Bhagavad Gita and a Time of War

 

I feel that it is important to repost this blog at this time. War again raises its terrible head. Again, people take sides, people discuss, people argue. And it’s been going on for thousands of years.
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 takes place in a time of war. Is there something we can all learn from it?

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

Dwapara was a great age; a time when Divine Knowledge pervaded the fabric of everyday life and the attributes of lucidity and purity found expression in all human endeavors. Lucidity and purity are expressions of Sattva Guna. In the Vedic teaching there are three gunas, Tama, Raja, and Sattva, that color the expression of all gross, subtle, and mental energies—and the highest of these three gunas among the trinity is Sattva Guna. Sattva Guna leads to the state of Gunateeta, described by Upasani Maharaj, as “the state devoid and beyond the Gunas,” i.e. God- Realization.

In the beginning of Dwarpara Yuga, life was guided by the manifestation of Divine Knowledge, and the ascendancy of Sattva Guna over Tama Guna and Raja Guna. But by the end of Dwarpara Yuga, life fell under the shadow of Tama Guna —the expression of ignorance and dark cruelty—and the shadow of Raja Guna—the expression of the unbridled pursuit of worldly pleasures and possessions. Consequently, as the next age of Kali Yuga dawned, the ability to think, speak, and act truthfully was in decline and life became growingly selfish and deceitful.

Mahabharata means great family—the great family of humanity, but as the shadow grew longer, and Dwarpara Yuga inevitably turned to Kali Yuga, 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 Sattva 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 war would only bring suffering and death to all, he froze 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 replied, “How can I start this war and bring death upon all of these people?” And so it came to pass, that right there and then, between the two armies poised for war, Krishna taught Arjuna the Great Teachings known 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 encompassed, ever all itself — thus is the Soul declared!” – Krishna

Krishna is speaking from His direct experience of illusion and reality. These bodies of ours, these bodies we cherish so deeply, exist only in the illusion and delusion of a great dream. It is the dream of us and others. Our joys and sorrows, successes and failures, births and deaths all seem so real— until we wake up.

But 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? This was Arjuna’s question—our question.

In the conversation that follows, Krishna speaks to Arjuna about the life of action and the contemplative life of meditation. He extols the virtues and shortcomings of both, saying; “Live in action! Labor! Make thine acts thy piety…” while also counselling; “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:

“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 Christ’s words to 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 Sattva, Raja, and Tama Gunas.

In the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, “Sattva, 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 Sattva by purity living unsullied and enlightened, binds the sinless Soul to happiness and truth; while 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.

“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,” (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 does he live? What is the way that leads him safe beyond the Threefold Modes?”

Krishna responds; “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 signs!’

“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.

“This deathless Yoga (these teachings), this deep union, I taught to Vivaswata, the Lord of Light.”

 There is great significance in this statement by Krishna because Vivaswata is a name associated with the Sun. So, Krishna is saying that indeed He has been around for a long ling 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? He asks;

“How shall I comprehend this thing You say, ‘From the beginning it was I who taught…?’”

To this Krishna responds revealing the nature of Divine Incarnation—the Avatar—the Christ—the Messiah—the Ancient One who comes again and again, in different guises and different forms ;

“Manifold the renewals of My birth have been, Arjuna! And of thy births, too! But Mine I know, and yours you know 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.”

It 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 all 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—reveal His Godhood.

“If this can be, if I may bear the sight, make Yourself visible…show me your very Self, the Eternal God!”

 And Krishna obliges His beloved devotee.

“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!”

Krishna then tells Arjuna that what he wishes to see cannot be seen with earthly eyes, “therefore I give to you other eyes, new light! Now look! This is my glory, unveiled to mortal sight.”

And right there, on the battlefield, between the two armies poised for war, Krishna reveals to Arjuna His Universal Form.

