appetite and breeding impulse and propensity binds by tie of works the embodied Soul, Oh Kunti’s son! But Tama, begot of Darkness, blinding mortal men, binds down their souls to stupor, sloth, and drowsiness.”

There is a saying, “Good is not God,” another by Meher Baba, “The saint is bound by a golden chain, the sinner by a spiked one—but the goal is to be free of all chains.” From this we can conclude that even too much Satva Guna is a hindrance to attaining the Supreme Reality. This is why Krishna counsels Arjuna that one should rise above all the Gunas.

Krishna —“When, watching life, the living man perceives that the only actors are the Qualities (the Gunas), and knows what rules beyond the Qualities, then he comes to Me! The soul passing forth from the Three Qualities— whereby arises all bodies—overcomes Birth, Death, Sorrow, and Age; and drinketh deep the undying wine of Amrit.” (Amrit literally means Nectar— here meaning the Eternal Bliss of Union with God.)

Of course Arjuna is more than interested at this point, and asks Krishna;
“Oh my Lord! Which be the signs to know him that hath gone past the Three Modes (Gunas)? How liveth he? What way leadeth him safe beyond the Threefold Modes?”

Krishna —“He who with equanimity surveys luster of goodness, strife of passion, sloth of ignorance; without anger, nor wish to change them: who sits a sojourner and stranger in their midst unruffled, standing off, saying serene when troubles break, ‘These be the Qualities!’
“He unto whom—while centered in the Self—grief and joy sound as one word; to whose deep-seeing eyes the clod, the marble, and the gold are one; whose equal heart holds the same gentleness for lovely and unlovely things, firm-set, well-pleased when praised or blamed; satisfied with honor or dishonor; unto friends and unto foes alike in tolerance, detached from undertakings—he is named Surmounter of the Qualities.”

The teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita were not new—even in the time of Krishna.

Krishna —“This deathless Yoga (these teachings), this deep union, I taught to Vivaswata, the Lord of Light.” (The significance here is that Vivaswata is a name associated with the Sun. So, Krishna is saying that indeed He has been around for a long time!) Vivaswata gave it to Manu (his son) who passed it down the line to all My Royal Rishis. Then with years the truth grew dim and perished, noble prince!
Now once again I will declare to you this ancient lore, this mystery supreme—seeing I find you my devotee and friend.”

But Arjuna is puzzled. How can this same being have been around since the beginning of time?

Arjuna —“How shall I comprehend this thing Thou sayest, ‘From the beginning it was I who taught…?’”

Krishna —“Manifold the renewals of My birth have been, Arjuna! And of thy births, too! But Mine I know, and thine thou knowest not, oh Slayer of the Foes! Albeit I be unborn, undying, indestructible, the Lord of all things living; not the less by Maya, by My magic which I stamp on floating Nature-forms, the primal vast—I come, and go, and come. When righteousness declines O Bharata! When Wickedness is strong, I rise, from age to age, and take visible shape, and move a man among men, succoring the good, thrusting the evil back, and setting Virtue on her seat again.”

This is the story of the Avatar, The Ancient One, The Highest of the High, The Christ, The Buddha—His Names are many, His shapes are many—He dons them like we put on clothes appropriate to the situation and the time. And Arjuna believes in the divinity of Krishna and by His teachings his darkness is dispelled but Arjuna still sees Him as a man and so asks Krishna to reveal Himself.

Arjuna —“If this can be, if I may bear the sight, make Thyself visible…show me Thy very Self, the Eternal God!” And Krishna obliges His beloved devotee.
Krishna —“Gaze then Arjuna! I manifest for you those hundred thousand shapes that clothe My Mystery: I show you all my semblances—infinite, rich, divine—My changeful hues, My countless forms, see in this face of Mine…Behold! This is the universe! Look! What is live and dead I gather all in One—in Me! Gaze, as thy lips have said, on God Eternal, Very God! See Me! See what thou prayest!”

And right there, on the battlefield, between the two armies poised for war, Krishna reveals to Arjuna His Universal Form.
After Krishna tells Arjuna that what he wishes to see cannot be seen with earthly eyes, He gives Arjuna a sense divine saying, “Therefore I give to you other eyes, new light! Now look! This is my glory, unveiled to mortal sight.”

It is interesting that what Arjuna sees is narrated by Sanjaya who is Dhritarashtra's advisor. Dhritarashtra is the blind king who is the father of the main characters of the Kauravas. Sanjaya has the power to see events from great distances. It is he who is informing the blind king what is unfolding.
He tells him that Krishna is now displaying to Arjuna all of the splendor, wonder, and dread of His Almighty-head.

Sanjaya —“Out of countless eyes beholding, out of countless mouths commanding countless mystic forms enfolding; in one Form supremely standing, countless radiant glories wearing, countless heavenly weapons bearing, crowned with garlands of star-clusters, robed in garb of woven lusters, breathing from His perfect Presence breaths of every subtle essence of all heavenly odors; shedding blinding brilliance; overspreading—boundless, beautiful—all spaces with His all-regarding faces—so He showed! (and) sore amazed, thrilled, overfilled, dazzled, and dazed, Arjuna knelt, and bowed his head, and clasped his palms and cried, and said…”

Now Arjuna continues the narration. Try to imagine, if you can, what Arjuna sees. He sees the earth, its moon and sun, the solar system; all solar systems that make up our galaxy; all galaxies; the entire creation coming into existence and then being absorbed through Krishna’s Divine Form. Now try to imagine that all of this creation is less than even a speck in relationship to the Subtle World that also issues forth—the Subtle World with all its powers and experiences, heaven and hell, angels and gods and all divine beings; and the Mental World, the abode of Archangels and real Saints—the world of Mind itself—being born and existing and then being absorbed—crushed between the teeth of Krishna’s Divine Form. This is what Arjuna saw while standing on the battlefield between the armies poised and ready for war.

Arjuna —“Thou hast fashioned men, devourest them again, one with another, great and small alike! The creatures whom Thou mak’st, with flaming jaws Thou tak’st, lapping them up! Lord God! Thy terrors strike from end to end of earth, filling life full, from birth to death, with deadly, burning, lurid dead! Ah Vishnu! Make me know why is Thy visage so? Who art Thou, feasting upon Thy dead!?”

There is a misconception in the Western World that Hinduism is a religion that worships many Gods. But one could argue that Hinduism, and the Vedic font from which it springs, is really more an example of a pantheistic monotheism that acknowledges many gods who personify the various aspects or qualities of the One Infinite God.

With regard to Creation, Infinite God plays the role of Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer—Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva (or Mahesh). The Avatar is always the incarnation of Vishnu, the Preserver and Protector of all. I believe this puts Arjuna’s terror and question into perspective, because when Krishna reveals to him His Universal Form, Arjuna sees all of Infinite God’s qualities including that of Shiva. Krishna answers him thusly:

Krishna —“(It is because now) thou sees Me as Time who kills, Time who brings all doom; the Slayer Time come hither to consume. (And I tell you this); excepting thee, all these hosts of hostile chiefs arrayed (the Kauravas), shall not leave the battlefield (alive)!”

Remember that this whole conversation began when Arjuna could not find the will to fight—could not conceive of killing. In the next statement, Krishna advances his argument.

Krishna — “Arise Arjuna! Destroy thy foes! (It is) by me they fall—not thee! The stroke of death is dealt them now, even as they show thus gallantly: My instrument art thou! Tis I who bid them perish! Thou wilt but slay the slain!”

Apparently, Arjuna gets it—gets who Krishna really is—and after praising Him in every way utters, what I think is a very interesting observation—how easy it is when graced with familiarity of a Divine Presence, to forget that He is not like we; or as Meher Baba said on more than one occasion, “I come down and laugh and play with you—but never forget, I am God!”

Arjuna — “…For thou art All! Ah, if in anger now Thou shouldst remember I did think Thee friend, speaking with easy speech, as men use each to each; did call Thee ‘Krishna,’ ‘Prince,’ never comprehending Thy hidden majesty, the might, the awe of Thee; did, in my heedlessness, or in my love, on journey, or in jest, or when we lay at rest, sitting at council, straying in the grove, alone, or in the throng, do Thee, most Holy! Wrong, forgive me for that witless sin! For Thou art, now I know, Father of all below, of all above, of all worlds within… I, in reverence, ask Your grace, as father to a son, as friend to friend, as one who loveth to his lover, turn Thy face in gentleness on me…be merciful, and show once more Thy visage that I know…let me once again behold the form I loved most of all, my Charioteer, in Krishna’s kind disguise.”

Krishna responds saying— “Let trouble shake your heart no more because your eyes have seen My terror and My glory. As before I have been so will I be again for thee; with lightened heart behold!” (At which point the Lord God returns to His familiar form as Krishna).

Sanjaya — “…(and) back again the semblance dear of the well-loved charioteer; peace and joy it did restore, when Prince Arjuna beheld once more, Mighty God’s form and face clothed in Krishna’s gentle grace.”

With Arjuna’s earthly sight and familiar state returned, his heart beats calm, his mind can think, and Krishna tells him of the rarity of his experience.

Krishna — “Yea! It was wonderful and terrible to view as thou did, dear Prince! What the gods dread and continually view! Yet not by Vedas (studying the sacred texts), nor from sacrifice, nor penance, nor gift-giving, nor with prayer shall any so behold, as thou hast seen! Only by fullest service, perfect faith, and uttermost surrender am I known and seen, and entered into, Indian Prince! Who doeth all for Me: who findeth Me in all, adoreth (Me) always; loveth all which I have made, and (loveth) Me as an end in itself, that man, Arjuna! unto Me doth wend.”

There are many paths that lead to God-Realization; but here, in this passage, Krishna reveals the highest path—the path of Love. It is so simple, one needs no special talents or intellect; no diet, or dress, or mode of life, or sacrifice, or practice is necessary—only love for God—only love for the God-Man—the Christ—the Avatar. It is a path so pure, so simple—there is no place at all for the intellect—for the mind. And that is why the mind itself hates it. Because the mind, steeped in arrogance and self-importance, wants to be in charge and run the show.

It is the mind that demands our respect and unquestioning obedience. And here, upon the path of love, the rug is pulled out from under the mind’s feet and it is made to feel unnecessary, even a hindrance. No wonder it rebels.
But Krishna has revealed to Arjuna the Universal or impersonal aspect of God, which leaves Arjuna with a question.

Arjuna—“Lord! Of the men who serve Thee—true in heart—as God revealed (i.e. the personal expression of God as represented by the Avatar [Vishnu] and Perfect-Masters—God-Man and Man-God); and of men who serve, worshiping Thee Unrevealed and Unbodied; (the impersonal expression of God as represented by Brahma and Shiva as well as God in the Beyond and the Beyond the Beyond states) which is the better way of faith and life?”

A very interesting question it seems to me, because I have met people whose nature seems to favor a preference to one path or the other.

Krishna —“Whoever serve Me—as I show Myself—constantly true, in full devotion fixed, those hold I very holy. But (those) who serve, worshipping Me, The One, The Invisible, The Unrevealed, Unnamed, Unthinkable, Uttermost, All-Pervading, Highest—who adore Me thus, mastering their senses, cultivating an impartial mind that looks upon all without distinction, joyful in response to all acts of goodness, these blessed souls come unto Me.

“Yet this is a path most difficult—the travail to reach the Unmanifest. That viewless path shall scarce be trod by My man bearing the flesh! But as for those who live their lives renouncing self for Me, full of Me, fixed to serve only the Highest, night and day musing on Me, who clasps Me with heart and mind, whose soul clings fast to Me!—him will I swiftly lift up from life’s ocean of distress and death, to dwell with Me on High!”

But Krishna is also a pragmatist—the Avatar in any of His incarnations and all Perfect Masters as well—are always, as I have gathered, pragmatists. They don’t stand on ceremony; they are always adaptable to every situation—because they are always here for us only and having everything, have nothing more to gain for themselves. They never give up on us; they never give up on anything; you can never be so bad or sink so low that they will give up on you—because they know, it is their experience, that they and you are one.

Meher Baba put it this way, “You and I are not we, but One.”

So Krishna, recognizing that He has just set the bar rather high offers the following options/yogas:

Krishna — “But if thy thought droops from such height; if thou be’st weak to set body and soul upon Me constantly, despair not! Instead give me service! Seek to reach Me, worshiping with steadfast will, but if thou cannot do that, them do your work for Me, toil in works pleasing to me! For he that laboreth right for Love of Me shall in the end attain! But, if even in this thy heart fails, bring Me thy failure! Find refuge in Me! Let go of failure or success — the fruits of labor— renouncing even hope itself for Me, and with lowliest heart so shalt thou come; for, though knowledge is greater than diligence, yet worship is better than knowing, and renouncing better still, for near to renouncing — very near — dwelleth Eternal Peace.”

It is interesting that in this statement Krishna has made what appears to be the lowest path the highest — the fruit of failure becoming the requisite for renunciation. Is this not an expression of God’s mercy and compassion? Krishna then describes certain types of individuals saying, “…that man I love!” Are these not the true renunciates He has just described?

Krishna — “Who does not hate any living thing, being himself kindly and harmless, compassionate, exempt from arrogance and self-love, unmoved by good or ill, patient, contented, firm in faith, mastering himself, true to his word, always seeking Me heart and soul, vowed unto Me,That man I love!

“Who troubles not his kind, and is not troubled by them; free of wrath, living beyond gladness, grief, or fear, That man I love!

“Who does not chase after his desires, looking here and there with longing, free of sin, serene, well-balanced, unperplexed, working with Me, yet from all works detached, That man I love!

Who fixed in faith on Me, dotes upon none, scorns none; rejoices not and grieves not, letting unperturbed when good or evil manifests or departs, That man I love!

Who keeps an equal heart for friend and foe alike, equally bearing shame and glory; who remains at peace in heat and cold, pleasure and pain; abides without desire and endures praise or calumny with passionless restraint —linked by no ties to earth, steadfast in Me, That man I love!

But most of all I love those happy ones who without effort or awareness live life in single-minded fervid faith and love unseeing, drinking the blessed nectar of my Being!”

And in the end, Krishna once more turns to Arjuna and counsels him to fight. The war would have to happen—even the Avatar could not stop it. The forces of destiny were fixed; there was no way out. There is an old story about a candidate for the priesthood who was being examined by a bishop, and a question regarding God’s omnipotence was asked of the candidate who responded by saying that even God cannot do everything. “And what is it that God cannot do?” asked the Bishop. The candidate answered calmly, “Even God cannot beat the ace of spades with a deuce of clubs.” Of course, to do so, would destroy the game, and if the game itself was destroyed, then the whole question of winning and losing would become mute. For Krishna to stop the war would destroy the game—His game—the game of awakening God to God’s own Reality—His own true Self—our own true Self—our own Divine Reality.

And so it was time for Arjuna to commence and fight the war; but the real question was how he should fight; how he should be; how he should hold himself. To this Krishna responded:

Krishna — “Do all thou dost for me! Renounce for Me! Sacrifice heart and will and mind for Me! In faith of Me all dangers thou shalt vanquish, by My grace. But, if instead you trust to yourself, forgetting Me, then thou can’st help but to perish! If this day, relying on thyself, you say’st, ‘I will not fight!’ vain will thy resolution prove, for the qualities of thy nature spurred by fair illusions will rise within you and prompt you to the very actions you have disavowed and you will be lost. Arjuna, I am the Master that lives in your heart; it is I who pulls the strings and you dance to My tune. Trust Me, thy Master, and take Me for thy succor, oh prince of men, and only then, by My grace, shalt thou gain the uttermost repose, the Eternal Place.”

Then Krishna offers His last words to Arjuna, revealing the unique relationship of God and man and the love that God, in the form of the Avatar, has for each and every one of us—for all of His creation—for each and every state of Himself.

Krishna— “Arjuna, precious thou art to Me; right well beloved! Listen to My last words; I tell thee this for thy comfort. Give Me thy heart! Adore Me! Serve Me! Cling in faith and love and reverence to Me! And I promise that thou shalt come to Me! For thou art sweet to Me. And let go those rites and writ duties! Fly to Me alone! Make Me thy refuge! I will free thy soul from all of its sins. Be of good cheer!” (“Don’t worry, be happy!”—Meher Baba)

So what Krishna is saying is that there are numerous ‘ways’ to reach the Supreme Reality. There is meditation and contemplation; works done with an attitude of renunciation and detachment; living life in the knowledge that “all things shall pass.” But it is also pretty clear that Krishna is saying that of all the ‘ways’, the best and the highest, is to hold on to Him—the Avatar.

Meher Baba wrote/dictated a book called God Speaks. In it He answers many questions about how the process of God Realization works through the dream of creation and the mechanics of evolution, reincarnation, and involution of consciousness. I have read God Speaks many times over the past thirty-five or so years and have come to the conclusion that God Speaks is God’s story; it is Meher Baba’s story—the Avatar’s, the Christ’s, story. In other words He is telling us who He is.

But just imagine the difficulty of the task. Let’s say that you were suddenly to awaken on another world inhabited by beings that have never heard of or seen a human being, or, have even heard of the planet Earth. What would you tell them when they began to ask you who you were? “Well, I’m Michael; I’m a musician, I live on this planet called Earth…”

But that approach wouldn’t work because in all these answers there is an underlying assumption that the beings you are talking to understand what it is to be human. You would have to first explain what it is to be human. That would be a little difficult, no doubt. Now, by extension, how can the Avatar begin to explain to us who He is—that He is God in human form?

The book, God Speaks, is His explanation—His story—and it takes Meher Baba 159 pages of the 201 pages of principle text (2nd Edition), before He even mentions the word Avatar. He is like an artist painting the under-painting, background, and all of the other characters from stone to man to angels and saints, before painting himself into the canvas.

Now, the reason I mention this in these posts about the Bhagavad Gita, is to give you a sense of the story behind what Meher Baba says regarding the Avatar in God Speaks—which is remarkably consistent with Krishna’s teachings in the Bhagavad Gita as well as many of the assertions of Jesus in the Gospels.

Meher Baba, page 159— “Hence, at the end of every cycle, when God manifests on earth in the form of man and reveals His divinity to mankind, He is recognized as the Avatar—the Messiah—the Prophet. The direct descent of God on earth as the Avatar is that independent status of God when God directly becomes man without undergoing or passing through the processes of evolution, reincarnation, and involution of consciousness. Consequently, God directly becomes God-Man, and lives the life of man amongst mankind, realizing His divine status of the Highest of the High, or Ancient One, through these (five) Qutubs or Sadgurus, or Perfect Masters of the time.”

Meher Baba goes on to make the distinction between the Avatar and other God-Realized individuals. Then returning to the unique status of the Avatar He says on page 162:

Meher Baba —“In this manner, infinite God, age after age, throughout all cycles, wills through His infinite mercy to effect His presence amidst mankind by stooping down to human levels in human form, but His physical presence amidst mankind not being apprehended, He is looked upon as an ordinary man of the world. When, however, He asserts His divinity on earth by proclaiming Himself the Avatar of the Age, He is worshiped by some who accept Him as God; and glorified by a few who know Him as God. But it invariably falls to the lot of the rest of humanity to condemn Him while He is physically in their midst…

“The Avatar is always One and the same because God is always One and the same, the eternal, indivisible, infinite One who manifests Himself in the form of man as the Avatar, as the Messiah, as the Prophet, as the Buddha, as the Ancient One,—the Highest of the High. This eternally One and the same Avatar is made to repeat His manifestation from time to time, in different cycles, adopting different names and different human forms, in different places, to reveal Truth in different garbs and different languages, in order to raise humanity from the pit of ignorance and help free it from the bondage of delusions.”

Please remember that the story of the Mahabharata takes place roughly five-thousand years ago, but the actual writing of the story is much more recent—approximately 1700 years ago. Before it was written down in Sanskrit in its final form, the Mahabharata was communicated in the long tradition of oral transmission. Of course, the English renderings are very recent in comparison—going back a mere hundred years or less.

In other words, and in the words of the legendary Sufi Saint Mullah Nasredin, what we have here is the soup of the soup of the soup of the chicken your friend brought. Allow me to digress:

A friend knocks on the Mullah’s door one day. “What do you want?” asked the Mullah. “I’ve brought a chicken for your wife to make into a soup.” So the Mullah invites him in, they sit around while the soup is cooked, and then they eat it.
The next day there is another knock on the door. “Who’s there?” asks the Mullah. “The friend of your friend who brought the chicken,” the man replies. “Can I have some soup?” The Mullah invites him in and goes back to the kitchen. There is only a little soup left, so he adds some water and serves the soup.
This goes on for several days, friends of the friends of the friends coming to his door asking for soup and the Mullah adding more and more water before serving. “This isn’t soup!” states the seventh guest. “It is water!” to which the Mullah replies, “No, it is the soup of the soup of the soup of the soup, etc. etc. of the chicken that your friend of the friend of the friend etc. brought.”

What was it that Krishna said?

“(It is because now) thou sees Me as Time who kills, Time who brings all doom; the Slayer Time come hither to consume.”

And even the actions of eternal God, when He releases them into the world, are not exempt from the effects of time. The point was brought home to me one day while I was sitting in Mandali Hall at Meherazad, India with a number of other pilgrims listening to the stories of Eruch Jessawala, one of Meher Baba’s closest followers. Somehow the subject of the Bhagavad Gita came up—perhaps it was something I said—and Eruch offered the following:

“There are so many paintings of Krishna and Arjuna standing next to each other on a golden jeweled chariot. It is really very beautiful, but brother, those chariots of war were not at all like that. You see, in those days, the war chariots were built in such a way that the driver (Krishna) sat below the warrior (Arjuna) just above the wheels breathing the choking dust, smelling the stinking corpses, unable to even see where He was going, while the warrior above, with his feet on the shoulders of the driver, would direct Him by kicking Him on the shoulders and face. You see, it was the Avatar, Beloved God Himself, who accepted the position of the lowest of the low out of love for His lover. What a sacrifice it is that He makes for us.”

The Compassion of Impermanence (Complete)

2011-11-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

One day a man came to the court of the great King Solomon seeking an audience with the legendary Perfect Master. He went on and on for a long time enumerating all his troubles, dwelling on his misery and bad fortune. King Solomon listened attentively but said nothing. As he listened, He twirled an impressive jeweled ring around His finger.

When the man had finally exhausted his tale of woe he waited for the Master’s reply, but King Solomon continued to say nothing and continued to twirl the ring on His finger. After some time, the man began his story again, this time embroidering his tale with even more details of his personal suffering and woe. King Solomon continued to listen and twirl His ring and continued to say nothing.

Again the man launched into his story, but after the third time he was exasperated and addressed the Perfect Master with these words, “You are the great King Solomon; you are the wisest man in the world; I have come to you seeking your guidance and yet you say nothing and continue to turn the ring around your finger.” King Solomon stopped turning His ring, removed it from His finger, and gave it to the man. The man seemed confused and began to look at the ring. Inside the ring, around the band, was engraved “All things pass.”

All things pass. All things pass. All things pass…

What are things? Things are the universe, the cosmos and all of the forms that populate creation. Things are all, and are all of, Illusion. In creation—in illusion—all things pass, because they have been created—have a beginning—and therefore must have an end. This is the compassion of impermanence.

Perhaps you’ve seen them? They are very common in India, sold to tourists, ensconced in prayer rooms and Hindu temples, decorating fancy restaurants in five star hotels.

Some are small, the size of your fist, some are so large it would take three men to lift them up, but the images, the depictions, remain remarkably consistent—a dancing figure with one leg raised in the air, the other foot on the back of a small prostrate figure.

He has many arms with many hands that hold fire and a drum and a snake. He dances the dance of bliss in a ring of fire.

He is called Nataraj, the king of the dance and is a depiction of the Lord Shiva, the personification of the third of the trinity of Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, and the figure He dances upon is the dwarf-demon Apasmara, who represents ignorance and illusion.

Brahma creates, Vishnu sustains, and Shiva destroys—can you imagine anything more terrifying than a creation without destruction? Would the creation just continue to be filled up with “things” that once created never died—never changed?

“Before you wish for immortality, first be very sure you can live with yourself.” – Christopher Freemantle

A human being is born. It is said that birth begins the process of dying. This process of dying we call living and this living is the work of Vishnu. But without Shiva, without dying, Vishnu could not do His work, and so there would never be any change. Infants would never become children, children would never become adults, and adults would never die—how terrifying is the thought?

It is interesting, we fear Shiva most when things are going well, yet long for Shiva most when we are in pain. It is not that we cease to be terrified by Him, but we overcome our fear when the status quo becomes just too intolerable—when the tipping point between pleasure and pain is passed.

Who has not felt that temporary elation immediately after being fired from a job they dislike, or learning they do indeed have that dreaded disease they feared they may have? “At least I know now,” we say, “knowing is infinitely better than not knowing.” What do we know? We know that there is change, that nothing stays the same—that “All things pass.”

Yudhisthira was the great Pandava king in the Mahabharata. He was virtuous and honest and unlike most kings, he was not intoxicated with his position or his power. But he had one weakness, he liked to gamble, and this was a problem because he was not a good gambler.

Now it so happened, that Shakuni, the uncle of Duryodhana the Kuru king, was a master gambler, and he conspired with Duryodhana to engage Yudhisthira in a game of dice in order to win from him all his wealth and kingdoms.

Against the protestations of his four brothers the game began and, true to form, Yudhisthira began to lose—and lose big. He lost his armies, his weapons, and his wealth. He lost his kingdoms, and when all that was lost, he wagered and, one by one, lost his brothers. Then, with nothing more to lose, he wagered and lost himself!

He lost himself! What does that mean, to lose oneself? Is it just the loss of one’s freedom, or is there something more, something deeper to the idea of losing oneself? This is addressed in the Mahabharata when, after losing himself, Shakuni asked Yudhisthira if, in fact, he had nothing more to gamble. In the Peter Brooks’ film adaptation of the Mahabharata, Yudhisthira remembers that he does indeed have something more to gamble. “I gamble Draupadi, my wife,” he says.

Draupadi was the perfect woman. She had been won years before in a royal contest, and soon later married not only Yudhisthira, but his four other brothers as well at the behest of their mother Satyavati after, as it is said, “fate slipped into her words”. And so Draupadi had five husbands and she loved them all and they, in turn, loved and worshiped her.

After Draupadi was wagered and lost, Duryodhana’s guards came to her house and dragged her back to Duryodhana’s court. Hearing what had happened—hearing how she had been wagered and lost— Draupadi was humiliated and enraged and turning to Yudhisthira asked, “Did you wager me before or after you had wagered and lost yourself?—because if you lost yourself first, you would have no right to wager me after that.”

Draupadi certainly makes an interesting point and the story itself raises many subtle questions about the nature of identity in this transitory and illusory creation.

“All things pass. All things pass. All things pass…”—even that which we take ourselves to be.

Since the compassion of impermanence cannot be separated from the threefold actions of God as Creator, Sustainer, and Dissolver, let’s look a little more deeply into these roles—remembering all the while that, in Reality, nothing is being created, sustained, or dissolved.

“All souls (atmas) were, are and will be in the Over-Soul (Paramatma).
Souls (atmas) are all One.
All souls are infinite and eternal. They are formless.”—God Speaks, Meher Baba

God as Brahma (Creator) is asleep, so deeply asleep that He is not even aware of Himself or His dreams. Yet, He dreams—He dreams the dream of creation. Creation is a dream, and that is why in Reality, nothing is being created; and if nothing is being created, then nothing needs to be sustained; and if nothing needs to be sustained, then nothing needs to be dissolved.

Some yogis intone the Sanskrit word Aum (Om) as part of their practice. At the human level this word—this sound—represents the acts of creating, sustaining, and dissolving. Ah is considered to be the most open—most primary—of all articulations. When articulating ah the throat is totally open. Ah calls forth the breath which subtly transforms the articulated ah into an uh sound—the sound sustained until it is dissolved (closed) with an um. All singers know this; sounds—notes—are always held—sustained—on a vowel and finished—dissolved—on a consonant—in this case, um. Try it for yourself.

Ishwar is the name of that aspect of God that is involved in the acts of creating, sustaining, and dissolving creation. But Ishwar does not experience His dreams—Ishwar does not experience His creation. A fair enough question would be; if the dreamer does not experience his dream, does anyone or anything experience his dream—in this case, Ishwar’s creation? Meher Baba explains that it is Infinite Intelligence that experiences creation, but then, what is this Infinite Intelligence?

Infinite Intelligence is God and it is in the nature of Infinite Intelligence to know—to wish to know—but in order to know it must think and in order to think it must have a mind, because that is what mind does, it thinks. What is the thought that Infinite Intelligence longs to think? It longs to think—to know—Itself. It longs for the answer that began with the Whim—the question, Who am I?

But Infinite Intelligence is infinite and so to know Itself—to experience Itself—to think Itself—its thinking must be infinite, and to think infinitely an Infinite Mind is required. Infinite Intelligence, through Infinite Mind in its role of Ishwar, thinks and experiences Its thinking within the dream of creation.

The creation is the dream-state of God and its illusory existence is necessary for the acquiring and perfecting of that conscious through which God experiences Himself—drop by drop—soul by soul.

A Sip of Wine – by Michael Kovitz

“Inscribe these words in your heart. Nothing is real but God
Nothing matters but love for God”—Meher Baba

“Oh Lord,
My eyes believe that all they see is real—
Are not these stones and trees and birds and bees
and creatures of the earth and sky and sea real?

My lover, they are not real,
the Self within them is what’s real.
Their forms are only shadows cast
that come and go
from nothing to nowhere.

See them, love them,
but upon them do not depend.

And my Lord,
what of men who speak and walk and love and hate,
who laugh and cry with joy and pain,
and grow from babes to live and die—
are they not real—like You and I?

My lover, they are not real,
nor is the pain and pleasure that they feel.
The Self within them is what’s real,
while their forms like clouds that cross the sky
appear as shapes that dance and cry.

Know them, love them,
but upon them do not depend—
the Self that is real has no beginning or end.

But my Lord, I am a man.
Am I not real,
or my thoughts and what I feel?
Who is it then that seeks for You
and in my heart what voice speaks to You?
And are You real or just a dream?
It seems that nothing’s what it seems!

My lover, you are not real,
the Self within you is what’s real—
that Self and I are really one.
When you experience this, my work is done.

You say that nothing’s what it seems,
and that’s because your life’s my dream,
though in this dream my life’s displaced
and found again when you’re effaced.

Know Me.
Love Me.
Upon Me alone depend.

Within you I will awaken in Bliss,
beyond beginning and without end.

Remember, dear one, these words I say,

"Nothing is real but God.
Nothing matters but love for God.”—Meher Baba

(© Copyright 2000 Michael Kovitz)

Why Would He Want That? (Complete)

2011-09-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

I received this in an email from a friend…

“I had this great idea for a blog for you to write — it’s a question actually. A big question that I would love to know the answer to and I bet LOTS of people would love to know the answer to as well.

“So God had the whim to know Himself and so He created us. Why did He create us/Himself with this limited ego mind, the source of all our troubles? Why would He want that?”

I have heard this question many times before, in one form or another, from many different people, and so I think my friend is quite correct when she says, “… and I bet lots of people would love to know the answer as well.”

And so I will attempt an answer, based not on my own “limited ego mind” but based on the teachings of the Masters, most particularly, in this case, the teachings of Avatar Meher Baba.

But before getting to the meat of the question I want to first address the assumption my friend makes. “Why would He want that?” That wording sounds just a little too anthropomorphic to me. It makes me picture God as some really big guy with flowing white robes and a long white beard sitting on some cloud in heaven wanting and not wanting various things.

But if God is not that — not some sort of super-sized person, made in the image of man (to turn a phrase) — then who, or what, is God? In His book, God Speaks, Meher Baba begins with a discussion of the various states of God beginning with the first state He calls the Beyond the Beyond State of God. He uses the word Over-Soul as a synonym for the Vedic term Paramatma and compares the Over-soul to an ocean. But this ocean is not an ocean of water; it is a shoreless ocean of Eternal Existence, with no end to it depth, unlimited in every way.

And what is the material of this Ocean? What is it made of? And the amazing answer that Baba gives us is souls. The Ocean is made of souls. He says,

“All souls (atmas) were, are and will be in the Over-Soul (Paramatma).
Souls (atmas) are all One.
All souls are infinite and eternal. They are formless.
All souls are One; there is no difference in souls or in their being and existence as souls.”

