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Brief write up on Avatar Meher Baba by Professor J.S.Rathore
WHO IS MEHER BABA?
The question 'Who is Meher Baba?' is not a simple question as it seeks
an answer that transcends his human personality and brings us face to
face with his Divinity as the Avatar of the Age. Counters Nadine
Tolstoy, daughter-in-law of the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, had
asked the same question and answered: "In all of life, in beauty and
humor, in ugliness and misery, in richness or poverty, He is the One in
each heart - joy or sorrow. One moment he works and plays with joy,
another moment He works and plays with pain, always turning the game
into glimpses of spirituality and greater detachment." This was said in
the year 1959. Meher Baba was then alive and the dazzling beauty of his
physical form, the amazing power of His Divine presence and the soul and
heart stirring touch of his Divine love were freely available for all.
He had kindled the fire of his Divine love in the East and the West, and
the whole world was aflame.
Meher Baba says, " I have come not to teach but to awaken." Princess
Norina Matchabelli, a famous actress of the 1930's, says about Meher
Baba: " By the Divine love that flows continuously through Him, He
translates the consciousness of the individuals who come to him for
liberation, that they may know through experience what the philosophers
of all times have tried through theory to teach. Only the Ancient One,
who is the veritable incarnation of Love Divine, can awaken in the
individual the fire of love that consumes in its flames the lesser
desires of the mind, body and world, all of which must be relinquished
before we can attain perfection."
Born to Persian parents in 1894 in Pune, India, Meher Baba dropped his
human body on 31st of January 1969 in Ahmednagar, India. He reached
collegiate level in formal education. During 1913 to 1921, Merwan or
Meher Baba came under the mystic influence of the five Sadgurus or
Perfect Masters of his time. They were, Hazrat Babajan of Pune, Narayan
Maharaj of Kedgaon, Tajuddin Baba of Nagpur, Sai Baba of Shirdi and
Upasni Maharaj of Sakori. Qutub-e-Irshad or Master of the Perfect
Masters, Sai Baba hailed Merwan as 'Parvardigar' which means God
Almighty - Sustainer. One night in 1921, Upasni Maharaj folded his hands
and said, "Merwanji, you are adi-shakti (meaning Primal Power): You are
Avatar (meaning God in human form)."
All this is history now and viewed from the present point in time - the
21st century - appears remote and foggy. But the quest of ultimate
reality still takes possession of hundreds and thousands of mankind in
spite of all the glitter and temptations of the modern materialistic
world. What is the purpose of man's life on earth? Why is he here and
where does he go when he dies? Do his ideas of right and wrong emanate
from reality? Or are all morality and ethics self-imposed for the smooth
running of the social system and vary with place and time? What is the
way out from this prison of desire that chases a mirage? Are we merely
biological entities controlled by biomolecules and processes? Who are we
really? Questions that haunt and torment us are never ending. We do have
religions around - Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and religious
leaders. But we live in a different world facing problems that religious
leaders never envisaged and comprehend.
Tom and Dorothy Hopkinson, biographers of Meher Baba, state emphatically
and with great personal conviction: "Lasting truths, if we are to
recognize and accept them, have to appear in contemporary dress,
restated fresh for every age, in terms of man's current knowledge and
the problems of his situation and environment."
The writers of this book believe that such a restatement of lasting
truth in reference to the contemporary world has been made in our own
day by Meher Baba, who was born in 1894 and whose earthly life ended in
1969. This belief is the result, first, of having met Baba and the
lasting effect of that experience; and second, of the study of his life
and writings. Baba refused to found any religion, saying we have been
given all the religions we require, and for the last 44 years of his
life he never spoke, since what man needs, he pointed out, are not more
words but to pay attention to those which have already been spoken. He
came, He said, not to teach but to awaken." Hopkins' 'Much Silence.
Meher Baba His Life and Work' made its appearance in 1974, five years
after Baba dropped his body. Earlier C.B. Purdom had covered Meher
Baba's life in the form of two biographies - 'The Perfect Master'
(London: Williams and Norgate. 1937)' and `The God-Man. The Life,
Journeys and Work of Meher Baba' with an Interpretation of his Silence
and Spiritual Teaching (Crescent Beach, S.C., Sheriar Press. 1964).