I find it interesting that in the story, when Krishna reveals His Universal Form to Arjuna, it is Sanjaya, who narrates the story. Sanjaya is Dhritarashtra’s advisor. Dhritarashtra is the blind king who has fathered the Kauravas warriors.

Sanjaya tells Dhritarashtra that Krishna is now displaying to Arjuna all of the splendor, wonder, and dread of His Almighty-head.

“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…”

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.

 Try to imagine that all of creation is less than even a speck when compared to the Subtle World with all its powers and experiences, heaven and hell, angels and gods, and all divine beings; and that the Subtle World is less than even a speck when compared to the  Mental World, the abode of Archangels and real Saints—the world of Mind itself.

 Try to imagine all these three worlds 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 two armies of the Pandavas and the Kauravas poised and ready for war.

Arjuna exclaims; “You fashion men and then devour them all, one with another, great and small alike! The creatures who you fashion you then take within your flaming jaws—lapping them up!

 “Lord God! Your 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 it is that You appear so? Tell me, who You are who feasts upon the dead!?”

 Seeing within Krishna Universal Form the aspect of Shiva—The Destroyer—reignites Arjuna’s ambivalence regarding the war and his role in it. Krishna responds thusly;

“Arise Arjuna! Destroy your foes! (It is) by me they fall—not you! The stroke of death is dealt them now, even as they show thus gallantly. Arjuna, you are My instrument and it is I who bid them perish! You will only be the slayer of 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 the familiarity of a Divine Presence, to forget that He is not like we; or as Meher Baba reminded us on more than one occasion, “I come down and laugh and play with you—but never forget, I am God!”

Arjuna says, “For you are All! And if in anger now, You should remember I did think You my friend, speaking with easy speech, as men use each to each, and did call You ‘Prince,’ yet never comprehending Your hidden majesty, Your might, and Your majesty; and 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, did do You the most Holy, wrong, then forgive me for that witless sin!”

 Arjuna then asks Krishna to show him once again His personal form—His human form:

 “Now I know that you are Father of all below, of all above, and of all worlds within, as so with all reverence I ask Your grace, as father to a son, as friend to friend, as one who loves to his lover, turn your face in gentleness and mercy upon me on and show me once more Your visage that I know and let me once again behold the form I loved most of all, my Charioteer, in Krishna’s kind disguise.”

To his request Krishna replies, “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!”

“Then 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.”—Sanjaya

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.

“Yes, it was wonderful and terrible to view Me as you did, dear Prince—to see me as the gods see me! Yet not by study of the sacred texts, nor from sacrifice, nor penance, nor gift-giving, nor with prayer shall any so behold Me as you have seen Me!

 “Only by fullest service, perfect faith, and uttermost surrender am I known and seen and entered into, Indian Prince! Who does their all for Me: who finds Me in all, adores Me always—and  loves all that I have made, and loves Me as an end in itself, that person  Arjuna, comes to Me!”  

 There are numerous 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.

 Krishna then goes on to make a distinction between worship of the personal and the impersonal states of God, “Whoever serve Me as I show Myself, constantly true, in full devotion fixed, those hold I very holy. But those who serve and worship Me as The One, Invisible, 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 path (of service and devotion to the Impersonal State of God) is most difficult to tread. It is an invisible path that can scarce be trod by man.

 “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 and all the Perfect Masters are always, as I have learned, pragmatists. These Perfect Ones never stand on ceremony, are always adaptable to every situation, and are always here for us only. The Avatar never gives up on us, never gives up on anyone or anything.  

“But if your thought droops from such height; if you find that you are unable to remember me constantly in your body and soul, do not despair!

 “Instead give me service! Seek to reach Me by worshiping Me with steadfast will.

 “But if you cannot do that, them do your work for Me, toil in works pleasing to me! For he who labors right for Love of Me shall in the end attain!

 “And if even in this your heart fails, then bring Me your failure! Find refuge in Me! Let go of failure or success — the fruits of labor— renouncing even hope itself for Me, then come with humble heart, for, though knowledge is greater than diligence, yet worship is better than knowing, and renouncing better still, for near to renouncing — very near — dwells Eternal Peace.”

