The Reflected and the Real Happiness

“A shopkeeper dealing with mirrors has hundreds of mirrors in his shop; he actually sells them and lives on the profits thereof; he never uses any to see his face.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Vol. I, Part B

Years ago when I was the president of the Chicago Meher Baba Center, I was walking the short distance between my apartment and the Center when a voice stirred inside of me. I immediately identified the voice as Meher Baba’s, though, as the Sufis often say, “God alone knows.”

The voice was friendly, somewhat matter of fact, yet had an air of authority too. The conversation went something like this:

“Do you remember when as Jesus I told my closest disciples that they were the salt of the earth?”

 “I have read that.”

“Do you remember that I further explained that if the salt loses it saltness it becomes worthless?”

“Yes Baba.”

Now as this conversation is unfolding I am asking myself as to why Baba is bringing up the teachings of Jesus. I am not a Christian, nor a follower of any religion that has sprung-up around any of the Incarnations of the One God. But I kept my thoughts to myself—as if I really could hide anything from Baba.

“So Michael, what is the significance of this teaching?”

“I really don’t know Baba.”

“I will tell you. Salt flavors and preserves life, yet nothing grows in salt. As Jesus I was telling my disciples that due to their relationship to me, the Preserver and Protector of all, they, in their own way, preserve and bring a certain flavor—a certain sweetness—to the lives of others—but only when they themselves do not get lost in life—do not allow new impressions, sparked by worldly desires, to take root within them. I was telling them that they should be in the world, but not of the world. To be of the world means to lose their saltness and if their saltness is lost they would become quite useless to both the world and to Me.”

It is my understanding that Meher Baba wants His followers to participate in life without getting attached to life; to be in the ocean and yet not get wet. How is this possible? Only with our own efforts and His grace.

It is also my understanding that all so-called spiritual teachings are not directly about gaining the Goal, but about how to deal with life so as not to make His Work more difficult. The highest spiritual teachings, the teachings of the Avatar and the Perfect Masters, are not about gaining anything, but about losing everything—everything that is false, illusory, transitory, zero.

I love this quote of Mani S. Irani, Meher Baba’s sister:

“Even while we are thinking that we are going through so much, that we are striving, and suffering, Baba tells us not to worry because He knows we are safe and sound at His feet.  He doesn't tell us not to worry in the sense that a doctor would tell a patient.  It is not advice. When Baba said a thing it was with authority of supreme knowledge, knowing everything.  So when He says be happy, don't worry, He knows there is no reason to worry.

“For instance, when I read a book to Baba (and Baba being all-knowing would appear unknowing, because He would play the game supremely) – when I was reading a book usually He would have me stop at a very critical juncture – where Pauline was hanging over a cliff or something, and we didn't know if the train would be going over her or not – and we were told not to look to see what happened—not to look further to find out.  Baba would then ask me, ‘Do you think there will be a happy ending?’  I would say, ‘Well, Baba, we can't look, so we will know tomorrow.’

“But then Baba would always like a happy ending.  That is because His story, the story of His creation, has a happy ending.  We are simply going through chapters.  But somebody who has read the book and who knows the end, can very authoritatively say, ‘Don't worry, don't worry’ while you are in the midst of a chapter which is terrible.

“So whenever we go through something that seems so difficult, so disagreeable, don't worry, remember it is only a chapter... the next chapter might be different.  When the end of the story comes, the story is finished.  So, we might as well enjoy the story while we are in it too.” – The Divine Humanity of Meher Baba, Editor; Bill Le Page Vol. 2, Pp 183 – 184.Copyright 1999 AMBPPCT

  

“Even at the doors of God you have to suffer. The sufferings you undergo at home are temporal and give you worldly comfort—worldly pleasures—of course proportionate to your suffering. In the same way, the sufferings sustained at the door of God—in the cause of God—are bound to fructify into pleasures and happiness, but these pleasures are not only temporal, but spiritual also.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Vol. I, Part B

Why would one even be interested in approaching the ‘door of God’? Why do we go to anyone’s door anyway? Because we have some connection to the one inside. It could be business; it could be personal. Maybe the one inside has something that we want. If the one inside wants something that we have, he would probably come to our door. You may ask, “What if the one inside the door is our beloved?” To this I would answer, “Yes that is true, but who among us wants nothing from the beloved? Who among us only seeks the pleasure of the beloved?”

I was speaking to a self-proclaimed atheist the other day. He was very sincere and had a wonderful sense of humor. I liked him very much. There is a saying, “God loves an idiot but hates a fool.” What is an idiot? Someone who does not take things seriously. What is a fool? Someone who takes everything seriously. Anyway, the atheist was explaining how silly he thought the average follower of religion to be. Over and over he used the word belief, saying things like “he believes this and how can he believe that…”

I pointed out to the atheist that he had used the words believe and beliefs so many times. I suggested that until there is direct experience everything just a matter of belief, so why get so excited about it? The religious person and the atheist have different beliefs, but they are only beliefs until there is direct experience.

Who has direct experience of the reality or the unreality—the existence or the non-existence—of God? At some point, beliefs are not enough for either the atheist or the believer and then, ironically, both have to approach the door of God to experience the existence of God, or to learn for certain that no one lives in the house.

What is it that drives both the believer and the non-believer to approach the door of God? Wanting the experience, wanting to know, is only half of the motivation—is only half of the equation; the other half is the growing awareness that, as Meher Baba once said, “The world never was, or is, or will be anyone’s beloved.”—that all of the pleasures and happiness of the world are temporal and passing. This temporal and passing happiness is what the Upasani Maharaj calls the reflected happiness, and that sooner or later, this lifetime or the next, one realizes that this happiness is always mixed with pain—the pain of ultimate disappointment of the temporal.

“Commonly people are interested in the reflected happiness; for this, however, they have to accept the screen of pain; this means, while remaining in the screen of pain they are able to experience the happiness reflected by it. When you want to see yourself reflected in the mirror, you have to accept the mirror as well; in the same way, you have to accept the screen of pain and then alone you will have the reflected happiness.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Vol. I, Part B

Only when one tires of the reflection does he seek out the source of the reflection and approach the door of God. But approaching God’s door is one thing, waiting at God’s door is another, and being given access to what is behind the door is still another.