So, returning to my friend’s question, changing the wording slightly, why are we — why is the creation — born into the state of limited ego mind, the source of all our troubles — the source of our suffering?

There is a line in the Gospels of Jesus Christ, “In the beginning there was the Word…” When I read this for the first time I asked myself, “the beginning of what?” Because if God was Infinite and Eternal — without beginning or end — then what is this beginning referring to? I concluded that “In the beginning…” was referring to creation, and this suggested to me that there must have been a state of God that was before the beginning — a time when God was and creation was not yet.

In God Speaks, Meher Baba calls this state the Beyond Beyond state of God and says that in this state God is like an Ocean that is infinitely still, with neither consciousness nor unconsciousness manifested. It could be said that in this state the Ocean (God) is in the deepest sleep state, the sleep without dreams state and is totally without any awareness, consciousness, or knowledge of Itself.

The question then becomes, “How does, how can, the Ocean wake up? Here Meher Baba uses the Hindi/Marathi word lahar (which means ripple, wave, fancy, urge, and whim) and says that this word comes the closest to conveying what happens to the Original state of the Ocean to cause the beginning of the process of Its Awakening. He says Lahar or whim comes the closest. The Ocean (God) unbelievably gets the urge, the whim, to awaken — to know Itself.

To wake up means to be conscious and in the Original state of Paramatma there is no consciousness — neither is there unconsciousness — because in the Original state of Paramatma nothing is manifested and everything is latent.

So the Whim that somehow manifests, spontaneously and without any cause — the Whim of the Ocean to know Itself — is the manifestation of the first desire and that desire is the desire for consciousness.

Meher Baba says, “Let us now think of one unconscious soul.” In other words, Meher Baba is asking us to look at the awakening of the Over-Soul from the point of view of one soul — one drop of the Original Ocean, the material of which the Original Ocean is composed.

Speaking about this one unconscious soul Meher Baba says, “This infinite, impressionless, unconscious tranquil state of the soul reverberated with an impulse which we call THE FIRST URGE (the first urge to know Itself).”

In other words, when the Whim manifested in the Ocean of Souls, all souls were affected and all souls began to wake up.

Now let’s imagine this process of waking up. It is not very different than what we experience when we wake up. First we are in a deep sleep state, without any dreams; then there is a transition into the dream state which pushes us closer to the state of waking consciousness; and then we open our eyes and begin to experience our lives in the waking state.

But let’s back up here so we can examine this progression a little more closely — specifically the transition between the dream state and the awake state. Often the process gets rushed and we don’t see — the alarm goes off, we’re vaguely aware of some lingering dream, we jump out of bed and stumble into our day.

But sometimes, especially when we are allowed to wake up more naturally, we can sometimes become aware, as the dream state approaches the waking state, of the intrusion of stimuli from the waking state in the form of sounds or smells or sensations.

Our eyes may still be closed and for a moment we may not be aware of where we are — or even who we are. If we have been traveling a lot, we might not remember whether we are waking up in America or India. Then, as our eyes begin to open, for a brief moment we may not recognize the room or particular things in the room until we become more fully conscious in the awake state.

This description closely parallels the experience of the sleeping soul after the whim manifests in the Over-Soul. Though the soul is Infinite and Eternal, its first experience of itself is most limited. It does not awaken fully and at once as God, but instead as a most limited form of creation — the stone form.

This is the “contrariety” that Meher Baba speaks about when He says;

“Simultaneously with the reverberations of the first urge, the most gross first impression emerged, objectifying the soul as the most opposite and most finite gross counterpart of the Infinite.

“Because of this most gross first impression of the first urge, the infinite Soul experienced for the first time. This first experience of the infinite Soul was that it (the Soul) experienced a contrariety in its identity with its infinite, impressionless, unconscious state.”

So the answer to my friend’s question, “Why would He want this?” would seem to be this; that the process of the evolution and the involution of consciousness through creation that began with the Whim of the Over-Soul in the form of the question “Who am I?” never was in any way dependent upon a personal, conscious God.

And that would seem to end it were it not for that one, to paraphrase the words of Al Gore, the former Vice-President of the United States, “that one inconvenient but,” in the form of the question, “But what about personal God — the Avatar — the Messiah — the Christ —, why would He want this?” This does seem to be a legitimate and inconvenient but. Even if we were to moderate the question to, “why would He allow this?” the but still does not go away, in fact, maybe makes the but even bigger.

Meher Baba says that the Avatar takes a human birth every 700 –1400 years. “Why does He want/or allow this?” Remember my friend first asked, “Why did He create us/Himself with this limited ego mind, the source of all our troubles?” In other words, even if the whole thing started by the Whim was and remains mechanical and the limited ego mind formed in the process is the source of all our troubles — meaning the source of all our suffering — is there not something He can do to change it?

Now I do realize that I am beginning to wander further and further away from my friend’s original question; but is the question of why God allows us to suffer the real question behind the question?

So first things first; the Avatar is the incarnation of Vishnu, the second state of God with regard to creation. Brahma is the Creator, Vishnu is the Preserver, and Shiva is the Dissolver. Vishnu as the Avatar is the personification of Love. The Avatar never ever wants us to suffer — never. God, as the Avatar, never punishes, is never vengeful, and never destroys. God, as the Avatar, in fact, takes on our suffering to lighten the burden of our journey to Him — to Self — to Infinite and Eternal Bliss.

And God, as the Avatar, can do anything and everything — or so it seems… Once a candidate for the priesthood was being examined by a church elder and the question of God’s Omnipotence arose. The candidate said, “But God cannot do everything.” The elder responded with, “And what is it that God, the Almighty, cannot do?” To which the candidate responded, “He cannot beat the ace of spades with the deuce of clubs.”

For to do so would destroy the game and when the game is destroyed there is no longer any question of winning or losing.

A Great Story

2011-09-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Like so many great stories, like the famous Arabian Nights, this story is a story within a story, within a story.

Like so many great stories, it is set in ancient times — in fact it is set at the end of Treta Yuga, the second yuga in the recurring cycle of four yugas. In his book, The Ramayana, Ramesh Menon states that Krita Yuga lasts 4,800 divine years, treta lasts 3,600, dwapara lasts 2,400, and Kali, our yuga, 1,200 divine years. So, this story goes back at least 3,600 divine years — and one divine year is equal to 365 human years!

Like in so many great stories, the characters are not just ordinary human beings — there are great yogis highly advanced along the planes of consciousness, Perfect Masters and the Avatar. Also too there are mystical monkeys, gods and devas, and kings and queens of antiquity and our modern world.

And perhaps most importantly, like all great stories, this story challenges the very assumptions about fantasy and reality, fiction and fact, illusion and reality, that we hold so dear, that we consider so settled that to even dare seriously question them would only prove one’s insanity or delusions.

I discovered this story in the Collected Talks of Upasani Maharaj, have always been fascinated by it, and have for years wanted to tell it in my blog. Upasani begins the story with Shankara who lived many thousands of years ago in Krita Yuga. Shankara was in the state of Shiva (God- Consciousness).

Upasani begins the story this way…

“During His Avataric incarnation as Rama in Treta Yuga, His spouse, Sita, had given a boon to all the monkeys that in Kali Yuga they would have an empire of their own on this earth… and that is why I say that these English are not ordinary people.

"These monkeys (called Ramadutas) had made their atmas (embodied souls) ramarupa (full — saturated — with the Avataric Presence of Ram) by service, and had accumulated plenty of punya therefrom. (Punya is the worldly gifts or blessings that are accumulated as a by-product of spiritual practices and carried over from one lifetime to be exhausted in the next. Punya bestows wealth, poise, beauty, and ease of attainment.)

"And so it is Rama’s Presence, having become one with the Ramadutas, who have themselves incarnated in modern times into the human form that now rules in the form of the English.”

Upasani’s tale is rooted in the story of the Ramayana. Please read it, for my summary is not even a summary as much as it is a necessary context for the Great Story, and the Great Story would not even exist were it not for the Ramayana.

Ram was the Avatar — He was God incarnated as man — and his wife was Sita, a most perfect woman in every way. Now the protagonist in the story is a great king named Ravana. Depending on the version of the story you are following, Ravana was an advanced soul high on the planes of consciousness or, possibly, an ordinary man with occult knowledge as well as all the earthly powers inherent in royalty and the crown. Whatever be the case, whatever be the source of his power, Ravana was powerful indeed and he had desires and cravings consummate with his powers.

And so the story goes that Ravana lusted after Sita and kidnapped her from Ram — and is this not something to ponder in itself — that the Avatar could be so unknowing that His own wife could be stolen away from under His own nose?

I recall some comments by Meher Baba, that the Avatar is All-Knowing and simultaneously “clueless” — (my paraphrase). He said that it is not an act, that although a Perfect Master acts, the Avatar becomes. For example, a Perfect Master appears to be sick, but the Avatar actually is sick. Also, I remember that Upasani Maharaj said that the Avatar has no powers, and if He needs to use powers, He has to go to those advanced souls on the plane to get them to help Him. And so I guess it is possible that Ravana could actually steal Sita away from under Ram’s nose and that He could be powerless to get her back.

Returning to the story of the Ramayana, Upasani Maharaj continues:

“Ravana kept Sita in confinement in Ashoka forest. Trajita, his sister, was placed in charge of her confinement and protection. Trajita was devoted to Rama and naturally looked after Sita almost like a servant. Eventually Sita accepted Trajita as a friend. Through this friendship Trajita’s love for Rama grew and with it the desire to be loved in return by Rama.”

Enter the Ramadutas led by the famous warrior monkey, Hanuman, who track down Sita and liberate her from her captors. Just a side note here; Hanuman is a fantastic character in his own right. He is worshipped and revered throughout India to this day. For an excellent scholarly read on the history of Hanuman please read Hanuman’s Tale by Philip Lutgendorf, Oxford University Press.

“After Sita’s liberation Trajita withdrew to a cave and began hard penance.
Years rolled by. Then one day, all the monkeys came to pay Sita a visit. She was naturally overjoyed to see her liberators and wished to reward them. She requested all of them to ask for a boon from her. The monkeys considered the question and arriving at their decision said, ‘we are all foresters and as such have only subsisted on fruit, leaves, and roots. We have no idea of human food. We desire to have this food once, cooked by you.’

"Just as this request was being made, Rama arrived and was apprised of the whole situation. He quietly asked Sita not to grant this boon because it would actually deprive the monkeys of their celibacy (purity) and cause them great suffering. Both He and Sita explained the situation and told the monkeys to ask for something else but they remained insistent.

"Rama considered the situation and then told the monkeys that the boon could be granted if a condition was met. He told them that while Sita cooked for them they were to go to a certain nearby lake and take a bath. After the meal they were to immediately and without fail, return to the lake and take another bath. Sita then added, ‘you fellows could not ask for a proper boon and I do not feel satisfied with it. Hence on my own now, I give you another boon. You know that Rama rules over the entire earth and that you all belong to Him. In order to have a taste of His rule and the happiness thereof you will all appear on earth as human beings in Kali Yuga and have an empire of your own for some time.’

"The monkeys agreed to the conditions of the first boon and a day was settled for the feast. On that day the monkeys took their bath and arrived for their food. As they were about to leave, Rama reminded them of their agreement to return to the lake and bathe again warning them that if anyone should fail to bathe he would be punished. The monkeys left for the lake to fulfill their promise but one mischievous monkey did not bathe. He somehow escaped notice. After all, their total number was 18 million, million! But ultimately the disobedience was found out and orders were given to produce the defaulter.

"The mischievous monkey ran away and the chase began. Finding a cave, the monkey ran inside and found Trajita sitting deep in penance. She asked him who he was and when he answered “a Ramaduta”, she questioned him as to why he had run into the cave. On this he told her all that had happened, and said that he was frightened and so entered the cave for escape and shelter.

"The monkey requested Trajita’s help and she at once took pity on him and said, ‘I am ready to give you protection; but you have to convince me that you are a real Ramaduta.’ When he agreed, she said further, ‘I am undergoing all this penance with the one and only motive of having Rama as my husband. Now if you are a real Ramaduta, you can arrange a meeting between Rama and myself. Sita loves me intensely, and she will agree to whatever I say, and through her I can try to get your punishment cancelled. But you have to arrange the conference.

“‘If you cannot do it, it would only mean that you are not a real Ramaduta, and then I will give you no protection; I will turn you out from here.’

"The monkey agreed and began to perform a certain practice. Though he was mischievous, he was a staunch devotee of Rama and his heart had become Rama-rupa. As the practice reached its full measure, the form of Rama appeared within his heart and grew to such a size that the monkey himself, transformed into the appearance of Rama. Through this Rama, Trajita’s desire was satisfied and it is the progeny of Trajita conceived out of this Rama that is now recognized as Europeans on this earth.”

So what’s to be made of this story so far? There are so many interesting things about it, for example, the race of monkeys themselves — the Ramadutas — they do not seem like ordinary modern monkeys at all. Of course one can always say, “Well it’s only a story, it’s not really literally true,” but I wonder if perhaps there may be more truth here than might be first assumed. Remember that this story takes place in Trita Yuga, the second yuga in the recurring cycle of four yugas and it was still a time when the Light and Truth of Krita Yuga — the Golden Age — still blazed on creation.

We have spoken so often about sanskaras. In His book, Discourses, and many other writings and talks, Meher Baba distinguishes different categories of sanskaras. For example, He speaks about natural sanskaras and non-natural sanskaras. Natural sanskaras are collected during the process of evolution when the soul associates with and dissociates from the various forms of creation from stones to animals in order to acquire more and more consciousness.

The last animal forms are the primates, after which the soul begins to associate with the human form and continues its journey through the processes of reincarnation and involution. (For those unfamiliar with this idea, please see my previous post called The Divine Theme, posted 3/9/11).

Now it is during the process of reincarnation that the soul begins to collect non-natural sanskaras. The term ‘non-natural’ does not in itself imply good or bad, but instead is used to honor the distinction between the purely mechanical nature of evolution and the introduction of choice which is an aspect of the human condition.

During the more enlightened yugas, like Krita and Trita, the choices of human experience are nearly always made that favor the advancement of consciousness toward the goal of Realization. But in the less enlightened yugas, like Dwapara and especially Kali, choices are sometimes made which retard and inhibit the advancement of consciousness toward the goal of Realization.

In the literature connected to Meher Baba the term ‘un-natural’ sanskaras has emerged to characterize those retarding and inhibiting sanskaras and it is in the age of Kali that those un-natural sanskaras have even backed-up into the kingdoms of evolutions. So, the animal kingdoms have been, as it were, polluted by these un-natural impressions. Certainly our tainted primates of Kali Yuga are nothing like the tribe of monkeys living in Trita Yuga — the tribe called the Ramadutas.

This whole business connected with sanskaras may also help us to understand what the big problem was that resulted from the boon offered by Sita, Ram’s wife, to her liberators the Ramadutas. Sita asked the monkeys what they wanted and they replied a meal cooked by her hands. They told her, “We are all foresters and as such have only subsisted on fruit, leaves, and roots. We have no idea of human food.”

But food is sanskaras and sanskaras are food and the natural food for the monkeys was fruit, leaves, and roots. To serve them human food would be like putting jet fuel in an old Model T, and if that was not enough to cause a problem, we must remember that Sita was no ordinary human being. Sita was the wife of Ram and Ram was the Avatar. Sita was the most perfect woman in creation, and so the food cooked by her was more than like jet fuel, it was like rocket fuel. Of course when Ram was informed of the situation, He knew exactly the nature of the problem and He and Sita approached the monkeys with the intention of getting them to change their request. But they remained adamant.

So to minimize the effect of the food, Ram requested the monkeys to bathe in a certain lake, presumably holy waters, before and after their meal, again presumably to wash away the sanskaras collected from the food.

Then, on her own, Sita gave the monkeys a second boon saying, “You fellows could not ask for a proper boon and I do not feel satisfied with it. Hence on my own now, I give you another boon. You know that Rama rules over the entire earth and that you all belong to Him. In order to have a taste of His rule and the happiness thereof you will all appear on earth as human beings in Kali Yuga and have an empire of your own for some time.”

How interesting is that? Already troubled by the monkeys’ request and adamancy, Sita still gave the monkeys a proper boon. Is this not giving us a glimpse of how she and Ram were orchestrating the future history of the world through these events? It reminds me of a time that Meher Baba gave some very specific instructions to one of His followers regarding the destruction and burial of a rabid dog. When the instructions were not followed properly and the dog was not buried where He had specified, Meher Baba said that because of that the border between India and Pakistan would be in dispute for a certain long period of time. But I do digress, and will save that story for another time.

And what about the part in the story where Trajita, the wife of Ravana, has intercourse with the mischievous monkey who had taken on the form of Rama? We have already discussed the idea that these monkeys, the Ramadutas, were no ordinary, modern, monkeys. But to have the power to change their appearance, that is again something else.

In God Speaks, Meher Baba says that, “… one on the third plane can change his physical form at will, and one who does that is known as (an) abdal.” So, if we can accept the idea that the mischievous monkey was, as a result of his devotion to Rama, advanced to the third plane of consciousness, then it would be possible for him to change his form into that of Rama’s and have intercourse with Trajita. But, and there always does seem to be a ‘but’, would the monkey, on his own, do that? For the story goes that he was mischievous, but that does not mean that the monkey was a fool and to masquerade as the Avatar for his own personal reasons would be quite foolish.

And so I must conclude that Rama knew full-well what was going on and it was He who was orchestrating the whole thing. For Rama must have known of Trajita’s love for Him and known it was an attachment and known He had to free her of this attachment for her to advance spiritually. But what was He to do? It would not be correct for Him to actually have intercourse with Trajita, but to satisfy Trajita’s desire for Him through the Rama-rupa body of the monkey would solve the dilemma.

And what about all this talk of changing bodies in the first place — is there anything to be learned about that? In the Selected Talks of Upasani Maharaj, Upasani tell the story of how one day he found Himself in the body of Sai Baba, the Perfect Master of Shirdi and how He experienced the followers of Sai Baba bowing down to Him in Sai’s body while His followers were bowing down to Sai Baba in His (Upasani’s) body.

A bit of back-story here; Upasani Maharaj was Hindu by birth, while Sai Baba was a Muslim. Of course both were God-Realized and therefore both were beyond all religions, yet their followers were neither God-Realized nor beyond all religions and it was to help them lose their pride in their religions that Upasani Maharaj and Sai Baba of Shirdi exchanged Atmas (inhabited each other’s bodies.)

Upasani then went on to explain that the reason why all this talk seems strange to the average person was because we are so convinced of the ‘reality’ of our gross consciousness experience, but that the truth was really something quite different — that these gross forms — these physical bodies we so completely identify with, are merely vehicles for the advancement of consciousness and that, in fact, this exchange of Atmas, this inhabiting of other’s bodies, occurs more often than we might imagine.

An example of this can be found in an explanation Meher Baba once gave in regard to the subject of ghosts and spirits. Ghosts, He said, are disembodied souls who have died untimely deaths due to suicide or extreme violence before the sanskaras that were slated to be worked out in that particular lifetime could be experienced. As a result, the soul cannot move on (take another birth) and is caught in limbo between the gross world of its past life and the higher planes of consciousness where the doorway to the next birth lies.

And so the soul, seeking a way out of its predicament, is attracted to individuals of the gross world who have similar gross sanskaras to its own and possesses those individuals in order to experience its own sanskaras vicariously. Of course, there is a very high price to pay for this possession and the individual who possesses ends up taking on a huge burden of the possessed person’s sanskaras. I am led to believe that these possessions, both short-term and longer, occur uncomfortably more often than we are aware of or care to admit.

So, to return to our story as told by Upasani Maharaj:

“Once upon a time, Rama and Lakshmana (Rama’s brother) were walking along the sea-shore beside a great forest on the day that commemoration of their forefathers had to be celebrated. Rama became very anxious because there were no Brahmanas around to perform the relevant rituals." (Brahmans — the highest caste in the Hindu caste system — the Brahmanas are the priest-class and are responsible for maintaining the purity of the Vedic rites and rituals necessary for the maintenance of purity in all the classes and castes of Hindu society.)

“Just then, the corpses of two Europeans were washed ashore by the waves. Rama, knowing that the Europeans were the progeny of Trajita and Himself, told Lakshmana that he would have to turn the two corpses into Brahmanas and get the rituals performed through them. Rama charged the two corpses with life and empowered them with Brahma-shakti. Rising as if from sleep, they immediately began reciting the Vedic scriptures and performed the necessary rituals.

“Rama donated some land to them along the seashore. The Chit-pavana Brahmanas are the progeny of those two Brahmanas. (The word Chit means Chit-Shakti or Dnyana Shakti, which means the power of all knowledge.) The present Kokanastha Brahmanas are all Chit-pavan. Being originated from the Europeans, the Chit-pavanas are connected with politics. Peshavas (Peshavas is a word used to describe a Prime Minister or highly placed political person) were Chit-pavanas, and it is from their progeny that the present English took over the reins of the Empire.

“Trajita was a Brahman and loved the Kshastriya Rama. (Kshastriyas are the warrior caste in the Hindu caste system.) The duty of the Kshastriyas is to rule. Being a Brahmana and being intensely devoted to Rama, Trajita should have attained the real state of Rama i.e. God- Realization, but she was devoted to the ruler Rama and hence her progeny, though Brahmana by class, came forth as the rulers of the earth.

“Trajita gained the state of Rama but the punya she accumulated from serving Sita forced her Jiva (embodied soul) to have a body to expend and enjoy that punya, and she took an incarnation as Queen Victoria. Since the state of Sita was ever existent in her heart, the kingdom of Queen Victoria was virtually the kingdom of Sita. After the birth of her progeny, her husband, like the Ramaduta that satisfied the original desire of Trajita, passed on to enjoy the state of Sat. All this explains the origin of Queen Victoria and her love for India.”

I believe there is so much to be learned from this story, not the least the challenge to limited mind and the theories and ideas it creates and defends in its attempt to maintain control of the false-self it creates and maintains.

Limited mind, thinking through the vehicle of the false-self, would want us to believe that success and failure, gain and loss, happiness and misery — indeed all the dualities of illusory consciousness — are the results of understandable and recognizable talents and capacities we have worked to attain and the equally understandable and recognizable results that lawfully follow as a result of our efforts.

Simply put, the reason the guy who lives in the house next-door is handsome and rich and powerful or, on the other hand, ugly and poor and weak, is because of his efforts, conditioned, so to speak, by advantages and disadvantages inherent in the life he has been born into — a life that is itself the result of genetics and the “luck of the draw” with regard to some kind of existential birth lottery.

We’ve talked before about this limited mind, our ally throughout the processes of evolution, reincarnation, and involution of consciousness. Indeed it has been an indispensable ally, but make no mistake; it has never been our friend. The mind wants to be in control, and to that end it is constantly telling us stuff, trying to make us believe in its “truth” and its indispensability. Of course its greatest power over us is the power to make us think it is us — that no distinction exists.

But the problem is that the limited mind is illusory and that the “truth” it wants us to accept is also illusory.

So, the mind tells us stories — stories it makes up based on our own experiences — or what it tells us are our experiences. Behind every story of the limited mind there can be found a foundation of assumptions that it needs for us to accept, and it does everything in its power to make sure we never do question this foundation because it knows that were we to question it deeply we would conclude that, in fact, these assumptions are unsustainable and unsupportable — that they are not real.

A friend of mine was very upset because I was not making time for her. Her mind was telling her that I put everything in front of her, that I was acting like I was too busy for her. My mind, on the other hand, told me that she was being unfair and began to bring up explanations and excuses for my own actions. You can probably see where this is going — how many times does this kind of argument come up between people and in its wake leaves a trail of hurt, anger, disappointment, and suffering. But I did not respond to my friend in this way.

Instead I sought the deeper story, and when I looked I saw the deeper story her mind was telling her, “You love Michael more than he loves you; you care about Michael more than he cares about you; you do for Michael in ways he does not do for you.” And my friend believed this story, did not question it, and most importantly, accepted this story as true.

And this is just one tiny example of the many stories our minds tell us in order to keep itself in the position of indispensability. Other stories it tells are, Life sucks!; Life is unfair!; You are a mere mortal; you are going to die; life and death are reality — it’s so unfair; you are a winner; you are a loser; you are superior; you are inferior; even things like you are a man; you are a woman; you are good; you are bad — I could go on and on…

But the Avatar and the Perfect Masters tell us different stories based on different assumptions than those advanced by the limited mind — assumptions that from Master to Master and from Avatar to Avatar remain remarkably consistent. Some of these stories are, “You are not the limited mind; You are on a journey of consciousness that ends in the realization of Infinite Bliss and Eternal Existence; So-called birth and death are just an illusion; ‘You and I are not we — but One!'”

These stories of the Masters and the Avatars come not from limited mind, but Infinite Mind, and Infinite Mind knows Reality. Another important distinction is that Infinite Mind has no hidden agenda; it has nothing to gain, because it is Everything, has Everything, and needs nothing.

So, examining this story, A Great Story, we begin with the Avatar Rama. We are asked to believe that there is a God and that God can and does take a human birth in order to give a spiritual push to humanity and all of creation. And we are told that in the incarnation of Rama, the Avatar had a wife (Sita) who is stolen away by a powerful king (Ravana) and that in her time of captivity she is attended to by Ravana’s wife (Trajita) who became totally devoted to Sita and Rama.

After Sita is liberated from Ravana by an army of powerful monkeys led by Hanuman, the legendary monkey-warrior, Trajita begins a period of hard penance, practices, and austerities with the aim of attaining union with God. Trajita’s love for Rama is real, but is tainted by her own human desires for physical union with her Beloved. Rama, who knows everything, allows her to have union with Him through the form of a mischievous monkey that is transformed into the form of Rama.

We learn later that this union resulted in a progeny who eventually incarnated as the British, and that Trajita herself, in order to expend the punya (blessing) she acquired as the result of her practices, incarnated as Queen Victoria.

Many years ago I began this blog called Embedded with the Kali Yuga in order to offer news that was not offered by the usual sources. What is news? News is the stories we tell ourselves about who and what we are. But, the news we get from all the usual sources is the news as understood by limited mind and is thus false. Who has the real news?

Who knows the real stories? The answer is the Unlimited Mind. And who is the possessor of this Unlimited Mind? The Avatars and the Perfect Masters.
And so, God Willing, great stories will continue to be posted on this blog to offer the fantastic and amazing alternatives to the usual news of the day.

Meher Baba once said, and this is only a paraphrase, that there is a great irony in the fact that God, who is the only Truth, the only Reality, appears to be most unreal, while life in creation and creation itself, which is most unreal and illusory, appears to be so real.

Perhaps it is up to each one of us to hear all the stories and to live all the stories — perhaps over lifetimes and lifetimes — and to ultimately decide who and what we choose to believe, for ultimately what you believe becomes your story and your story becomes what you are.

Kernel of the Kernel (Complete)

2011-08-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

Kernel of the Kernel is but one of the many illumed writings of the Sufi, Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, born in Andalusia Spain in 1165 AD. As with so many of the writings I discuss on my blog, the following postings are presented not so much as a detailed summary of the writings, but as an offering of, a glimpse, a taste, of what is there. The translation I am working from is by Ismail Hakki Bursevi (1625 – 1728 AD). It is available from Beshara Publications at: http://www.besharapublications.org.uk/index.html.

As mentioned, Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi was a Sufi. The word literally means ‘wool’. The significance is that ‘wool’, in Arabic, also means knowledge — knowledge as in gnosis, i.e. knowledge of the higher states of consciousness and knowledge of God and the path to God. Therefore, by extension, a Sufi is the bearer, and protector, and transmitter of esoteric and divine knowledge.

In his introduction to the book, Hakki Bursevi refers to Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi as Qutub-l Aqtab which is translated as Pole of all Poles. Another designation for this status is Qutub-e-Irshad. A Qutub is a Perfect Master. Meher Baba tells us that there are always present on the planet five Perfect Masters. They are all equally Perfect, all enjoy the same Divine State, but each has different roles to play in relationship to each other and the Creation. Meher Baba states in God Speaks:

“According to divine law, these five Qutubs or Sadgurus or Perfect Masters, at the end of every cycle, precipitate the advent of the direct descent of God on earth in human male form. Hence, at the end of every cycle, when God manifests in the form of man and reveals His divinity to mankind, He is recognized as the Avatar — the Messiah — the Prophet.

The direct descent of God on earth as Avatar is that independent status of God when God directly becomes man without undergoing or passing through the processes of evolution, reincarnation and involution of consciousness. Consequently, God directly becomes God-Man, and lives the life of man amongst mankind, realizing His divine status of the Highest of the High, or the Ancient One, through these Qutubs or Sadgurus or Perfect Masters of the time.”

When the age is not Avataric, one amongst the five Perfect Masters plays the Avatar’s role as the head of the Spiritual Hierarchy and that Perfect Master is called the Qutub-e-Irshad. That role is then turned over to the Avatar when He is in human form; hence, the significance of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi as the Pole of all Poles.

“The knower of God (arif bi ‘llah), whatever his origin is, remains like that. He accepts all kinds of beliefs, but does not remain tied to any figurative belief. Whatever his place is in the Divine Knowledge, which is his essential knowledge, he remains in that place; knowing the kernel of all belief he sees the interior and not the exterior. He recognizes the thing, whose kernel he knows, whatever apparel it puts on, and in this matter his circle is large. Without looking at whatever clothing they appear under in the exterior, he reaches into the origin of those beliefs and witnesses them from every possible place.” – Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi – Kernel of the Kernel

I remember that the writer Maurice Nicoll once suggested that the New Testament revealed truth on three levels — truth on the level of stone; truth on the level of water; and truth on the level of wine. As stone, truth is carved into an external shape — like an idol. To change the shape is to change the truth. This is truth expressed at the lowest level.

Above stone is water. Water can be poured into any form, take any shape, and still remain water — externally it appears to change, but internally it remains the same — internally the kernel remains the kernel. This is the state of the knower of God — the state of the Sufi.

And what of wine? Wine, like water, can be poured into any shape, take any form, but unlike water, wine has the capacity to intoxicate — to transform one’s state. In the New Testament this change of state is called metanoia — from the Greek—meta — to change to another level (like metamorphosis — the caterpillar becomes the butterfly), and noia — from the Greek — meaning mind. Hence, metanoia means change of mind to another level of functioning — another level of consciousness. I know I digress here, but I find it very interesting that the word metanoia was translated into the English as the word repentance. And what is this wine? It is Divine Wine; it is Divine Love.

“Saki, the dawn is breaking; fill of my glass with wine!” – Hafez

“I drank glass after glass of love; neither did the wine finish, nor my thirst.” – Bayazid

So the Sufis are trained to recognize the essence in the stone of the idol, the water in the vessel, the wine in the wine glass, the truth in all religions, the light of the soul shining within the exterior of all things and people — and never mistake the one for the other.

“I follow the religion of Love.
Now I am sometimes called
A Shepherd of gazelles [divine wisdom]
And now a Christian Monk,
And now a Persian sage.

My Beloved is Three —
Three yet only one;
Many things appear as three,
Which are no more than one.

Give her no name,
As if to limit one at the sight of whom
All limitation is confounded.” Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi

If Upasani Maharaj’s booklet, The Secret of God Realization, (see previous posts) was about the way one arrives at the state of Perfection, then Kernel of the Kernel is a description of the internal states — the gnosis — the ipseity — of the wayfarer’s journey to and experience of this Perfection.
In Kernel of the Kernel, (read by me in English, from the Turkish translation of the original Arabic) two words, ipseity and gnosis, are encountered. They are both interesting words not commonly used in everyday discourse.

The word ipseity is often used by Sufi writers as a substitute for the Sufi term dhat, which means self, identity, nature, and Essence all at once.

“In the experience of ipseity, the absolute truth of Being, duality ends as we perceive that the identity and nature of everything, including ourselves, is inseparable from everything else. Everything is the radiance of absolute ipseity, just as light is the radiance of the sun. (The Point of Existence).” A.H. Almaas – http://www.ahalmaas.com/Glossary/i/ipseity.htm

Gnosis, the other word that is used frequently, means the knowledge of the soul — the knowledge of the experience, because for the Sufi, the experience and the knowledge of the experience are subtly different. Again, a very subtle point here, the term the knowledge of the experience is not the knowledge derived from the experience but the knowledge of the experience — in other words, the consciousness or awareness of the experience.

