Sex, Love, and Lust: Some Quotes

As love, latent in the universe, goes through the early, almost unconscious stages of the various kingdoms, it gradually makes its

appearance as lust in the animal kingdom. Its appearance in human

consciousness is initially also in the form of lust. Lust is the most limited form of love in human consciousness. In spite of the clear reference lust has to other persons, it is indistinguishable from undiluted selfishness, because all the objects lust clings to are desired for the sake of and from the viewpoint of the limited and separate self. At the same time, it is a form of love because it has in it some kind of appreciation for others, though this appreciation is

completely vitiated by thick ignorance about the true Self.

— Meher Baba, “God as Infinite Love,” Discourses (7^th ed.), pp. 399-400

When human consciousness is completely caught up in the duality of the gross sphere of existence, love cannot express itself as anything other than lust of some type. One may like curry because it tickles one’s palate. There are no higher considerations, so it is a form of lust. It is only a craving for the sensations of taste. Mind also has cravings for the bodily sensations of sight, smell, sound, and touch; and it nourishes its crude ego-life through the excitement derived from these sensations. Lust of every type is an entanglement with gross forms, independent of the spirit behind them. It is an expression of mere attachment to sensual objects.

— Meher Baba, “God as Infinite Love,” Discourses (7^th ed.), p. 400

If you love the whole world you vicariously live in the whole world, but in lust there is an ebbing down of life and a general sense of hopeless dependence upon a form which is regarded as another. Thus, in lust there is the accentuation of separateness and suffering, but in love there is the feeling of unity and joy. Lust is dissipation, love is recreation. Lust is a craving of the senses, love is the expression of the spirit. Lust seeks fulfillment but love experiences fulfillment. In lust there is excitement, but in love there is tranquility.

—Meher Baba, Discourses (6^th ed.), vol. 1, p. 160

One day the subject of the conversation drifted to lust. Baba said. “Lust means a craze. Some have the lust for power, some, lust of the senses, etc. The whole creation came out of lust. The first whim was lustful. God had intercourse with Himself through the Om Point, and the creation was the result of this act.” He then asked me whether a mother’s love for her child is really love or lust I said, “Love.” Baba then explained, “No, even a mother’s love for her child is lust. Because in love there can never be satisfaction; there is a continual longing and agony till union occurs. In lust there is satisfaction for some time and then again dissatisfaction. The mother is satisfied as soon as the child is quiet and sleeping and she gets busy with her other work. This satisfaction and non-satisfaction of the mother with regard to her child is a sign of lust.”  

—“Incidents at Poona—1960” by Dr. H. Bharucha, The Awakener Magazine, vol. 22, no. 1 (1986): 40, 66

At one point, while explaining about the purpose of the human form, Baba made this revealing remark about the nature of sex: “The original human form was never formed to beget children. This tendency among people to cohabit is nothing but animal instinct inherited from all the previous lives of evolution from the stone to the human form.”

—Lord Meher

Nowadays even lust is taken as love, a subtle difference. There is a very subtle difference between love and lust, but quite clear. They are two different things. You love rice and curry. This is lust. You love a cigar — lust again. You love curry and eat it, but do not give anything by the act. You finish the Beloved.

        —Meher Baba, talk at Manzil Bungalow, Nasik, February 9, 1937, The Awakener Magazine, vol. 16, no. 2 (1976): 41

Baba described to us the different types of love, how even greed and lust are forms of love. But there is irony inherent in these lower forms of love, for when we chase after or try to possess something we are in fact possessed by it, and bound by a feeling of separateness from it. But in real love, Divine Love, when we offer ourselves unconditionally to our Beloved, we find that in the very act of giving we have included the Beloved in ourselves, and in Him we gain everything.

—Meherjee Karkaria, “How to Love Baba,” The Awakener Magazine, vol. 19, no. 2 (1981): 6

When your love for me drives away your lust for the things of the senses, then you realize Me.

— Meher Baba, “Twelve Ways of Realizing Me”

“Baba has said that the stronger love pulls you away from the lesser love. That does not mean that the lesser love has diminished. In the end, if you stick it out, Baba gives you something much greater than you ever imagined. But first you have to go through the karmic action that you yourself started.