“I will wait for an eternity if that is what I must, but not one iota of a second longer than is necessary.” – Yogic saying

For one to experience reflected happiness a mirror is necessary. But if a mirror is not used, is not looked into, does not reflect, is it still a mirror?

“That screen is transparent like glass. If we are within the screen we shall see happiness everywhere. If, however, we interfere with the transparency of the screen, if we turn it into a mirror, then it at once begins to reflect.

“As it is, the transparent screen is meant to give the experience of eternal happiness, but if it is interfered with, then it exhibits the state of pain. If it is not interfered with, then its transparency remains untouched and it is able to give the experience of eternal happiness. This transparent screen is called Prakriti.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Vol. I, Part B

And what is Prakriti?

“Prakriti is the material cause of all beings.” – Swami Shivananda

"Whatever forms are produced, O Arjuna, in any womb whatsoever, Prakriti is their womb and I am the seed giving father.”— Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita, Ch.14, Verse 4

“Yet Prakriti lacks altogether the principle of intelligence. Thus it is purely instrumental, serving as the medium by which Purush—the Soul, Self, Supreme Being, Intelligence—can come to Self-knowledge.” – Infinite Intelligence, Meher Baba, footnote p.432

And so, if the screen is Prakriti—the womb of all creation impregnated by the divine seed—then what does it mean to interfere or not interfere with the screen?

To look to the world—creation—in order to know oneself, is to transform the screen into a mirror—a mirror which can only distort the truth. To look into the mirror with the question, “Who am I?” will own yield false answers to the question, “I am a man.”  “I am a woman.”  “I am rich.”  “I am poor.”  “I am good.” “I am bad.”  “I die.”

Indeed, to ask anything of Prakriti, even “Why?” is to transform it into a mirror that can only reflect a false answer.

“Take the glass—the screen—to be the state of knowledge. If the glass remains transparent it will only see light all-around. The transparent glass is like the original Prakriti. How does the glass experience its existence?

“When it finds that there is nothing all-around, it knows that it alone exists and experiences its existence. In other words, the glass sees itself alone, and as such sees nothing else but light all-round.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Vol. I, Part B

Please take a moment to savoir this point. The light that Upasani Maharaja is speaking about is not the light we experience from our sun—nor is it the light of any sun. The light of even the brightest sun in all of the universe is little more than total darkness compared to the sun of which Upasani speaks—this light is the effulgent light of the soul—of your soul—of my soul. To experience that light is to experience infinite eternal bliss.

Great yogis contemplate that light; meditate on that light, but to experience that light is something else again, something that is not easily gained, something that is not easily won.

But once it is, once that light is experienced, the soul becomes eternally blind to the light of creation—no longer sees it—no longer experiences it, though if it is the destiny of that soul to remain for a while in its gross body, wholly or in part conscious of creation, then that soul becomes a Perfect Master, or a Jivanmukta, or a Paramhansa, and lives the life of conscious God in creation. And to serve such a one; to be near such a one; brings more spiritual benefit than hundreds of lifetimes of penance, meditation, or good works. One should be so lucky!

And when God comes as man—the God Man—the Avatar—the Christ—the Messiah—He tells the world to look to God as the Light Eternal; and to those closer He tells them that He is the Light that has taken a human form out of compassion and mercy for them; but to those who are closest—those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, He tell them that they are the Light that they see reflected in Him and that He is light that is in them.

“Like the glass, the Prakriti is an independent state. If we begin to interfere with its natural painful qualities we interfere with its transparency and, as such, it at once begins to reflect. And you people are lured by this reflection. It is thus desirable that the glass—the Prakriti—is never interfered with, because, to interfere with the original Prakriti is to create another; and that is exactly what happens. The second Prakriti tries to do away with the original one, and that causes reflection and you get lured and engrossed in that reflection.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Vol. I, Part B

I believe that anyone who rightfully understands what Upasani Maharaj is saying here realizes how impossibly difficult this is to do—to not interfere with that which causes pain. It even sounds wrong, but to quote Hafez, “About what you here from the Master never say it is wrong, because, my dear, the fault lies in your own incapacity to understand Him.”

And what is not understood? The fact that the pain never was, or is, or ever will be real—that it is all just a dream. In my dream I experience pleasure and pain. I run towards the first and away from the second. And if I am unable to stop running?

“The strongest state is the state of ‘be as it may.’” – Upasani Maharaj

If I am unable to stop running, then perhaps, at some point, my option is to choose to run to the door of God.

“If you suffer at God’s portals—in the cause of God—that suffering of yours will not be wasted; be sure of that. I have always been telling you that this is not a place of enjoyment; this is a place to suffer. Here I have turned pain into pleasure. Extreme suffering makes a man laugh; and when you laugh that way, tears come into your eyes; and that is my state here.” – Ibid.

Meher Baba used to say that there are two kinds of tears, warm tears and cool tears. Warm tears are shed over unsatisfied desires—tears shed over the reflections in the mirror. Cool tears are shed for God—they stream from the heart’s longing for oneness with the Beloved—they are tears of love.

“As a matter of fact, there is no state of pain in the world; everything is pleasure—it is all happiness everywhere. The bliss is eternal; howsoever you enjoy it is never terminated. On the other hand, as you suffer pain, sometime or other the pain is terminated. The pain has to end; the happiness has no end.” – Ibid

I always wondered about the phrase, “the body, typifying happiness,” that Meher Baba uses in His book God Speaks.

“In man, the mind is the seat of desires and thoughts, energy is the seat of force and vigor, and the body, typifying happiness, is the seat of happiness and misery. Hence these desires and thoughts, force and vigor, happiness and misery are respectively the finite aspect of the limited mind, energy and body of man.” – Meher Baba, God Speaks, pages  90 – 91

I wondered about the use of the word typifying and assumed that it was being used in its meaning to represent or symbolize. But it also has another meaning, to characterize. In light of Upasani Maharaj’s statement I think Meher Baba may have intended the second meaning i.e. to characterize. Bliss is all around, in this world and the next; it is eternal. Even in the world it can be experienced continually if, if we don’t ask for it—if the screen remains a screen and does not become a mirror.

“Come, come, come; whoever you are; wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving; ours is not a caravan of despair. Though you may have broken your vow a thousand times; come, come yet again; come!” – Shams e Tabriz (Rumi’s Master)

The sky has no color, if you don’t believe me ask a very young child. If the child has not been coached, she will not say that the sky is blue, she will not affix any color to it, even though if you ask her about the grass, she will say it is green and that the water is blue.