I find it 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?

 “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, 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 turns to Arjuna and once again counsels him to fight. This war was inevitable and even the Avatar could not stop it. The forces of destiny had been fixed; there was no way out.

 Could not God Himself stop a war? 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.”

 Stopping the war would destroy the game—His game. And what is His game? It is 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 act; how he should hold himself.

 “Do all you do for Me! Renounce for Me! Sacrifice heart and will and mind for Me! In faith of Me all dangers you will vanquish by My grace. But, if instead you trust to yourself, forgetting Me, then you will perish!

 And then Krishna reveals to Arjuna that, in fact, Arjuna has no power to stop the war either—that Arjuna has no power to not fight. Thinking that he does, is just another delusion.

 “If this day, relying on yourself, you say, ‘I will not fight!’ vain will your resolution prove, for the qualities of your 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 who dance to My tune. Trust Me, your Master, and come to Me for your nourishment and your relief. Oh prince of men, only then, by My grace, will you 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.

“Arjuna, you are precious to Me! Hear My last words; I tell this to you for your comfort. Give Me your heart! Adore Me! Serve Me! Cling to Me in faith and love and reverence; and I promise that you shall come to Me! For you are sweet to Me.

 “So let go of those archaic rites and writs of duty! Fly to Me alone! Make Me your refuge, and I will free your soul of all of its sins. Be of good cheer!”

 As Meher Baba said, “Don’t worry, be happy!”

In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna is saying 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—the Ancient One—the Godman.

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 story of the Avatar—the Ancient One—the Godman. 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 begin to ask you who you are? “Well, I’m named Michael; I’m a musician, and 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 and what God in human form means?

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.

“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.”—God Speaks, page 159

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:

“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 is set in a period of time roughly five-thousand years ago and was communicated for thousands of years through the long tradition of oral transmission. This great epic was only later written down in Sanskrit—approximately 1700 years ago— and English translations began to emerge a mere hundred years ago or less.

 The question arises; are the words uttered by God immune to the ravages of time? Or in the words of the legendary Sufi Saint Mullah Nasredin, is what we have here, “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. “I am 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.

Over the next several days, friends of the friends of the friends come to his door asking for soup and the Mullah continues to add more and more water to the soup.

 “This isn’t soup!” states the seventh guest, “this 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 told Arjuna?

“You see Me as Time who kills, Time who brings all doom; the Slayer Time come hither to consume.”

So apparently, even the acts of eternal God are not exempt from the effects of time once He has released them into the world. 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 and had to endure the choking dust, the stench of rotting corpses, unable to even see where He was going. It was the warrior sitting above the driver who directed the driver 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.”

 And He does it again and again, sacrifices again and again for all time and All Times by taking a human birth and living among us to help each of us in our journeyless journey to God.

 Why does He do this? Is that not another way?

 There was once a king who asked his spiritual advisor why God comes again and again. The advisor parried the king’s question by saying that it was such a beautiful day, why not first have a special holiday on the king's royal barge.

 And so, the king gathered a huge retinue of soldiers and family, and they departed on the barge. Far from shore, the waters became very turbulent, and the mighty barge began to rock and sway. In the middle of this tumult the advisor picked up the king’s youngest son and through him overboard.

 The king immediately jumped into the water to save his son.

 As soon as they were safely onboard the waters became calm again and the king turned angrily to his advisor. What was the meaning of his cruel act? The advisor calmly replied, “You asked me why God has to come again and again. You could have ordered your soldiers to save your son, but you jumped into the waters first—because of love.”

                                                                                                                              ©copyright, Michael Kovitz,7.27.2010 

 

 

                                                                                                                                      

 

 

 

Meher Baba's Divine Theme

 The Divine Theme of Meher Baba is less than ten pages long and includes two charts by the same name. It appears in the supplement of God Speaks – The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose after the essay titled Meditation in which Meher Baba states;

“1. In the first stage the aspirant will read through the Divine Theme daily, studying the charts also, and thinking about it thoroughly as he does so.