. . . Baba had freed me to a great extent from the bondage of sex, not that He has eliminated sex attraction, but more that He has delivered me from slavery to it.”

        —Bili Eaton, A Love So Amazing 

The Opposites

       Evolutionary illusion or illusory evolution has to proceed through apparently incompatible opposites such as pleasure and pain, vice and virtue, success and failure. Of the many pairs of opposites, the pair which needs especial mention and consideration is that of man and woman. Male and female human forms are rightly described as opposite sexes. Progressive realization of the adequate forms, the continuation of the species, and the onward march of the incarnated lifestream are dependent upon the opposition and interplay of the sexes, particularly at the higher phases of biological evolution. This is equally true of psychological and spiritual evolution as long as it is held up in the domain of illusion. The opposition of sexes and the alternative attempts to overcome or reconcile this opposition are admittedly a source of inspiration, sublimation and exasperation, which haunt the interplay of sex opposites at the psychic level until they are withstood or understood fully and adequately.

One special feature of the sex opposites is that while remaining in counterbalancing opposition to each other, they are more patently and firmly tethered to each other than many other opposites. A man who is conscious of himself as a male is at the same time conscious of woman as a female; and the tension of the felt duality is on him a constant burden, which he often invisibly passes on to a member of the opposite sex. The same is true of a woman who is particularly conscious of herself as a female. The opposites create and sustain a burdensome illusion which is transferred to each other. And if this illusion is shared by both, it goes on increasing in geometrical proportion instead of being mitigated in any way. On the other hand, the disburdening of the illusory and oppositional duality of sex is also a self-communicative understanding. Then love is gradually freed from the tinge of differentiative sex consciousness, and understanding is lifted out of the obsessiveness of one of the most oppressive forms of duality.

—Meher Baba, Beams, pp. 62-64

Overcoming Duality

       Sex is a manifestation of the ignorant attempt the conscious mind makes to compensate for the fragmentation entailed in identification with the sex of the body. This attempt to compensate for fragmentation is doomed to be futile, however, because it is not only based upon identification with the body but actually accentuates it by setting into opposition the body of the opposite sex and getting entangled with it through attachment and possessiveness.

When the soul is trying to overcome sexual duality through detachment from the opposite sex, it is paving a way for understanding the experience associated with the opposite sex from within. Then a man tries to understand a woman, not through the eyes of the male, but through the imaginative reaching out toward what the woman feels herself to be, in her own personal experience. In the same way, a woman then tries to understand a man, not through the eyes of the female, but through the imaginative reaching out toward what a man feels himself to be, in his own personal experience. So, paradoxical though it may seem, the form of the opposite sex prevents the true understanding of experience associated with the opposite sex. Detachment from the form of the opposite sex facilitates true understanding of the experience associated with the opposite sex because it removes the barrier created by sex-obsessed imagination.

—Meher Baba, “Reincarnation and Karma: V,” Discourses (7^th ed.) p. 325

Meher Baba’s Instructions to his men Mandali (disciples)

October 1929, Isfahan, Persia

        Lust is not bad. Because of this lust, you have been born as human beings. It is due to this very lust that you will turn from men into God. But even if lust is there in you, don't put it into action. From the spiritual point of view, lust is the worst possible weakness. The real hero is he who successfully fights it.

Fornicating with a woman who isn't your wife is one of the worst possible sins. What had to happen has happened; but from now on, beware of carnality. Follow my orders and stay away from lust. What lasting pleasure can one derive from such stinking parts? It can destroy your spirit and character, as well as infect the body.

I know each and every thing, but knowing everything, I keep on watching. Perhaps you might think, 'Why doesn't Baba save us from committing sins, despite knowing everything?' Before you do any wrong action, I already know that you are going to do it. Then why do I not prevent you? It is my secret.

The secret of my work is, though I know everything, I do not interfere. The fact is, you should have this lust, but you should do your utmost not to fall prey to it. You should put up a fierce fight, and though defeated a thousand times, you should again be ready to continue to fight the lust.