“Little children remember, but only a few, and down they forgot as up they grew.” – e. e. cummings

Is the sky a representation of Prakriti? When it is seen as colorless, is it like clear glass? When it is seen as blue, is that a representation of the mirror? And what happens when clouds fill the sky? Do the clouds represent pain, the blue sky reflected happiness, and the clear sky, without color, seen only by the child and those who have become as little children also; does that represent the real happiness?

“The bliss is eternal; howsoever you enjoy, it is never terminated. On the other hand, as you suffer pain, sometime or other the pain is terminated. The pain has an end; the happiness has no end.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Vol. I, Part B

Take away the clouds and the sky is blue—blue before and blue after the clouds. Blue is the reflected happiness. Take away the blue, and the sky—the glass—is clear. Clear is the Real happiness—Ananda—Bliss eternal.

“Even if you do not make any use of the Prakriti, she gives you all happiness, since her nature is to make you happy; in fact, she is meant only for that purpose.”—ibid

How absolutely incredible is that statement! “… since her nature is to make you happy; in fact, she is meant only for that purpose.”

“Don’t worry, be happy!” – Meher Baba

“The body, typifying happiness.” – ibid

It is said that after giving up the wealth and comforts of his parent’s home, Siddhartha joined a band of wandering ascetics and began practicing serious austerities. This life continued until one day while sitting on a river bank he noticed a boat traveling upon the river carrying a musician and his student. The simple words of the teacher awakened some deep understanding within Siddhartha; the teacher said, “If the string is tightened too much it will break; if it is left too slack it will not produce any sound.” – heard in the movie, Little Buddha

After hearing this teaching, Siddhartha left his ascetic life and began to practice what was later to be called the Middle Path—the path to enlightenment—the path that leads one from the nearly endless rounds of births and deaths—the path that leads to the real happiness.

Meher Baba was once asked by a follower how he should live in the world with regard to diet and dress. Meher Baba replied, “Don’t eat too much and don’t eat too little. Don’t dress like a beggar and don’t dress like a dandy.” – I believe the follower was Herbert Davy and that the conversation took place in Myrtle Beach, SC.?
What is too much and what is too little? It may be different for each individual. The middle may not be the same middle for everyone. Only a real Master knows each individual’s unique way.

The Middle Path goes through life and that is why it is essential to the achievement of Enlightenment. The Middle Path is the embodiment of the teaching, in the world, but not of the world. False teachings suggest ways to avoid life, to overpower life, but all attempts to do the same ultimately lead to failure. Not only is life not to be avoided, it is to be embraced and lived—but without expectations and without demands. Life lived in this way keeps the glass clear, keeps it from becoming a mirror of false reflections.

“Your trying to do away with her not only does not destroy her but actually leads to the formation of many a form, with the result that instead of getting any real happiness, you begin to reflected happiness, and with that you are presented with the painful nature of that Prakriti that leads you to experience pain.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Vol. I, Part B

As a young musician I sincerely wanted to improve and practiced very diligently. Sometimes I felt I was really on to something, was really getting somewhere, only to notice after days, or weeks, that I was still in the same place I began. What did Gurdjieff call it? “The terror of the situation.” And so I sought out a teacher and the teacher was very helpful, but still it was up to me to learn how to make use of his teachings—how to practice them.

The feeling of thinking I was going somewhere only to realize that I was still in the very same place that I began, is much the same feeling as this trying of one thing and then another, thinking that the newest next thing will be the way to enlightenment. Does not the realization come at some time for each and every embodied soul that he or she must approach the teacher—must approach God’s portals—for the way to  …discard—overlook—the reflected happiness and utilize the transparent glass-like original Prakriti without disturbing it to attain the original infinite Bliss—the original Ananda?

All of life turns towards happiness like sprouts turn towards the sun. This is the manifestation of intelligence. If you position the sprouts in front of a window and position a mirror behind it, so that the mirror reflects the sun, the sprouts will always turn towards the sun and not the reflection of the sun in the mirror.

Upasani Maharaja says that the two kinds of Prakritis, the one that gives real happiness and the one that gives reflected happiness, also give a corresponding two kinds of suffering. Regarding reflected happiness this linkage of pleasure and pain, happiness and suffering, is generally understood and passively accepted. But regarding real happiness, which most people know practically nothing about, any suggestion of entwinement with real suffering draws choruses of indignant disagreement.

In the realm of reflected happiness and suffering a child is born—the result of its parent’s attraction to the reflected happiness. The birth of the child is always accompanied by some kind of suffering for all concerned. As the child lives and grows more and more suffering entwines itself with the child’s and the parent’s ongoing quests for reflected happiness. If there is birth, then there must follow death at some point also. Death is always accompanied by sufferings for all concerned.

In the realm of reflected happiness, suffering is inevitable, because in the realm of reflected happiness all things end—there is no eternity in the realm of reflected happiness—and with the passing of objects of enjoyment there is always suffering in proportion to the degree of attachment to those objects.

The drama of reflected happiness and suffering plays out for a very long time—sometimes over many lifetimes. Meher Baba has fixed the outside number to be eight million four hundred thousand lifetimes in the human form. A very long time indeed, but the realm of reflected happiness and suffering does have an end, because it and everything within it is created and all things that are created inevitably must pass.

Eternity stands in opposition to life’s currents of birth, life, and death; Oneness stands in opposition to duality; and real happiness stands in opposition to pleasure and pain. Where do these ideas come from? Not from the realm of reflected happiness, because real happiness stands beyond reflected happiness and therefore cannot even be fully imagined or conceived in the mirror of reflected happiness.

If everyone exists in the realm of reflected happiness then how is it that we can even know about the possibility of real happiness? Looking back in time as far as we can, we see that there have always been some individuals who have claimed to have passed from the realm of reflected happiness into the realm of real happiness, and it is they who remind us that there is something more, something beyond, something other than what we experience. These individuals, we call them Perfect Masters, Incarnations of the  Avatar, the Prophets and Saints, are all remarkably consistent in their assertions that real happiness is the birthright and inevitable destiny of all souls lost within the dream of creation—in the mirror of Prakriti.