2. In the second stage when the aspirant has the entire subject at his fingertips, actual reading becomes unnecessary, but the subject matter of the exposition will be mentally reviewed with the help of the charts when necessary.

3. In the third stage, which will develop naturally out of the second, it will be quite unnecessary  for the mind to review the words or the thoughts in the exposition separately and consecutively or even to refer to the facts, and all discursive thinking about the subject matter will come to an end. At this stage of meditation the mind will no longer be occupied with any trains of thought, but will have a clear understanding of the sublime truths expressed in the exposition.” – God Speaks, second edition, pages 233

 Several years ago, a friend of mine who was only minimally acquainted with the teachings of Meher Baba asked me some very deep questions to which I responded in a series of emails. My aim was to introduce him to, by way of a summary, Meher Baba’s Divine Theme. Additionally, I strongly encouraged him to also go to the source of the material itself and begin to read God Speaks, Discourses, and Beams from Meher.

Sometime later, wishing to make the material accessible to more people, I transformed those emails into an essay which I then published in this blog, Embedded with the Kali Yuga. From time to time I have tweaked that essay—I think this may be the second revision.  Of course, all the material of this essay comes from Meher Baba and  represents his gnosis—direct experience—of the subject and so I renew my suggestion and so strongly encourage all who are interested to go to the source itself and read all of Baba’s books on the subject.

“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.” – God Speaks, by Meher Baba, Second Edition, the Conclusion, page 202

“To appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind,” how wonderful would that be, to have a convulsion-free mind!

                                                                                  I.

Meher Baba talks about ten states of God. Since nothing exists beyond, or before, or outside of God, the ten states of God include everything. To create a basic overview of these original ten states we can condense them into three states.

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

In the second state, God is beginning to wake up. This is the intermediate dream state between His deep sleep state and His 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.

In the third state, God has awakened and experiences His true eternal, infinite, all knowing, and all-powerful nature. God’s experience of this reality is all knowing, all powerful, unending bliss. In this state, creation and all of its beings and paraphernalia are seen to have been an illusion—merely vacant dreams within the dream of creation.

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 latent whim of the ocean, manifested through each drop, is expressed in the question, “Who am I?” and to answer this question God must awaken from His deep sleep and dreams. The journey of this awakening occurs in God’s dream of creation   through the three sequential processes of evolution, reincarnation, and involution.                                                              

                                                                   

        II. 

    

 In the Original First state of God, (Meher Baba calls this state the Beyond Beyond State), there is neither consciousness nor unconsciousness, though both are latent. 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, but the evolution Meher Baba speaks about is the evolution of consciousness, not the evolution of gross forms within creation that Charles Darwin described.

Consciousness and impressions—sanskaras—are bound together in a tight embrace from the very beginning. Consciousness evolves when it experiences impressions and more impressions are the result of those experiences. It is my opinion that the awareness and understanding of sanskaras is the missing link between Meher Baba’s teachings and science’s attempt to understand the universe.

Press your finger into soft clay and it makes an impression. Similarly, new impression are created upon the mind when, through action, consciousness experiences impressions already existent in the mind. Sanskaras accumulate on the mind like dust on the surface of a mirror and hinders the mirror of consciousness from reflecting the soul’s reality as God.

Both sanskaras and consciousness are the result of gross, subtle, and mental actions instigated by the promptings of the mind. But how did it all begin? Did the first impression precede the first consciousness, or did the first consciousness precede the first impression, or were they simultaneous? And what about that first impression—If new impressions are formed when existent impressions are experienced, where did the first impression come from?

Meher Baba explained that the first impression did not arise as the result of another impression but as the result of a totally free and causeless happening that he called the Lahar, or the Whim, that was latent in the infinite ocean of God—Paramatma—the Oversoul. Why a whim? There is no cause and effect explanation for whim. A whim just happens and nothing more can be said of its why or when or wherefore.