If you recall, in The Secret of God Realization, Upasani Maharaj said that there were two types of people, the worldly absorbed and those who were actively seeking God. So, in the use of these terms, the Sufi is always applying them to Divine states and Divine experiences. Having said this, allow me to attempt to first apply them to the mundane in order to get a grasp of their distinctions.

So there is a man, he is forty years old; he lives in Chicago and is married with children. He is wealthy, educated, has some health issues, likes sports, music, and good food. I could go on and on, but all this, all that is this man, is his ipseity — his identity, his nature, and his Essence. Remember, ipseity makes no distinction between the inner and outer of the man — because the distinction of inner and outer does not really exist — since all is in and of illusion in the first place.

Now we encounter this man while he in the state of deep dreamless sleep. In this state he is experiencing nothing, he is conscious of nothing, neither the world nor the body he inhabits nor the state of dreams, nor the state of dreamless sleep. We can say that the man has ipseity but no gnosis. Gnosis, the knowledge of, the consciousness of his ipseity, only dawns on him when he passes into the waking state. And so it is with Divine states (ipseity) and the experience of Divine states (gnosis); they are connected, they are dependent on each other with regard to cause and effect, yet they are separate and do not necessarily manifest simultaneously for the individual.

The Sufis also have words for the mechanics of this distinction; the words fana and baqa — the passing away into and the abiding in states of the soul.

Between day and night there is dusk.
Between night and day there is dawn.
Between two positions there is a movement.
Between the deep sleep state and the awake state there is a dream state.
Between the awake state and the deep sleep state there is also a dream state.
Between the in and the out of every breath there is a state of turning.
Between the out and the in of every breath there is a state of turning. This third state, this turning, holds tremendous significance for the yogi.
Between any two adjacent yugas there is a transitional state. We are now in that transitional state, that bardo, that joint, between Kali Yuga and Krita Yuga.

As the spiritual wayfarer passes from one state to another and one experience to another, there is always that third state in-between. So the wayfarer experiences the state of passing away (fana) before fully abiding (baqa) in the new state. Meher Baba describes the state between reincarnation and involution, between gross consciousness and subtle consciousness, as the state of Hawa. The wayfarer in the state of Hawa is permanently connected to the higher planes of consciousness though not yet on them.

The bardo between gross consciousness and subtle consciousness is commonly referred to as the Astral World — Meher Baba calls it the sub-subtle state.
Is it not interesting that the knowledge here spoken of was known to the Greeks — approximately 2,700 years ago, and that this knowledge was learned from the Egyptians whose culture predates the Greek’s by thousands of years more? Modern man likes to fancy himself and his culture as being the highest in every way, the most advanced in every way, but have we forgotten way more than we have ever learned — have we all but forgotten the Way?

“Age after age, when the wick of Righteousness burns low, the Avatar comes yet once again to re-kindle the torch of Love and Truth. Age after age, amidst the clamor of disruptions, wars, fear and chaos, rings the Avatar’s call:
‘COME ALL UNTO ME.’” From Meher Baba’s Call – Ahmednagar, India, Sept. 12th 1954
Knowledge is indispensable to the Sufi’s journey.

“The gnostic, so that he knows himself better and knows his kernel, is in need of listening with respect and humility to five more things he needs. It is an absolute necessity for the gnostic to know these in order to reach his aim. For this reason, we list these things below which are called the five presences.” - Kernel of the Kernel by Muhyiddin Ibin ’Arabi

These Five Presences can be considered to be a description of the same ten states of God that Meher Baba describes in God Speaks and that I, in my blog, The Divine Theme, condense into three states of God — God in the Deep Sleep State, God in the Dream State, and God in the Fully Awake State. It is important, however, to realize that no matter how many different ways the states of God are described, the common factor is that God is One and nothing exists beyond or beside Him.

“…there is no end to the Ipseity of God or to His qualification; consequently the Universes have no end or number, because the Universes are the places of Manifestation for the Names and Qualities. As that which manifests are endless, so the places of manifestation must be endless.” – Kernel of the Kernel

“He is at every moment in a different configuration.” – Quran

For many readers, the relationship between the Five Presences and consciousness is clarifying. From the First to the Fifth Presence, there is an ascending arch of consciousness, and, it will be seen, that only in the Fifth Presence is consciousness perfected and released from its burden of impressions, i.e. God in the state of the Fifth Presence is awake and knows Himself to be God.

“First Presence — Ghaybi – mutlaq — Absolute Unknowableness

This Presence is also called Universe of the Divine Nature. It is also known as the Universe of Non-manifestation which does not come under any measure or form of comprehensibility. It is also called the Universe of Absoluteness. It is also called the Absolute Blindness, Sheer Being, Absolute Being, Pure Ipseity, Mother of the Book, Absolute Expression, the Ocean-Deep Point, and the Unknown of the Unknown.” – Kernel of the Kernel

This is the State of God that Meher Baba calls the Beyond the Beyond State of God. In this state, God is in His Deep Dreamless Sleep State and is so asleep that He is not aware of anything, not even His not-awareness, and in this state there is not even the slightest possibility of Awakening, or knowing Himself, or knowing His Creation. There is neither consciousness nor unconsciousness, everything or nothing, Reality or Illusion, in this State of God. And, Meher Baba says that this state is absolutely indescribable, in other words, all that is written here or anywhere about this state is, in essence, false.

Words like ‘beginning’, ‘end’, ‘before’, ‘after’ etc., have absolutely no meaning in a discussion of the Five Presences. The First Presence always was, is, and will be; likewise, the Second Presence always was, is, and will be; and so it is with all of the Presences. Therefore, the First is not before the Second, beside the Second, and does not proceed, or supersede the Second. All were, are, and will be in the Eternal Now.

“Second Presence —‘Alemi-l jabarut (Universe of Omnipotence)
This is also known as the Presence of the First Unveiling, First Revelation, the First Jewel, the Reality of Mohammed, the Qualified Spirit, the Total Spirit, the Qualified Unknowable, and the Evident Book. In the Mother of the Book everything is seen collected together and in the Evident Book one begins to enter into chapters. The Mother of the Book is Essence. This station is also called the Universe of Names, Fixed Potentialities, Universe of Quiddities (Essential Natures), and the Great Isthmus.
All these are names of the first Degree, but they are used each with a special reference and it is not considered a secret by those who know.” – Kernel of the Kernel

The First Presence is so Beyond, Beyond, that for It, even the possibility of Awakening is eternally impossible and inconceivable; yet Awaken it must and without Its Presence this Awakening would be impossible. The Second Presence is about this Awakening, yet in the Second Presence not even the state of dreams is realized. The First Presence is the Mother of the Book; in the Second Presence the Book is born and that Book is called the Evident Book and that Book is entered into — it is entered into but it is not yet read.

Meher Baba explains it in this way: He says that creation is manifested out of the Beyond State of God. This manifestation occurs in three steps — three stages — the mental, the subtle, and the gross. The Mental World is like the “seed body” of creation. The seeds are the seeds of all the forms and paraphernalia that the ordinary gross conscious man and his gross conscious science experiences as The Creation.

From the Mental World proceeds the Subtle World. The Subtle World is the world of energy, and it is this energy that energizes the mental seeds which sprout as the Gross World — Gross Universe.

The Names referred to by Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi in the Book of Names are the seeds of creation, but in the Second Presence these Names are not yet read because this reading is consciousness of the soul, and this consciousness has not yet manifested for the individualized soul in creation.

“When Hazreti ‘Ali heard the hadith: ‘At the time God was in a state such that there was nothing with Him,’ Ali added, ‘Even at this moment He is still so.” – Kernel of the Kernel

“Fifteen: Hama-Ayafeh
Attainer of All
Before the beginning,
Your Whim to attain Yourself
disturbed Your Deep Sleep
and you embarked upon
Your Journey to Awakening.

You began to dream
and in that dream You created me,
and took me to be Yourself.

Now, as me, You wish to awaken.

Oh Unattainable Attainer of All,
You alone exist
and only You can attain Yourself.” – Meditation and Prayers on 101 Names of God (Second Edition) – by Michael Kovitz

For the soul, the Journey to Awakening begins with its descent through the Mental and Subtle Worlds spoken of as the Second Presence, but for the typical soul there is no consciousness of the journey until the Gross World is reached.

The exception to this rule is that for a few souls consciousness dawns in the Mental and Subtle Worlds and these souls are called Archangels and Angels. Archangels become conscious in the Mental World and Angels become conscious in the Subtle World.

“Third Presence — Alemi-l malakut (Angelic Universe)
This is sometimes also described as the degree of the Angels, the Universe of Examples, Universe of Illusions, Firstness, Second Unveiling, the Second Revelation, the Extreme Limit, Universe of Orders, the small Isthumus and the Universe of Chapters.” – Kernel of the Kernel

“Fourth Presence — Shuhudi-l mutlaq (Absolute Observation, Vision, Witnessing)
This is called the Universe of Witnessing, Universe of Possession, Universe of Mortality, Universe of Creation, Universe of the Senses, Universe of Species, Universe of Galaxies, Stars and Birth." – Kernel of the Kernel

Science uses powerful telescopes to look at distant stars and galaxies knowing that for light to travel those immense distances takes time — a very long time by human standards — and therefore the galaxies and stars that are seen are long dead. Through complex calculations of the data, science believes that it can construct a picture of the Universe that corresponds to the period of time when the Universe was born. They call this birth the Big Bang and though they may approach the “state” of the Universe at that time, it is only the Gross World of which they speak, and the Subtle Word, the Mental World, the Beyond and the Beyond the Beyond states — Presences — of God remain hidden and unknowable.

“Allah said: ‘I was a Hidden Treasure, so I loved to be known.’” Attributed to the Prophet Mohamed — according to Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi

In Kernel of the Kernel, Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi describes the act of creation witnessed in the Fourth Presence as the Ipseity of God — that Hidden Treasure — as being like the overflowing Itself into a goblet which then fills to overflowing and fills another goblet within Itself and then another and then another. And then he says:

“All that has been mentioned up to now happened within the space of time necessary for the blinking of an eye and perhaps even a shorter time.
‘He said Be, and in that instant everything happened.’ – Koran”

“All the universes that have been explained is an ocean of light constantly in movement and consequently always further new revelations appear. ‘Every instant He is in a different configuration.’ According to this the Divine Wave comes from the Ipseity and returns to the Ipseity. ‘Everything came from Him and will return to Him.’ ‘All the affairs return to Him.’ ‘God is the light of the earth and the heavens.’ The meaning of these Quranic quotations is enough to explain what is meant…

“All the universe was the Ipseity: was the Ocean of Wisdom, was in Union with God. No other Divinity exists other than God. Absolute Existence is what sort of a sea that constantly creates. The mystery of ‘ana-l haqq’ (I am God) He repeats hidden and openly, at all instances.” - Kernel of the Kernel

“Everything came from Him and will return to Him.”

The Divine Wave flowing — overflowing — creating the Four Presences — sweeps the soul into creation where it begins slowly to awaken. But this awakening is first through dreams — the dream of being stone and metals, plants and animals. This is the process that Meher Baba calls evolution. This is not Darwinian evolution; this is the evolution of consciousness.

Upon achievement of the human form, consciousness is fully evolved but remains covered by the dust of its journey. The process Meher Baba calls reincarnation is designed to cleanse the dust from consciousness’s face with the tears of longing.

When the dust is sufficiently removed and consciousness sufficiently established in longing, the journey of return to Him begins. Meher Baba calls this journey involution and involution ends in ‘ana-l haqq’ (I am God.)

“Fifth Presence — Insan-l kamil (Perfect Man)
Here the Perfect Man is going to be explained. The Presences that have been explained and the totality of the universes is encompassed and englobed in totality in this Man. The Perfect Man is the possessor of the degree of unification; he is at the station of the Greatest Name. Just as the ismi-l ‘asam collects and contains all the Names, in the same way the Perfect Man collects and contains within Himself the universes of mulk, malakut, jabarut, and lahut. Whether it be in manifestation or interior there is no station which the Perfect Man does not circumscribe.” – Kernel of the Kernel

“You thought yourself a part, small; whereas in you there is a universe, the greatest.” – Hazreti Ali

Perfection!

“He returns to the door from which he first came out, although in his journey he went from door to door.” – Maulana Shabistari

It is the Goal of all of creation; you and me and everything we see and everything that remains unseen. It is the Goal of the Soul associating with the form of your cat and dog, every tree, every blade of grass, every microbe, every atom; and it is the Goal of the Soul of every saint and every sinner — even the worst of sinners cannot escape the Goal — and it is the irony that until one achieves this goal it is impossible to experience this truth. To experience this truth is unconditional love and, as Kabir says, “Until it is experienced, it is not true.”

I once met a great yogi and was offered the gift of discipleship. I was following another path at the time and because of that could not accept his offer explaining to him that there was a conflict.

He looked at me and simply said, “There is no conflict; if you are thirsty, drink.” I responded to the yogi saying that I in no way doubted the truth of his words, but that truth was not my experience and I had to remain true to my experience. But, I said, although I cannot accept discipleship, please help me to attain that experience where all is one and no conflict exists — that state where I recognize the oneness of the wine and not the difference in the wine glasses — that state that realizes that the purpose of the glass is only to deliver the wine to my lips.

“If all the trees were pens and the seas were ink, and if all the people and those whom we do not see with these eyes, the angels, jinn, etc., were scribes, they could not finish explaining the states of the Perfect Man. If the time allotted to them was from the beginning to the end of this world, still they would not have scratched the surface of the fine membrane which covers the face of this proposition. As an indication to this matter, we shall quote the Quranic verse: ‘Tell them: if the seas were ink and the trees were pens, they would be exhausted before the words of my Lord. If there were to be as much again, that also would be exhausted.’” – Kernel of the Kernel

And then the author, Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, offers this practical advice — is it not the same advice we have been hearing from Upasani Maharaj and Avatar Meher Baba?

“It is not easy to become a Perfect Man. It is only possible to find a Perfect Man and hold on to his hand and serve him.”

And how is it possible to find a Perfect Man? And how is it possible to hold on to his hand and serve him? Again the answer is clear and totally consistent with the teachings of Upasani Maharaj and Avatar Meher Baba. And that answer is love. It is love that attracts the lover to the Beloved and love that binds the Beloved to the lover. And it is love that allows us to hold on to His hand and serve Him till the very end when we are worthy of union with Him.

“He shows us in every wink a caprice, and in every caprice a scent, and in every scent a beauty, and in every beauty a love, and in every love a wink, and in every wink a caprice, and in every caprice a scent, and in every scent a kind of re-commencement…” – Kernel of the Kernel

When the great yogi said to me, “there is no conflict; if you are thirsty, drink,” it took me a long while to realize that he was saying that there is a difference between the wine and the wine glass. What is the purpose of the wine glass? It is to bring the wine to my lips. There may be many different wine glasses, but the wine — the real wine — the divine wine is one. In the Tavern of Love, who cares who has the best wine glass? When you are intoxicated by love, no distinctions exist.

“Your Beauty is single but devotions are different.” – Kernel of the Kernel

And what Beauty, what Reality, is being referred to here? Muhyiddin Ibn ’ Arabi says that this Reality, this Existence, is transcendent beyond all it names.

“…that to explain this they use the terms being, love, light, self, clemence, but that which is meant by all of these is the name of One Being which is Reality.”

For one who is in this state of Recognition, what is his experience?

“In this station neither name nor picture nor poem of praise nor adjective exists. He is considered free and transcendent from all. The one who journeys through all degrees and reveals Himself is Him.” – Kernel of the Kernel

Meher Baba puts this so beautifully when He simply says, “You and I are not we — but One.”

“Since He is the same as each degree, and in qualification which makes Him collector of all, He is the One who is called by all names, drawn in every picture, called with different names and qualities and qualifications. He descends to every degree, and in this descent is also a sign of His ripeness. His descent is explained by this hadith: ‘I was ill, and you did not visit me. I was hungry and you fed Me not from your own food.’” – Kernel of the Kernel

Fellow wayfarers, journeymen, holy ghosts, and drunkards in the Tavern of Love, these words are not meant merely to explain — for explanation leads to distinction and distinctions lead to separation and separation leads to suffering. So be clear, these words are meant to intoxicate, for in divine intoxication there is no distinction and hence no separation and hence no suffering except for the suffering of the lover for the Beloved — and even this suffering is extinguished in the state where “You and I are not we — but One.”

“Oh saki girl, fill up our cups for mercy’s sake!
Inebriate our skulls before the fleeting hour has made it dull,
Before the hands of fate have flagons made from our remaining dust.

Fellows of the tavern have no mood for holiness,
And for repentance care but less,
Our time is short for such remorse,
And abstinence is worse.

In this Tavern of Love prayer mats are stained with Wine.” – An excerpt from the poem by Hafez, Oh Haste the World is Whirling On, as interpreted by Michael Kovitz

“The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.” – Muhyiddin Ibn ’ Arabi

Who is happy? Examine your thoughts. What is in your thoughts is in your heart. We are not speaking now of the face on the other side of the coin of pain — we are speaking about wine — we are speaking about bliss.

“I believe in the religion of love; my heart accepts every form.” - Muhyiddin Ibn ’ Arabi

Who sees unconditionally? Examine your thoughts. What is in your thoughts is in your heart. Do you really want to engage your opportunity in endless wranglings and disputes?

“My God, please make me into Light.” – The Prophet Mohammed

“Make me into light,” for who can do this for themselves? Examine your thoughts. What is in your thoughts is in your heart. Gurdjieff used to call it “the terror of the situation” — knowing, yet being unable to do.

Who can do? Examine your thoughts. What is in your thoughts is in your heart. Can you stop your thoughts? Can you change them? Try, and then when you are done trying, when you have realized the terror of the situation, think the one thought, pray the one prayer, “Oh God, carry me to the door of a Perfect One and help me to hold on to Him until the very end — when I am worthy of union with Him.”

“Those who want to find out let them hang on to the hem of a Perfect person and ask of him, because: ‘The one who has not tasted cannot know;’ this knowing is a necessary condition. The rest cannot be explained by writing. So there it is: and peace. God is the only helper. With the help of God this is now completed.” – And so ends Kernel of the Kernel.

“The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.
The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.” – Muhyiddin Ibn ’ Arabi

The Secret of God Realization (Complete)

2011-07-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

This is the complete version of my commentaries on Upasani Maharaj's booklet The Secret of God Realization. I have re-posted it as a single document to facilitate its reading.

The Secret of God Realization

It is about the same size as a modern soft-cover book—sixty seven pages—so somewhere between the size of a pamphlet and a book. The cover is of thin paper—a little dog-eared— its color a very faded uneven blue.

Within the black patterned border the title, The Segret of God Realization (yes, the typo is it’s, not mine) followed in smaller letters in parenthesis by (Discourses by Shri Satchidananda Sadguru Upasani Baba Maharaj, Sakuri). At the bottom of the cover, under the border, is stamped something in either Hindi or Marathi. In short, the appearance is old and unprofessional looking by our modern publishing standards.

I remember a saying of Gurdjieff, “auspicious exterior, suspicious interior” that he used to describe the state of modern man and society. This book’s exterior being quite the opposite, as well as its interior when discovered by any sincere aspirant.

After the table of contents which lists six chapters, or discourses, there is a black and white photograph of poor quality of Upasani Maharaj sitting cross-legged on the ground with his right hand on his right leg and his left hand on the ground behind him—apparently supporting himself. Upasani appears to be about sixty years old, his short beard is white and his head nearly bald. He is bare-chested; his only clothes a rough looking cloth or blanket of rough gunny material that is wrapped around him. He is neither fat nor thin. His posture is casual, his aspect unpretentious, yet, somehow, powerful and auspicious.

The pages that follow are a preface and an introduction, most-likely by Mr. S. Subarao, a close follower of Upasani Maharaj, who translated the original text in Marathi—the language used by Upasani when He gave the original talk—into English. Both the preface and the introduction offer a glimpse into the material that is to follow as well as some general background on Upasani and His ashram at Sakori, India.

The writer humbly apologizes for “all the defects inherent in all (his) such attempts (to render the talks into English” listing the following three reasons:

1. “The far too sublime nature of the subject;

2. The peculiarities and angularities of the different languages and

3. Inadequate equipment—spiritual and literary—on the part of the translator.”

It is a fact accepted by all enlightened minds that upon achieving the human form man remains bound in the dream called life and continues to die and be born again and again in order to experience and exhaust his accumulated sanskaras of pleasure and pain, wealth and poverty, happiness and despair etc. Both Meher Baba and Upasani Maharaj places the outside limit of lifetimes as eighty four lacs, or eight million, four hundred thousand.

But the Lord is All Merciful and Eternally Benevolent and continues to provide appropriate exit strategies for worthy individuals — this is what is meant and explained in the book, The Secret of God Realization. There are some traditional ways that Upasani names and then dismisses as being impractical for most individuals — impractical because they are generally not really appropriate to life the Kali Yuga, the cycle of time we are all now currently experiencing. These methods include, Bhajanpujan, Anuthan, Vratas, Yadnya-Yaga, Tapascharya, Yogabhyas, Namasmaran, Dhyan-dharna, Vedapathan, and Brahmacharya — practices and techniques that can be variously grouped within the categories of the four yogas described in my recent posts.

Upasani then goes on to describe some methods that are more effective in the Kali Yuga. These methods include association with pure souls in various forms such as Sadgurus (God-Realized souls), girls under the age of eight years old, girls and boys beyond the age of eight who remain in the state of purity by being kept in association with Sadgurus, and women who remain in the pure state — what Upasani calls the Kanya State.

Under the topic heading of “Natural Attributes of Man and Woman” Upasani states;
“If it is asked as to how and from where the Kanya acquires this power to lead others to God the answer is that the state of Pure Consciousness (the satchidananda — knowledge, power, and bliss — alternately, existence, consciousness, and bliss) is very nearly found in this world in the Kanya; and the state of a man is its direct opposite.

That is to say, man is chiefly composed of Rajas and Tamas Gunas, the grosser qualities Asatguna of Maya — (Sat equals knowledge, asat means the opposite i.e. ignorance; Maya is the power that makes illusion appear to be reality; hence Asatguna of Maya meaning illusion’s power in the form of ignorance.) — which develop egoism and induce him (man) to undertake an endless series of activities good or bad, fruitful or otherwise, whereby his worldly sanskaras (mental tendencies) grow stronger and inextricably entangle him in the (nearly endless) cycle of births and deaths.

It is not, however, ordained by Providence that man should be forever involved in the cycle of births and deaths and undergo continued suffering. On the other hand, without man composed of Rajas and Tamas the world cannot go on. So, man has been created to keep the world going and women, on the contrary, is his exact counterpart. She is composed chiefly of Satvaguna as denoted by the term ‘Kanya’ and her main function is to destroy the evil sanskaras accumulated by man in the course of his numerous worldly activities and lead him back to his original state of Eternal Bliss. Such is the harmony of the Natural Order.” The Secret of God Realization – Upasani Maharaj

Of course, the most important ‘qualifier’ in Upasani’s statement is this last sentence, “Such is the harmony of the Natural Order,” and, we shall see, if we don’t already know it, that in the present cycle of time, the Kali Yuga, the Natural Order of things is turned on its head and ‘natural’ can in no way ever be taken for granted.

“What has been said about the power and capability of a Kanya is equally applicable to a woman in the state called Kumari or Kuwari. What then do these terms connote? ‘Ku’ signifies bad or evil, perishable, that which throws a Jivatma into all the grosser qualities of Maya and entraps it in the endless cycle of births and deaths. ‘Mari’ or ‘wari’ means destroyer. She who destroys ‘ku’— destroys the false and leads to the True — is a Kumari or Kuwari, and from this point of view, it does not matter whether she is called a Kanya or a Kumari.

The words Kanya and Kumari should not be taken in the popular sense of an unmarried girl of any age. It should only be applied to a woman who possesses pure Satvaguna of whatever age, whether she is married or unmarried, with or without issue. In short, by whatever name she goes, if she is in a Kanya state, she is capable of destroying the evil of anybody and leading him to God.

Two opposite forces operate together and produce a third. Man and woman unite in the family way and beget children. But, if on the other hand, man preserves woman in the original Satvic state, and himself imbibes Satvaguna, the result of their association in accordance with the forgoing principle will be realization, the production of God (God-Realization). God will become visible in both, and both will experience Him. Even if there is physical union between such a couple in the Satvic state and a child is born, neither the Kanya state of the woman, nor the celibacy of the man is lost. Both are, and remain, worthy of God-realization. When the husband of a Kanya seeks union with her, not for sensual pleasure, but with pure, platonic love, his soul acquires the pure Satvic state, the state of the Kanya — his own original pure state — and the result of such a union is Realization of God.”

Here, Upasani explains about the current situation in the world:

“For spiritual and temporal (worldly) happiness, and finally for Realization, Satvaguna is essential, but now-a-days man has not left his Swadharma, but forced women to leave hers.”

Upasani defines Swadharma as “people’s conduct in accordance with the laws of their own being… ‘Dharma’ signifies conduct in accordance with the form i.e. the male and female human forms.”

“An unrestrained life of Rajasic and Tamasic activities has almost completely destroyed the Satvaguna in both, and like an actor moving about in his guise, even after the play is over, continues his Rajasic and Tamasic career unrestrained, even when there is absolutely no need for it.

Men and women have at present lost all sense of duty, and are actually leading an unrighteous life under the false impression that to behave as they please under the influence of Rajas and Tamas is their Swadharma. And so, Swadharma (the life of righteousness) is neglected, and Adharma (unrighteous, licentious life) prevails. As Adharma goes on increasing, its evil consequences affect not only the people, but the lower kingdoms of evolution as well, thus destroying the harmony of the Natural Order and bringing untold misery upon themselves and the world.”

But God is Merciful, as Hafez says, “He never tries His slave in vain,” and in the next blog Upasani suggest a way out of our present situation.

So after my last posting a close friend of mine sent me this in an email;
“So PLEASE post the next installment soon! At the moment, you’ve pointed out the depressing stuff, now let’s get to the way out of this!”

Of course, if it was me who was doing the pointing out that would be one thing, but when it is a Perfect Master, a fully God-Realized being, that is quite another. Still, to my friend, point well taken; leaving things where we did make things appear quite hopeless. The world is in a mess; the mind is in a mess; and, on our own, by our own efforts, our state remains helpless and hopeless.

What to do? Just give up? Stop trying? Do nothing? For me, to get to the point where I recognize that my mind, if it is not exactly my enemy, it is certainly not my trusted friend, would be something - maybe a big something - to realize that my miond has its own agenda, and that agenda is to maintain its status of supremacy over me — over my spirit — over my soul is big - huge even...

I once asked my friend, who works for a very large and successful advertising agency, “Who has the most successful advertising campaign in the universe?” Of course the answer is the mind.

What is the basis of all advertising? Making the product or the client appear to be totally and completely one hundred percent indispensable. And that is what the mind is selling; and that is what our spirit is buying.

If I could only fully understand that, at all times remember that, and not continue to buy into the dictates, the appearance of ever-rightness, of my own mind, that would be, as I said,something, but would it be enough?

In my book, Meditation and Prayers on 101 Names of God, I wrote;

Seventy-one: Gail-vad-gar (Transmuter of Dust into Air)

Oh Dust, did you really think that your journey was over,
when you found the feet of your Beloved?

You had become helpless and hopeless,
worthless in every way,

but did you think He would allow you to remain
in your pathetic state?

Did you think that your Lord would breathe dust?

No, the Lord does not want us to experience eternally the state of dust; He has made it quite clear to us that He wants us to experience ourselves as God. Meher has often said, “You and I are not we, but One.”

Upasani Maharaj says that if you bring your mind to a form and invest that form with certain qualities, the form begins to exhibit those qualities. He uses the example of an idol. If one begins to worship that idol as God, then that idol begins to exhibit the qualities of God and one can even gain realization through that worship. He uses the expression, “to charge the idol with Godhood.”

Seem a little hokey? But if one keeps in mind that everything other than God is Illusion, than it would follow that the mind is constantly charging every form with certain qualities and those forms begin to exhibit those qualities for that individual. If I think that so and so is a bad person, then I begin to experience that so and so begins to act toward me in a bad way. If someone else sees that same person as good—charges that person with goodness—then for that person—the charger—the one charged begins to exhibit those qualities of goodness he has been charged with. Do we not see that this actually happens?

So in the ancient Vedic teachings it is advised to, for example, charge one’s son as God and act accordingly. Love the son as God and help God in the “son form” to achieve that Godhood in his life. This should not be construed as doing everything the son wants; on the contrary, the parents must help the son in all possible ways to act in a way befitting an incarnation of God.

As for a daughter, Upasani advises parents to treat that daughter in a manner appropriate to her form which naturally exhibits all of the qualities of the purity and perfection of God.

But who can do this? I mean really, who has the ability and the state of mind to act appropriately to his or her daughter or son? I think the honest answer is very, very, few. And so Upasani Maharaj exhibiting all the qualities of the Perfect Pragmatist suggests that the parents and the children associate themselves with the Realized forms of Perfection, i.e. God-Realized human beings in the form of Sadgurus and the Avatar—God in human form.

Meher Baba states that at all times in all cycles of existence there are always fifty-six God-Realized souls on the planet earth. All fifty-six share exactly the same consciousness of Reality, but do not share the same exact consciousness of Illusion—the creation. Of the fifty-six, only five are Perfect Masters who have perfect and simultaneous consciousness of both Reality and Illusion. The remaining fifty-six can be differentiated between by their various degrees of Creation consciousness. Some have more, and some have less, and some have it simultaneously with their consciousness of Reality and some have it alternately with their consciousness of Reality.

It is the role of the Perfect Masters to precipitate at the appropriate time the descent of God into the creation in the form of a male human being. Meher Baba states that God as the Avatar takes a birth every seven-hundred to fourteen-hundred years.

“When things come to such a crisis, God manifests Himself in the form of an Incarnation or a Satpurusha to set things right. His ways and means are not, at first instance, quite agreeable to the people. What Rama and Krishna did for the welfare of the world was subtle, and it appeared to be exactly opposite to what it really was. The workings of all the Avatars that have so far appeared were and are mysterious, and are incomprehensible to the general public, whose view of things is always superficial. Their conduct seems inconsistent to the people.

Whatever their external conduct may be, they are ever conscious of and true to their real nature. Sometimes they appear sane, sometimes insane. Their composition itself is such. Though Rama (the Avatar of Treta Yuga—when Adharma—evil—enters the world and the very fabric of time begins to decay) was all-powerful, when Sita (his wife) was carried away by Ravavna, he kept on crying for her like an ordinary human. Similarly, Krishna showed himself to be amorous; but their inner workings for the welfare of the world were altogether different…”- Upasani Maharaj, The Secret of God-Realization

There are two types of individuals that Upasani Maharaj describes in His booklet, The Secret of God Realization;

“Those who have no experience whatsoever of spiritualty and are wholly engrossed in the joys and sorrows of this transitory world, and out of sheer ignorance feel perfectly satisfied with their lot—who are said to be in the state of Avidya (ignorance); and on the other hand, those who have taken to a life of spirituality or aspire to do so, or those who disregard the material (life of Avidya) realizing it to be full of ignorance and misery, are said to be in a state of Vidya (knowledge) or Pure Maya.”

I am quite confident that even in this age of internet accessibility; few belonging to the first category would ever find their way to these teachings, and if they did would either find the whole subject incomprehensible or highly questionable. If God Realization is a secret, it is not so much a matter of being hidden as it is buried — buried under a load of Tamasic and Rajasic sanskaras.

I am also quite confident that those in the first category are not eternally doomed to a life of darkness—for does not the seed have to be buried in the earth to sprout? Does it not have to inhabit darkness, even though its nature is to seek the light? “To everything turn, turn, turn; there is a season turn, turn, turn…” I try to remember this when it appears that the teachings of the Masters fall on deaf ears. Do I really need to see results? Is not the wisdom that transformation occurs in ways that the average person does not see the real meaning of faith?