Purdom opens the narration quite provocatively: " This will be found a
strange book, all the more strange because the story that it tells has
not reached its end. It is the story of a man whose life will appear
incomprehensible, a life in which the contradiction of normal values and
actions are prominent; for this man says, 'I am God.' He chooses neither
to speak nor write, nor does he seek even to get followers in the
ordinary sense of the word. The story will arouse controversy, and I
have no doubt that it will be misunderstood. I have written, however,
soberly and plainly though many will think that what I tell outrages
common sense." Purdom's two biographies of Meher Baba are treated as
biographical classics all over his world, but all his fears and
apprehensions confounded and wrong. On 12th of September 1954 at Wadia
Park in Ahmednagar in a congregation of some 10,000 people, Meher Baba
had declared:
"Age after age, amidst the clamour of disruptions, wars, fears and
chaos, rings the Avatar's call: Come all unto me.
Although, because of the veil of illusion, this call of the Ancient One
may appear as a voice in the wilderness, its echo and re-echo
nevertheless pervades through time and space, to rouse at first a few,
and eventually millions, from their deep slumber of ignorance. And in
the midst of illusion, as the voice behind all voices, it awakens
humanity to bear witness to the manifestation of God amidst mankind.
The time is come, I repeat the call and bid all to come unto me…
Irrespective of doubts and convictions, and for Infinite Love, I bear
for one and all, I continue to come as the Avatar, to be judged time and
again by humanity in its ignorance, in order to help man distinguish the
Real form the false…"
Millions have heard this call of the Avatar of the Age and have
surrendered themselves at his feet. They are called not his disciples or
followers but his lovers. Meher Baba is their Divine Eternal Beloved.
The Divine Awakener is much more active now and his Divine Grace is
drowning the world. Meher Baba says: " Let these words be inscribed in
your heart: Nothing is real but God. Noting matters but love for God."
"Divine Love is the highest aspect of all-pervading love. One who gets
this love gets God. Divine Love is beyond reason and intellect. Nobody
can create this highest aspect of love in himself. Divine Love is given
not created. It is Grace from the God-Man."
"Divine Love causes its captive to forget his own individual existence
by making him feel less and less bound by the trammels of human
limitations on his onward march, till he reaches a point where he can
raise himself to the realization of the Highest in himself."
Meher Baba stopped speaking from 10 July 1925 and did not speak till he
dropped his body. Avatar had abandoned the spoken word. During the
period 1925-1926 Meher Baba wrote a book that reveals the spiritual
secrets and explains the nature of Infinite Intelligence. From January
1927 He stopped writing and later except signing his name he did not
write at all. The written word was also abandoned and Meher Baba started
communicating through an alphabet board. On 7 October 1954 even the
alphabet board was abandoned and Meher Baba started communicating
through hand gestures. The Age of Intellect was giving way to the Age of
Intuition. Meher Baba says, "Things that are real are given and received
in silence." He reveals, "External silence helps the inner silence and
only internal silence is Baba found; in profound internal silence. I am
never silent, I speak eternally. The voice that is heard deep within the
soul is my voice."
Avatar Meher Baba has released a mighty new wave of spirituality in
which direct inner exclusive communion with the Avatar is made possible.
No longer a mediator - a guru or a book - is necessary. New Humanity is
rising and Meher Baba declares:
"…The New Humanity will be freed from a life of limitations, allowing
unhampered scope for the creative life of spirit; and it will break the
attachment to external forms and learn to subordinate them to the claims
of spirit. The limited life of illusions and false values will then be
replaced by unlimited life in truth; and the limitations, through which
the separate self lives, will wither away at the touch of true
understanding."
Written by: Professor J.S. Rathore, Meherabad (Author of Shore to
Shoreless, A Voyage Across the Ocean of Existence with Meher Baba)
Links to some informative websites on Meher Baba.
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