To the question of whether precedence or simultaneity of the first consciousness and the first impression, Meher Baba explained that although for all intents and purposes the first consciousness and the first impression were simultaneous, still, the first impression was the antecedent and the first consciousness was the resultant consequent.

    

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.

Reincarnation is the mechanism through which the hold of the impressions on consciousness is sufficiently loosened so that during the next phase called involution the impressions can be totally removed without harming the consciousness. Gurdjieff often alluded to this when he said that the development of the latent higher qualities in man was not a process of adding anything, but of taking away that which had become unnecessary.

Meher Baba said that reincarnation occurs on other planets that support human life, but that involution only occurs on our planet, the planet Earth, and that the stages of reincarnation and involution always occurs when the soul is associating with the human form through its gross, subtle, and mental bodies. If and when Earth becomes incapable of supporting the processes of evolution, reincarnation, and involution, another planet will be chosen to take its place.

During the process of reincarnation sanskaras are spent. The term is used by Meher Baba to describe an exchange of sanskaras. The purpose of reincarnation is not to decrease the sum total of an individual’s sanskaras as much as it is to loosen their hold on consciousness so that they can be removed later, during the process of involution. It can be likened to the process of loosening the dust on the mirror in order to make it easier to remove. The greatest hold on consciousness is the hold of gross sanskaras. In reincarnation this hold is loosened by gradually exchanging what could be called the grossest of sanskaras for less gross or lighter sanskaras, hence there is effected what Meher Baba describes as a thinning out of gross impressions

                                                                              III.

                                                                                   

    Meher Baba tells us that all of creation is comprised of three spheres of existence named the gross, the subtle, and the mental spheres. What science calls the universe, or the cosmos, with all its planets and stars, matter and anti-matter, black holes, etc. is an incomplete and inaccurate description of the gross sphere only. The subtle and the mental spheres, let alone Reality, are currently way beyond science’s capacity for inquiry since their existence can only be experienced by subtle, mental, or Divine consciousness.

To experience the subtle sphere, a subtle form and subtle consciousness are necessary; to experience the mental sphere, a mental form and mental consciousness are necessary; and to experience Reality, Divine consciousness and a Divine body are necessary. This need of a proper form and consciousness to obtain a certain experience is spoken of in the New Testament parable of the man who was thrown out of the wedding—symbolizing the occasion of a soul’s union with God—because he did not have the appropriate garment to wear.    

The sojourn of the soul from its state of deep dreamless sleep to its fully awake, I am God state, descends without consciousness from the God state through the mental and then the subtle world to the gross world. It is there, in the gross world, that the soul’s conscious journey begins, ultimately to ascend with greater and greater and more perfected consciousness back through the subtle and mental worlds to the conscious God state. An interesting fact that Meher Baba revealed is that a few souls do become conscious while descending through the mental and subtle worlds. Those who become conscious in the mental world become archangels and those who become conscious in the subtle world become angels. Meher Baba further explained that archangels and angels are not, however, God realized and that ultimately to fulfill their destiny each must take birth as a human being in the gross world.

Meher Baba names the first stage of the journey evolution. During evolution, the soul systematically associates with and dissociates from 8,400,000 gross forms— from stone to metal, vegetable, insect, fish, reptile, bird, and animal forms. Through these associations, the soul acquires consciousness. He also makes the point that association tends the soul to identify with that which it is associating. I have often wondered about this subtle distinction and its possibilities. The final evolutionary form is the human form and, being the last, contains within itself all of 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”

                                                           

                                                                        IV.