Another thing that strikes me about this booklet is what it doesn’t say. Upasani does not describe any complicated, esoteric, techniques that demand great knowledge or preparation. He does allude to the fact that they exist, but suggests that they are inappropriate to the age we live in. The four yogas described in my previous blogs perhaps shed some light on these techniques. They all seem very difficult, nay almost impossible.

What is also quite clear to me is that the methods he does describe as appropriate are effective not so much by the quality of the efforts we make, as that those efforts are made under the suggestion, or the influence, or the proximity of God-Realized souls and those who retain or acquire the purity of consciousness that is one as the same as that of the Perfected Ones. This is the yoga described by Meher Baba as Sadguru Bhakti, and it is interesting to me that the Avatar and His Sadgurus reveal that love is the key—love for the Avatar, the Sadguru, God the Beloved.
Pure Love is the main factor in bringing about this union. God is realized through Love, because God is Love and Love is God. All the attributes of Satchidananda exist in Pure Love. This Love is also called pure Bhakti — pure devotion. By devotion is meant pure Love of God, and it is Bhakti, pure love, that draws God to us.”- The Secret of God Realization by Upasani Maharaj.

So God-Realization is not about being smart enough or talented enough or even clever enough. God –Realization is about be ready—being ripe—being detached enough from one’s own sense of pride and self-importance to be able to love.

I used to ask myself the question; what is my work? And my answer was, to become self-defenseless enough to be able to live in the company of Meher Baba—to be able to take whatever it was He dealt me—and from the stories I have heard, Meher Baba sometimes dealt some very difficult hands to his closest followers. Hafez said, “Praise be to God, for He never tries His slave in vain.” But remembering that, believing that, under the most trying of circumstances seems to me to be not as easy as it might first appear.

Adi K. Irani, one of Baba’s closest disciples used to say, “A kiss and a kick from Meher Baba are one and the same—still I prefer the kiss.” Yet, Adi stayed with Baba, enduring both kisses and kicks for his whole life—could I do as well? And my honest answer is no; I have too much pride; I would probably get mad and up and leave when Baba was difficult with me. I would begin to find fault with Him, my mind justifying, assuaging my anger and my fear.

Because, in the end, it is all about the mind—the problem of the mind. Rumi once said, “The mind is a great and a wondrous thing, until it brings you to the door of the King, then, like shoes upon entering a holy place, it is removed and left at the threshold.”

But, removed from what and how? In God’s Hand, Meher Baba puts it quite simply, “When the spirit (the consciousness of the soul) is absorbed in the mind, it experiences illusion—the universe—pleasure and pain—life and death, but when the spirit is absorbed in God, it experiences itself as God—as Reality—as Eternal, Imperishable, beyond birth and death; it experiences itself as Infinite Bliss.

And, The Secret of God Realization reveals the method. Absorb the mind in God—in One who is God in human form—or has become God in human form; couple your train to His engine and pass your time as you wish without worry, being happy, trusting the Engineer to carry you to the Goal.

A Sip of Wine

2011-05-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

I wrote the following poem around 2001 after reading the Upanishads. The "Inscribe these words..." quote is from Meher Baba.

A Sip of Wine

“Inscribe these words in your heart. Nothing is real but God
Nothing matters but love for God”

Oh Lord,
My eyes believe that all they see is real —
Are not these stones and trees and birds and bees
and creatures of the earth and sky and sea real?

My lover, they are not real,
the Self within them is what’s real.
Their forms are only shadows cast
that come and go
from nothing to nowhere.

See them, love them,
but upon them do not depend.

And my Lord,
what of men who speak and walk and love and hate,
who laugh and cry with joy and pain,
and grow from babes to live and die —
are they not real — like You and I?

My lover, they are not real,
nor is the pain and pleasure that they feel.
The Self within them is what’s real,
while their forms like clouds that cross the sky
appear as shapes that dance and cry.

Know them, love them,
but upon them do not depend —
the Self that is real has no beginning or end.

But my Lord, I am a man.
Am I not real,
or my thoughts and what I feel?
Who is it then that seeks for You
and in my heart what voice speaks to You?
And are You real or just a dream?
It seems that nothing’s what it seems!

My lover, you are not real,
the Self within you is what’s real —
that Self and I are really one.
When you experience this, my work is done.
You say that nothing’s what it seems,
and that’s because your life’s my dream,
though in this dream my life’s displaced
and found again when you’re effaced.

Know Me.
Love Me.
Upon Me alone depend.

Within you I will awaken in Bliss,
beyond beginning and without end.

Remember, dear one, these words I say,
‘Nothing is real but God.
Nothing matters but love for God.’

© Copyright 2000 Michael Kovitz

The Embodied Soul

2011-05-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

In Sanskrit, the embodied soul — the soul lost in the dream of creation — is called Jiv-atma. Atma is the soul and Jiv is the state of embodiment — embodiment in and of Illusion.

God’s odyssey (odd- yssey) as Jiv-atma ends in Shiv-atma. Shiv-atma is the state of God’s Realization — Ehyeh asher ehyeh (Hebrew) — I Am That I Am — I Am What I Am.

What made me think of all this was an email conversation with a friend in which I recalled a beautiful statement from Upasani Maharaj. In this statement, Upasani defined the Jiv-atma as, “that pure celestial soul identified with the projections of the mind.”

“that pure celestial soul (God) (in the state of being) identified with the projections (impressions — sanskaras) of the mind."

“If the shoe fits, wear it,” is another old saying. Hopefully, if that shoe is not too comfortable, and consequently we begin to lose patience with its rubbing and pinching, we may, Inshalla! get the idea that perhaps we would be better off without it.

The Four Yogas as described by Meher Baba in the Intelligence Notebooks

2011-04-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

(Some readers have suggested that I put some of my longer series of postings in order to facilitate the reading experience. So, over the next few days, I’ll do a little house-keeping on some of my longer blogs starting with the most recent.)

The Four Yogas as Described by Meher Baba in the Intelligence Notebooks.

In what have come to be called the Intelligence Notebooks, Meher Baba describes the four yogas. In the next few postings I will attempt to convey the sense of Meher Baba’s teaching on the subject.

The Intelligence Notebooks are available online at http://www.ambppct.org/meherbaba/Book_Files/Intelligence_text.pdf and I would highly recommend to anyone who is interested in the subject of the four yogas to go to the source and read what Meher Baba actually said. He begins to talk about the four yogas at the end of page 158. The four yogas are Karma Yoga, Dnyan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Raj Yoga.

All of the yogas have one thing in common and one common purpose and that is to free consciousness from impressions (sanskaras) and so if one needs to refresh himself on the subject of sankaras I can refer them back to Baba’s Discourses, the Intelligence Notebooks, and God Speaks, and my postings on the Divine Theme.

Meher Baba first described Karma Yoga; He said, “In this yoga the Infinite Mind does Karma (i.e. takes the experience of Subtle and gross universe through Its subtle and gross body) by the subtle and gross body according to the past impressions attached on it. But whilst doing the Karma (i.e. while taking the oopabog — the experience — of those fine impressions that are attached on It in Subtle and gross form, and thus spending them) It remains unaffected. It does not become anxious of the result. It neither becomes happy by success nor miserable by failure. It only does the Karma as duty…”

In the example of a king and a beggar, the king is not at all affected by being a king and feels neither haughty nor great. He merely discharges his duties as king without being affected by success or failure, accolades or insults. The beggar, likewise, lives the life of a beggar, free from anger or envy, unaffected by insult or difficulties.

The science behind Karma Yoga is this: In the normal process of experiencing impressions, using our example of the impressions of a king and a beggar, new impressions are created that have to be experienced that set the stage for the beggar to be reborn a king and the king to be reborn a beggar. Meher Baba calls this process the spending of impressions. Here, the spending consists of exchanging impressions — one gets rid of some impressions, but in the process, gets new impressions.

It could take thousands, even millions, of lifetimes on this pendulum before it begins to dawn in the consciousness of the king that although he is a king now he has also been a beggar before. Likewise, it could take thousands, even millions, of lifetimes on this pendulum before it begins to dawn in the consciousness of the beggar that although he is a beggar now he has also been a king before. With this awareness come the realization that if I have been both beggar and king, then, in fact, I am neither, I am something else, I am the “I” that has been having the experiences, I am the dreamer who has been having this dream, I am the dreamer and not the dream. It is at this point, and only at this point, that one would naturally be able to, “… remains unaffected. It does not become anxious of the result. It neither becomes happy by success nor miserable by failure. It only does the Karma as duty…” And what is this “one” this “I” that realizes it is neither beggar nor king? Meher Baba calls this reality “the Infinite Mind.”

I am the Infinite Mind of Infinite Intelligence, beyond all dualities and all experiences of dualities; I am birthless, deathless, and timeless. I am Infinite, Eternal Bliss, I am that I am!

Millions and millions of lifetimes are needed for this inevitable state to be reached; what then is the role of the four yogas in the process? Must be to speed it along, to facilitate it, but how? How does one actually “do” this yoga? Perhaps to merely know about it, to know what it is we are going through and why is enough; perhaps the knowledge of the yoga and the process is all we need?

Bhakti Yoga

“Through bhakti yoga the mind loses its consciousness of the bodies and so of the universe. In this yoga, the Infinite false mind (jiv) thinks Itself separate from the Infinite Intelligence (Paramatma) and worships and loves it and thus becomes engrossed in It and unconscious of the body and the universe to the proportion of Its engrossment in It. The more the mind loves and worships It the more It becomes engrossed in It, and so the more It becomes unconscious of the bodies and the universe. And when It becomes engrossed in it most, i.e. loses completely the consciousness of Its bodies and the universe, then It becomes one with It (Paramatma), (i.e. becomes Shiv), i.e. the worshipper and the worshipped become one…” (Intelligence Notebooks page 167.)

I lived through the 60’s, the so-called hippie days, and the plethora of spiritual trips that abounded in those days. For me, it was a beautiful time filled with more questions than answers, but the questions I entertained were filled with light and promise.

My own experience of Bhakti Yoga could be expressed in the image of a bunch of hippie seekers with long hair, colorful clothing, and out of tune guitars, chanting “Hari Rama, Hari Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hari Hari,” and moving and swaying with drug induced ecstasy.

Then too, there were the followers of the Krishna Consciousness movement who shaved their heads and joined ashrams and spent their days, supposedly, in devotional practices.

The former seemed to me naïve and the latter just not my trip, but in truth I really had no idea what Bhakti Yoga was or was trying to accomplish — not until I read Meher Baba’s description in the Intelligence Notebooks.
Like Karma and Dnyaan Yogas, this Bhakti Yoga is no easy matter. Just try to keep your mind on God, or Bliss, or Infinite love, for anything more than a few seconds, and notice how you can’t do it — how your thought keep returning to the mundane, or what Baba calls “the bodies and the universe.”

So Bhakti, or worship, means the turning away of the mind from the bodies and the universe to the Self…

The aim and end of these four yogas is the stopping of the mind in the thinking conscious awake state, i.e. the changing of the falseness of the Infinite Thinking to the realness in the thinking i.e. the getting rid of the sanskaras completely in the conscious state…

Thus in karma and dnyaan yoga the mind tries to gain consciousness of the self by getting rid of sanskaras; whereas in raja yoga and bhakti yoga the mind tries to gain consciousness of self either by stopping its thinking, as in the case of raja yoga: or by changing the rukh (face) or the attitude of Its thinking, as is the case with bhakti yoga… (Intelligence Notebooks)

So it all comes back to those pesky sanskaras — the dust of God’s journey to consciousness — the dust that covers the mirror and keeps Him from seeing Himself.

And when It becomes engrossed in it most, i.e. loses completely the consciousness of Its bodies and the universe, then It becomes one with It (Paramatma), (i.e. becomes Shiv), i.e. the worshipper and the worshipped become one…

As we will see in the coming posts, Meher Baba has much more to say about Bhakti Yoga — about how the mind can sustain Its engrossment in Paramatma (God) and loses completely the consciousness of Its bodies and the universe.

Speaking about the difficulty of Bhakti Yoga, Meher Baba says that in the beginning, while enjoying the state of absorption in Paramatma (God), the sanskaras are not experienced, but they do remain, and when the yogi comes down from his state of absorption he begins to become conscious of those sanskaras and begins to take their experience. Really, how could it be otherwise? If I’m thrown into the water, do I not have the desire to swim to the surface and breathe?

Of course, the goal is not to remain in a temporary samadhi (state of absorption) or trance state, the goal is to realize Paramatma — God — Self — eternally, and for this all sanskaras must be wiped away. In the case of the Karma yogi, if the yogi can remain in the state of complete absorption for long enough — and we are talking here not in terms of day, or years, but of lifetimes — then the sanskaras will eventually be starved and die, because the food that sustains sanskaras is our consciousness of them, and the thing that propagates new sanskaras is the taking of the experience of the old sanskaras.

About this, Meher Baba says;

“Through either of these yogas (Bhakti and Raj) the sanskaras may disappear in time, although (this) is almost impossible (which many times requires many lives even to complete this yoga for getting rid of the sanskaras) but by the Sadguru Kripa (the grace of the Sadguru (God-Realized guru) the sanskaras disappear in a second, i.e. the mind is stopped in a second i.e. complete engrossment is gained in a second i.e. Self consciousness is gained in a second.”

And this is, in my opinion, the most important statement of all, for it clearly suggests the supremacy of the path of following a God-Realized Master over all forms of yoga, spiritual paths, religions and teachings. As Adi K. Irani once said about following Meher Baba, “traveling any of the paths is like journeying by bull-ox cart, while following the Avatar or Perfect Masters is like journeying by jet plane.”

“… but by the Sadguru Kripa (the grace of the Sadguru (God-Realized guru) the sanskaras disappear in a second, i.e. the mind is stopped in a second i.e. complete engrossment is gained in a second i.e. Self consciousness is gained in a second.”

All in all, the Intelligence Notebooks dedicates about thirty pages to the subject of the four yogas (Karma, Dnyaan, Bhakti and Raj) and nearly twenty of those pages are devoted to Bhakti Yoga alone. Meher Baba goes into quite a lot of detail on this yoga and so I again I remind my readers that if they are interested they can, and maybe should, go to the source http://www.ambppct.org/meherbaba/Book_Files/Intelligence_text.pdf and read the entire discussion for themselves.

It is not my intention to give an exhaustive analysis or even a complete summary of any of these yogas. My aim is to create an opportunity for my readers to stop and really consider what Meher Baba is saying and perhaps realize that this whole subject of the yogas, not to mention what is called the spiritual path, is no easy matter, no part-time study that one merely fits into their daily lives, no go to church or yoga class one day of the week and say amen or shanti. Can there really be any other response, when one really hears what Meher Baba is saying, not just hears but really hears; that their ideas and beliefs will be irreparably shattered and crumbled into dust?

Bhakti means love; active love is devotion, so in Bhakti Yoga mind becomes so absorbed in God as the object of this devotion that mind loses consciousness of the universe and the bodies it has been associating with. But this object, this God, is a big subject, and in the remainder of the discussion of Bhakti Yoga, Meher Baba focuses on three important considerations; the qualities of the object of devotion itself, the motive behind the devotion in the first place, and the level of the devotional practice

On the big subject of God (Paramatma) as the object of the mind’s devotion, Meher Baba divides God(Paramatma) into three states:

1. Impersonal God (Parameshwar)
2. Personal God (Ishwar)
3. Sadguru (pratyaksha or physically living master)

So Meher Baba is saying that in the practice of Bhakti Yoga:

1. Mind can worship Parameshwar (Impersonal God). Parameshwar is God in the state beyond creation, beyond even the Creator, and wholly and solely without any consciousness of Self or creation. By necessity this devotion would have a negative quality in that Parameshwar being without any attributes or qualities can only be pondered in relationship to that which It is not, i.e. not the stars, not the world, not even the embodiment of Self in the form of the Avatars or Perfect Masters i.e. whatever the mind thinks is Paramatma is not Paramatma.

2. Mind can worship Ishwar (Personal God). Ishwar is that state of God engaged in the activity of creating, preserving, and destroying the creation. As Ishwar, God is unconscious of Himself or his creation. When one worships Ishwar, he worships Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiva — Afridgar, Parvardigar, or Fanakar. Of note here is the worship of the Preserver — Vishnu — Parvardigar — for the embodiment, the personification, of this state of God is none other than the Avatar — the Christ — the Ancient One. This worship of Ishwar in the state of Preserver includes not only the worship of all past forms of the Avatar i.e. Ram, Krishna, Zoroaster, Buddha, Mohamed, and Jesus, but all past Perfect Masters (Sadgurus) as well.

3. Finally, Mind can worship Personal God in the state of a living Avatar or Sadguru.

Devotion to any of the three forms of Paramatma yields, in the end, the same result, namely of the elimination of all sanskaras while retaining consciousness, but in the short run do yield fundamentally different results.
One way or another they all talk about it: Brahma dreams the creation; Jesus told His disciples “Stay awake! Do not sleep!” Gurdjieff always reminded his followers that they were asleep and needed to wake up; Meher Baba once told a group of meditators that they were asleep and even being in His presence and even with Him right there telling them they were asleep, they were still asleep.

The path from God’s deep dreamless sleep to His fully awake I am God state runs through the state of dreams — the state of creation — the state of birth and death — the state of duality — the state of ignorance — the state of illusion.

Yoga is what happens when one gets the inkling that he is asleep — that his life is a dream. It is then, and only then, that he begins to experience, depending on his karma, the desire to no longer be in the state of sleep and dreams or the desire to experience that which is beyond the state of sleep and dreams.

With the exception of doing Sadguru Bhakti (pratyaksha) of the physically living master, all the types of yoga represent efforts one makes on their own to awaken. If the state of sleep and dreams is understood as a prison, then these forms of yoga represent the path the prisoner follows to freedom.

In Karma Yoga the prisoner continues to live the prison life, but without becoming at all attached to the pains or pleasures of prison life.

In Dnyaan Yoga the prisoner refuses to let his mind motivate any actions at all connected to prison life. In essence, he goes on a total and complete hunger strike and partakes of none of the possibilities of prison life that present themselves to him.

In Bhakti Yoga the prisoner trains his mind to avoid the prison itself by focusing the mind on that which is beyond the prison to such an extent that the prison itself eventually vanishes. It is only in the category of Sadguru Bhakti that the prisoner actually communes with One who has already escaped i.e. the Sadguru, and therefore gets help from outside.

Meher Baba brings out a very interesting distinction, the distinction between doing the yogas with and doing the yogas without motive. Thinking a little on the subject leads, I believe, to the realization that the only possible yoga that could be done without motivation is Sadguru Bhakti. The other yogas have to be motivated by something, whether it is the desire to escape the prison or the desire to be in the state of freedom beyond the prison or even to make life within the prison somehow more palatable.

Of course, even Sadguru Bhakti is not automatically free of motivation, but it is only in the practice of Sadguru Bhakti that it is possible to remain motiveless; and it is here that Meher Baba speaks of love.

To follow a Sadguru, not for what He may give you, but wholly and solely for love itself — for love of the Master — that is the highest motiveless motivation a yogi can have — that is the highest Bhakti. What is this love? How can it be explained? Call it what you will, unconditional love, divine love, but can one fathom it? Shams e Tabriz (Rumi’s Master) said,

“The tale of love must be heard from love itself, for like the mirror, it is both mute and expressive.”

The second yoga is called Dnyaan Yoga.

“In this yoga the mind (Infinite Mind) tries to check Itself from experiencing Its fine impressions in gross form. The desire, which means the sanskaras in subtle form that can give the subtle experience, appears; but the mind checks this desire from being fulfilled…This means that the mind does not take the gross experience; and so the fine impression is experienced subtly or spent. In short, the mind checks itself from taking the gross experience.”

If you remember, in the previous post on Karma Yoga, the Notebook is very consistent with the capitalization of the words Its, Itself, etc. This is, of course, not usual, but I believe that the capitalization is there to suggest that there is a Reality, a Divinity, that is taking the experiences of what we call life in order to gain and perfect the consciousness necessary for the Real I to experience Itself. Here, in this first sentence, mind is not capitalized yet Itself is. I think that this might be to suggest that Infinite Mind is working through the limited false mind.

“In the ordinary general human case, the mind spends the past sanskaras and gathers new ones and so does not become free from the sanskaras. In karma yoga, the mind spends the past sanskaras but does not gather new ones and so becomes free from the sanskaras. In dnyaan yoga, the mind does not spend the sanskaras and does not collect new ones too, but kills the past sanskaras.”

In Karma Yoga, the subtle and gross experiences are not checked, but the mind remains aloof from any and all consequences resulting from those actions, i.e. pleasure/pain, praise/blame etc. This seems, at first thought, to be much more difficult than simply checking the gross action in the first place.

But Baba says that this yoga, Dnyaan Yoga is very, very, difficult and a more thorough introspection leads to the conclusion that this checking of the experience — not expressing the sanskara in the form of desires in gross action — is not quite the same thing as what is more commonly understood as simple repression, and I believe the difference comes down to motive.

In simple repression there is a kind of choice that is made based on what course of action (or non action) will yield the least pain. I might really want to blow off work today and go to the movies but I also know it would probably lead to getting fired. And so I eschew the act of blowing off work because something in me knows that the pleasure gained from going to the movies would be outweighed by the consequence of getting fired.

In Dnyaan Yoga there is none of this internal bargaining. Here, the yogi can have only two legitimate motives; the desire to be free of (to kill) all impressions and the second is to have the experience of union with God.

“In this yoga the mind takes the subtle experience of not taking the gross experience of the past fine impressions or sanskaras; and so this creates new impressions quite opposite to the old impressions which are then killed by the new ones. In this yoga (i.e. by this process of not taking the gross experience or killing carnal desire, nafs kushi) the mind creates such new impressions so as to kill the old impressions.”

Do you want to know about desires? Try to sit still for twenty minutes and watch your breath. I don’t mean to merely be aware of your breathing — actually watch it (sense it), go in and out. Sense it as it turns from in to out and from out to in. What happens? For most people, after no more than a few seconds, if even that, they stop watching (sensing) because they start thinking about other things. Notice these other things — the I wants, the I needs, etc. Notice the pleasure and pain associated with them. Behind every thought is a desire. Can you image a real Dnyaan Yogi — what it really is he is attempting to achieve?

Anyone familiar with the teachings of Meher Baba knows that He uses different metaphors in order to convey the Divine Theme i.e. the Ocean and the Drop, the Deep Sleep, Dreaming, and Waking States of God, etc.

In the Intelligence Notebooks, Meher Baba uses the term Infinite Intelligence to represent God in all His states of consciousness.

What is intelligence? It is the capacity to know.
What does intelligence desire to know? Himself.
What kind of intelligence can know God? Infinite Intelligence.

How is knowing accomplished? Through the act of thinking.
(For Meher Baba, thinking and consciousness are the same.)

What is necessary for thinking? Mind.
Intelligence thinks through mind.
Infinite Intelligence thinks Infinitely through Infinite Mind.
Only Infinite Intelligence thinking Infinitely through Infinite Mind can know Itself.

In the previous post I suggested the exercise of following the breath. Any “normal” person who does this becomes aware of their thoughts — more importantly, they become aware of the fact that they are thinking—that “it” is thinking. This “it” equals mind.

And so the person realizes that mind is thinking and it become obvious that they cannot stop it.

Mind just loves to think, mind is born to think, mind wants to be in charge, and mind is used to getting its way. Mind has been thinking in us for so long — so many millions of lifetimes in the human form, not to mention in the millions of pre-human forms from stone to insect to fish to bird to animal.

And what is mind thinking? Meher Baba tells us that mind’s thinking has two parts. First, mind thinks itself and its world. To use another of Baba’s analogies, mind dreams itself as stone, insect, fish, bird, animal, and human being — dreams its existence and it life.

And what’s the second thing that mind does? It takes the experience of itself as stone, insect, etc. In other words, mind creates itself and its world, and then mind takes the experience of itself and its world.

If one could stop his mind from thinking, he and his world would disappear, would cease to exist. But remember we are now talking not about Infinite Mind but limited mind, illusory mind, the illusory mind takes itself to be everything that in Reality it is not. If illusory mind could be stopped and yet Infinite Mind could think, It would think the One and Only Real Thought, “I am God — I am Infinite Intelligence — I Am That I Am.”

Raj Yoga is the fourth yoga that Meher Baba describes in the Intelligence Notebooks. Among yogis, Raj Yoga is considered the highest form of yoga. Raj Yoga is involved with the techniques of pranayam (control of the breath), meditation, and concentration. The aim of Raj Yoga, and therefore the aim of all of these practices and techniques, is to stop the mind.

Meher Baba says, “In this yoga, the Infinite Mind goes on taking the experience of the subtle and gross universe through Its subtle and gross bodies according to Its past impressions (sanskaras) enjoying and suffering and thus collecting new impressions of enjoyment and suffering.”

What Meher Baba is suggesting here is that like the Karma yogi, the Raj yogi also experiences his karma, but unlike the Karma yogi who practices the technique of non-identification with the success or failure of his actions and thereby stops the formation of new impressions, the Raj yoga takes the experience of his own impressions and thus creates new impressions.

What the Raj yogi does, however, is to cultivate the taste of the experience of his practices and to learn to prefer that taste over the taste of the enjoyment and suffering of his own impressions.

“But in raj yoga It (Infinite Mind) enjoys Itself in trying to stop Itself from thinking by the process of pranayam, meditation, concentration, etc…”

Meher Baba goes on to say that the more the mind makes progress through it practices, the more it loses consciousness of body and universe and in that way the sanskaras are wiped out.

“And in the end, through this yoga, mind and soul meet, i.e. mind becomes soul; the same jiv (embodied soul), when it becomes devoid of sanskaras, becomes Shiv (God-realized soul).”

The more of Meher Baba’s messages, talks, discourses, etc. I hear and read, the more I come back to the one assertion that it is the destiny of every soul to one day experience that it always is, has been, and will eternally always be God.

Meher Baba tells the story in different ways using different imagery, metaphors, and similes. He speaks about the drops of the Ocean realizing themselves as the Ocean; He describes God as existing eternally — experiencing Himself eternally — in the three transcendent states of deep sleep, dreaming, and awake; and in the Intelligence Notebooks He refers to God as Infinite Intelligence who both loses and realizes Himself through the process of thinking.

Meher Baba explains that the beginning begins with the first thought, “Who am I?” and ends in eternity with the first real answer, “I am God!” He says that in between the first thought and the real answer are the innumerable false thoughts and false answers that false mind proclaims “I am stone; I am insect; I am fish; I am bird; I am animal; I am man.”

How beautifully the poet Master Maulana Shabistari puts it when he proclaims,

“He returns to the door from which he first came out, although in his journey he went from door to door.”

In the Intelligence Notebooks Meher Baba reveals to us that consciousness is thinking. For many of us, this was rather difficult to grasp — consciousness is thinking. When we think, we are conscious, and when we stop thinking we are not conscious at all. So, what Baba is telling us is that false thinking must end and in the end must remain only the one real thought, “I am God!”

The purpose of the four yogas is to, one way or another, stop the mind from thinking falsely and to do this all sanskaras needs to be eliminated, for it is the sanskaras that make the mind think falsely. Reading about the four yogas shows just how daunting a task this is. It can go on and on for lifetimes — millions of lifetimes even. Complicating matters even more we are still living in the darkest of times — the Kali Yuga — the most difficult time to make efforts that lead to the Goal. But God in his Infinite Mercy gives us His gift of the Avatar and Sadgurus whose presence in our midst accomplishes more for us in a mere moment than thousands of lifetimes of our own practices and penances.

The mind, the mind is such a tyrant and just a moment of simple honest observation is all that is necessary to be convinced of this fact. It never lets us alone. It is always engaged in telling us how important it is, how we can never live without it; it interpolates itself into our every experience and demands that we do its bidding, and it makes us believe that it — that we — are never wrong.

I remember some years ago I was at Meher Baba’s Pilgrim Center in India. I was up on Meherabad Hill standing under the overhang that covers the simple benches that are placed at the threshold of Meher Baba’s Tomb. It was just before evening arti. Arti at Meher Baba’s Tomb consists of reciting the three prayers that Meher Baba dictated; the Parvardigar Prayer, the Prayer of Repentance, and the Beloved God Prayer. Artis dedicated to Meher Baba are song after the prayers.

So, when I arrived people had already gathered and the benches were already filled with people. I stood at the back of the group in a place where I could see into Baba’s Tomb. Everyone was quiet, absorbed in their own thoughts, until a small commotion broke out among the people on the benches closest to the threshold of Baba’s Tomb.

Apparently a snake had been seen slithering in front of the entrance. They believed it to be a kind of Racer common to the area — a very poisonous snake. There was a tall Shepard standing near-by — a villager in traditional white linen with a cranberry colored turban. I thought for sure that he would do something, but it seemed that he wanted no part of the snake at all.

But there was an Indian man sitting on one of the benches — a man from one of the many groups of Indian followers of Meher Baba who travel from all over India to spend a day or two at the Pilgrim Center.

Seeing what going on, the man immediately got to feet, grabbed the top of a small box that had been used to carry flowers to the tomb, and walked over a quickly scooped up the snake and carried it away to the field behind the tomb.

I was quite taken by the man’s bravery. He never hesitated to act and after he discarded the snake he returned to his seat on the bench and seemed quite peaceful and calm — at least for a few minutes until and a woman sitting on the bench directly behind him accidentally kicked her foot against her bag that was under the man’s bench, inadvertently pushing it lightly against the man’s leg.

Well, feeling something on the ground moving against his leg, the man literally leaped into the air and screamed; obviously his mind had been still thinking about the snake — attached to the snake — attached to his deed. How could it be otherwise?

“The mind is a great and wondrous thing,
til it brings you to the door of the King,
then like shoes before crossing the threshold
of a holy place are no longer necessary
and removed and left at the door.” Rumi

Three Couplets by Hafez

2011-03-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

Perhaps Meher Baba’s last message to his lovers and followers was in the form of three couplets by Hafez that Baba, on the night of the 30th of January 1969 — the night before he was to drop is body — had Aloba carry the two hundred or so steps to Baba’s room from the place they hung in Mandali Hall.

The first of the three couplets reads:

"Befitting a fortunate slave, carry out every command of the Master without any question of why or what."

Hafez, the 14th century Persian mystic poet was a Perfect Master. His most famous book is called The Divan and is still read, studied, and revered throughout the East.

Legend has it, that when Hafez was a young man he became smitten with desire for a beautiful princess, but being not of her royal status and also being not a very physically attractive man, he had really no chance of obtaining the object of his desire.

But there was a penance that he knew, a very severe penance that if he was able accomplish, would give him such powers that he could have anything he desired. The penance is called Chilla-nashini and consists of drawing a circle on the ground around oneself and staying in that circle for forty days and forty nights without food, water, or sleep. It is said that failure to complete the penance could result in insanity or death.

So, the story goes that after Hafez had managed to stay in the circle for thirty nine days an angel of God came to him and asked what it was he wanted. Seeing the effulgent beauty of the angel, Hafez forgot all about the earthly princess and thought instead, if an angel of God can be so beautiful, then how beautiful must be God? and so Hafez answered the angel, I want to see God.

On completion of the penance Hafez was led to a Perfect Master and after some time and much spiritual suffering was given God-Realization.

Returning to the couplet, perhaps the thing that one notices first is what could these days be called the “political incorrectness” of the language. These days, people are often very sensitive to these terms slave and master, but it should be kept in mind that what Hafez is talking about is not a slave, but a fortunate slave; and not a master, but a Perfect Master.

Gurdjieff, a spiritual teacher, used to say that man is under many influences which he cannot escape. The choice, Gurdjieff said, was in being able to choose the influences that would act on him. Eruch Jessawala, a close disciple of Meher Baba put it this way, “I had the opportunity to choose being the slave of life or the slave of Meher Baba and chose Meher Baba. On my own, I could not be free.”

Getting past the language, I also find it very interesting that Baba’s message through these couplets was is the context of Baba’s own eminent death. It makes me think, what exactly is meant by the “command of the Master?”

I offer this thought; there are three kinds of commands. The first is when the Master gives you a direct command. “Do this Michael.” It would seem that once the Master has dropped His body, this kind of command is no longer possible.