Like dropping a trail of breadcrumbs  for the little birds to follow, these liberated ones  drop hints in the form of words and examples that inspire the hungry—but one must be hungry to even notice, yet  alone value, what is being dropped for them.

“When what one sees has no reality, the inevitable must occur: the consciousness looks within and begins the inner journey and the Jiv-atma again dreams—but this time the dream is divine… ‘I will become God. I will know Him and thereby become Him…” – The Nothing and the Everything, Bhau  Kalchuri, page 58

Jiv-atma—“that pure celestial soul identified with the projections of the mind.”—Upasani Maharaj

The divine dream leads to the door of God and it is there that real suffering begins.

“Until you experience it, it is not true.” – Kabir

Gurdjieff spoke about it as well. In his unique language, he used the expression, Being Parkdolg Duty, and defined it as the ability to labor consciously and suffer intentionally in order to help bear the Suffering of our Common Father Creator.

“One who feels tired or disinterested in reflected pleasures, or due to beneficial advice, begins to think about the state of Sat (Knowledge—Consciousness) and feels tired of the first Prakriti created by him, now creates another Prakriti to suffer in the cause of God or a Perfect Master and follows her.
“The Godly happiness is available only through the second Prakriti that is full of suffering; this self-chosen suffering alone leads one to eternal happiness.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Vol. I, Part B
Once one experience this suffering, neither the reflected happiness nor the reflected suffering can match it. This suffering is itself blissful.
“Burn in that flame; is not the candle He?” – Rumi

Meher Baba was very clear and consistent on this point: all souls are God, the only distinction among souls is the consciousness of souls and thereby the experience of souls. The Incarnations of God as Avatar, Messiah, Buddha, and Christ, and the Perfect Masters, Paramhansa, and Jivanmuktas, experience themselves as God. To approach these souls is to approach the door of God. To serve and worship these souls is to suffer for God. Suffering for God is not ordinary suffering; suffering for God has its own special bliss.

It is not that these souls want you to suffer and in fact do nothing to make you suffer at all, but they do allow your suffering, both kinds of suffering, because they know that it is necessary in order to attain the real happiness—necessary in the sense of the unnecessary necessity. 

The train is going somewhere, you are not driving the train, but you are on the train. In truth, you have nothing to do except to enjoy the ride. You don’t have to make your enjoyment, it is there for the taking; you don’t have to find it, it comes to you automatically—if you don’t chase after it. Nor do you have to make yourself worthy of it because the sun of happiness shines on sinner and saint equally. You don’t have to do anything to experience the sun; just don’t put up an umbrella to cover your head.

The train is traveling to its destination, but it does make stops along the way to pick up passengers. The stops are for others do get on the train, not for you to get off the train. But sometimes you see something when the train stops that attracts you and you want to get off. While on the train, getting off the train is unnecessary, but only until you get off. Once off the train the getting off can be seen to be necessary— an unnecessary necessity.

Meher Baba’s Omniscience allows you to get off the train and in His Unbounded Mercy allows you to get back on the train with the realization realize that you never needed to get off the train in the first place.

Prakriti is the clear screen which when interfered with becomes a mirror. This mirror is like a mirror in the fun house, it distorts everything that is held before it. A Perfect Master is a mirror also, but this mirror reflects accurately the truth and the bindings of the soul. Some see the Master as something bad, or angry, or loving, but this is due not to the nature of the Master but to the binding that one holds before Him. Some see the Master as God; this is true seeing for the soul is really seeing Itself in the divinity of the Master.

This series of posts began with a talk given by Upasani Maharaj to His followers who had come to His place in Sakori, India to celebrate His birthday.

“You have assembled to celebrate my birth anniversary. But I feel that today is not my birthday, but yours. If you think that I have reached perfection and if you believe that I am really dead even though my body is alive, then how can I be born?

“You have come to me because I have reached perfection and am fully dead and cannot be born again. I can have no more birth or death.

“A person who is not fully dead, is born again. I can have no more birth or death. To die is to be destroyed—that is the common understanding. An inanimate thing when crushed is said to be destroyed; but an animate thing, like the body, when crushed is destroyed as dead.

“So I feel that you have come here for your birth-anniversary. You may ask, ‘Should we remain chained to the cycle of births and deaths?’

“Anyway, if it is understood that I am not born, then this celebration must be about your birth. My birth thus becomes yours. Just as one has to experience death while remaining alive, in the same way, one has to experience the real state of being alive when one is alive.

“The experience you are having of being alive is not the correct one: you are experiencing and employing methods for an incomplete, or rather, an unreal death.

“If I am not born and you have come to observe my birth anniversary, then you have come here for attaining a birth devoid of death…

“One should die in such a way that there will be no more birth again; one should have such a birth which will be without death.

“If you observe birth anniversaries of Incarnations and similar other persons, for a particular period, you will be able to experience being eternal.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Vol. I, Part B

Those who went to Upasani’s ashram that day to celebrate His birthday were to some degree tired of the reflected happiness and had begun to be attracted to the real happiness. What other reason could there be for making the efforts to travel and to be there? Not everyone’s motives are absolutely pure; many visit the abodes of Masters to get some worldly gain—some reflected happiness. And some do, but even this gained reflected happiness inevitably ends in disappointment—inevitably becomes understood to be no more than another unnecessary necessity.

And what of those who have read the talk He gave that day, or even read about the talk in the seven posts that make up this blog?  Would anyone take the time to read it who has not also begun to experience the disappointment of reflected happiness and have some feeling, or wish, or hope, or longing, that there is something more—something beyond the reflected happiness?

“Come, come, come,
Whoever you are—
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving,
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Though you may have broken your vow a thousand times,
Come, come, yet, again—COME!” – Shams I Tabriz

Love Alone Prevails

“Mind can go anywhere in an instant, be anywhere in an instant, visit the past, travel into the future, be here, there, and everywhere. This mercurial nature of the mind is very difficult to control. The body, on the other hand, is always in the present. It can always be located. Now tell me, where is your body now?”

His question surprised me.

“It is here,” I said while making some awkward gesture at myself with both hands.

“Where?” he repeated.

“Here, in the studio,” I said.

“Where?”

“Right here on the chair.”

“That is your starting point, your body on the chair in the studio. Now tell me, how do you know where your body is?”

“I just know,” I said.

“Try to understand, just knowing is not experiencing.” His voice was calm and even. “Can you sense your body?”