Were I to wish it, I could destroy the lust in you in no time. But what would be the use of destroying it? Inevitably I will destroy it. In the meantime, continue on with the battle inside yourselves. This is the law. It is necessary. Then joy will come in defeating lust. Without a struggle, there is no pleasure in fighting. The real pleasure lies in success after so many defeats. Wars won without obstacles, without sacrifices and untiring effort afford no pleasure. This should be a life and death fight. Lust is there to be fought. It is a lifelong struggle. It will be a conflict in you till the end of your days. It should be there to fight you, and you should always be alert and ready for battle, to kill.

He who has love for and faith in me will try doubly hard to obey me. If you touch any woman, tell me immediately; this is one remedy. Another is to think that in your last birth you were a woman and had connections with a man; now you are a man and you want connections with a woman. You have had enough satisfaction in previous births. What is to be had by more lust?

Foremost you should try to get rid of lust, as all other vices are on account of it. For instance, if a parrot's throat is cut, it dies. But if its wings are clipped, it does not die; after some time the feathers of the wings grow back. Lust can be compared to the parrot's head. Therefore when lust is still present and we conquer other evils, such as anger, the evils again revive - everything rises out of the head. But if lust is killed once and for all, every other evil is also destroyed. You have to cut off its head.

Yet in truth, lust is necessary for evolution. It starts developing in the vegetable forms. With the increase in lust, there is advancement in evolution, since lust means energy. And with the increase in energy, consciousness expands.

But these are points on this path which you will never understand. There are thousands of points thinner than hair. Remember, it is no easy thing to eradicate sanskaras gathered during birth after birth, and lust is the hardest of all sanskaras. But be heroes and fight lust; you will defeat it. The real pleasure is to fight it and not succumb to it. Knowing this, I let it remain, but I will destroy it in you when the right time comes. Until then, go on fighting, and never give up.

—Meher Baba, in Lord Meher 4: 1232-33

LOVE UNADULTERATED

Love as it is generally known and commonly understood is but an attachment with selfish thoughts and motives involved.

Pure, real unadulterated Love has in it not even a tinge of lust. Lust for sex, lust for power, lust for name, lust for fame, lust for self-comforts defile the purity of Love.

Pure, real Love has also its stages, the highest being the gift of God to love Him.

When one truly loves God, one longs for union with Him, and this supreme longing is based on the desire of giving up one's whole being to the Beloved.

When one loves a Perfect Master, one longs to serve Him, to surrender to His Will, to obey Him wholeheartedly.

Thus pure, real Love longs to give and does not ask for anything in return.

Even when one truly loves humanity, one longs to give one's all for its happiness. When one truly loves one's country, there is the longing to sacrifice ones very life, without seeking reward and without the least thought of having loved and served. When one truly loves one's friends, there is the longing to help them without making them feel under the least obligation. When truly loving one's enemies, one longs to make them friends. True love for one's parents or family makes one long to give them every comfort at the cost of one's own.

Thought of self is always absent in the different longings connected with the various stages of pure, real love; a single thought of self would be love adulterated.

—“The Twelve Birthday Messages of Meher Baba” (given out during his mass darshan tour of February 1954), The Awakener Magazine, vol. 1, no. 4 (1954): 4

Meher Baba and the Sikhs

Guru Nanak said once: “The Beloved rarely gives a lover the cup of Divine Love to drink. If He ever gives it, instantaneously the drop will become the Ocean.”

[Quoted inThe Awakener Magazine, vol. 11, no 3, p. 9]

Whosoever calls out the Lord’s name has just traversed an ocean of fear.

—Guru Nanak

Guru Nanak (1469-1538 C.E.) was the first Guru of the Sikhs and is regarded as the founder of Sikhism. Meher Baba referred to him as a God-realized Perfect Master.

On March 23, 1953, Baba gave darshan to the general public at Dehra Dun. Discourses were spontaneously dictated by Baba at that time, and taken down by Kishan Singh [see below], a devotee of Baba at whose house the darshan took place.

A number of Sikhs were among those who came and in Baba's presence were filled with love. Baba turned to one of them and asked him to repeat the favorite hymn of Guru Nanak, the Sikh Master. When the man had done so, Baba advised them to follow the meaning and spiritual significance of that hymn with understanding and love. He then added, "If, when we grow up we become like children, childlike, not childish, then we can love God; because to love God we have to be desireless, except with the one desire, the one longing, to be united with God. So when we grow up and become childlike, not childish, we can then honestly love God. We find God everywhere. Nothing can shake, alter or stop that perpetual happiness, but we must first be honest seekers of Truth.