The second kind of command comes in the form of teachings and messages that the Master has given. Even after the Master drops His body, these teachings and messages survive for some time in books and stories and can be kept alive in the minds and hearts of His followers.

The third kind of command, often the most overlooked, comes in the form of our very lives. For example, a person is hurrying to some important function and gets involved is a minor fender-bender auto accident. The response, “Damn, I don’t need this now — why the hell is this happening to me?” could be seen as a questioning of the command of the Master who works through our lives.

"Befitting a fortunate slave, carry out every command of the Master without any question of why or what."

“About what you hear from the Master, never say it is wrong, because my dear, the fault lies in your own incapacity to understand Him.” Hafez

It is pretty obvious that if the master is Perfect, then He can never be wrong; or, is that really so obvious?

Is it definitely more obvious that if the slave of the Perfect Master is not Perfect, then he can never be anything other than wrong; or is that really so obvious either?

There was a village, and near the single road that led into and out of the village lived a snake who would regularly attack and sometimes even kill the villagers. The villagers were understandably very fearful of the snake.

It so happened that one day a Perfect Master was passing by the village and when he passed by the snake the snake felt a sudden remorse over his behavior. He approached the Master who asked him what he wanted.

“I am feeling remorse,” said the snake.

“Oh really,” replied the Master. “Why are you feeling remorse?”

“Because I have been terrorizing this village and hurting the villagers.”

“I understand,” said the Master, “and you want me to help you?”

“Yes,” said the snake.

“I will help you then,” said the Master, “here is my advice to you, “stop biting the villagers.”

“That’s it?” said the snake.

“That’s it,” said the Master. “Stop biting the villagers and I will help you.”

And so the snake stopped biting. After a few days the villagers noticed that the snake was no longer biting and they began to talk among themselves.

“Perhaps the snake is sick; maybe now is the time to kill him?”

And so the villagers went looking for the snake who was sitting quietly near the entrance to the village.

“There he is!” cried the villagers who began to attack the snake with sticks and rocks. The snake was beaten to within an inch of his life.
Not long after, the Perfect Master was again passing by the village and saw the snake lying beaten and bloody by the side of the road.

“What has happened to you!” He exclaimed to the snake.

“What has happened to me,” moaned the snake. “You told me to stop biting and the villagers attacked me.”

“You fool!” said the Master, “I said stop biting, I never told you to stop hissing.”

“About what you hear from the Master, never say it is wrong, because my dear, the fault lies in your own incapacity to understand Him.”

“I am the slave of the Master Who has released me from ignorance,
Whatever my Master does is of the highest benefit to all concerned.” — Hafez

I assume that this quote refers to a time after Hafez accomplished Chilla – nashini and was led to his Master, but before Hafez was God-Realized.

Therefore, his statement about being released from ignorance is quite interesting to me. It puts me in mind of Meher Baba said in the conclusion of God Speaks.

After two hundred pages of the most lucid and detailed explanation regarding God, the theme of creation, and its purpose Meher Baba states:

“God cannot be explained, He cannot be argued about, He cannot be theorized, nor can He be discussed and understood. God can only be lived.
Nevertheless, all that is said here and explained about God to appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind of man still lacks many words and further explanations because the TRUTH is that the Reality must be realized and the divinity of God must be attained and lived.”

What stands out for me is the phrase; to appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind, — for is not a mind that is free of intellectual convulsions a mind that is released from ignorance?

And that is my experience with Meher Baba. Meher Baba trues the mind, like a master Indian musician trues the raga he is playing.

I once was at an Indian music concert by the great sarangi player Ram Narayan. He was joined on staged by a highly regarded Indian violin player, himself considered a master musician, and the two played a raga. Ram Narayan would play, and the music was beautiful — deep and meaningful — and then the violin player would play, and his playing was beautiful as well, but then when the music went back to Ram Narayan, he would bring the raga back to true. This same thing happened many times during the concert and the violin player would always look to Ram Narayan with the utmost respect, appreciation, and love. Ram Narayan, through his music, was teaching the violin player, right there in concert, and to his credit, the violin player responded without with gratitude devoid of any ego or defense at the great privilege of being in Ram Narayan’s musical presence.

And that is my experience with Meher Baba. He trues our understanding of that raga we call life — the raga we are still immersed in — the raga which often seems incomprehensible, even terrifying, even cruel. He trues our understanding, shows us, despite how it at times appears to us, that everything is, in truth, an expression of God’s love and compassion for all of his creation.

”I am the slave of the Master Who has released me from ignorance,
Whatever my Master does is of the highest benefit to all concerned.” — Hafez

“Praise be to God, what wealth I possess tonight;
for suddenly my Beloved came to me tonight.
When I saw the Loved face, I made obeisance;
by the grace of God, I am blissfully happy tonight.

My ceaseless longing has achieved this union,
I am reaping the reward of that longing tonight.
My slumbering fortune has awakened at last;
The most auspicious night of my life is tonight.

My blood will write “Anal Haq”– "I am the Truth" on the earth;
even if I am crucified like Mansur.
Hafiz feels he has lost himself in this ecstasy
which he possesses tonight”. Hafez — quoted from Lord Meher

“Last night I was given relief from all misery;
I was given the Water of Everlasting Life.
I was overpowered by the Effulgence of Divinity;
I was given a drink from the Divine Goblet.

What a supremely fortunate Dawn it was,
and what an auspicious night –
The night of Qadr (auspicious night) when I was given the authority of Godhood.
As I swooned away with awe and wonder
at the sight of the Loved Face,
The true meaning of lat and manat( fate) was revealed to me.” Hafez — quoted from Lord Meher

Many years ago — it seems like lifetimes — my interest in Sufism led me to the works of the Persian poets and masters. I loved the writing, its imagery, its capacity to illume deep spiritual truths.

Of course none of these great poets like Hafez, Rumi, Al-Ghazali, Kabir, Attar wrote in the English language and I did not speak Persian or Arabic, or in the case of Kabir, Hindi, and so I was at the mercy of the translators, some of whom seemed to be better and some seemed to be worse.

Translation, in general, is such a tricky art; when it is too literal, the flavor — the feeling — of the original is often not conveyed, while, on the other hand, trying too much to capture the spirit can lose the uniqueness of the original as well as the voice of the writer.

Add to this the fact that these writers were not just great writers; they were, in fact, God-Realized and so their “state” — their gnosis — their consciousness was beyond the consciousness and personal experience of their translators.

And so, when later I came to follow Meher Baba, it was with great delight that I learned that Meher Baba would sometimes quote the words of these great Persian masters. Meher Baba would quote, translate into English, and then explain the meaning behind the words.

There is an old saying, “In order to know God, you have to become God,” and perhaps that is why I found something totally different about the translations of Meher Baba; He knew what the Masters were talking about because He was what the Masters were talking about. The two poems by Hafez quoted here today, Meher Baba said, were uttered immediately after Hafez was given God-realization.

“Last night before dawn
I was given relief from all suffering,
I was given the water of everlasting life.
I drank from the divine goblet,
and I was overpowered by the glory of Divinity.

What a supremely fortunate dawn it was,
and what an auspicious night —
the night when I was given the authority of Godhood.

If my longing is fulfilled and I am in bliss –
What wonder? It is the grace of my Master.
What a wondrous miracle it is to be the slave of the Master;
I became his dust – the dust at his feet
and he raised me to the Highest.

Henceforth, I see myself reflected in the mirror of the Beloved
and I see my Real Self.
Rejoice! Rejoice, and rejoice again!
For Hafiz has realized the Divine Beloved” — Hafez (quoted from Lord Meher)

God-Realization is just a word. To the average person it means next to nothing and consequently the average person cares next to nothing about it. It is just a weird word.

But then, as the whim — the whim to know who I am — begins to surface into the waking consciousness of the individualized soul, and the person becomes drawn more and more into the reality of the spiritual panorama and begins to realize that there is so much more to be experienced than merely being born, living, and dieing, then, at that point, the person does indeed begins to care more and more about God-Realization and yet, the word God-Realization, still remains to mean next to nothing to him. It is still just a word, a word he is increasingly familiar with, a word he even uses and bandies about, and cares more and more for — but the word itself still remains to mean next to nothing to him.

And how could it be any different? As Kabir says, “Until you experience it, it is not true.” It is so easy to read the words just quoted of Hafez and to say, “How beautiful!” but really, upon hearing those words, does not the mind tend to blur up and repel away from the words, like two magnets in adjacent polarities push harder away from each other the closer they are pushed together?

Still, we can ponder, we can try to fathom the unfathomable and, maybe even, we can cultivate the desire to “drink from the divine goblet,” even to the exclusion of all less wines.

“…relief from all suffering…” just imagine the bliss of that; just imagine not having to figure stuff out anymore, not needing to be concerned with walking the razor’s edge between pleasure and pain, good and bad, right and wrong, attraction and revulsion—all of the dualities that make-up illusory life.

“…relief from all suffering…, because we no longer need to work so hard at sustaining the unsustainable — the illusion of the reality of our false self railing against the insistent assertion of our Real Self, rallying but with the absolute certainty that, no matter what we do, in the very end the righteous claim of our Real Self is destined to prevail and annihilate the false self in the experience of the Highest of the High.

“I drank from the divine goblet,
and I was overpowered by the glory of Divinity.”

And Hafez acknowledged he could not have done it alone — the gift was given by his Master Attar — given after Hafez became the dust at his Master’s feet. To achieve this God-Realization is no joke. To become dust is no joke; the false-self has to be ground down, pulverized by the hand of the Master to become dust.

Seventy-one:
Gail-vad-gar — Transmuter of Dust into Air

"Oh Dust,
did you really think that your journey was over,
when you found the feet of your Beloved?

You had become helpless and hopeless,
worthless in every way,
but did you think He would allow you to remain
in your pathetic state?

Did you think that your Lord would breathe dust?” — From Meditation and Prayers on 101 Names of God, by Michael Kovitz

“I became his dust – the dust at his feet
and he raised me to the Highest.”

“Rejoice! Rejoice, and rejoice again!”

Hafiz says: "O ignorant one! Strive, so that one day
you become a Master of Wisdom.
Unless you yourself have traversed the path,
how can you guide others?
"In the Divine School, in the presence of the Perfect Master,
O son, try, try, try to obey
so that one day you may also become the Father.
"Like the brave men on the path,
wash your hands of this copper-like existence,
so that one day you gain
the alchemy of love and become gold.
"Wants of the body, sleep and food
have kept you away from the threshold of Love.
You will attain union with the Beloved
when you become free from all wants." Hafez, as translated in Lord Meher

Among other things, I am struck by the line. “Unless you yourself have traversed the path, how can you guide others?”

Year ago, decades ago, before I became a follower of Meher Baba I met an old yogi who, with a few close disciples, was traveling through the United States. He was staying in the home of a follower for a few days — I think maybe five. And this yogi was the real deal, though from what he said, he was not realized. He said that he was on the sixth plane; I think he used the word level, and he said that he could not progress further in the body he was in.

Now the sixth level — the sixth plane — is the final plane before realization. One cannot be higher than the sixth plane and still be in illusion. Meher Baba said that on the sixth plane one see God everywhere and in everything, even with oneself, and yet, as difficult as it is to comprehend, one on the sixth plane does not experience oneself as God.

Well, it so happened, that this yogi invited a few us to meditate with him in the mornings and I, of course, took advantage of the opportunity. So every morning for five days I would go to where he was staying and be met at the door by one of his disciples and escorted into his bedroom where I would sit on the floor with a few other people and meditate with him.

The old yogi would be sitting on the bed — he never said anything at all that I remember — and we would meditate for perhaps an hour after which we were then escorted from the room and out the door. It was exactly the same every day — except for one day.

That day when I arrived there was some obvious commotion going on; the Indian woman disciple was still on her bedding on the floor of the living room. She seemed asleep, but what I gathered was that she was in some kind of higher state and couldn’t get out it — couldn’t “wake up.”

Soon the old yogi came to her and kneeled down beside her and started working on her — the work did not seem gentle to me. I remember that at one point he buried his thumbs deep into the woman’s eye sockets and started pressing very forcefully. He continued this for a few minutes — the beads of perspiration that appeared on his face and head were a testimony to how much he was exerting himself.

I could also see that his work was having an effect on the woman. I could see her coming back; it was such a struggle for both them, the old yogi pulling her back to consciousness, the woman struggling to wake-up.

When it was over, to my surprise, the woman opened her eyes, got up, and started doing her usual things. She seemed totally herself and the yogi went back to his room.

What struck me most about the incident was that this spiritual path can be very dangerous indeed and if you are going to trust a guide with your progress, you had better first ask yourself if you can trust him with your life; because, in fact, that is exactly what you are doing.

Currently there is a homicide trial going on for a man — one of the many self-help gurus found on the West coast — because three people died as a result of participating in a sweat lodge ceremony under the man’s authority.

My guess is that he will be found not guilty because the people entered the lodge willingly and were not prohibited from leaving the lodge at any time. Additionally, they had all signed releases.

I think he will be found not guilty, but from my point of view, if the man had represented himself as being spiritually advanced, meaning that he had claimed knowledge and power beyond that of the average person, then, in fact, he was spiritually responsible for the welfare of the individuals he had convinced of his status.

Hafiz says: "O ignorant one! Strive, so that one day
you become a Master of Wisdom.
Unless you yourself have traversed the path,
how can you guide others?
"In the Divine School, in the presence of the Perfect Master,
O son, try, try, try to obey
so that one day you may also become the Father.
"Like the brave men on the path,
wash your hands of this copper-like existence,
so that one day you gain
the alchemy of love and become gold.
"Wants of the body, sleep and food
have kept you away from the threshold of Love.
You will attain union with the Beloved
when you become free from all wants." Hafez, as translated in Lord Meher

The World is in a World of Hurt

2011-03-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

The World is in a World of Hurt

The world is in a world of hurt;
You can hear it groaning,
Shifting its tectonic plates
Like an old man trying to get comfortable in bed.

The world is in a world of hurt;
You can see it heaving,
Purging itself from within
Like a sick dog vomiting up its food.

The world is in a world of hurt;
You can hear it praying,
“Oh God! Oh God!”
Like a scared child asking daddy why.

A Mystery of Mysteries

2011-03-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

A Mystery of Mysteries

Meher Baba wished to tell us who He was and who we are as well. He wished to reveal the theme of creation and it’s purpose so that we may find our place within the grand scheme of things — Reality and Illusion.

To help us understand, Meher Baba presented us all with a central metaphor that both defines and contemplates the most profound questions the intellect and intuition can envision.

This is the metaphor of the Ocean. The Ocean contains both Everything and Nothing and the Ocean is beyond Everything and Nothing also. Reality and Illusion are within the Ocean — for nothing exists that is not Ocean. There never was a time when the Ocean did not exist and there never will be a time when the Ocean does not exist because the Ocean is eternal, and eternity is beyond time.

In the metaphor of the Ocean, Meher Baba reveals the mystery of individuality and oneness by telling us that the one indivisible Ocean is made up of an unlimited number of drops, and that each one of these drops inherits and exhibits all of the qualities of the Ocean itself. All drops are in the Ocean, all drops are the Ocean and all drops are One.

Meher Baba names the Ocean the Over-Soul and the drops are called souls. “All souls are in the Over-Soul and all souls are One.” He reveals this in the first pages of his book, God Speaks, and then goes on to explain how these drops (souls) begin an odyssey of imagination through the processes of evolution, reincarnation, and involution, in order to acquire and perfect the consciousness that leads to the state in which the drop becomes conscious of itself as the Ocean without losing its individuality as the drop.

It all begins with the Lahar — the Whim of God to know Himself. Baba told us that the Lahar, being a whim, is without cause. It just arises spontaneously in the Ocean. How can this be? How can the Lahar just arise spontaneously in the Ocean?

This is indeed a great mystery, but perhaps an even greater mystery concerns the nature of individuality and oneness after the individualized Soul gains the realization that it always was, is, and will be the Ocean itself.

In other words, how does the individuality gained by the Soul remain individual after the experience of absolute oneness with the Ocean — how can individuality and indivisibility remains coexistent?

In the dedication to God Speaks Meher Baba says, “To the Universe — the Illusion that sustains Reality.”

In the conclusion to God Speaks He states:

“God cannot be explained, He cannot be argued about, He cannot be theorized, nor can He be discussed and understood. God can only be lived.

Nevertheless, all that is said here and explained about God to appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind of man still lacks many more words and further explanations because the TRUTH is that Reality must be realized and the divinity of God must be attained and lived.

To understand the infinite, eternal Reality is not the GOAL of individualized beings in the Illusion of Creation, because the Reality can never be understood; it is to be realized by conscious experience.

Therefore, the GOAL is to realize the Reality and attain the ‘I am God’ state in human form.”

Meher Baba told some people to read God Speaks, to others He said that it wasn’t necessary at all, and to some he said, “Read it until it sings in your veins.”

The Kali Yuga is a time, as suggested by one Perfect Master, “…when you will look out your window and without spiritual preparation, you will go insane.”

“…to appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind…”

The Presence of A Master

2011-03-11T07:20:00.000-08:00

I’m not a proselytizer, but when someone asks me about Meher Baba, I answer. And one of the questions I get asked most often from people who have never been in the presence or the atmosphere of a God-Realized Master is; “What is so different about you’re experience and the experience of sincere followers of their religions?”

It is an important question, but first I think it is important to mention that many followers of Perfect Masters are also avid practitioners of religion. One does not necessarily preclude the other, but one is not dependent on the other either. As Meher Baba said,

“I am equally approachable to one and all, big and small,
To saints who rise and sinners who fall,
Through all the various paths that give the divine call.
I am approachable alike to saint whom I adore
And to sinner whom I am for,
And equally through Sufism, Vedantism, Christianity,
Or Zoroastrianism and Buddhism and other isms
Of any kind and also directly through no medium of 'isms' at all.”

So, returning to the question, “What is so different…” I would say it is the experience of the presence and the atmosphere that surrounds Perfection. And I make this statement based on my own personal experience of having visited the Meher Spiritual Center — Meher Baba’s home in the West — in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Meher Baba’s tomb and Pilgrimage Center in India, and his homes at Meherazad and Pune, India. Additionally, I have been to the ashram of Upasani Maharaj, the tomb Sai Baba of Shirdi, and the tomb of Zar Zari Zar Baksh in Khuldabad, India.

Each of these places is unique; each has its own special atmosphere. What is an atmosphere? An atmosphere emanates from the presence of a Master. It is like a Master’s perfume mixed with the scent of devotion and practices of his followers. What is the presence of a Master? The presence is the Master himself — it is the unique individualized expression of His God-hood.

It is not possible for the presence of a Master to not emanate an atmosphere; wherever there is divine presence, there also is its atmosphere, and this atmosphere can linger for some time after the presence is gone—the scent of a woman’s perfume can linger in a room after she’s left it. It can linger for some time, but not forever.

When a Perfect Master drops his body; his link with creation is severed — forever. Perfect Masters do not come back — they do not reincarnate. So, once the Perfect Master drops his body, his presence disappears, but his atmosphere remains. People go on pilgrimages to the tombs of Masters and imbibe the atmosphere that resides there and are inspired in their efforts and longings for God.

It is different situation with regard to the Avatar — at least for a certain period of time after the Avatar drops His body. Meher Baba stated quite clearly, that after the dropping of His body, and before His eventual return in another form, He would be present and accessible for one-hundred years, i.e. 1969 -2069.

And that is the difference between visiting His “places” and those of the Perfect Masters. In the former there is both the presence and the atmosphere, while in the latter there is only the atmosphere. The Avataric presence is tangible and unmistakable. Once it is experienced it is unforgettable and distinct from anything else.

I experience that presence as Divine Love personified, totally personal and, at the same time, universal. That presence is lucid and compassionate, all-knowing, and un-conditional. And that is why I return to His places again and again, physically, and also in my mind and heart. For once one has experienced His presence physically and tangibly, then one is able to imbibe that presence whenever and wherever they wish.

Spiritual books and teachings are good, sincerely following the tenets of one’s religion is good, yoga and spiritual practices are good, pilgrimages to holy sites are good, but if you have the opportunity to be in the living presence of a Perfect Master or the Avatar, seize it, for the benefit and the bliss of that experience is unmatched by anything else on earth or in heaven.

The Divine Theme of Meher Baba

2011-03-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

The Divine Theme of Meher Baba

This essay is intended as a brief introduction to the Divine Theme of Meher Baba. It originated as a series of emails I sent to a friend who was only minimally acquainted with the teachings of Meher Baba. The essay is fairly long so I have broken it up into a number of entries. Since the thoughts expressed are at times rather deep and dense, I would very much appreciate hearing from my readers any questions or comments the ideas inspire.

Most all of the material used in this introduction can be found in greater detail in the books God Speaks, The Discourses, and The Nothing and the Everything. These books are available through Sheriar Press in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and other online sources.

I would like to begin with these words of Meher Baba from the conclusion of his book God Speaks:

“God cannot be explained, He cannot be argued about, He cannot be theorized, nor can He be discussed and understood. God can only be lived.

Nevertheless, all that is said here and explained about God to appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind of man, still lacks many more words and further explanations because the Truth is that the Reality must be realized and the divinity of God must be attained and lived.

To understand the infinite, eternal Reality is not the Goal of individualized beings in the Illusion of Creation, because the Reality can never be understood; it is to be realized by conscious experience.

Therefore, the Goal is to realize the Reality and attain the ‘I am God’ state in human form.”

I.

Meher Baba talks about ten states of God. Since nothing exists beyond, or before, or outside of God, the ten states include everything. To create an overview, these original ten states can be condensed into three.

1. In the first state, God is asleep. He is so asleep that He is not even aware of His own existence. It is comparable to our own deep sleep state. It is dreamless.

2. In the second state, God is beginning to wake up. This is the intermediate dream state between deep sleep and the fully awake state. In this state, God dreams Himself to be the entire creation and everything and everyone within it. It is comparable to our own dream state.

3. In the third state, God has awakened and experiences His true nature as Eternal, Infinite, All-knowing, and All-powerful. God experiences Reality, it is a state of unending Divine bliss. In this state, creation and all of its beings and paraphernalia are seen to have been an illusion — mere vacant dreams within a dream.

Meher Baba suggests an analogy that likens God to an ocean — a shoreless, fathomless ocean. The ocean awakens drop by drop. When a drop begins the process of awakening it begins to dream the dream of creation. Baba refers to this drop as an individualized soul. The goal of the ocean, manifested through each drop, is to become aware of itself as God — to awaken. Creation, through the processes of evolution, reincarnation, and involution is the mechanism of this awakening.

II.

Meher Baba names the Original First state of God — God’s deep, dreamless, sleep state — the Beyond the Beyond State of God. In this Original First State of God there is neither consciousness nor unconsciousness, though both are latent therein.

Without consciousness, God cannot know himself as God. Consciousness is like a mirror that God uses to see himself. It is acquired through the process of evolution, sorted out through the process of reincarnation, refined in the process of involution, and serves as God’s seeing of Himself in the state of Realization.

Of these four stages of process, perhaps the most familiar term is evolution, but Meher Baba’s evolution is not the Darwinian evolution so well known to science — the fundamental difference being that Darwinian evolution is concerned with the connectivity and relationship of gross forms from lower to higher, while Meher Baba’s evolution is concerned with the consciousness gained by the individualized embodied soul through its association with the various forms of creation.

As consciousness is gained through the process of evolution, sanskaras, or what Meher Baba calls impressions, are also acquired. In can be said sanskaras are the by-product of the process of evolution — the process of acquiring consciousness.

These sanskaras/impressions serve a dual function in evolution. First, the existence of sanskaras impels experience that furthers new gains in consciousness, and second, because the sanskaras tend to cling to consciousness, like dust on the surface of a mirror, sanskaras prevent the mirror of consciousness from reflecting to the eye of God as embodied soul, its reality as God.

The New Testament speaks of this relationship between consciousness and sanskaras in the metaphor of the tarries that grow up with the wheat. It is only during the later process of involution that the wheat can be separated from the tarries.

Between evolution and involution is reincarnation. It begins automatically once full consciousness is acquired during the process of evolution and the human form is achieved.

Through the process of reincarnation God as embodied soul identifies Himself in various and false dualistic states as woman and man, rich and poor, healthy and sick, intelligent and dull, white and black, etc. etc.

Reincarnation is the mechanism through which the hold of the impressions on consciousness is sufficiently loosened so that they can be totally removed, i.e. wiped away, during the next phase of involution. Meher Baba uses the term spending to describe this process of loosening of sanskaras. The spending, or exchanging of sanskaras during reincarnation does not generally increase or decreased the total number of sanskaras, but does, over the span of many life-times, loosen the hold of these impressions on consciousness so that they can be removed later during the process of involution.

Meher Baba tells us that reincarnation occurs on other planets that support human life, but that involution only occurs on our planet, the planet earth. Reincarnation and involution always occurs in the human form.

III.

All of creation consists of three spheres of existence named the gross sphere, the subtle sphere, and the mental sphere. These three spheres comprise illusion. Reality, the experience of God, lay beyond the three spheres.

Science is aware of and explores the gross sphere only. The gross sphere consists of the universe, and all its matter and anti-matter, planets, stars, black holes, and life forms from stones, to vegetable life, to insects, worms, birds, animals, and human beings.

The subtle and the mental spheres, let alone Reality, are beyond science’s scope and capacity for inquiry because consciousness of these spheres is dependent on consciousness which is subtle and mental and forms (bodies) that are subtle and mental.
The human form has within it all three forms (bodies) but the average human being is only conscious of his gross body. When he becomes conscious of his subtle body, he loses consciousness of his gross body, but the body itself is retained.

As is the case with illusion, to experience Reality, Divine Consciousness and a Divine body are necessary. This requirement of a proper form and consciousness is spoken of in the parable in the New Testament about the man who was barred entrance to the wedding because he did not have the appropriate garment to wear.

Like the human experience of waking up from the deep, dreamless sleep state proceeds through the intermediate dream state before achieving the fully awake state, so God’s awakening through the experience of the individualized soul also proceeds through the intermediate dream state. God’s intermediate dream state is what we are calling creation.

In most cases, the soul passes without consciousness first through the mental sphere and then the subtle sphere and gains first consciousness in and of the gross sphere. This first consciousness is most limited.

Gaining more and more consciousness through the process of identifying with and associating with and experiencing higher and higher forms, the soul finally achieves the last gross form, the human form, and then eventually “turns around” and passes again through the subtle and mental spheres, but this time with full consciousness of these spheres and all there experiences, before returning to its original state of God with full consciousness — God’s fully awake I am God state

Meher Baba names the first phase of the process evolution. In short, during evolution the soul systematically associates with and dissociates from (identifies with and loses identity with) the numerous gross forms from stone to metal, vegetable, insect, fish, reptile, bird, and animal forms. Through these associations, the soul acquires consciousness.

The final evolutionary form is the human form and, being the last, contains within itself all the previous lower forms.

While continuing to describe and explain the details of this incredible journey, Meher Baba continually reminds us, however, that this journey is a journeyless journey. In reality, the soul never goes anywhere or does anything. The whole journey is, in fact, an illusion within Illusion for it takes place in the dream state of God. Yet, it is a necessary illusion. Meher Baba suggests the nature of the relationship that exists between Illusion and Reality in the dedication to his book, God Speaks.

“To the Universe —
the Illusion that sustains Reality”

Rumi puts it all so beautifully when he says,

“I died as mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was man.

Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet, once more, I shall die as man,
To soar with angels blessed; but even from angelhood
I must pass on;
All except God doth parish…”

IV.

With the achievement of the human form, consciousness is full and complete — but it is not perfected — the dust of sanskaras still obscures the surface of the mirror. The soul now enters reincarnation, the second phase of its journey.

It generally takes millions of incarnations in the human form, experiencing the play of infinite opposites, sometimes as woman or man, rich or poor, etc. for God as an embodied soul in creation to sufficiently loosen the bonds of sanskaras accumulated during evolution and reincarnation before it can enter the phase of the Divine process called involution.

During reincarnation the consciousness of the soul remains centered in gross sanskaras and continues to identify itself — take itself to be — a gross conscious human being living in the gross world. In reincarnation, there is awareness of thoughts and feelings that emanate from the subtle and mental bodies, but there is no direct consciousness of these bodies or identification with them.

Only during involution does God as the individualized soul in creation lose consciousness of the gross body and the gross world and become conscious of the subtle body and the subtle world. At this stage, the consciousness of the soul, while still inhabiting a gross human form, begins to experience itself as pure energy inhabiting the higher planes of the subtle sphere.

The spiritual planes consist of seven different stages. The first three planes exist in the subtle world. The fourth plane stands half in the subtle world and half in the mental world. The fifth and sixth planes are both in the mental world—and all six of these planes are still illusion and the experiences of God as embodied soul are also illusion. For all their powers, all their experiences of angels and gods and divine beings, the first six planes are all illusion, vacant dreams within the vacant dream state of God.

Meher Baba tells us that the seventh plane is the goal and the destiny of all souls and ultimately, all souls reach that goal. There are many formulations used to describe this achievement; God Realization, the Self, Self Realization, Union with God, Becoming God, The Kingdom of Heaven, The Real Awakening, Reality, etc.—many ways of describing the same One Thing.

V.

Meher Baba once drew a picture of Himself as chicken. He called it the Mischievous Chicken and explained that it was the first chicken to emerge from under the wing of the Mother Hen (the Original First Deep Sleep State of God) and journey through evolution, reincarnation, and involution to realize the Goal.

After reaching the Goal, the Mischievous Chicken looked back and saw all the other chickens that had followed him out. It was there and then that he felt his responsibility and took upon himself the burden of helping all the other chickens to realize the Goal also. The name given to this first soul to reach the Goal and take upon Himself this burden of responsibility is the Ancient One, Avatar, Christ, Rasool, or Messiah.

The Ancient One comes again and again and though the form of His message is seen to change to conform to the needs of the times, the essence of His message is always the same, “God alone is Real and the destiny of all souls is to recognize that Reality as oneself.” Likewise, though the form of the work of the Avatar changes with the exigencies of time and situation, His work also, always remains the same — to give to all of creation a universal spiritual push towards the Goal and to take upon Himself the burden of the suffering acquired by each soul in its journeyless journey to Self.

Meher Baba has identified Krishna, Ram, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus, Mohammed, and Himself as the more recent Avataric incarnations. He tells us these historical personages are, in essence, unique garments that inform the Avataric Presence at particular times in particular places. For example, Jesus was the name of the man who informed the Christ, i.e. the garment that clothed the Avataric presence. That garment was used and then discarded. All of the garments “worn” by the Avatar are discarded and not used again. Therefore, for example, the Avatar, as Jesus, will not come again, but the Avatar, the Ancient One, continues to come again and again every seven hundred to fourteen hundred years.

VI.

Since the whole process of awakening is about consciousness, the mechanism that works through all of creation to create and perfect consciousness is very significant. Meher Baba explains this mechanism fully in his book Discourses — (available through Sheriar Press.)

I will attempt to summarize the process, but first I would like to say something about my use of the word mechanism; I chose this word to convey the sense that the process we are talking about is mechanical — that one thing automatically leads to the next — in other words; the whole process is under the law cause and effect.

There is an old saying that even God cannot beat the ace of spades with a deuce of clubs, meaning, that once the game has begun, the rules of the game must be observed or else the game itself would be destroyed. Meher Baba explains that God, in the state of the Avatar and the perfect masters, can adjust and temper the process i.e. He says, the Avatar does not take on the sanskaras (impressions) of an individual, but can take on the suffering, in whole or in part, which is the result of that individual’s sanskaras. This is the meaning behind the statement that Christ took on our sins.

Returning to the process, the mechanism itself, Meher Baba tell us that the whole thing — the process — the mechanism — the creation — began with a first action that occurred in the Original Deep Sleep State of God. Meher Baba names this first action Lahar. He said that no word can adequately describe the phenomena, but Lahar comes closest. Literally, Lahar means whim, and the implication is that this first action is without any cause. It just manifests spontaneously. The Lahar is the first action, the Word of the New Testament, and this first action is also the first cause. The first cause results in a first effect and thereby establishes the law of cause and effect that manifests throughout all of the gross, subtle, and mental spheres of creation.