“You mean the parts of my body like my hands and feet — my breathing?”

“Yes, but as a whole. Sense your whole body, all at once.”

I tried to sense myself in the way he suggested and soon began to experience the strange, but not unpleasant, sensation of inhabiting my own body.

“Continue to sense; be in your body,” he advised.

As I worked, I began to notice a mild tingling sensation in my hands and feet: my whole body was aglow with a benevolent and subtle energy. There was an agreeable sensation from my clothes against my skin and I experienced an array of fascinating sensations emanating from my head and face. I was experiencing the sensation of being alive.

But there was also the awareness of thoughts, thoughts about the awareness, thoughts about other things, and I found them distracting.

“Your body is like a circle — a sphere,” I heard him say. “When you are aware of yourself inhabiting your body you become the center of that sphere. Thoughts are like roads running in all directions away from the center. You cannot stop thoughts for very long and you cannot erase the roads, but you do not have to travel the roads either. Remain aloof from your thoughts without spending energy attempting to stop them. Neither follow them nor allow yourself to get interested in them. Stay in the center of the sphere. Stay in your body.”

It was quite different working as he suggested. Not trying to stop my thoughts saved energy and allowed me to go deeper into the experience, but I couldn’t entirely stop myself from getting involved with them either. Somehow, without noticing, I would drift off into my thoughts only to become aware at some point that I had lost my position in the center of the sphere. The experience was like making an attempt to keep from falling asleep while being very tired. Thoughts acquired the quality of dreams that carried me away. When I brought this to his attention he told me to not worry about getting lost in thoughts.

He said, “When you become aware your attention has strayed, just come back. Learn to feel comfortable in the rhythm of going away and coming back. It is like breathing.” – From Silence to Sound, by Michael Kovitz, available through eladi-publications.com

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 “Grandfather, I have been doing as you requested; I have been trying to watch my breathing every morning for fifteen minutes.”

“Granddaughter, shall we go to the garden and sip tea and talk about your experiences?”

“Yes Grandfather, I was hoping you would say that.”

Once a day, preferably soon after waking up, sit for fifteen minutes — actually time it — and watch your breath. Really watch it — sense it going in and out — feel it in your body. That is all, just watch the breath.

“Grandfather, every day it is different—and everyday it is more or less the same. I sit down with the intention of watching my breath but then my thoughts come—like dreams—my thoughts feel like dreams—and sometimes, most times, they just go on and on for most of the fifteen minutes. The actual number of breaths I watch on any given day could be very small. The thoughts just carry me away from my intention.”

“My dear, how does that make you feel?”

“Foolish, I feel foolish, because it’s like they suck me in—high thoughts, low thoughts—thoughts about anything and everything—I constantly keep getting sucked in.”

“There is a story from the Arabian Nights: There were two brothers and a sister. One day, the older brother heard an elder talking about a magic bird who could grant the wishes—any wishes— of the one who possessed her. So the elder brother set out to find her. He knew where she would be, but the path to her was very difficult and thwarted with unimaginable difficulties. The final difficulty was a valley called The Valley of the Talking Stones.

“The elder brother had to pass through the Valley of the Talking Stones to get to the bird. As soon as the brother entered the valley the stones began to call out to him. Some of their voices were frightening, some were seductive; some yelled, and some whispered. The task was to get through the valley without listening to any of the stones, because if, for even an instant, the brother paid attention to any voice, he would be changed into a stone along the path.”

“Grandfather, did he make it?”

“No, he was distracted by a voice and became a stone. Now, the second brother came to hear about his elder brother’s fate and decided that he too would try to obtain the magic bird. But he inherited the same fate as his brother—entered the valley, became distracted by the stones, and was transformed into a stone himself.”

“Oh dear grandfather!”

“Now, the younger sister heard of her brothers’ fate and was very distressed. She spoke to the elder who had originally told the story and learned that if someone succeeds in passing through the valley and obtaining the bird, all of the stones in the valley would be liberated and become human again. And more than anything, because of her love for her brothers, she set out to win the bird and liberate her brothers.”

“And she succeeded?”

“Yes, she succeeded where her brothers had failed. When she entered the valley, she kept her mind focused on her brothers—she kept her heart one-pointedly centered in her love for them—and she made it through the valley, won the magic bird, and her brothers and all the others stones were liberated.”

“And grandfather, how did she succeed where all the others had failed?”

“”Yes my dear, that is the point; the others were motivated by their own selfish desires, but the sister’s motivation was not for herself, but for her brothers. She was motivated by love, and love alone prevails.”

“Trust in God, but tie your camel first.” – Old Persian saying

“Yes Grandfather, it is exactly like that; I am in The Valley of the Talking Stones and I begin to listen to the voices and I get caught.”

“My dear, in the story, the one who succeeded was motivated by love, what motivates you to continue this exercise?”

“Yes, I ask myself that same question—I say to myself; ‘Okay, you have seen that you can’t stop your thoughts and you can’t keep from getting involved in them, so what more do you need to see?’”

“And your answer?”

“Well there are a few answers—a few reasons—but the main one is that doing the exercise keeps me in touch with the ‘truth’ of my existence.”

“Gurdjieff’s father used to say; ‘Blessed is he who sits in one chair and blessed is he who sits in another, but much pain is there for the one who tries to sit between the chairs.’”

                                 

                                “Pain don’t hurt.” – a line by Patrick Swayze in Road House

“Yes Grandfather, I do feel like I’m sitting between two chairs—not quite in this world and not quite in the next.”

“Your state is called Hawa—one who is permanently connected to the path, yet not on it. Hawa is a sacred state. Thousands of lifetimes must be passed in the human form before achieving Hawa, though by a Master’s grace it could be achieved in the blink of an eye. Inshalla!”

“Come, come come, whoever you are, wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving—it does not matter, ours is not a caravan of despair. Though you may have broken your vow a thousand times, come, come yet again, come.” – Shams e Tabriz (Rumi’s spiritual Master).

“Yes Grandfather, I love that couplet—especially the line, ‘ours is not a caravan of despair.’”

“Yes, on the path of love there is no despair, but there is longing—longing to be united with the Beloved—the longing of soul to know it Itself. All of the three worlds that comprise the Nothing exist only to sustain the Everything.”

“To the Universe, the illusion that sustains the Reality.”– dedication by Meher Baba to his book, God Speaks. 