                                                                         

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

 It generally takes millions of incarnations in the human form, experiencing the endless pendulums of duality such as woman and men, rich and poor, Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Jew, etc. etc. to sufficiently relax duality’s grip through identification on the consciousness of the soul.  During this time, consciousness and identity continue to be centered in gross sanskaras and the soul continues to identify itself with the gross human body 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 the process of involution, does the individualized soul 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 individual soul, while still associating with a gross human form, identifies with and begins to experience itself and the subtle world as pure energy. This experience is not a thought or a belief or a conviction, it is a direct experience and is without doubt.

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

There are seven planes of consciousness beyond gross consciousness. The first three planes comprise 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.  Meher Baba tells us that the seventh plane is the goal and the destiny of all souls and that 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. With regard to the experiences of the first six planes we will go into much more detail later…

                                                                         V.

                         

     Meher Baba once drew a picture of Himself as a 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 One looked back and saw all the other chickens that had followed him out. It was there and then that he took on 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 a few of the more recent Avataric incarnations. He tells us that these historical personages are, in essence, unique garments that informed 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 of the Avatar are discarded and not used again. Therefore, the Avatar as Jesus will not come again, but the Avatar, the Ancient One, continues to come again and again—Meher Baba tells us, every seven hundred to fourteen hundred years.    

     

                                                                          VI.

                                                                                     

    It seems that the human mind takes great interest in the beginnings, middles, and ends of things—perhaps it is because in the Creation that the ordinary human mind dreams and finds itself immersed in—conscious of—all and everything is finite and that which is finite has and end and therefore must have had a beginning and a middle as well. But the Infinite has no beginning and therefore has no end and therefore has no middle. The Infinite exists in the Eternal moment free of past, present, and future; free of beginnings, middles, and ends.

Still, to “appease the intellectual convulsions of the mind,” Meher Baba addresses the question of the beginning of Creation and the process of awakening and reveals that there somehow occurred in the Original Deep Sleep State of God a something that no word or words can adequately describe, but that Meher Baba calls the Lahar. Lahar, as best it can, conveys the sense of whim and whim suggests something beyond cause or effect.  Meher Baba states that the Lahar is the first action 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 in all of Creation’s gross, subtle, and mental spheres.

Experience, guided by cause and effect, impacts consciousness, but consciousness obtained through action is necessarily always tinged by the unique qualities of that action. This tinge, retained as an impression on consciousness, is called a sanskara. Once this impression is formed, and consciousness becomes aware of it, then a need is created to experience that impression, and to experience this new impression an appropriate new action and medium is essential. Therefore, a new medium—a new form—must be created and associated with to experience this new sanskara. Meher Baba tells us that this new form is, in fact, nothing other than the consolidated mold of the impressions gathered in the previous life or form. Ironically, therefore, it can be said that we are always living—experiencing—one lifetime behind the one we are currently living.

The cycle can be summarized thus:

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 a change in consciousness and more sanskaras that need to be experienced.

This cycle characterizes the process of evolution. As stated previously, evolution is complete and its purpose fulfilled upon achievement of the human form. During the process of reincarnation that follows, the cycle continues, but with one important difference; since consciousness is already fully developed, no more consciousness remains to be achieved and consequently the sum total of sanskaras is not further increased.

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. A further result is that, over time, the gross sanskaras also get thinned out sufficiently to enable involution, the next step in the process, to proceed.

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 that provides a most descriptive view of the planes of consciousness. These points were published under the title; The Nothing and The Everything.)

   

The planes of consciousness are not in the gross, physical universe and the pilgrim, experiencing involution on the planes, is not conscious of the gross, physical universe or his 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 expressions of pure energy or, in the case of the mentally conscious pilgrim, as expressions of pure mind.

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 is fully established on the first subtle plane this link is dissolved forever.

Meher Baba tells us that 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 via 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. One must come to the station, i.e. leave the heaven, before they can journey to the next plane.