The result of action is consciousness, but this consciousness is always stained by the unique qualities of that action. This tinge is called a sanskara. A sanskara is an impression that is formed as a result of some action. Once this impression is formed and consciousness becomes aware of it, then a need is created to experience that impression. To experience these new impressions an appropriate new action is necessary and for this action, an appropriate new form is necessary — because the form that creates an impression is not the form that is capable of experiencing that impression. Therefore, a new form must be taken which is capable of experiencing the impressions previously formed.

This new form is, in fact, nothing other than the consolidated mold of the impressions gathered in the previous life or form. Ironically, we are always living, i.e. experiencing, one lifetime behind the one we are currently living.

The cycle can be summarized in this way:

1.Action creates consciousness and sanskaras are the by-product of the process.
2.Consciousness of the sanskaras creates the need to experience the sanskaras.
3.To experience the sanskara, a new action and a new form are necessary.
4.This action then leads to more consciousness and more sanskaras that need to be experienced.

This cycle characterizes the process of evolution. As stated previously, evolution is complete when full consciousness has been gained and God in the state of an embodied individualized soul begins to associate with the last evolutionary form — the human form. During reincarnation, since consciousness is already fully developed, no more consciousness remains to be achieved and consequently the sum total of sanskaras is not further increased. Therefore the purpose of reincarnation is to loosen the hold of the already accumulated sanskaras on consciousness and this is achieved through the spending (exchanging) of one sanskara for another. An example of this spending of sanskaras is the envy of the beggar at the king. By the action of envy, the beggar sews the seeds that will make him a king in another life. Conversely, if the king is haughty and looks down upon the beggar, then he has sewed the seed of experiencing a future life as a beggar.

As a result of this experiencing of opposites over numerous lifetimes, gross sanskaras get thinned out sufficiently to bring God as the embodied individualized soul to the door of involution. Involution is the next step in the process. During the process of involution, the consciousness of the soul enters the subtle and mental spheres and experiences the higher planes of consciousness.

VII.

In addition to God Speaks and Discourses, numerous points were dictated by Meher Baba to Bhau Kalchuri, See The Nothing and the Everything for a most descriptive view of the planes of consciousness.

The planes of consciousness are not in the gross physical universe and the pilgrim, experiencing involution on the planes, is neither conscious of the gross physical universe nor even his own gross physical body. Though not conscious of his body, the body is retained and other gross conscious individuals can see and interact with the pilgrim through it. For his part, the pilgrim on the planes is generally aware of gross conscious individuals, but does not see their gross physical bodies; instead, he sees and interacts with them as pure energy or, in the case of the mentally conscious pilgrims on the fifth and sixth plane, as pure thought and pure feeling respectively.

Between the gross sphere and the first plane of the subtle world is a connective membrane that links the gross sphere to the subtle sphere. This connective membrane is the sub-subtle sphere, or what is generally called the astral world. Once the pilgrim’s consciousness is fully established on the first subtle plane this astral link is severed forever. Most, so-called, channeling occurs between the gross and the sub-subtle sphere. Pilgrims on the higher subtle and mental planes do not channel to the gross world.

Every plane has a heaven. These heavens are not the heaven and hell referred to by many Christians and Muslims. Meher Baba offers this explanation. Planes are connected to each other. One journeys from plane to plane as one journeys from place to place by a railroad network. The station from which one journeys is like a railroad station in the center of a city. The station is the plane. The city, with all its unique experiences, is like the heaven of that plane. One must come to the station, i.e. leave the heaven, before he can journey to the next plan.

The pilgrim on the first plane sees gross forms as shadows. These shadows are energy because everything, including himself, is experienced as energy by the pilgrim on the first plane. The pilgrim on the first plane is bursting with inspiration inspired by experiences of subtle colors and sounds, light that dazzles and enchants him, and the celestial music of angels that inhabit the higher planes of the subtle world. The inspiration the first plane pilgrim experiences effects gross conscious people near him. Nothing in the gross sphere can match the unimaginable beauty and experiences of the first subtle plane.

It could take thousands of gross years for the pilgrim to progress to the next plane, but with the help of a perfect master the journey can be speed up. In the second plane, the pilgrim becomes seized by subtle powers and gradually gains control of these powers by becoming their possessor. With these powers the pilgrim can perform, at will, minor miracles like transforming a withered tree into a green one, or visa versa. He can stop moving cars or trains, prevent airplanes from taking off, or fill dry wells with water.

The heaven of the second plane has two sections and these sections are the heaven and hell that are experienced by the gross conscious soul after death.
Heaven and hell, as well as all the planes of the subtle and the mental spheres are internal states; they have no physical reality and cannot be located in gross space. After death — the dropping of the physical gross body — gross conscious individuals in the state of reincarnation do not directly experience the second plane. What they do is experience is the subjective states of heaven and hell, according to the unique sanskaric patterns carried by each individual.

Heaven and hell are a kind of mechanism that helps the individual to balance out their sanskaras in preparation for their next incarnation, but once the individual achieves the state of involution, i.e. is on the higher planes, or is directly connected to and under the guidance of the Avatar or a Perfect Master, the need to experience the heaven and hell states between incarnations become unnecessary.

Unlike gross conscious individuals who experience their gross sanskaras in the states of heaven and hell, but do not direct experience the plane itself, the pilgrim of the second plane experiences the plane directly and can imbibe the blissful state of heaven and avoid the pain of hell by the exercise of their will.

The third plane of the subtle world is a realm of even greater powers. It is from this plane where major miracles such as giving sight to the blind, speech to the mute, and hearing to the deaf are performed. Dead animals can be brought back to life and the minds of all gross conscious individuals, anywhere in the world, can be read at will.

In the heaven of the third plane, the pilgrim can see and interact with angels, for this heaven is the realm of the gods. It includes all the Hindu gods and deities who are, in fact, the Greek and Roman gods as well.

Meher Baba explains that archangels and angels are souls who, in their journey into creation from the deep sleep state of God, become conscious while descending through the planes. The average soul does not experience any consciousness until reaching the gross sphere. Meher Baba further explains that for archangels and angels to complete their journey to God Realization they do have to take one lifetime in the human form and condition.

The fourth plane pilgrim is between the subtle and the mental world with, so to speak, a foot in both. The subtle world is all about power and the mental world is all about mind. Though very advanced in the realm of power, the pilgrim of the fourth plane has not yet mastered his mind. The combination is very dangerous because if a fourth plane pilgrim so much as has a thought about something, then that thought is instantly actualized. Instigated by the thought itself, entire worlds can be created or destroyed in an instant.

Obviously, the fourth plane pilgrim’s position is very precarious and needs help to avoid misusing his power. This help is given by God in the form of the nazar (watchful gaze) of the Avatar, perfect masters, or the masters of the fifth plane who keep his mind in check and his eyes perpetually roving.

The power of the fourth plane pilgrim is so incredible that if he, for even a moment, fixes his gaze on anything — man or god, planet or sun, etc. it is instantly destroyed. Meher Baba tells us that Kuber is the name given to a fourth plane pilgrim.

The fifth and sixth planes are in the mental world. The fifth plane pilgrim gains mastery over the section of mind that controls thought and the sixth plane pilgrim gains mastery over the section of mind that controls feeling. In fact, the fifth plane pilgrim actually becomes thought and the sixth plane pilgrim actually becomes feeling. The fifth plane pilgrim knows everything and hears the divine sound of God while the sixth plane pilgrim sees God everywhere and as everything.

All that remains for the sixth plane pilgrim is to become one with God. His state is indeed exalted, yet his journey is incomplete because he continues to experience himself as other than God. Retaining the sense of false individuality, he is still in illusion — the second state or dream state of God. Meher Baba explains that the gap, or distance, between all of evolution, reincarnation, and involution is infinitesimally smaller than the chasm that exists between the sixth plane and the seventh plane of reality i.e. the third and fully awake state of God.

The fifth and sixth planes are in the mental world. The fifth plane pilgrim gains mastery over the section of mind that controls thought and the sixth plane pilgrim gains mastery over the section of mind that controls feeling. In fact, the fifth plane pilgrim actually experiences himself as the aspect of mind which is thought and the sixth plane pilgrim actually experiences himself as the aspect of mind which is feeling.

The fifth plane pilgrim still retains his gross and subtle bodies, but now identifies only with his mental body. Gross and subtle conscious individuals see his gross and subtle bodies respectively, taking him to be those bodies, but the fifth plane pilgrim has no consciousness of those bodies at all.

Similarly, the sixth plane pilgrim retains his gross and subtle bodies, but now identifies only with his mental body. Gross and subtle conscious individuals see his gross and subtle bodies respectively and take him to be those bodies, but the sixth plane pilgrim has no consciousness of those bodies at all.

The fifth plane pilgrim has knowledge of God. This knowledge is real knowledge, real knowing, but the fifth plane pilgrim does not identify with this knowledge and consequently does not experience himself as God.

The sixth plane pilgrim “sees” God everywhere and in everything. His “seeing" is feeling, and although his state is indeed exalted, his journey is incomplete because he continues to experience himself as someone other than God. He “knows” that he is God, but does not experience himself as God.

Thus, retaining the sense of false individuality, he is still in illusion — the second state or dream state of God. Meher Baba explains that the gap, or distance, between all of evolution, reincarnation, and involution is infinitesimally smaller than the chasm that exists between the sixth plane and the seventh plane of reality i.e. the third and fully awake state of God, because all of evolution, reincarnation, and involution with all its powers and experiences are still illusion.

VIII.
This posting concludes the summary of Meher Baba’s Divine Theme. It is, of course, only a summary and I highly recommend that those who are interested go to the source and read Meher Baba’s book God Speaks. I also highly recommend Bhau Kalchuri’s book The Nothing and the Everything. All of the points in this book, as well as the title, were given to Bhau by Meher Baba. I especially like it because it fleshes out the descriptions and experiences of the higher planes and sheds more light on what happens between God’s Whim and the beginning of creation.
If any of the readers of my blog wish further explanations or commentary on anything written in these eight posts, please leave a comment on my blog and I will follow up.

With the help of one who has achieved the perfection of the seventh plane, God, as pilgrim on the path, enters the seventh plane of consciousness. God as pilgrim, and simultaneously and without distinction, pilgrim as God, is now fully awake and blissfully experiences Himself as Infinite and Eternal — the All in All — the Drop who has become the Ocean.

This final step from illusion to Reality is, with one exception, always taken in a human body, living in, but not experiencing, our gross world. In most cases, after achieving Realization, God as pilgrim, pilgrim as God, drops his physical, subtle, and mental bubbles i.e. bodies within about forty-eight to seventy-two hours.

After dropping the body, all consciousness of creation is lost and no further lifetimes are lived. In other words, God conscious souls never reincarnate. The only exception is the very first realized soul i.e. the Mischievous Chicken, who out of compassion for and responsibility to all of creation, comes back again and again, every seven hundred to fourteen hundred years.

But not all God-Realized souls drop the body so soon, some stay in the body longer — for years or even decades — experiencing the same Divine Consciousness of God, but, depending on the degree of Divine Responsibility for Creation that was destined for each individualized soul in the beginning-less beginning, different degrees of consciousness of creation is retained. From least to most, Meher Baba names these God-Realized beings, Majzoob, Paramhansa, Jivan Mukta, and Perfect Master.

There are always 56 God-Realized beings on the planet, five of which are Perfect Masters. These five maintain the most consciousness of and the most responsibility to creation. It is also their function to bring down, i.e. precipitate, the advent of the Avatar in the Avataric periods.

The Voice of the Stream

2011-03-06T08:23:00.000-08:00

Voice of the Stream was written about 15 years ago as part a program of words and music I called, In the Garden. Voice of the Stream is a dialog between the lover and the Divine Beloved. (The Beloved always appears in italics.)
For those of you who have been reading my previous posts on Meher Baba's Divine Theme, Voice of the Stream will be seen as a poetic mystical expression of the stages of the path -- the higher planes of consciousness. The story at the end is a Sufi story; it speaks about the final leap of consciousness from illusion to reality...

Voice of the Stream
by Michael Kovitz

My heart was so full that day as I walked in the garden
my body could not contain its swell.
Joy rose within me. My eyes filled with tears.
“Why do I love this garden so much?” I said aloud..

“Because, I made it for you.”

I turned and saw him, arms held wide,
standing beside a tiny stream amidst a stand of white jasmine.

“I have known your father and your father’s father and his father too,
before the mighty tree of your lineage had yet become a tiny seed.
I knew you then and I have loved you forever — before creation —
before the time of time itself.
Long ago, I revealed to your father seven times removed
a hundred thousand shapes that clothe my mystery. In me he glimpsed
the universes of form and energy and mind and all the worlds beyond
the universe also. To him, I revealed my infinite colors, countless
forms, and my attributes divine. Now see! The gift is yours.”

“There is darkness. I see nothing.”

“This darkness will fade. Can you see yourself?”

“I see a man, small and weak. His eyes are open yet do not see.”

“That man you were has ceased to be. You are all life now, life from
stone to tree, every creature, humanity.”

“Yes! I am towering mountains and raging seas. I am mighty rivers
and endless plains stretching past the reach of my eye and beyond the
grasp of my mind.”

“You have become the earth, its firmament and depths — and you are
the source of its life also. But what is your source, and where is your
home? Your journey has only just begun.”

“I am light and fire bursting: planets encircle and adore me.
Earth, dearest of all bows reverently at my feet.”

“Now you have become the sun — the source of life to every planet
whirling in your sight, but like the moon, you shine with borrowed
light. Continue on, for all you are and all you see are merely shadows
of Reality.”

“That great and mighty sun I have ceased to be now appears a tiny
sphere lost in the vastness of the firmament. Eighteen thousand
blazing worlds I have now become. Nothing is beyond me!”

“Oh arrogant one, you say that nothing is beyond you? I am beyond
you. Your Self is beyond you. To become the universe is neither
knowing you nor me — hidden still is Reality. Close your eyes to these
worlds of form and time and enter the subtle sphere of dreams, where
things are and are not what they appear to be.”

“I am awake, yet still asleep, and in the distance I hear sounds of
chiming bells and from some far away shadowy realm glimpse etheric
cathedrals where echo harmonies of sweet melodies that sing, ‘the
essence of life is beautiful and free.’
“But now, what is happening? What is all this? The song has changed
and waves of desperate cacophony overwhelm its sweet tune. My
dream is now a nightmare. I cover my eyes but to no avail, for what I
see I see within me and I am terrified. Light submits to shadows. The
sea is bound within the drop and happiness bows to sorrow in an
endless chain of births and suffering and death.”

“Be not frightened by what you see! This dream proceeds by my will. Souls inform
themselves to know me, become drops to find the sea and don the
cloak of darkness to realize the light.”

“My Lord, your explanation eludes me and I remain sickened and
confused, haunted by all the pain and suffering I see.”

“Oh my dear one, listen closely to what I say. All suffer who know me
not, for suffering is the remedy for forgetfulness. Suffering stirs the
seed to awaken from its earthly cradle and don the tender form of
shoot to thirst for light and glimpse the face of the sun. Nurtured in
darkness, its destiny has always been the light. I am that glory and I
wait for you to see me and know me as I am. I wait beyond time for all
life to come to me. In me all suffering is extinguished; in me the dream
ends. See now what have you become.”

“I have become energy itself and that sphere of dreams that once
seemed so vast and terrifying appears to be no more than a single
stitch on an endless tapestry of power. By your grace, dream and
dreamer I have ceased to be. I am enfolded in unspeakable bliss. But
who am I and what have I become? I no longer know my name.”

“Your name is spirit and you have reached the pinnacle of angelic
existence. The entire universe and the sphere of dreams that contain it
are less than a speck of dust compared to you. Were I to give the
order, you could take that speck upon your tongue and in one swallow
it would be gone. You are indeed great! Yet angelic existence with all
its intoxicating power are merely shadows of the infinite knowledge,
power, and bliss of God. Go forth! You must now become mind.”

“Oh master, is there any respite in your gift? No sooner do I become
one thing than you push me on again to another. First I was an atom
on the sea of light and then became that sea. I saw life flicker in the
light of the earthly sun and as that solar blaze I drowned in the
effulgence of the starry universe that just as quickly disappeared
within the sphere of dreams and passed like a shadow before me. I
became the mighty domain of power. Now power bows powerless
before me.”

“My dear, there is no enduring rest upon this pathless path to truth.
Only when the endless beginning and the beginingless end are both
extinguished in eternity is eternal peace achieved.

“My lover, you have become the mind, the master of thought and
feeling and arrived at the chamber of the heart. Remove your shoes
and enter this holy abode.”

“Oh beloved, now I seem to be everywhere at once and can no longer
discern what is me and what is not me. Inner and outer have no
distinction; I am everything and dwell in my own ipseity of shifting
feeling colors and ever changing feeling forms. No constant exists for
me — but you! You are everything and I am nothing and I do not even
exist — except in you!”

“Hear me now! You have reached the abyss that stands between us.
You must cross this abyss of non-existence.”

“I cannot! I cannot even glimpse the other side. For all I have become,
illusion I remain, while you dwell beyond and in Reality reign. You
are the measure of my unendingness. In you alone I am contained. In
your reflection I am revealed, my features defined. In the blinding
effulgence of your divine light my own radiance quakes with fear of
non-existence. How can I cross this abyss? My eye sees no way. My
foot finds no holds.”

“You say you see me everywhere, in everything, and you exist in me.
Listen carefully when I say that in reality I too do not exist beyond
you. Neither do I contain you, nor do you contain me, for in reality
You and I are one — not we — come!

“I cannot. I am terrified and fear for my life.”
“Remember my dear one; nothing real can ever be lost. When you
awaken from sleep, only the dreams are gone. This final step of your
journey is called Mahapralaya — where pure consciousness is
retained after annihilation of the limited mind. Here you must trust me
completely. Fear not for I will help you.
Hear now my story:
You are like a stream that flows through all of time seeking union with
the sea. Nearing journey’s end, the stream flows into a vast desert and
is trapped in the sands. Weakening more and more, it tries to struggle
on, but finds its way to the sea blocked by a great mountain. Hopeless
and helpless, its life ebbing away into the sands, the stream cries out,

‘Oh help me Lord!’ and is answered by the voice of the wind.

‘I am the wind; you must give yourself to me. In my arms I will carry
you over the mountain as a cloud and as rain you will merge with the
sea.’

‘But I will cease to be a stream. I will die!’

‘You will not die,’ whispered the wind. ‘Only your dream of yourself
as stream will end. Besides, where is your choice? A stream you can
no longer be. Give yourself to me, or be lost forever in the sands.’
And so, totally helpless and without hope, exhausted beyond belief, the
stream gave itself up into the arms of the wind and was carried as a
cloud beyond the mountain’s peaks. The cloud drifted over the sea
where seeing itself reflected in the water below, began to weep.

‘I await you. Come,’ welcomed the sea.

And the cloud released itself as tears of joy
and fell as rain into the sea.

‘We are not we, but one,’ spoke the golden sea and the stream, being
no more, heard the voice and recognized it as its own.”

Copyright © 2005 Michael Kovitz

Teachings and Discourses of Rumi (Part 7.)

2011-02-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

“Owing as much to the extent of his inner treasure as to his external wealth he was called the King of the Entire World and would regularly share his bounty with others. Every day he gave away gold — one day to the sick, on another to the destitute, on others to widows, orphans, even businessmen, lawyers, and priests.
The King of the World would give freely to all, with the one stipulation that all recipients must receive their gifts in silence.

Now there was a certain man, a lawyer, who could not restrain himself from appealing vocally to the King and so he was rebuffed. But the man did not give up his efforts and appeared the very next day before the King in the guise of an invalid. Of course, the King was All-knowing and was not fooled. The man was again turned away.

This went on for some days more, the man appearing in different disguises, being found out, and then turned away. Finally, the man struck a bargain with an undertaker to wrap him in a burial shroud and place him in the path of the King. This was done and when the King passed by he dropped a gold piece upon the shroud.

The man grabbed it immediately and could not restrain himself from telling the King, “You denied me your bounty, but see how I have tricked you!”
To this the King smiled and replied, “Man must die before he dies and by your trick you have died before you died and so have gained the treasure.” — The Masnavi of Rumi

Hamid sighed deeply and said to his friend. “I am an old man; I have no interest in gold or things of this world.”

“Ah,” replied his friend, “the stories of Rumi are very deep, very deep. Our King is no ordinary King, His gold is no ordinary gold, and the death before dieing of which he speaks is devoid of dust, decay, or resurrection.”

“That is the death my soul longs for,” said Hamid.

“To have such a death is a gift; in no other way can that real death, that Final Fana, be attained.”

“And how can I become worthy of such a gift?” Hamid said and shook his head.

“If it was a question of worthiness, then few would attain it. One must be either totally empty or totally forgetful. Of the two, forgetfulness is the better option.”

“Forgetfullness?” asked Hamid with another sigh. His friend took a sip of tea and said,

“There was once a man who wished to see the King. And so he set out walking, but hadn’t gone very far at all when he was approached by a friend who said, ‘I hear you are going to the King; please take this message to him for me.’ The man agreed and folded up the message and stuffed it into his pocket. ‘Now don’t forget,’ implored the friend. ‘I will not forget,’ the man assured his friend.

The man continued on and soon was stopped again, and again was given a message to take to the King, and again he stuffed it into his pocket and promised he would not forget.

The man was stopped many times along the way and by the time he arrived at the Darbar of the King his pockets were stuffed to overflowing, but when he entered the Darbar and saw the King in all His Divine glory and resplendence, he was totally overwhelmed and fell unconscious on the floor.

The King saw him and said to His attendants. “Look at that man. He has lost all consciousness in the sight of Me. Come, let us see.” And the King rose from His throne and went to the man and kneeled before him. “Look at this,” He said to His attendants, and began to withdraw, one at a time, all of the notes that were stuffed in the man’s pockets; and each message he opened, and read, and attended to, with perfect attention in His invisible way.” — A story attributed to Rumi.

(To be continued…)

Teachings and Discourses of Rumi (Part 6.)

2011-02-02T07:20:00.000-08:00

“The glass is thin, the wine clear,
Where can a distinction be made?
For it appears that there is wine and yet no wine glass there,
Or that there is a wine glass and no wine there.” — Mishkat Al Anwar, Al-Gazzali

Maurice Nicoll talked about three level of truth in the New Testament — truth at the level of stone; truth at the level of water; and truth at the level of wine. The lowest level is that of stone. It is carved into a particular form and cannot be changed — like an idol. Truth at the level of water can be poured into different vessels and still retain its water nature — in other words, the outer form is of little consequence. Wine is like water, but has the additional power of transformation — intoxication — metanoia (change of consciousness to another level of functioning.) John baptized with water but told people that Christ would baptize with wine.

“The wine is from that world, the vessels from this;
The vessels are seen, but the wine is hidden!
Hidden indeed from the sight of the carnal,
But open and manifest to the spiritual!
O God, our eyes are blinded!
O pardon us, our sins are a heavy burden!” — The Masnavi, trans. Whinfield

He had a reputation as being a great spiritual teacher and he was hired to give a talk to a large group of spiritual seekers, but when he staggered on to the stage, obviously drunk, and stood teetering before them, they were shocked and appalled.
“There is a difference between the wine and the glass that holds the wine;” he slurred. Then in a split second his demeanor changed and with lucid sobriety continued, “never mistake the one for the other,” he said and turned and walked off the stage.

“O God, who hast no peer, bestow Thy favor upon me;
Since Thou hast with this discourse put a ring in my ear,
Take me by the ear, and draw me into that holy assembly
Where Thy saints in ecstasy drink of Thy pure wine!
Now that Thou hast caused me to smell its perfume,
Withhold not from me that musky wine.” — The Masnavi, trans. Whinfield

The Teachings and Discourses of Rumi (Part 5.)

2011-01-30T09:06:00.000-08:00

“Drunkenness and empty-handedness brought Thee to me;
I am a slave of Thy drunkenness and indigency!

God most High granted Pharaoh four hundred years of life and rule and kingship and enjoyment; but all that was a veil which kept him far from the presence of God.

Between a man and God there are just two veils, and all other veils manifest out of these: they are health and wealth. The man who is well in body says, ‘Where is God? I do not know, and I do not see.’ As soon as pain afflicts him he begins to say, ‘Oh God! Oh God!’ communing and conversing with God.’ So, health was a veil and God was hidden under that pain — and so it is with wealth and indigence.” — The Discourses of Rumi, trans. A.J. Arberry

There is another saying of Rumi, “Cry out for water less; cry out for thirst more.” But, I wonder; is it the thing or the no-thing that is the veil, or is it the attachment to those opposites that is the real hindrance? Meher Baba said, “The saint is bound by a golden chain, the sinner by a spiked one, but the goal is to be free of all chains.”

A haughty king looked out his window at a hapless beggar in the street and thought, ‘that worthless tramp, I am glad I’m not like him — and thus sowed the seeds of his next life as a beggar. Meanwhile, the beggar gazing up into the castle window at the king lamented his loathsome situation wishing for the wealth and power of the king — and thus sowed the seeds of his next life as a king.

The two went on exchanging the roles of beggar and king for lifetimes to come, but at some point the king over time lost his haughtiness and when he looked down at the beggar in the street thought, ‘there is no difference between him and me, rags or royal robes are only garments we wear for a while and remove.’ At the same time, the beggar in the street looked up at the king and thought, ‘there is no difference between him and me, rags or royal robes are only garments we wear for a while and remove.’ From that moment on both were freed, never again having to experience the roles of beggar and king.

“King Solomon grew weary of his reign, but Job was never sated of his pain.” — The Discourse of Rumi, trans. A.J. Arberry.

(To be continued…)

Teachings and Discourse of Rumi (Part 4.)

2011-01-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Hamid was sitting with his friend in his little shop on a busy street in Damascus. The young boy, the son of the tea seller on the street, appeared with his steaming metal tea-pot, filled two cups, and was gone.
Hamid poured a little tea from his cup onto the saucer and took a sip.

“I just want to die,” he said to his friend and sighed. His friend turned an amber bead from his rosary over his finger and slowly nodded his head.
“There is dieing,” he paused, “and there is dieing,’ he said softly. “He returns through the door from where he entered first, while on his journey he ventured from door to door. May you achieve that real dieing, the death of all illusions — and pass through that door from which you first came out and the final fana. Inshalla!”
“Inshalla!” repeated Hamid and continued to sip and sigh.

“I am not worthy,” he said after many minutes.
“None are worthy except for Him,” replied his friend.
“I am not good,” continued Hamid.
“Good is not God,” countered his friend. “God loves both the scorpion and the saint. You are not your nature,” he said and told Hamid the following story:
A saint had finished bathing in the stream and was getting up to attend to his prayers when he spied a scorpion that had fallen into the stream and was drowning. Bending over, the saint slid his hand under the water and lifted up the scorpion. Feeling the saint’s hand, the scorpion stung, the pain from which caused the saint’s hand to shake, and he dropped the scorpion back into the stream.
Undaunted, the saint tried again and again was stung by the scorpion and again was dropped back into the stream. This back and forth continued for sometime and did not escape the watchful eye of the saint’s disciple.
“Just leave the damn scorpion,” he finally shouted at the saint. You are being stung again and again.
“It is the nature of the scorpion to sting,” the saint replied to his disciple. “He stings even though it may cause him to die.”
“Then let him die,” argued the disciple.
“I cannot abandon him,” replied the saint. “It is his nature to sting and it is my nature to help. If this creature will not abandon his nature — even at the cost of his own life — then how can I abandon my nature for the mere pain of his bite?”
“I must pray more,” Hamid said after some time. His friend smiled and said,

‘No need to turn to the Ka'ba when one is in it,
And divers have no need of shoes.’(— The Masnavi, trans. Whinfield)

There is prayer and there is prayer my friend; God once told Moses,
“A burning heart is what I want; consort with burning!
Kindle in thy heart the flame of love,
And burn up utterly thoughts and fine expressions.
O Moses! the lovers of fair rites are one class,
They whose hearts and souls burn with love are another.
Lovers must burn every moment.”(— The Masnavi, trans. Whinfield)

A man approached the Prophet and said, “We must go to the Ka’ba.” The Prophet arched his right eyebrow and agreed to go. They departed immediately for Mecca and arrived late in the night. “We must stop and rest and enter tomorrow morning for prayers,” said the man. Again the Prophet arched his right eyebrow but offered no argument to the man. Instead, he unrolled a small rug and lay down.

“You cannot lay that way,” said the man.
“Why not?” asked the Prophet. The man pointed to the Prophet’s feet which were pointed in the direction of the Ka’ba. The Prophet looked at the Ka’ba framed by his own naked feet. Immediately the Prophet changed his position, placing his head where his feet had been and laid down. But to the man’s amazement, the Ka’ba had moved and was still at the feet of the Prophet.

“What is it now?” asked the Prophet as the man pointed to his feet — and again the Prophet changed his position and again the Ka’ba moved. At the request of the man the Prophet changed his position two more times that night, so that his feet had pointed in each of the four directions, but each time the Ka’ba would follow him, always to remain bowed to his feet.” (My loving thanks to dear old Baba Singh who told me this story and the story of the scorpion and the saint many years ago when I stopped by his shop to buy spices and rice.)

(To be continued.)

Teachings and Discourses of Rumi (Part 3.)

2011-01-25T07:26:00.000-08:00

You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt loses it saltiness, from where will it regain it savor? Having become good for nothing, the good wife casts it into the street where it is trodden under foot of men. Jesus spoke this to His disciples and His followers.
Salt flavors life, participates in the dance of life, yet within itself nothing grows — no desires are nourished or fructified.

“Moses once heard a shepherd praying as follows: "O God, show me where thou art, that I may become Thy servant. I will clean Thy shoes and comb Thy hair, and sew Thy clothes, and fetch Thee milk."
When Moses heard him praying in this senseless manner, he rebuked him, saying, "O foolish one, though your father was a Sufi, you have become an infidel. God is a Spirit, and needs not such gross ministrations as, in your ignorance, you suppose." The shepherd was abashed at his rebuke, and tore his clothes and fled away into the desert.
Then a voice from heaven was heard, saying, "O Moses, wherefore have you driven away my servant? Your office is to reconcile my people with me, not to drive them away from me. I have given to each race different usages and forms of praising and adoring me. I have no need of their praises, being exalted above all such needs. I regard not the words that are spoken, but the heart that offers them. I do not require fine words, but a burning heart. Men's ways of showing devotion to me are various, but so long as the devotions are genuine, they are accepted.

“A voice came from God to Moses,
"Why hast thou sent my servant away?
Thou hast come to draw men to union with me,
Not to drive them far away from me.
So far as possible, engage not in dissevering;
'The thing most repugnant to me is divorce.

To each person have I allotted peculiar forms,
To each have I given particular usages.
What is praiseworthy in thee is blamable in him,
What is poison for thee is honey for him.
What is good in him is bad in thee,
What is fair in him is repulsive in thee.

I am exempt from all purity and impurity,
I need not the laziness or alacrity of my people.
I created not men to gain a profit from them,
But to shower my beneficence upon them.
In the men of Hind the usages of Hind are praiseworthy,
In the men of Sind those of Sind.
I am not purified by their praises,
'Tis they who become pure and shining thereby.
I regard not the outside and the words,
I regard the inside and the state of heart.
I look at the heart if it be humble,
Though the words may be the reverse of humble.
Because the heart is substance, and words accidents,
Accidents are only a means, substance is the final cause.
How long wilt thou dwell on words and superficialities?
A burning heart is what I want; consort with burning!
Kindle in thy heart the flame of love,
And burn up utterly thoughts and fine expressions.
O Moses! the lovers of fair rites are one class,
They whose hearts and souls burn with love are another.
Lovers must burn every moment,
As tax and tithe are levied on a ruined village.
If they speak amiss, call them not sinners;
If a martyr be stained with blood, wash it not away.
Blood is better than water for martyrs,
This fault is better than a thousand correct forms.
No need to turn to the Ka'ba when one is in it,
And divers have no need of shoes.” — The Masnavi, trans. Whinfield

Two followers were arguing when Meher Baba approached. “Why are you shouting at each other?” He said to them.
“Because he said this and he did that…” they said.
“Yes, but why are you shouting at each other?” He repeated.
“Because he was supposed to…” they continued.
“Yes, you have this disagreement, but why are you shouting?” He persisted and after some time the two followers just stopped and looked at Him. Then He explained: “Two lovers speak in whispers to each other; why? Because their hearts are close. But you were shouting because your hearts were far apart and you were shouting to be heard across the distance. You can have your disagreements, but keep your hearts close.”