“Cup-bearer ho!

We pray relieve our soul, give us Wine, for pity sake, pass round that bowl.

This Path of Love, so smooth at first account,

But soon we saw how trials came, perplexities did mount,

Cup-bearer ho, pass round that bowl!” – Hafez

“And so dear Granddaughter, watching the breath is practiced with a different motivation when one is traversing the path of love.”

“Grandfather, please explain.”

“My dear, the path of love and the spiritual path are not the same. The spiritual path refers to the higher planes of consciousness and implies that the pilgrim’s journey through the planes is conscious. The spiritual path first winds through the subtle world with its subtle planes, the consciousness of which leads to escalating powers and blissful experiences. The path then passes through the mental world and its mental planes, the consciousness of which leads to the sight of God and the knowledge that God is everywhere and in everything. Ultimately the spiritual path leads to the seventh plane, the plane of God-Realization, the experience of I am God.”

“Grandfather, the spiritual path does not sound so bad at all!”

“Yes my dear, the journey through the planes is an incredible journey, but it is long and fraught with many dangers. The path of love is something quite different.”

“How is the path of love different?”

“First, the path of love has its own kind of Hawa—different than the Hawa that leads to the spiritual path. The Hawa of the path of love precedes the direct connection to the Master. One begins to get attracted to a Master, hears stories about the Master, reads what there is to be read, and practices whatever practices can be found that have been suggested by the Master. Eventually the aspirant begins to feel that he is beginning to know the master and from this knowing love for the Master begins to grow and this love becomes the link to Him.”

“Love is a gift from God to man.
Obedience is a gift from Master to man.
Surrender is a gift from man to Master.

One who loves desires the will of the Beloved.
One who obeys does the will of the Beloved.
One who surrenders knows nothing but the will of the Beloved.

Love seeks union with the Beloved.
Obedience seeks the pleasure of the Beloved.
Surrender seeks nothing.

One who loves is the lover of the Beloved.
One who obeys is the beloved of the Beloved.
One who surrenders has no existence other than the Beloved.

Greater than love is obedience.
Greater than obedience is surrender.
All three arise out of, and remain contained in, the Ocean of divine Love.” –Meher Baba 

“For you my dear, it seems that your path is the path of love connected to Meher Baba and that is why you will soon be journeying to His Pilgrim Center in Meherabad, India. You will be where He lived and did so much of His Universal Work and, perhaps, most importantly you will have the opportunity to bow down in His holy tomb.”

“And that will constitute my direct contact with Meher Baba?”

“My dear, I will tell you what I believe, but remember that this is only my belief. Meher Baba was not a Perfect Master, Meher Baba was the Avatar—the Christ—the Messiah—and His ways and His means are quite unfathomable. We speak of the path of love, and Hawa, and direct and indirect contact, but the Avatar is beyond all of that. His grace and His mercy, indeed, even His whim, supersede all ways and means and time.

“Having said that, I will tell you that I believe that direct contact is connected to the physical presence of the Master and the Avatar. It is for this reason that something Meher Baba said seems so very significant—so very important—to me. Before January 31^st, 1969, the day that Meher Baba dropped His body—relinquished His physical form—He stated that for a period of one-hundred years after the dropping of His body, He would remain accessible in the same way He was before He dropped the body.

“Of course, we are still in that one-hundred year period and what this means to me is that a direct connection can be made with Meher Baba through a physical connection that can be accomplished by being at His place of Pilgrimage where His physical body is enshrined.”

“When his time has come, the prey finds the hunter.” –Old Persian saying

“And so, dear Grandfather, if watching my breath is not meant to achieve the experiences and powers of the higher planes of consciousness, then what again is my motivation?”

“Dear Granddaughter, there are experiences along the path of love, but they are not the experiences of the higher planes. Let me clarify more fully the distinction between the spiritual path and the path of love.

“Adi K. Irani, one of Meher Baba’s close disciples, used to say that for those who follow the spiritual path, it is like decorating the outside of a building. As time goes by, new colors appear, new shapes, new windows, etc. These new things give the appearance of change—the appearance of progress—but, the advancement suggested by these changes is only advancement in illusory consciousness. Remember, the planes of consciousness are still in illusion. 

“It is different for the followers of the path of love, nothing seems to change when looking at the outside of the building. Nothing new appears—the building just starts looking older. In other words, the person seems to remain the same as he was—no new powers, no experience of the higher planes—the only change is that he starts to look older.

“But under the surface, where no one but a Master can see, there is much change. This change is like termites. Termites demolish the structure from the inside out, chewing away all the structure, all the support. This action goes on and on until the right moment when with just one light touch from the finger of the Master, the whole structure collapses.”

"One very, very slowly gets painted spiritually;

mind takes a very, very long time to vanish completely;

and the man who has slept for ages (in ignorance)

gets awakened very, very gradually." -- Kabir

“And Grandfather, the building, the structure; what is that?”

“It is the false self, the illusory self—the limited mind—which must go, which must collapse.”

“And what remains is the real self, the eternal self?”

“Yes, full consciousness minus limited false mind. And so, now returning to your question, ‘why do you watch your breath?’ the answers lies in this—a very deep, very significant truth, expressed by Meher Baba in His dedication to His book, God Speaks, ‘To the Universe, the illusion that sustains Reality.’”

“I have read that Grandfather and think about it often.”

“Yes, even one of the editors of God Speaks thought Baba got it wrong! But look deeply into the statement; see it in the light of everything that Meher Baba has said regarding the three states of God.”

“God asleep, God dreaming, God awake?”

“Yes, since the dream of creation—God’s creation—God’s dream—is the means by which God as embodied soul gains consciousness of Himself, illusion and Reality become interdependent—they sustain each other. My dear, what are the three roles God plays with respect to illusion?”

“Do you mean God as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva?”

“Yes, the very same that the Sufis call Afridgar, Parvardigar, and Fanakar—and in English my dear?”

“The Creator, the Sustainer, and the Dissolver.”

“Yes, and is it not so, that the Avatar, the Ancient One, the Messiah are all names we give to the incarnation of God in the role of Vishnu—Parvardigar?”

“Yes.”