The pilgrim on the first plane sees gross forms as shadows. These shadows are energy because everything, including himself, is experienced as energy. The pilgrim on the first plane is bursting with inspiration inspired by unimaginable sights and visions, colors and sounds, light that dazzles and enchants him, and the celestial music of angels inhabiting the higher planes of the subtle world. The inspiration he feels affects other 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 years for the pilgrim to progress to the next plane, but with the help of a perfect master the journey can be sped 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 vice versa. He can stop moving cars or trains, prevent airplanes from taking off, or fill dry wells with water.

The section of the second plane called the heaven of the second plane has two sections and these sections are the heaven and hell states that are experienced by the gross conscious soul after death.  Both the heaven and hell states are within the heaven of the second plane.

It must constantly be kept in mind, when thinking about these descriptions of the planes, that 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. Individuals in the state of reincarnation, after death, do not experience the second plane but only the subjective states of heaven and hell, in accordance with their unique sanskaric patterns. Heaven and hell are mechanisms that help individuals to balance out their sanskaras in preparation for their next incarnation.

Once the individual achieves the state of involution, the need to experience the heaven and hell states between incarnations becomes unnecessary.  Pilgrims in the stage of involution, who have consciousness of the second plane, 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. This plane is 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. As mentioned previously, archangels and angels are souls who, in their journey from the deep sleep state, become conscious while descending through the planes.

The fourth plane pilgrim stands between the subtle and the mental world with, so to speak, a foot in both. The subtle world was all about power and the mental world is all about mind. Though very advanced in 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, then that thought is instantly actualized. Instigated by the thought itself, entire worlds can be created or destroyed and the minds of men and angels can be influenced. Obviously, the pilgrim needs help at this stage and the Nazar (watchful gaze) of perfect masters and masters of the fifth plane is on the fourth plane pilgrim. 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.

What does it mean to become thought or to become feeling? Thinking and feeling and being aware of thinking and feeling are not becoming. This is something quite different—unimaginable –yet trying to image, to ponder, contemplate can lead one into a very blissful place! 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 someone/something 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—the third and fully awake state of God.

                                                                                    VIII. 

                                                                                       

With the help of One who has achieved the perfection of the seventh plane, the pilgrim enters the seventh plane of consciousness. He is now fully awake and experiences the infinite power, knowledge and bliss of God. He becomes God eternally. Usually, after achieving this state the pilgrim drops his physical, subtle, and mental bodies within forty-eight to seventy-two hours. This dropping of the body in no way affects the experience of the individualized soul with regard to the experience of his Godhood, but does affect his consciousness of creation. After dropping the body, all consciousness of creation is lost and no further lifetimes are lived. In other words, God conscious souls never reincarnate.

God Realization is always achieved while in a human body. After God Realization, the body can be dropped almost immediately or retained for some time as determined by the destiny of the realized soul. Whether the body is retained for hours, or days, or years, the divine consciousness of all of realized beings is the same, however, the degree of creation consciousness can be different depending upon each realized soul’s duties and responsibilities with regard to the working and execution of the Avatar’s Divine Plan.

There are always fifty –six God Realized beings the planet earth, five of whom are Perfect Masters. These five maintain the most creation consciousness and the most responsibility to creation—especially human beings existing on the planet Earth. Perhaps the most important duty of Perfect Masters is to bring down—to precipitate—the advent of the Avatar in the Avataric periods. The Avataric responsibility is for all of creation and for each and every soul experiencing the dream of creation—from souls associating and identifying with the stone form, from souls associating and identifying with the worm form, from souls associating and identifying with the animal forms, and then human forms experiencing all the three worlds of consciousness—the gross, the subtle, and the mental. What a responsibility is that… can we even imagine?   

I began this essay with the words of Meher Baba. I feel it is appropriate to end with those same words:

“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.”

The words of the Avatar are something quite different than our words. When the Avatar says something the words themselves have the power to manifest their meaning—just reading them will accomplish more than hundreds of lifetimes spent meditating, doing penances, or any manner of good works. May He be pleased with this, my humble, summary of Meher Baba’s Divine Theme.

                                                                                                © copyright Michael Kovitz 2003, revised 2017