Joseph and the Mirrror - (Rumi Part 2)

2011-01-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

With the frankness of ignorance he spoke to his Beloved, “You say you need nothing and want only my love, but at that table, the table of love, I am not even a hopeless beggar who sits on the floor and waits for crumbs to fall. If I am to know love — for how can I give that which I do not know? — for me to know love, that is your business.”

Joseph and the Mirror

“An old friend came to pay his respects to Joseph, and, after some remarks upon the bad behavior of his brethren, Joseph asked him what present he had brought to show his respect. The friend replied that he had long considered what gift would be most suitable to offer, and at last had fixed upon a mirror, which he accordingly produced from his pocket and presented to Joseph, at the same time begging him to admire his own beauteous face in it.

He drew forth a mirror from his side
A mirror is what Beauty busies itself with.
Since Not-being is the mirror of Being,
If you are wise, choose Not-being (self-effacement).

Being may be displayed in that Not-being,
Wealthy men show their liberality on the poor.
He who is an hungered is the clear mirror of bread,
The tinder is the mirror of the flint and steel.

Not-being and Defect, wherever they occur,
Are the mirrors of the Beauty of all beings.
Because Not-being is a clear filtered essence,
Wherein all these beings are infused.” The Masnavi, trans. Whinfield

“I will help you,” the Beloved replied, and to His lover's great amazement and shame, his Beloved began to cleanse the defects from the mirror of His lover’s soul, and from that day forth revealed that love He had promised to His lover, not within him, not directly, but mirrored all around him, in the faces and the tears of others, allowing His lover to be privy to their hearts, to their longing, to their soul's most sacred love.

Discourses and Teachings of Rumi - Part . 1, The Eternal Date

2011-01-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

They were inseparable from that moment, the one with the finery and fine words, and the one clothed in riddles and rags.
“I have lost again,” despaired the fine one as he prostrated his king at the feet of the victorious beggar.
“No, this time you have won!” replied the beggar, and right there over the chessboard, in that little chaikana, the beggar who was the real King, bestowed upon His subject the final fana, the gift of gifts, Himself in form of God Realization.

They had been inseparable from that first moment when the sun eclipsed the moon and took all his fine words and through them down a well.
“Do you want them back?” the ragged stranger softly replied to the furious scholar. But his fury disappeared when he heard the voice and looked into those eyes and recognized without a doubt the face of his master, the source of his own reflected light. The sun had revealed itself to the moon and the moon bowed at his feet. The Beloved and lover were inseparable from that moment until Rumi prostrated his king at the feet of his King and Shams eclipsed all vestiges of we in One.

“Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.
A lover may hanker after this love or that love,
But in the end he is drawn to the King of love.
However much we describe and explain love,

When we fall in love we become ashamed of our words.
Explanation by the tongue makes most things clear,
But love unexplained is clearer.

When pen hasted to write,
On reaching the subject of love it split in twain.
On the matter of love, pen was broken and paper torn.
Naught but Love itself can explain love and lovers!” —The Masnavi: trans. & abridged by E.H. Whinfield

“The tale of love must be heard from love itself,
For like the mirror, it is both mute and expressive.”— The Last Barrier: Reshad Field

(To be continued.)

The Masts (Part 7.)

2011-01-19T08:27:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned when I began these seven posts about the masts and other spiritually advanced souls, the book, The Wayfarers — Meher Baba with the God-Intoxicated, by William Donkin, is available from Sheriar Press, and I hope that if any of my readers’ thoughts and imaginations has been inspired or stirred by my comments and descriptions, they will read this book for themselves and investigate further — for what I have said in these blogs only scratch the surface of what is in this great book.

Now, in my closing comments on The Wayfarers, I would like to speak not about the eight types of masts or the other four categories of spiritually advanced souls, i.e. the God-merged, the God-absorbed, the God-communed, or the God-mad, but about the state of ordinary human consciousness and the general question of so-called normality — for it is in the Foreword of The Wayfarers, given directly by Meher Baba, that this subject is broached in a discussion of the difference between ordinary madness and mast states.

What interests me, what catches my attention most, is when Meher Baba says that what is considered normal or sane is not in any way dependent on some universal objective standard or truth. And this seems important to me because man often takes pride in his so-called state of sanity and pride binds one in a sense of self-importance. Meher Baba puts it this way,

“The average man of the world is tied to the world, and is molded by the ways of the world. He reacts to the world according to the prompting of inclinations developed as a result of the diverse impacts the world has on his mind. His main basis of reaction is the mind, as shaped by the imprints of the bipolar experience of the opposites — success and failure, joy and suffering.
The responses and reactions given by the mind of the ordinary man of the world are not determined by true values, or by a real understanding of life; they are determined by the chaotic and conflicting tendencies built out of experiences that have not been properly assimilated nor understood. Though the outer behavior of the ordinary man is in conformity with the average pattern of responses and reactions, his inner life is subject to severe mental conflicts and suffering and to an ever-renewing sense of frustration.
Outwardly, the average man may seem to have equanimity; but his equanimity is only apparent, and not real.”

Meher Baba then goes on to talk about what happens when a persons equanimity gets disturbs, the ways he attempts to regain his poise, the experiments he makes, in response to an inner prompting from a latent longing to discover God or real Truth, the possession of which would establish an unbroken peace and fulfillment that is unfailing under all types of exigencies and circumstances.

But it is that incredible statement I quoted, “The average man of the world...,” that is worthy of re-reading and pondering.

“The average man of the world is tied to the world, and is molded by the ways of the world. He reacts to the world according to the prompting of inclinations developed as a result of the diverse impacts the world has on his mind. His main basis of reaction is the mind, as shaped by the imprints of the bipolar experience of the opposites — success and failure, joy and suffering.
The responses and reactions given by the mind of the ordinary man of the world are not determined by true values, or by a real understanding of life; they are determined by the chaotic and conflicting tendencies built out of experiences that have not been properly assimilated nor understood. Though the outer behavior of the ordinary man is in conformity with the average pattern of responses and reactions, his inner life is subject to severe mental conflicts and suffering and to an ever-renewing sense of frustration.
Outwardly, the average man may seem to have equanimity; but his equanimity is only apparent, and not real.”

“The mind is a great and a wondrous thing until they bring you to the door of the King, then, like shoes upon crossing the threshold of a holy place, it should be removed and left at the door.” — Rumi

(Next up, discourses and teachings of Jalal al-Din Rumi.)

The Masts (Part 6.)

2011-01-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

Another great dinner with friends last night and somewhere between the second and third bottles of wine the subject of my blog came up and with it the recent posts on the masts. Someone asked how a mast can be distinguished from an ordinary madman. I answered that an ordinary person usually cannot tell; even Meher Baba’s close disciples who were given the task to bring masts to Baba made errors.

As the conversation wore on, I realized that it was important to not confuse the difficulty of distinguishing the mad from the masts as some sort of implication that the mad and the masts are somehow similar. Meher Baba said that in fact they were light-years apart and that the mad are more similar to us than they are to the masts. In his typically eloquent way of clarifying complex spiritual ideas with a simple statement, Meher Baba said, “Mind working is man; mind working fast is mad; mind working slow is mast; and mind stopped (but still conscious) is God.”

The largest and most well known mosque in India is popularly called Jama Masjid. It is located in Old Delhi and is a place I’ve visited a few times over a number of years on my wanderings through India. There are three extremely crowded lanes that lead to the three entrances into the Masjid. It is difficult to describe the density of humanity on these paths traveling in and out of the mosque; one feels swept along like a little raft in a raging current. On each of my visits I have noticed two individuals, the same two individuals, and I have wondered about them, and though I have no way of telling if they are spiritually advanced, my intuition says that they are indeed extraordinary.

I have described these two individuals in a piece I wrote the day after Hurricane Fran ripped into our city on the evening of September 5th,1996, creating major destruction and a major mess. The name of the piece I wrote is called The New Life. In it, the speaker (me),the lover, sees a storm's great destruction and calls upon his Divine Beloved (Meher Baba). The Beloved appears and then takes them on an incredible journey to various spiritually significant places. One place they go is the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi…

"No sooner did he take my hand but a kind of curtain was pulled around
me. Then it was gone and we were standing in the middle of a crowded lane that led to, what appeared to be, a very large mosque. A sea of people surged around us."

“Where are we now?” I asked. “Are we here to see this mosque?”
“No,” he answered and began walking in the direction of the great building. We took no more then a few steps and he stopped.

“Look over there,” he said, and pointed to the side of the road. I looked, but could not see what he trying to show me.
“There,” he pointed. “There, on the ground — the man.”

And then I saw him, a thin nearly naked man lying flat on the ground. His face was turned to the side and he was breathing in a very rapid rhythmic way. He was making strange sounds, but I couldn’t tell if he was saying anything.

Even more strange was that he had no arms, just two short stumps, one of which he continuously beat or flapped ferociously in the air. I was shocked and appalled by the sight and quickly turned away.

“I don’t understand.” I said. “Is he a beggar?”

“Not a beggar, but a wayfarer,” he replied.

“What is he doing?” I asked.

“He is in a very high state of spiritual intoxication,” he said. “He is totally unconscious of the physical universe, not even conscious of his own body.”

“How did he get like that?” I asked.

“When he was just a child, he was given to a spiritual school. This school had knowledge of many ancient practices. You can say that this man is the result
of certain experiments.”

“Experiments!” I said, unable to hide my revulsion. “What kind of experiments?”

“Jesus referred to such practices when he said that there was once a time when the kingdom of heaven could be attained by violence.”

“So what will become of this man?” I asked.

“I will help him,” my companion replied. “Now walk with me in the direction of the mosque, there is another man I want you to see.”

He gestured in the direction of a small gathering of people attending a
man sitting on a platform in the middle of the road. He had no arms or legs and unlike the first man he was carefully dressed in clean white linen.

“Is he spiritually intoxicated too?” I ventured.

“No,” my companion said. “This man is very advanced but he is salik.”

“Salik?” I asked.

“Sober.” He replied.

“Is he the result of an experiment too?”

“No, he is this way because of tremendous personal efforts he has made.
He has undertaken great penances and made many sacrifices. His work has been intentional and conscious.”

“Is there any connection between him and the other man?"

“Yes, this man is the first man’s spiritual master. He is his guide.”
I was very interested to know why my Beloved had taken me to see these two strange men, but before I could even formulate a question, the man on the platform had taken notice of my companion and began gesturing to his attendants. They picked him up and turned him in our direction. He and my
Beloved stared into each others eyes. For a moment, they were completely still and totally absorbed. Then just as quickly as it began, it was over.

“Come,” my beloved said. “This work is complete.”
“That man seemed to know you,” I said.

“He is one of my few direct agents,” he replied. “He is the Spiritual
Chargeman for this part of the world and he is responsible for all of its affairs.”

(To be continued.)

The Masts (Part 5.)

2011-01-14T07:22:00.000-08:00

Meher Baba said that the third plane of the subtle world is a plane of incredible powers and in its heavens abides angels and gods. In 1941 Meher Baba contacted Teli Baba.

“A good mast, with an almost unbelievable habit of drinking whole bottles at a time of kerosene oil. His clothes and body were literally saturated with kerosene, and saliva flowed freely from his mouth, which was very dirty and ulcerated. He was brought to the traveler’s bungalow for contact, and Baba fed him and sat with him alone for two or three hours. He was then about forty years of age. He is a mast of the third plane.”

Most masts become masts at some point in their lives, sometime as a result of indulging certain spiritual or yogic practices, but more often them not, it just happens to them without any real effort on their part. A madar-zad is one who is born a mast. In The Wayfarers, Dr. Donkin offers this description given by Meher Baba. “A moderately rare type of mast who appears to be an ordinary madman, is most of the time naked, and commonly roams about in dirty muddy places. His tastes in food are abnormal, and he will eat even raw flesh. He is a very restless fellow, wanders about by night and day, and seldom sits down or rests.” In 1949 Meher Baba contacted this madar-zad mast. His name was not known.

“A mere boy, about eight years old, who slept very little, and used to constantly repeat ‘La ilaha il allah’ (there is no God but the one God), while tossing his head. He was much revered in the locality of Uri, and people would come to him and ask that their prayers be fulfilled. He was brought to Baba for contact, at which time Baba ordered Ramju (one of Baba’s disciples) to give him a sheet the next day. Though he was a madar-zad mast, he had not at the time developed the traits of a typical madar-zad in full.”

(To be continued.)

The Masts (Part 4.)

2011-01-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

An interesting trait of some masts and spiritually advanced souls is the ability to disconnect the parts of their body; they are called, ghous or ghous-like. Sai Baba, the perfect master of Shirdi, and the Qutub e Irshad at the time of Meher Baba’s advent, was such an individual. Meher Baba made a point in saying that when such individuals are in this disconnected state they should not be disturbed or even looked at. There are stories of people going blind or mad from disregarding this injunction…

Two questions come to mind in considering the ghous-like. How do they do it and why do they do it? The answer to the second may be just as simple as, because they can. But as to how they do it, the answer is not so easy — especially for one who believes in the hard and fast reality of illusion. And perhaps this leads to the whole question of motivation, my motivation, in even talking about these extraordinary individuals.

I have been writing this blog for five plus years — just as an aside, nearly all the posts are still on the site, but you have to dig around for them a little. On the right side of the page are listed previous posts. Going to any of those posts reveals other posts that are not on the front page — so if anyone is interested…

But I do digress. From the beginning, it has been my intention to report the “spiritual news” that all the regular news sources don’t report. I figure, let them report on the illusion and I’ll report on the reality. Of course, I am just an ordinary guy and do not, and can not, make any claims of experiencing reality — and as Kabir said, “Until you experience it, it is not true.” And that is why I just “report” on the utterances of those who do experience reality —the Avatar and the perfect masters…

In March of 1942 Meher Baba contacted Chambeli Shaw.

“He is a fifth-plane mast in a ghous-like state. He has a peculiar springing gait as he walks; that is to say, he bobs his body up and down in an agile way, and Meher Baba explained that this gait was typical of ghous-like masts… Chambeli Shaw lives in the prostitutes’ quarter of Chapra and runs away from everyone who approaches him. There was this difficulty when Baba wished to contact him until someone mentioned that he was very fond of chewing tobacco and lime. A handful of this was brought, and when he saw it, Chambelie Shaw was tempted to approach, and so was contacted.”

Meher Baba met this mast in 1939 and 1942.

“Abdul Qadir Jilani likes cigars, and he lives on the porch of a butcher’s house, the butcher serving his needs. He has the typical fascinating gait of a ghous-like mast, a springy, graceful way of walking that reminds one of a deer. At the first contact in 1939, Meher Baba washed the feet of Abdul Qadir Jilani and fed him.”

(To be continued.)

The Masts (Part 3.)

2011-01-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

Meher Baba describes the various types of masts:

“A jalali must is always hot –tempered, abusive to others, and talks at random. He is restless and beats those who come near him. He is almost always dressed in rags, and lives in an environment of filth and squalor… He never asks for gifts except tea and tobacco. If given clothes, money and so forth, he at once throws them away… He is happy in crowded streets and bazaars, and sometimes enjoys the company of dogs. The presence of small children annoys him.”— The Wayfarers; pages 28 – 29.

Mohammed Baba was contacted in 1945.

“A sixth plane mast, one hundred percent of the jalali type; he sits in a certain tea shop in Cuttack, and has been in the shop, without leaving it, for twenty-six years. Twice Baba tried to contact him, but the mast was difficult and abusive; but on the third attempt, a partially successful contact was achieved. He is an old man who wears dirty, ragged clothes — and many bundles of rags belonging to him are piled on shelves in the tea shop.”

Except for being in the same shop for twenty-six years, Mohammed Baba fits the description of many homeless people; but, Meher Baba is quite clear on the point that the consciousness of masts is in now way ordinary. Gurdjieff, in describing contemporary man, used to say, “Auspicious exterior; suspicious interior.” The masts, it would seem, would be quite the opposite; suspicious exterior; auspicious interior.
“Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie thy soul’s immensity,”— William Wordsworth.

(To be continued.)

The Masts (Part 2.)

2011-01-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

Agniwala Baba — A mast from Aligarh (near Delhi). 1942

“An old mast that lives in a deserted room that was once a shop; he keeps five or six puppies, and always has a fire (agni) in the room. He asked for firewood from Baba who gave him one maund (80 pounds) of it, and the mast himself carried the load of wood on his head from the wood-stall to his room. Baba also fed him, and as usual with these masts who keep dogs about them, Agniwala Baba first fed the puppies, and then allowed himself to be fed. A good mast.”

Meher Baba has said that dogs and crows have the subtle seeing of real saints, the difference being that dogs and crows cannot consciously (intentionally) use it.

………

The Kumbh Mela is periodically celebrated in India in cycles of 4, 12, and 144 years. It is a big deal — a spiritual festival — that attracts hundreds of thousands of spiritual aspirants and sadhus (roughly equivalent to a wandering monk who takes upon himself a vow of poverty and austerity for spiritual/religious purposes). At a mela in 2007, 70 million people were said to participate!
The mela is like a super Woodstock, the main activity, besides just hanging out, is the ritualistic bathing at the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Jumna rivers. At the 1941 Kumbh Mela, Meher Baba contacted Nanga Mast (Nanga Sadhu.)

“A naked sadhu whom one might believe to be a mast, but who is in fact an advanced pilgrim, (on the third, forth, or between third and forth planes of the Subtle Sphere of consciousness). Baba said that Nanga Mast was on the forth plane.”

(This comment is very enlightening because the fourth plane is the plane of the highest powers. A pilgrim on the fourth plane with just a thought can create a whole world and all life upon that world, or destroy in a blink of an eye a whole world. Meher Baba said that the eyes of the fourth plane pilgrim are always roving — never settling or fixing on anything because to fix on any object would cause its destruction.)

“He walked with his eyes turned upwards and it was a puzzle how he managed to walk like this, without colliding with people and objects. Kaka, a disciple of Meher Baba, arranged for Baba to sit with Nanga Mast in an empty tent at the Kumbh Mela. After about half an hour, Nanga Mast crawled out unexpectedly from the side of the tent and walked away. His conversation seemed irrational. Baba said of him that he was a ‘big saint.’”

(To be continued.)

More About the Masts

2011-01-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

Over two hundred pages of the four hundred and some pages of The Wayfarers – Meher Baba with the God-Intoxicated by William Donkin, are in the form of a supplement.

The supplement describes mast contacts and consists of short descriptions that were “first culled from various disciples of Meher Baba. Meher Baba then read through each description, correcting many, adding to many; and in the majority of cases, he also dictated an authoritative note concerning the type of mast, and sometimes, also, a note about their spiritual advancement.” — William Donkin.

I have always loved these descriptions — something about them fires my imagination and resonates some deep level of unspeakable meaning. Maybe it is like the old couplet,

“The tale of love must be heard from love itself, for like the mirror, it is both mute and expressive.”— Shams i Tabriz.

March, 1941. Mastani Mai.

“She lives alone in some ancient and disused stables, about a mile from the famous Taj Mahal. As Baba and his attendant approached the stable, guided by a gardener from the Taj gardens, they heard a noise like the roaring of a tiger. When they came closer they found an old lady; but though old, she was a big strong woman. Her arms were covered with bangles and she had a bright attractive face. She was pacing to and fro roaring in this extraordinary fashion, all the while, making gestures with her hands. When Baba arrived she stopped roaring and greeted Baba with respect and seemed happy to meet him. Baba told Eruch to ask her if she felt happy, and she replied that she was very happy to see them. Baba was obviously very glad to contact her and said that she was a very high mastani. She has since passed away.”

(To be continued.)

Those Who Bear Witness - Part 3

2011-01-05T07:39:00.000-08:00

The God-intoxicated can be either male or female. A female mast is called a mastani. Khala Masi was a high mastani who was contacted in 1939.

“She was brought to Jubbulpore by Chhagan and told Meher Baba. ‘You are the Ocean; give me a few drops to drink.’”

Pir Fazl Shaw was and adept pilgrim contacted in 1946.

“He told Baba, ‘No one, until you came, has touched my heart with the arrow of Divine Love. You have the power to destroy and flood the whole world. No one fully knows the limits of your greatness; you are the spiritual authority of the time, and if I were to die I would take another body to be close to you.’”

An initiate pilgrim is on the first or second plane of consciousness or between the first and second planes. The first three planes are in the subtle world, so the consciousness of the initiate pilgrim is subtle.
The subtle planes are the planes of energy and powers. The second plane pilgrim not only has energy, he is energy — sees himself — experiences himself as pure energy. What we call energy in the gross world is just the shadow, the reflection, of that pure energy of the subtle planes.
It is in within the heaven of the second plane where the heaven and hell of Christian and other teachings exist. Heaven and hell, indeed all of the planes of consciousness are not a physical place; they are states of consciousness. Within the mechanism of reincarnation, the heaven and hell states are where, between incarnations, impressions (sanskaras) are balanced out. For the average person, these states are encountered between physical bodies, without any consciousness of the second plane itself. In distinction, the initiate pilgrim on the second plane experiences the plane itself while in a physical body (though sans-consciousness of that body) and can, with intention, experience the heaven state and, if desired, avoid the hell state.
This unnamed initiate pilgrim was contacted in 1941.

“He met Baba on the road and said, “You are God Vishnu’s avatar (incarnation), pray grant me the boon of a master’s word for me to repeat.’ A few minutes later he said, ‘My work is done,’ and then added; ‘Here no one knows you; I have seen you and recognized you as the true avatar of Vishnu. Pray you remember me also.” Meher Baba then told him through one of the Mandali (close disciples) who was with him, ‘I know all; that is why I came to you here, now.’ The man then folded his hands, and bowing, said, ‘my life’s desire is fulfilled; Hail, God Vishnu!’”

(Coming next; more from The Wayfarers, more on the masts.)

Those Who Bear Witness (Part 2.)

2011-01-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

Brahmandji Mast was an adept pilgrim who was contacted in 1946. He was living in a hovel in squalid conditions.

“He touched Baba’s feet and said, ‘Behold how devoted love draws the Lord Krishna to me; the perfect master is here.’ He then put his hand under his pillow, pulled out a new and clean copy of (Charles) Purdom’s (book) The Perfect Master and opened the book at a page with Baba’s picture.”

.......

Bundle Shah was a sixth plane mast. Meher Baba has said that with respect to the planes of consciousness, masts are always between planes in what he called the heavens of the planes. So, technically, Bundle Shah would have been in the heaven between the fifth and sixth planes. Also too, it should be noted that when Meher Baba uses the term ‘heaven of a plane’ it should not be confused with what is generally understood as the heaven of the heaven and hell states or what Christians call the Kingdom of Heaven which refers to the ultimate state of God-Realization.

Meher Baba said that every plane has its heaven, the place of experiences and enchantments. The plane is like a railway station. In order to journey from plane to plane (the journey of involving consciousness) one must journey from station to station. If after arriving at a station one ventures out into the city they stand the risk of becoming lost or distracted. The city is like the heaven of a plane. To continue the journey, one must first go back to the station — the plane.

“One of Baba’s men brought this great mast (Bundle Shaw) to his house in Poona, with a view to taking him to Baba, who was then in Mahabaleshwar. By a coincidence, Bundle Shaw came across a picture of Baba between the leaves of an exercise book that had been handed him in response to a request for some paper. This photo had no superscription or title to show whose picture it was.

On the back of this photo Bundle Shaw then wrote out a long string of numbers connected by plus and minus signs, ending up with = 7 = GOD. He then pointed to the word GOD, and reversing the paper, pointed to the figure of Baba and said, ‘God equal to Meher Baba.’”

(One of Baba’s men later checked the arithmetic and found that the string of numbers did indeed equal 7.)

(To be continued.)

Those Who Bear Witness (Part 1.)

2011-01-01T09:15:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite books of all times is called The Wayfarers — Meher Baba with the God-intoxicated. Written by Dr. William Donkin, it is still available through Sheriar Press. The book highlights a period of time in Meher Baba’s life (1922– 1949) when he actively sought out for his work spiritual wayfarers of a specific category called the God-intoxicated or masts — (pronounced like musts). Exactly what Meher Baba’s work was with the masts or how he accomplished it remains unknown, because what even his closest followers saw, or what we see now through the chronicles of The Wayfarers, is only the outer shell of that work and what was going on internally remains hidden. May Baba did give some hints however and from these hints we are able to conclude that his work with masts was for the spiritual benefit of the mast and, in someway, all of creation also.

During this period of his mast work Meher Baba traveled with a small number of close disciples throughout India, the Kashmir, and much of what is now Pakistan. He traveled incognito, taking great pains to not be recognized. Often, in speaking about Meher Baba to others, the followers were told to refer to him as their older brother. The travel was often difficult and exhausting. Masts are often reclusive, living alone in out of the way forests or hovels, on the streets of big cities, or in the foulest sort of places like butcher shops and even brothels. Many times when they are known by individuals in a community they are revered as saints and protected from outsiders.

Meher Baba always seemed to know where he was going and would direct his party to specific places where masts were known or suspected of being; once there he would send out a follower or two to first contact the mast or his or her attendants with a message that their elder brother wished to contact the mast. A consistent requirement was that the contact should private and that the mast should willingly agree to the meeting.

There are a number of different categories of masts that Meher Baba encountered and described and when they are encountered in my excerpts I will attempt to define the terms based on Meher Baba’s teachings. Generally speaking however, masts often appear to have little or no concern for their outer appearance, the state of their hygiene, their food, lodgings, etc. though, in fact, they are often quite particular about these things, just not in the same way that ordinary human beings are. Masts are often quite particular about their non-particularity! For example, if a mast wishes not to bath, and many masts have not bathed for decades, it is nearly impossible to get him to do so; if he wishes to drink kerosene as his beverage of choice, as was the case with one mast they encountered, then that is what he will drink — apparently with no harmful effects. Meher Baba tells us that the reason for what appears to us the bizarre behavior of masts is that they have no gross consciousness; that is, they are not physically conscious of their or others' physical bodies, or indeed anything at all in the whole gross physical creation.

In speaking about the differences between the consciousnesses of various souls in creation, Meher Baba explained that what we call the individualized soul is a drop of the eternal, indivisible, infinite, ocean of God. In the case of an ordinary human being, that soul — that reality — is covered by three bubbles, one of mind called the mental body, one of energy called the subtle body, and one which is gross or physical.

The manifestation of these bodies is first from the mental, then to the subtle, and finally to the gross. In other words, the pattern of the gross is first decided in the mental, then energized in the subtle and then shaped and manifested into a gross physical aspect. In the case of a typical soul entering creation, their consciousness is first centered in the gross world and not the subtle or mental worlds.

Meher Baba has always been consistently clear on this point; consciousness can only be in one place at a time, those who are gross conscious are not subtle or mental conscious; those who are subtle conscious are not simultaneously gross or mental conscious etc. Masts are subtle conscious. They have gross bodies, but are not aware of them grossly. One who is subtly conscious experiences the subtle world, the world of angels and powers and enchantments beyond anything the ordinary human being experiences or can even imagine. And it is power of the experiences encountered in the heavens of the subtle world that are so powerful that the individual experiencing them can become overwhelmed and trapped in their enchantment. And this is the situation of the masts.

Chapter five of The Wayfarers is called Those Who Bear Witness. It consists of a number of encounters with masts and other spiritually advanced souls who spontaneously recognized Meher Baba without ever being given any information about him or his status.

Azim Khan Baba; (Described by Meher Baba as a high mast of Muttra. The date was October 14, 1946). When Meher Baba contacted him, Azim Khan Baba said, “You are Allah; you have brought forth the creation, and once in a thousand years you come down to see the play of what you have created.”

Bhorwala Baba was described by Meher Baba as an adept pilgrim. The consciousness of these individuals is on the fifth plane, between the fifth and sixth plane, or on the sixth plane of consciousness. In other words, the consciousness is of the mental world, the world of the mind. Adept pilgrims on the fifth plane of consciousness experience themselves and all of creation as thought — the expression of mind. This is not an idea to them; it is not like they are thinking to themselves, “Hey, I am thought; how cool is that!” Rather, they are, experience themselves,as the idea itself.
Adept pilgrims on the sixth plane of consciousness experience themselves and all of creation as feeling. They are, they become, the feeling itself. To get some kind of glimpse at the difference between an adept pilgrim’s state and that of a gross conscious individual, imagine sitting in your chair in North Carolina and thinking about something — like being on a beach in a tropical paradise. With your mind you imagine the ocean and the sand, the sun, and the feeling of the sun warming your skin. Then you open your eyes and there you are again, sitting in your chair in North Carolina. “Ah that was a great fantasy,” you say, tacitly affirming to yourself that your reality is your gross body, gross world, and gross consciousness. But the adept pilgrim has no gross orientation or identity at all. Whatever their thought or feeling, where ever their thought or feeling, that is them and that is where they are. Internal and external hold nothing of the same meaning for them as you. They have no gross world or gross body to come back to, to re-orient to.

The sixth plane of consciousness is the highest plane before God-realization. Meher Baba says that the sixth plane pilgrim sees god everywhere and in everything including themselves and yet does not, can not, experience themselves as God.

In January 1947 Bhorwala Baba said of Meher Baba, “Meher Baba has in him the whole universe, he is the Master of everyone, and he is within every disciple. He is this world. that which is above it, and below it: he is 9n me and in everyone. He is the saint of saints; he is Tajuddin Baba; in one glance he sees the whole continent of India.”

(To be continued.)

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-25T06:46:00.000-08:00

A close disciple of Meher Baba once said, “A kiss and a kick from Meher Baba are one and the same — still I prefer the kiss.”
Today I give thanks to our Lord for all His kisses and kicks; and pray for His blessing for us all — the entire family of man; for all the kingdoms of evolution and involution; for all nations, all religions, all “isms,” for all worlds seen and unseen, known and unknown to us, and for this splendid planet made perfect by the gift of His august presence.

The Three Gunas

2010-11-23T07:12:00.000-08:00

The Talks of Upasani-Baba Maharaja
Volume I, Part A
(Pages: 20 -22)

Shri Baba looked at a man and said, “You look like God to me.”

Gentleman — How so?

Shri Baba — Because you show the qualities of Satva-Guna.

G. — What are the signs of Satva-Guna?

B. — A person, who is indifferent to all worldly pleasures, indifferent to
all desires, their objects and their attainment, indifferent towards the
affairs of the world, who does not like to act for anything in particular,
who is content with whatever comes to him, who is unconcerned about the
pleasures and pain affecting him, who always remains in the state of ‘Be as
it may,’ is a person who has Satva Guna. A person with these qualities
is like God. You are showing some of these qualities and so I said that you
look like God...

G. — What are the signs of Raja-Guna and Tama-Guna?

B. — A person, who desires to increase his field of activity, who desires
for various worldly pleasures, who undertakes to do many a thing to satisfy
his desires — from eating something that he likes to the attainment of a
Kingdom, who does some things and persists in doing them even if he does not
meet with much of success, who forms Prarabdha that can last for births on end by
committing all sorts of deeds, who always engages himself in some work or
tries repeatedly to attain various things, who coaches others in behaving
like himself, who is acutely affected by feelings like insult, who is
very careful about and desirous of increasing his personal honor and
prestige, who loves to have a large family depending on him, who is proud,
discontented, tough, envious and a sinner, who loves to study the Asat(the knowledge of ignorance), and so on, is the person who is full of Raja-Guna. Such men ultimately suffer for long for years — or for lives to come. Most persons in the world are like that.

A person, who does not know good from bad, who does what he likes without
any consideration as to how that action would affect others or affect
himself — if it will be advantageous to him or not, who never listens to
anything good or to anybody, who is always doubtful, who is always
suspicious about others and about whatever they tell him, who always puts
everything to improper use, who is full of vices, loves vicious company, and
spends all in satisfying his vices, who is very impulsive, who gets angry
quickly for nothing, and so on, is a person full of Tama-Guna.