“Once when I was at Meher Baba’s Pilgrim Center, Eruch Jessawala, one of Meher Baba’s closest followers, was commenting on a line from one of the Artis dedicated to Meher Baba. The line was, ‘Creator, yet creation-less You are, Truth and Truth’s body divine Avatar…’

“Eruch was talking about the significance of Truth’s body—the body that Infinite, Eternal, God takes on in order to bring to His creation a personal representation of their creator and, by extension, their (real) selves.

“Were reality—God—to descend into His creation without the covering of a finite sentient body—without the covering of illusion—, that Infinite Eternal God would absolutely destroy—annihilate—the illusion of creation.

“And so, the Ancient One appears to come and go, be here among us, encourage us to love Him in the form of personal God, while warning us that He is not what we see—that He is not the body that we love. Oh, what a game He plays with us; Oh, what a game He plays with Himself. It is a game, yes, but it is His mercy, it is His love for us. What it is that He said? ‘I Love you more than you can ever love yourself!’”

“Grandfather, when I woke up today I was so out of sorts. Everything mother said and did irritated me. I found myself getting angry.”

“And so?”

“And so, when I sat down to practice the exercise of watching my breath, my mind kept returning to the things mother said and did.”

“What did you do Granddaughter?”

“I stayed with the exercise and began to notice that when I was with my breath all of my irritation immediately would go away. I was in a very clear and light state—until my mind stole my attention again and then I would get irritated again.”

“And so?”

“Well I stayed with the exercise, going back and forth like a ping-pong ball; though in the end I was able to stay with my breath more and when I finished the exercise I found that my state was noticeably better. But the questions arose in me; ‘Why do I keep letting my mind call me back to its heaven and hell? Why am I not able to stay in the more lucid clear state?’”

“Indeed. Earlier we were talking about His game—our game—your game. One thing is for sure, He wants us to choose Him over everything. Gurdjieff said that the most difficult thing for a man to give up is his suffering. He will hold on to his suffering above everything else.”

“Even his happiness?”

“Sometimes yes, as strange as it seems, yes—because man derives some strange satisfaction from believing that his suffering serves some high purpose.”

“Does it ever?”

“No and yes. When suffering is conscious it can serve a purpose, but when it is unconscious, flowing from the thwarting of one’s desires, then it is totally unnecessary. Meher Baba made the distinction by saying hot tears or cool tears.”

“Hot tears for self, cool tears for God?”

“Yes.”

“But tears one way or the other?”

“Yes, until the Final Fauna—union with God—is reached. Until then, there are tears because there is suffering—suffering for self, or suffering for God.”

“And how does one suffer for God Grandfather?”

“Gurdjieff called it ‘Being Partkdolg Duty’.”

“What a funny word Grandfather, what does it mean?”

“You know my dear, the last time I was asked that question was in India in 1979 by Adi K. Irani.”

“Meher Baba’s close follower?”

“Yes, the very same. We were sitting in his little office in the Trust Compound talking. In those days, many of Meher Baba’s Mandali were still alive and very accessible. As for me, it was my first trip to India and my first pilgrimage to Meher Baba’s tomb shrine. How I got there is another story, but there I was sitting in Adi’s office talking to him about Meher Baba, though at the time, I was still involved in what was called the Gurdjieff Work.

“It so happened that Adi asked me about Gurdjieff. He said, ‘Who is this man Gurdjieff and what was his work?’ I answered him this way. ‘I’m sure if we asked that same question about Meher Baba to a hundred followers we would probably get a hundred different answers. And, no doubt, you would get a hundred different answers from a hundred different followers of Gurdjieff were you to ask them the same question about him.

‘So, the way I would answer your question is to say that Gurdjieff’s work with his followers was to teach them Being Partkdolg Duty. Being Partkdolg Duty was a term he used to suggest the ability to labor consciously and suffer intentionally in order to help share the burden of our Common Father Creator.’  Having said that, Adi immediately and forcefully replied to me, ‘I like this man Gurdjieff, his work was the work of effacement.’”

“Effacement?”

“Yes, Meher Baba was once asked about what yoga he taught. His reply was that his yoga was the yoga of you go.”

“And so it always comes back to that, doesn’t it Grandfather?”

“Yes dear, it always comes back to that. The question is how? How can man jump over his own knees?

“The saint is bound by a golden chain, the sinner by a spiked one, but the Goal is to be free of all chains.” – Meher Baba

“Granddaughter, Upasani Maharaj once said, “All of you look like God to me. If, however, you think you are like impure gold, then it has to be purified.”  Is there really any other way to see it then as a great divine enigma wrapped in an irony? Without thought there can be no consciousness, yet, thought obscures consciousness. Everything appears to be Nothing, but Nothing appears to be Everything. Doing does not exist, yet we are prompted by mind to do, and for the wrong doing which is never done, we are prompted to repent. What are we to think? Meher Baba tells us it is all a mighty joke and yet the jest is on His chest!”

“After all, animate or inanimate—the whole creation is borne out of happiness—from Bliss—and hence, to have higher stages of happiness that Bliss began to ascend up in the evolutionary process from its original lower inanimate stages. The creation thus originated from Bliss and has to return back ultimately to its origin—the Bliss.” – Upasani Maharaj

“And so Grandfather, we all feel like we’re doing and feel that we need to do more, and yet, there is nothing to do and nothing that can be done. But still, I wake up every morning and my mind tells me there is much to do and my mind tells me if I don’t do, there will be unfortunate consequences. I mean, that is what I experience.”

“Yes dear, what you say is true, that is how it is. We have to live the dream that is ours acting as if it means everything while knowing that it is just nothing.”

“Grandfather, your talk stirs in me a memory of when I was very young and you took me to a special ceremony.”

“Yes, I remember it well too. It was a special Tibetan Buddhist ceremony called The Black Hat Ceremony.”

“It was beautiful Grandfather. So many monks chanting, doing various thing, while that man; What did you call him?”

“The Karmapa.”

“Yes, while the Karmapa sat on a high platform watching it all, directing it all.”

“Yes, Karmapa is a title, only the Karmapa has the authority to conduct the Black Hat Ceremony. He was the only man on the planet who held that title. Do you remember that the ceremony was for the transmission of the attribute of divine compassion?”

“I do, and I remember too that I felt a little disappointed when we left because I didn’t feel any more compassionate.”