G. — Are people with Raja and Tama are unable to know the
state of God, and are they completely void of Satva-Guna?

B. — Such people do possess Satva-Guna. But if a person begins to
increase his activities without controlling himself, the Raja and Tama
increase; all such actions, in course of time, completely cover — suppress
the Satva-Guna. Such men full of Raja-Guna and Tama -Guna are unable to know
the state of God. If the activities are controlled and decreased bit by bit,
then the influence of Raja and Tama decreases causing the spread of Satva.
In other words, the decrease in activities decreases the influence of Raja
and Tama, and in course of time the behavior of the man changes into the
Satvika one.

G.— How much time does it take for the influence of Raja and Tama to disappear?
What are the methods to decrease them?

B. — There are two methods to decrease the influence of Raja and Tama. It
disappears very quickly if one associates with a saint and behaves in
accordance with his instructions. The other way is a very long one.
Sufferings and pain, life after life, makes him tired of his sufferings,
tired of his activities; his spirits go down — die down; he simply comes to
terms. Slowly then, his activities go down and he begins to feel that there is not much use in acquiring this or that. As his sufferings absolve him from his Prarabdha,
his Raja and Tama go down and the Satva begins to rise to the surface. Very
soon then the Satva virtually replaces others, and he comes to a point from which he can know (acquire) the state of God, or a saint.

The Value of Censure and Abuse

2010-11-21T08:21:00.000-08:00

In the following excerpt from Silent Whispers — Timeless Talk, Upasni Maharaj makes use of a play on words. Shiva’s consort, the female expression of himself, commonly called Ardhanari, Kali etc., is here called Shivi. Shivi was also a common expression of the day meaning an insult or abuse. Another term Upasni Maharaj uses is “real Nindane.” Commonly a nindane is a gardener, but here, a real Nindane signifies a Perfect Master.
I especially like the last paragraph; it is important to remember that the experience he is speaking about was of a time before he became God-Realized. It reveals how becoming a Perfect Master is a very serious thing demanding great sacrifices.

The Value of Censure and Abuse

“Tukarama, Perfect Master and poet once said, ‘in the mouth of the censurer is a cake of soap which cleanses the quilt.
Abuse and censure are called respectively Shivi and Ninda.
Shivi is the female form of Shiva; Shiva, the third in the trinity of Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Preserver i.e. the Avatar or Christ), and Shiva (the destroyer or the dissolver). The taking away of the false, in essence all that obscures the experience of the Eternal Bliss of God, is the work of Shivi. Therefore whenever an abuse — a shivi — is given by anyone it should just be accepted as a gift and immense good will come to the receiver of the shivi. Of course the shivi causes the receiver to first experience suffering and if the receiver reacts to this suffering and retaliates against the abuser, then the shivi will have no effect and even deepen the experience of the false in the consciousness of the receiver.
Removal of sin is the function of censure. Censure removes papa; which is the fruit of bad action. Papa leads one to the experience of pain. Punya, on the other hand, is created as the result of good action and leads to the experience of happiness. A Nindane is one who performs the act of Ninda; which literally means the removal of all troublesome weeds, plants, etc. (papa) from the cultivated and sown field (punya).
To hire a real Nindane will of course cost you a fee, but fortunately there are many ordinary human beings that indulge in censure free of charge. You should always remain very grateful to them for the service they render to you.
Even though I used to get good things, I began to overlook them and instead seek out bad things and utilize them for my liberation. I used to pass my days in the dirtiest places — such as cremation grounds. I used to treat these places as the abode of God. I relished stale, fermented, thrown away food.
Once while I was wandering around naked I came across a piece of gunny cloth which was all besmeared with shit, vomit and dirt; God knows if it belonged to a patient of cholera. As I took that piece of gunny cloth, someone accosted me and said, ‘That is a dirty patient’s discarded gunny; why are you taking it?’ Without paying any heed at all to that warning, I took the gunny cloth to a canal, washed it, and started using it as if it was a beautiful, costly, silken garment. I never felt any stink in using it.”

My Dear Doctor - Excerpt 8

2010-11-20T07:46:00.000-08:00

Upasani Maharaj said, “According to the type of people approaching him, a Sat-Purusha (Perfect Master) is seen to behave — to act… The actions he is seen to do are not his: he is the reflection of your own actions.”
Perhaps this accounts for the great disparity that is exhibited in the way he responds to people - and how they respond to him. In the next excerpt from Silent Whispers — Timeless Talk he speaks to a doctor. Like the previous excerpt, it is a true story recounted from The Talks of Upasani-Baba Maharaja.

My Dear Doctor

“A real doctor can administer a real cure, but real doctors are, these days, few and far between. To cure a disease is to absolve a person from the sin that caused the disease in the first place but, in curing the disease, the sin comes to the doctor and so it is absolutely essential that the doctor do certain things to remain unaffected by the sins he contacts through his work.
Remember, the ability to affect a cure is in direct proportion to the blessings one accumulates in your past and present lives, so do not now neglect your prayers and spiritual practices, or your stock of blessings will dwindle quickly to nothing. Remember too, that though you have somehow won these blessing, they are not really yours, for they have been given to you as a gift. Therefore, do not take pride in or credit for the results of your efforts and work to maintain your association with God and those who have realized God.
These days, as I have said, there are few real doctors and that is why they are, from the spiritual perspective, unsuccessful. The truth of the situation is this. Since disease is the outcome of sin, the suffering from that disease absolves the person from that sin. My dear doctors, if you cannot remove the sin, do not remove the suffering. If you are unsure, remember this story…
Once a man came here to see me and to get my blessings; I inquired as to his occupation and he said he was a doctor. I said, ‘A doctor? What do you do?’
He replied that people came to him with their ailments and he advised them properly and recommended different medicines to assuage their suffering.
I saw that this doctor was just an ordinary man. He was full of pride and self-importance due to his attachment to his work. So I said to him, ‘My dear doctor, what you are doing is a very bad thing.’ I then went on to explain the nature of sin, disease, and suffering and then concluded by saying, ‘and so, if you cannot remove the sin, do not remove the suffering.’
Understandably, the man was very upset. His face fell; he looked down, and said nothing. ‘So, what should I do?’ he finally asked and I replied, ‘It is not that you should not help to cure the diseased. To help the helpless and relieve them to some extent is a virtuous deed, but you yourself should not profit from their situation. Practically speaking though, if this is your occupation then you must provide for yourself and your family. So I say, do not be a doctor to make money, instead make enough money to be able to remain a doctor. Don’t think of becoming rich, just charge in such a way that you and your family somehow manage to fulfill your needs. Continue to be a doctor, not because you want to, but because I have asked you to. Do it for me and I will see to it that you incur no bad impressions from your work.”

Advice to a Prostitute

2010-11-18T07:47:00.000-08:00

The following excerpt is from my book, Silent Whispers—Timeless Talk. It is a true story told by Upasni Maharaj and can be found in The Talks of Upasani Maharaj. I present it here to show the attribute of impartiality of Perfect Masters and the Avatar (the Christ). In fact, the God-Realized beings are the most pragmatic of individuals -- their only purpose in creation is to assist others to achieve the goal and they always know the best way to get the job done. There is a saying by Meher Baba, “Good is not God.” Perhaps the meaning of this statement is best expressed in another of his sayings, “The saint is bound by a golden chain, the sinner by a spiked chain, but the goal is to be free of all chains.” In the following story Upasni Maharaj makes no moral judgment but just deals in a very pragmatic way with the binding sanskaras of the prostitute. As always, I am interested in your response.

Advice to a Prostitute

“There was a prostitute in Amraoti. Once when she became ill, I was asked by one of her paramours to pay her a visit for the purpose of treating her. I agreed and upon arriving and meeting her I said, ‘My dear woman, hundreds of people visit you. Some of them are virtuous while others are sinful. One cannot know the extent of their sins and it is their sins that have brought this calamity on you.
To heal yourself you must take certain medicines and make some changes in your diet, but it is even more important that you begin to do some spiritual practices as well. If you are ready to do something like that, I can tell you a few things.’
Being seriously ill, she consented to do something and so I told her that on every Monday she must do worship and service of God with all faith and devotion while observing a fast, remaining celibate, and keeping silent as well.
She took this advice to heart and within a few days she regained her health. Still she continued her spiritual practices and actually even increased her commitment. She began to do some chanting of God’s name in solitude every day, three times a day.
After that, by chance, we would occasionally meet and when I found out the sincerity and degree of her new attachment to God, I was very much pleased. But then, one day, she said to me, ‘When I sit for prayers, to praise God, or meditate, my mind always go to my paramours.’
I told her, ‘It does not matter if your mind roams about like that; just be careful that you do not give up the spiritual practices you have been doing.’
She told me that she would not leave her practices and went on to say, ‘When the appointed time comes for me to sit in my place for my practices, I become anxious with anticipation. I then ready myself and begin to bring the beautiful idol of God to my mind. But almost immediately my mind begins to fool around. I think of so many things. So and so has not paid my money; so and so is a bad fellow; so and so is very dirty; so and so is very mean; and so on and on it goes.’
I said, ‘If your mind goes to them, let it go; if their bad habits, dirty behavior, mean conduct comes to your mind, let it. Just don’t stop your practice and persist in it with determination. This will not only help you but will help as well, all those to whom your mind goes.’
You see, various types of men used to visit her and some began to joke about her newly adopted spiritual practices. They taunted her, but she said nothing and after awhile, some actually began to appreciate her and started to feel that they ought not to approach her anymore with a sinful motive. They however, being used to coming to her place, continued to do so and after awhile even began to join her in worship, prayers, and repetition of the divine names.
In time, her house became a prominent center for worship; its whole atmosphere became the essence of purity. Of course she gave up totally her coquettish mode of dress and behavior. She began to lead a simple life and even became regarded by many of her former lovers as their spiritual mother.
Due to her determined attitude, all those who approached her began slowly to turn around and completely lost their sinful motives. In their homes the unpleasantness and irregularities caused by their vices also disappeared; the relationships with their family members became more and more normalized.
My friends, this is an actual true story that has happened very recently. It is not hearsay. Listen to this stanza from an enlightened poet, ‘My God, wherever my mind goes, there resides your form. Wherever I put my head, there are the feet of my Lord.’
Remember, wherever the mind goes, may it be a thousand mile away or into another time, past, present, or future, all your spiritual practices reach those places and times and affect them. If the dead forefathers or their bad behavior comes to mind, then they all get purified and attain liberation.”

God as Real Owner

2010-11-15T07:56:00.000-08:00

The following excerpt is taken from an unfinished manuscript of mine called Silent Whispers — Timeless Talk. It is inspired by The Talks of Upasani Maharaj and dedicated to Meher Baba.
Many have asked about the “real education” Upasni and the Masters speak about. I have suggested that this education is not complicated, esoteric, or demanding of the so-called “higher education” of the day. The following excerpt speaks to the “climate” of feeling that can accompany an individual as they live their life. It is like a tune playing softly in background of one’s heart and mind; and goes to the meaning of the saying, “Be in the world, but not of the world.”

“There is a saying, ‘If God who has thousands of hands chooses to take away, then how much can you protect with only your two hands?’ Really speaking, you are not the owner but the custodian of your life and all its paraphernalia and as a good custodian you must try your best to care for all that has been entrusted to you. There is a saying, ‘Trust in God, but tie your camel first.’ God is the real owner of all that you have and should He choose to take away all or any of it, how can you prevent it?
The most important mantra of mine is: ‘Be as it may.’ Remember, everything has two aspects. Night is opposed to day, and both these opposite states together constitute a whole day. None can change it. In the same way, pleasure is always associated with pain. If you want to have pleasure, you are bound to have pain as well, but if you equally accept pain with pleasure, that state leads you to Infinite, Godly happiness. This is the truth.
In the end, the whole of your body, mind and possessions must be relinquished. But who, on their own, can give them away? This is why God Himself is forced to steal them away from you. God is very strong, if you resist too much, He could tear off your hands. Be grateful He is most merciful.”

Education - Excerpt 5

2010-11-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

The word sanskaras is used again in this excerpt. Just a reminder that all actions, whether gross (physical), mental (like thoughts and feelings), leave impressions in the mind that prompt actions in the future.

The Talks of Upasani - Baba Maharaj
Volume II Part B
Pages 709 – 710

If the heart of a child is impressed with virtuous sanskaras pertaining to God, and not with all sorts of faulty and false ideas pertaining to the world, and thus the foundation is built strong, then whatever happens in mid-life will not much matter; that child in his after-life, or in the end at least, is bound to be happy; and in the end he is bound to attain sadgati (deliverance/liberation) as a result of that firm foundation built during his childhood.
One can take the whole life — from birth to death — to be a circle. If in the beginning the mind is filled with sanskaras pertaining to God, then at the time of death, as the circle becomes complete, those according to the principle, “Ante Ya Matih Sa Gatih,”— meaning, whatever the mind is occupied with in the end, one gets the ensuing birth accordingly, he is bound to attain sadgati. It is like the rosary; the beads that we touch first come up to the fingers once again in the end. Not only this, but whatever sanskaras are impressed on the mind in that early impressionable age are bound to occupy that mind even after death.

Education

2010-11-10T08:03:00.000-08:00

Even within my life-time I have seen how so-called education had become little more than job preparation — and I am speaking here only about worldly education. I could go on and on about this—about the decline of the arts and literature — about children's inability to think or concentrate — about how people increasingly are terrified of being alone. Of course, this is how things are in the Kali Yuga — the age of darkness.
In the following excerpt, Upasani Maharaj speaks alluded to a different kind of education — for want of a better term, a spiritual education. This education is not our common Sunday school education; it is not the screaming and preaching we hear from the rabbis, priests, imams, and dasturs of all the world’s isms. No, the education Upasani is speaking about is quite simple, quite normal, and quite easy to live. No great intellect is necessary to grasp it; no special state of consciousness is required to attain it; has more to do with the heart than the head and it leads to real happiness and the ultimate infinite bliss.

The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja
Volume II Part B
Pages 708 – 708

The present mode of education neither teaches how to establish God within, nor how to have plenty of worldly pleasures; it does not lead one to mental and physical strength and happiness. The present education does not teach the people even to provide for their simple needs and simple food; it only leads to suffering. Whatever improvements are thought of pertaining to it only resulting in increasing the suffering of the country; no wonder that everybody is unhappy, discontented and suffering today.
It is hence very essential to give the spiritual education right from the beginning. Being educated in the modern way, everybody fills his heart with all sorts of worldly thoughts that only lead to a life of continuous discontent and suffering; then in old age, bent down with that suffering, people begin to look to their religion — to God. Some approach a Satpurusha, put forth the history of their suffering and request of him his Anugraha (his grace). But when one’s whole life has been spent in a worldly way, when the heart is full of worldly thoughts and is continuously habituated to them, how can one expect to get God’s grace? How can you have a proper solid building on a foundation of sand? The state of the heart and the way of life of the people these days resemble a weak — faulty — a sandy foundation.

Excerpt 3.

2010-11-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

So much of what Upasni Maharaj says flies directly in the face of our commonly held beliefs and assumptions about—everything. The previous two excerpts challenge the sense of our very individuality—what we take ourselves to be. Just because we appear to be the same person from moment to moment, day to day, and others recognize us and call us by name, we never even question that we might be anything else than a single unique individual. But Upasni Maharaj says this is not the case. He says that this individuality—this identity—is an illusion. The man who spoke to Christ said his name was Legion. Upasni Maharaj was not speaking in metaphors; he is describing what actually is.
In this next excerpt he tells us that even our mind (buddhi) and its thinking and reasoning are not our own, but the thinking and reasoning of the other Jivas that reside within us. He uses the word foreigners to describe them. It is important to realize that he is speaking about those other Jivas within us—not people from another country. And he goes on to tell us how we can get out of this situation and experience our real and original state of God. But here too, what he says flies directly in the face of our commonly held beliefs and assumptions. Except for the Brahmin class, who can get out of this situation by following the practices and mode of life that has been set down for them, the only way to attain the original state of Sat-Chit-Ananda, i.e. the state of infinite knowledge, power, and bliss, is to hold tight to one who has already become free i.e. Satpurusha (a God – realized perfect one.) In other words since our minds and our thinking are not even our own, to think that we can change our situation would be like, as Gurdjieff used to say, “trying to jump over your own knees.”
At the end of the first paragraph Upasni Maharaj quotes the statement, “Parabudhhi Vinashaya.” I interpret this to mean that God destroys the evil-doers; in this sense to release our Jivas from the grip of all the foreign Jivas residing within us.

These days nobody has his own reasoning (buddhi) to work with. The reasoning has become like a blind man. A blind man has to be led by somebody else—other than one’s self. These days, people are seen to behave according to foreigner’s reasoning and Faith; this only proves that their own reasoning has been suppressed or destroyed by foreign reasoning and Faith. The consciousness—the existence of one’s own reasoning and Faith has disappeared. Almost all have become blind in this way, and entirely dependent on the foreigners. Under such circumstances, according to the statement, “Parabuddhi Vinashaya,” what else but destruction should be your fate?
To get out of this situation in everyway and to attain the original state of Sat-Chit-Ananda there are two chief methods; one is the faithful behavior and mode of life for the Brahmana class, and the other is to closely associate with God in the form of one who has attained full liberation. This is where the importance of sticking to a Satpurusha comes; and we have to stick to him because he is the one who has got out of all that is mundane, i.e. who has realized himself.

Comments from keysunset

2010-11-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

I found the comments left on my blog by keysunset so appropriate and to the point that I decided rather then to use the comment function, I would create a new post all together. Please feel free to enter into the discussion.

From keysunset:

"My Name is Legion":

Where do the Jivas come from? That was one question that came to mind.

Then in the sentence " ... we seem to have spoiled our original, real, pure, clean state .." We "seem"? Not we "have"? And if it is like a reflection in a mirror, is it a true reflection? The pure clean state would "seem" to still be there, I would think.

Yes, do post more excerpts. Very interesting.

Thanks for the questions and comments. Here are a few things that come to my mind: There is a definition of Jivatma in a previous post “Jivatma.” What Upasni is calling the Jiva corresponds to the definition of Jiv. The Jiv is like the bubbles of body, energy, and mind that apparently surround the pure, celestial, infinite, and eternal soul and gives it the sense of being finite, limited, and separate from the Oversoul (God).
You asked where the Jiv comes from. Meher Baba states in his book “God Speaks” that God in God’s most original state was without consciousness (asleep) and therefore was unaware of its own existence. When the whim to know itself stirred the tranquility of God’s deep sleep state it stirred the original state of God (God likened here to a vast infinite ocean) and caused bubbles to form around the individual drops that make-up the ocean, thus giving the drops the experience of being separate (other) than the ocean. This experience of the drop (the soul) of separateness (otherness) from the ocean is the state and origin of the Jiva.
This leads to your next question about seem as opposed to have. In fact, the drop is never separate from the ocean. It always was, is, and will be one with the ocean and only seems, due to the bubbles, to be separate, i.e. no longer original, pure, and unsullied.

From keysunset:
"The Mirror Forgets—excerpt two.”
I'm sort of lost in this excerpt, so I try to relate it to something I can understand.

In my faith practices, the more I spend time allowing interaction, and relationship, with God, the easier and more fulfilling the interaction becomes. Jesus prayed that we would all be one, and so God wants us to be one -- with each other and with Him. If He so wants it, more so than I can ever want it, then allowing that time for God brings me closer to Him and hopefully closer in aligning my wants and desires with His.

Only when you really spend time with someone in relationship, do you truly get to know them, maybe that is also true of getting to know or find yourself in the life journey.

You said you were sort of lost by this excerpt. I think this is quite understandable. When I read your comment the question for me was how were you lost? Your comment then speaks about relationships with others — that is of course how we usually see things — there are others; there is me; there is God. We want to understand the relationship — especially with God.
In this excerpt, Upasani Maharaj is speaking fundamentally about the me side of this equation. What he is challenging is the notion that the individual we take ourself to be is one. What he is saying is that we are not one, but many; many different individuals (Jivas) functioning, maybe dysfunctioning, within the same body and mind. The man said to Jesus, “my name is Legion,” Legion meaning I am not one but many. In fact, no one is running the show. Whoever steps forward says and does until another pushing him or her aside a starts to say and do. These others don’t really even know each other — don’t necessarily agree on anything. Who are these others? Upasni say they are our relatives and associates, friends and foes, various desires with their objects and the corresponding Ahamkaras (identifications and associations) pertaining to them.
It has always been interesting to me that in the three prayers dictated by Meher Baba, the first is without any reference to me or we at all. There is no I in the prayer. But the second and third, the Prayer of Repentance and the Beloved God Prayer uses the word we and not the word I. “We repent…,” “Help us all….,” it never says I. Who is this we? One can say that in saying the prayers we include the others around us, but I think it also suggests that the plural is a way we acknowledge and speak for many with us — the legion that we are.

The Mirror Forgets - excerpt two

2010-11-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

From The Talks of Upasni-Baba Maharaj
Volume II
Part B
Pages 692 - 693

This excerpt continues from the previous post. I believe that the word sanskaras needs some clarification. Both Meher Baba and Upasni Maharaj are very consistent with the meaning of this term. As the soul, through its agents the physical, subtle and mental bodies, acts and experiences for the sake of gaining that consciousness required to ultimately experience itself, i.e. that pure, celestial, eternal, original clear state, that consciousness gets impressed by the actions of its own bodies. These impressions (sanskaras) are like dust which covers the mirror of consciousness, thus hiding the reality of the soul’s original, pure, unsullied state. All the great forms of yoga, i.e. Karma (the yoga of action), Dnyan (the yoga of knowledge), Bhakti (the yoga of devotion), and Raj (the yoga of concentration), offer various practical ways of transmuting, transcending, or wiping away the sanskaras (the dust) that cover the mirror of consciousness.
On a more mundane level, the word Ahamkara is consistently misspelled in this excerpt as Ahankara. I have changed it back for the sake of correctness and consistency.

With that reflected mass, the mirror forgets its original clear state, and assumes itself to be that reflected mass; in the same way, we also begin to identify ourselves with all those Jivas that associate with ourselves. That is why we do not remember our original state, nor are we able to experience it. It means this body of ours is not really one’s own but a place to accommodate all others related to us. In other words, our body and mind are nothing but a storehouse to accommodate all the good and bad relatives and associates, the friends and foes, various desires with their objects and the corresponding Ahamkaras pertaining to them.
All these things within, as they inter-react, naturally give rise to various shades of Ahamkaras, and according to their nature we are bound to act in different ways resulting in a variety of pleasure and pain to our own Jiva. All those Jivas that have flocked into our being, as time passes, try to entrench themselves firmly within ourselves. It is this stability won by them that is interpreted as the stable sanskaras of our own Jiva.

My Name is Legion

2010-10-31T08:31:00.000-07:00

I have been reading The Talks of Upasni-Baba Maharaj for decades. They were purchased directly from Upasni’s ashram in Sakori, India, and are not generally available in the United States.

The talks that make up the six-volume English edition were given extemporaneously by Upasni Maharaj in Marathi during the 1920’s and written down by some of his followers. They were published in that language and later translated by another Indian follower into English.

These talks have fascinated me through the years and I have encountered in them teachings that I have found nowhere else in spiritual/mystical literature.
Over the next few days I would like to present a few excerpts from these talks. I am very interested in hearing your comments. The teachings of the Masters can be broadly interpreted. I would especially like to know if these excerpts are interesting to you; if they make sense and are in anyway useful to you; and if they engender any questions.

When necessary I have included definitions of some of the terms. The source of these definitions is the talks themselves. I believe this is important because Upasni Maharaj will often ascribe meanings to terms that are not the accepted meanings of the day. For example, two terms in this excerpt need comment: Jiva and Ahamkara.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Jiva (Jiv) means embodiment. But the term suggests something more than just being in a physical body. In the context of this excerpt, Jiva means the sum total of everything that makes up the unique individuality of the embodied soul. It is our physical bodies and all our thoughts and feelings. It is what many call essence.

Ahamkara too, has a deep and subtle meaning. Commonly taken to mean pride, here it conveys a state of identification with those illusory qualities the soul associates with and takes itself to be.

Additionally, for the sake of clarity, I have made the following editorial changes in the excerpt:
The word us replaces ourselves in the first line.
The last sentence of the excerpt reads,“In the same way, to begin with ours is a pure, unsullied state; as the association increases, other Jivas accumulate within us, and then we become like that clear mirror reflecting the whole mass of individuals standing in front of it and thus, due to these associations we seem to have spoiled our original, real, pure, clean state.” It is the statement; “…as the association increases…” that is confusing, not because of the idea itself, but because of the way it is articulated. Therefore, I have changed the sentence to read, “But as our association with other Jivas increase, the Jivas accumulate within us, and then we become like that clear mirror reflecting the whole mass of individuals standing in front of it and thus, due to these associations we seem to have spoiled our original, real, pure, clean state.”

From The Talks of Upasni-Baba Maharaj
Volume II
Part B
Page 692

There are many Jivas who have thus lodged themselves within us for births on end. According to their nature — friendly or unfriendly — as they affect our Jiva, we have to take to that kind of Ahamkara and behave and act accordingly. Think of a huge mirror. If hundreds stand in front of it, all of them in a mass are reflected in that one mirror. To begin with, it was a clean mirror, and now it becomes full of those reflected in it; with all that reflected mass, its clear appearance disappears. In the same way, to begin with, our Jiva is in a pure and unsullied state. But as our association with other Jivas increase, the Jivas accumulate within us, and then we become like that clear mirror reflecting the whole mass of individuals standing in front of it and thus, due to these associations we seem to have spoiled our original, real, pure, clean state.

“And He (Jesus) asked him (the man), ‘What is thy name?’ And he answered, saying, ‘My name is Legion: for we are many.’” Gospel of Mark, 5:9.

Jivatma

2010-10-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

Jivatma is a Sanskrit word, made up of two words; Jiv which is taken to mean embodied or individual and Atma which means soul. The word conveys somewhat the same as the Christian term Holy Ghost — Holy because the soul is Divine, and Ghost because in the state of its sleep the soul imagines itself embodied and wanders the creation of its dreams believing itself to be stone, or insect, bird, animal, or human, etc.

Upasni Maharaj, a Perfect Master associated with Meher Baba, offered this beautiful definition of the state of Jivatma:

“…that pure celestial soul identified with the projections of the mind.”

Memories of Mani

2010-10-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

Mani Irani was Meher Baba’s younger sister and one of His closest followers. Meher Baba said that Mani would be a perfect master in her next and last lifetime. She was brilliantly creative, an artist in every way, a hard headed business woman when dealing with the affairs of the Meher Baba Trust; she was equally at home in the presence of children and dignitaries, easterners and westerners, paupers and kings. She could be as soft as butter in the Indian summer or tough as nails if the situation dictated it.
I treasure the memories I have of those few times I spent in India in her presence — times I cherish even more because I never initiated them — never sought them out — times when she came to me…

It was my first day visiting Meherazad in 1979. I was sitting on a bench in front of Mandali Hall playing Sor study # 5 when Mani walked out from a room behind the Blue Bus and approached me. She said she couldn’t believe the music she was hearing, thought at first it must be a piano — wondered where the piano could have come from…

If was either 1979 or 1987? I was alone and looking at the tree outside the window of Baba’s bedroom. This was the tree that sometime after he dropped his body an image of his face appeared in the bark of the trunk. I had seen pictures. The image was very clear and very accurate. So I was looking at the tree but could not find the image. I saw what I thought could be it but the image was very indistinct and didn’t look at all like the pictures. Mani came up to me — I was surprised she even knew I was there. Apparently she knew what I had been thinking because she told me that the image had begun to disappear over the years. She spoke very softly and I was overwhelmed by the sweet compassion I felt flowing from her presence…

On another occasion I was walking alone through the Meherazad garden when Mani came up to me seemingly out of the blue and linked her arm through mine. As we walked she told me about a dream she had after Baba had dropped his body in which she saw us all as puppets on a stage with Baba, unseen behind the curtain, pulling all the strings that animated us.
We continued to walk arm in arm through the garden and to illustrate the point of her dream she told me that after Baba’s second auto accident Baba was having difficulty walking and would sometimes allow her to assist him as He walked. She said that one day as he was resting his arm on hers she had the thought, Oh how light Baba’s arm is — how little weight there is, and demonstrated this to me by making her arm very light on mine. But as soon as she had that thought, she said, she began to feel Baba’s arm becoming heavier and heavier — so heavy that she was having difficulty even staying on her feet. As she was telling me this she began to push down harder and harder on my arm. She said the weight of Baba’s arm was almost pushing her to the ground. This, she said, made her realize that even when Baba asks for our help in some way or other, our very doing is by his grace alone and not the result of our own abilities…

One final story; it was Mani’s birthday. On such occasions the women Mandali would come from Meherazad to Meherabad for Arti (Baba’s prayers) at Baba’s tomb. I wanted to give Mani a gift so I arrived at the tomb early to get a seat on the bench directly in front of the entrance to the tomb. I knew that when the prayers were over, offered by the women inside the tomb, that it was the custom for people to offer songs and music as an offering to Meher Baba. So, I was ready with my guitar to start playing as soon as the prayers were finished. When the prayers ended and the women were still inside the tomb bowing down I began playing the tune to the Baba’s Seven Names of God. That was to be my gift to Mani. To my surprise when Mani walked out of the tomb she sat down on the bench very close to me and began, very softly, to sing the words over and over — Hari Param, Atma, Allah, Ahuramazd, God, Yesdan, Hu. So, Baba through me gave Mani a birthday gift, and Baba through Mani gave me a most special and treasured gift in return…

Make My Life Simple and Straight

2010-10-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

Gitanjali (Bengali)is a collection of poems by Rabindranath Tagore. Gitanjali means an offering of songs. Like the Arti, it is offered as a prayer to the Divine Beloved.

From time to time I am inspired to rework a poem -- personalize it -- much in the same way I would interpret a piece of music by a master musician.

In honor of the spirit of Meher Baba's New Life ( see previous posts), I offer a few of these poems of Tagore.

My song has put off her adornments.
She has no pride of dress and decoration.
Ornaments would mar our union,
they would come between you and me;
their jingling would drown your whispers.

My poet’s vanity dies in shame before your sight.
Oh master poet,
I pray at your feet:
Make my life simple and straight,
like a flute of reed for you to fill with your song.

I Know Not How You Sing

2010-10-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

I know not how you sing, my master!
I listen in silent amazement.

The light of your music illumes the world.
The life breath of your music runs from sky to sky.
The holy stream of your music
breaks through all stony obstacles
and rushes on to destiny.

My heart longs to join in your song,
and vainly struggles to find its voice.
I would speak,
but speech breaks not into song,
and I cry out baffled.

Ah, my master,
you have made my heart captive
in the endless chorus of your music.

I Touch Your Feet

2010-10-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

When you command me to sing
it seems that my heart will break with pride;
I look to your face,
and tears come to my eyes.

All that is harsh and dissonant in my life
melts into one sweet harmony —
and my adoration spreads wings
like a glad bird on its flight across the sea.

I know you take pleasure in my singing.
I know that only as a singer
do I come before your presence
and touch that place where aspiration alone could never reach.

By the edge of the far spreading wing of my song
I touch your feet.

I touch your feet!

And drunk with joy of singing
I forget myself and call you friend
who is my lord.

You Have Made Me Endless

2010-10-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

You have made me endless,
such is your pleasure.

This frail vessel,
you empty again and again,
to fill it ever again
with fresh life.

This little reed flute,
you have carried
over hills and valleys
sings with your breath
melodies eternally new.

Infinite gifts of your immortal touch
visited on these tiny hands;
my heart bursts its limits in joy
and gives birth to utterance ineffable.

Ages pass,
and still you pour —
and still there is room to fill.

The Great Fair of Human Life

2010-10-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

The child clothed in prince’s robes
with jeweled chains around his neck
loses all pleasure in play,
hampered at every step by his dress.

Fearing it may become frayed
or stained with dust,
he keeps himself above the world,
afraid to even move.

Oh mother,
What is there to be gained by all this finery,
that keeps your child aloof
from the dust of the earth;
his own fear refusing to grant him entrance
to the great fair of common human life?