“Meher Baba said that the greatest gift is given by one who does not realize that he is giving and received by one who does not realize he is receiving. Seeds are planted, they disappear into the earth, they sprout at some fixed time corresponding to their destiny, and only then do they, as seedlings, break the surface of the earth and become visible to us. Seeds were planted in you my dear, seeds were planted. Meher Baba also said, ‘Things that are real are given and received in silence.’”

“I sincerely hope so grandfather, in my mind, I feel that compassion and love are very much the same—that compassion springs forth from love and that love gives rise to compassion. I remember something else about that time when we viewed the Black Hat Ceremony—something that has stayed with me ever since.”

“What was that dear?”

“I was watching the Karmapa and I noticed that he was attentive to everything that was going on. When necessary he gave a direction, said something, did something, but at the same time he appeared to be unattached to what was going on and what he was doing. He expressed such grace in his movements and actions, yet did not seem at all like he was posturing or posing. He laughed, sometimes he scratched, once I even saw him pick his nose.”

“And what did you take away from this experience?”

“Yes, I felt that I was being given a gift in the form of a living example of how I could lead my life. To be attentive is not such a great thing. People are often seen to be attentive, but only when they are attached to something. When there is no attachment there is a kind of sloppiness. But, to be attentive and not attached at the same time, that is very rare. It seemed to me to be a special state.”

“What do you think can motivate attention without attachment?”

“Yes that is the question Grandfather, I have come to believe that it is compassion that springs from love. It was the Karmapa’s compassion for all life that motivated his attentiveness.”

“I see the bird fly – I am the enjoyer of that,

And hear her song – I am the enjoyer of that.

I see the rain fall –I am the enjoyer of that,

And feel it’s warmth and wetness upon my skin – I am the enjoyer of that.

I am the enjoyer, I am the eater, I am the experiencer. 

Eating is joy—everything eats everything—everything enjoys everything—

I enjoy, but am I enjoyed?

How can the enjoyer be the enjoyed?

Give yourself to the Master,

Let the Master eat you for His enjoyment,

And in His enjoyment you will experience the ultimate enjoyment—the bliss—

The bliss of the Infinite Bliss.” The Enjoyer – Michael Kovitz

“Grandfather, when we first came to the garden it was to speak about my experiences of the technique of watching my breath. This has been very helpful and I have, as always, thoroughly enjoyed your many stories. Now, it occurs to me to ask you about your own experiences of watching your breath, particularly, the question of why you do it.”

“My dear, you are wise beyond your years and you intuitively find your way to the heart of the matter. I am happy to answer any of your questions and hope my answer satisfies you. Granddaughter, the simple answer is that I have no idea at all why I continue to practice the exercise of watching my breath. I cannot say that the practice is not enjoyable to me, but neither can I say that the enjoyment of the practice is why I continue to do it.

“My dear, I have, over time, begun to perceive myself as being in a rather strange state, for this not-knowing why I continue to practice the exercise of watching my breath is quite consistent with almost everything else I do, or not do, in my life. I really don’t know why I do, or don’t do, any of it. I used to know, I used to think I knew, but now I don’t—and I don’t even want to know, or even entertain the question. It’s like I wander around in a dream, aware, but not quite aware of myself, until someone asks me who I am and then I look at myself and think; ‘ What should I tell him?’ and then some answer comes out.

“My dear, see how beautiful this garden is, see how beautiful you are, I am not blind to beauty—to beauty, to favor, to privilege, but also I remain aware that it is all transitory, all passing, and that love alone prevails. Yes, love is the key.

“Adi K. Irani used to say, ‘A kiss and a kick from Meher Baba are one and the same—still, I prefer the kiss.’ Adi’s very honest statement reveals his state of being conscious of illusion, adrift in the sea of illusion, affected by the heavens and hells of illusion, yet, also maintaining the conviction inherent in the association with reality—with Meher Baba—the conviction that life as we live it is illusion and that reality which we do not experience is the only reality.

“Love is the link between reality in reality and reality in illusion. What we do, what we think we are doing is not important, but doing it with love, or at least realizing that love is there, that love alone prevails, awakens us to the foolishness of making distinctions between illusory things and placing importance on those distinctions. From the perspective of reality, why make distinctions between the beggar and the king when they are both illusory states of consciousness? The same goes for all dualities; smart and stupid, beautiful and ugly, black and white, female and male—if God makes no distinctions, then why should I?

“Granddaughter, so many seekers, so many pilgrims, make it out to be so difficult, so complicated, when it is not complicated at all. Why do we make it complicated? For the sake of the mind, for the mind thrives on complications and fears simplicity, because with simplicity the mind is out of a job.”

“How simple is that Grandfather—nothing to figure out, nothing to change, nothing to do accept to do what comes to you with love.”

  

“Christ said, ‘Leave all and follow me.’ What did that mean?

“Don (Stevens) replied, ‘I assume it means literally to leave everything and follow Christ within yourself.’ Then Baba continued:

‘But the meaning behind it was not to leave all these things; not to renounce the world, it was to obey.  Leave all thoughts, your selfish thoughts, and simply obey me. Then, you are liberated, you are free. But if you cannot, then more and more bindings are created, for every action creates a binding.

‘You are very old, Don, ages old! And you are bound. And you will be bound and you will go on getting bound age after age. Age after age, the same bindings will be created, you'll try to free yourself and in so doing, get re-bound. But once you are liberated completely, then you will realize that there was no binding at all. It was just imagination – a dream; you were seeing and experiencing only a dream.

‘All of you here are very old – ancient ones. All are God, God is within each one, and God is not bound by time: He is eternal. You are all eternal. Now you are bound. You feel you are bound and you continue to get bound; but there will be a time when every individual gets freed, gets liberated. Then that individual realizes that all his bindings were just in a dream – he was seeing a dream.

‘Christ took upon himself the sufferings of others. Why? To liberate humanity. And the bindings are still there. Mankind is still bound. Yet, liberation does not require time. You are bound for ages, but when you get liberated, it is instantaneous – it comes in a flash!

‘Just think of it. God is within all, in everyone, and He is infinite. God is all-powerful, God is all-bliss. And yet, though God is in each one, how helpless we feel! We weep, we feel pain, we feel sorrow, although God, who is so infinitely powerful and blissful, is there! Why? It is because of our own bindings. But there is one way to get liberated from these bindings, and that is through love.’”– Lord Meher, 1st. ed., Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 14, p. 5019.