Meher Baba said: "Great Masters have taught us to think and act in all humility. Nanakji [Guru Nanak],who was God Personified, acted as Nanak Das" [Das = servant]

 [The Awakener Magazine, vol. 1, no 2, p. 9]

Baba's favorite lines of Guru Nanak were a prayer of Nanak, "Tum thakur tumpe ardas."

[Bal Natu, Glimpses of the God-Man, Meher Baba, vol. 3, p. 141]

This prayer is found in the Sukhmani Sahib on page 268 of the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh Scriptures).

Tu Thaakur Tum Peh Ardas

You are our Master; to You, I offer this humble prayer.

Jeeo Pind Sabh Tayree Raas

This body and soul are all Your Belonging.

Thum Maath Pithaa Ham Baarik Thaerae

You are our mother and father; and we are your children.

Tumaree Kirpaa Meh Sukh Ghanayrey

In Your Grace, we experience ultimate Peace!

Koe N Jaanay Tumraa Unt

No one knows Your infinite vastness.

Oochay Tey Oochaa Bhagavant

O Highest of the High, Most Generous God,

Sagal Samagree Tumaray Soothr Dhaaree

The whole creation is strung on Your thread.

Tum Tey Hoe So Aageyakaaree

That which has come from You is in Your will.

Tumaree Gath Mith Tum Hee Jaanee

You alone know Your Existence and Vastness.

Nanak Daas Sadhaa Kurbaanee

Nanak, Your slave, is forever surrendering to you.

Meher Baba Visits a Sikh Shrine

On November 19 [1951], Baba was at Nanded (Nander). He paid a special visit to the shrine of Guru Gobind Singh who was the tenth Guru of the Sikhs. His great contribution lay in giving his followers the book, Guru Granthsaheb (Guide to God). . . . To counteract the aggression and harassment by the Moghul rulers, he raised a strong army. But eventually he had to flee to the Deccan Plateau. During his camping at Nanded he was fatally wounded and consequently lay aside his mortal coil. The lineage of gurus which commenced with Guru Nanak, the Perfect Master and founder of Sikhism, ended with Guru Gobind Singh. At Nanded a big shrine Gurudwara has been built in honor of Gobind Singh and the city has become an important place of pilgrimage for the Sikhs. Baba visited the Gurudwara to recharge the spiritual atmosphere. He also contacted about eight masts of high and low grades in the city.

[Bal Natu, Glimpses of the God-Man, Meher Baba, vol. 2, pp. 378-79]

Meher Baba’s Five Favorite Sikhs

The photo above shows Meher Baba with of five “favorite Sikhs” during the Hindi Sahavas in Meherabad, November 1955: Reo Virinder [Vir Inder] Singh, Paritamsingh Sahani [or Pritam Singh Sahni], Dr. Daulat Singh (seated), Professor Niranjan Singh, and Joginder Singh. For more information, see Panj Pyare: The Five Favourite Sikh Lovers of Meher Baba by D. V. Balakrishna Meher (Pune: K. K. Ramakrishnan, Avatar Meher Baba Poona Centre, 2000), which contains brief biographies of Pritam, Virinder, Niranjan, Joginder, and Daulat Singh, and which has a cover painting by Charlie Mills.

Virinder Singh

Selecting Virinder Singh of Dehra Dun [a retired police officer], Baba remarked, “See how I have caught certain Sikhs! How pleased I am with you! Guru Nanak is dear to me. The same Nanak is in the world today [i.e., Meher Baba].” [LM 13:4781]

Pritam Singh Sahni . . . was a successful businessman running a thriving trade in Thailand. Once on Buddha’s birthday, the local Buddhist people paid him much respect and greatly honored him. Pritam Singh questioned them, “Why are you felicitating me on this day?” And they replied, “You come from the land where our Lord Buddha was born.” [LM 8: 2830]

An “intellectual giant” . . . named Sardar Niranjan Singh, called “Niranjan,” . . . was the principal of Camp College at Punjab University, and was present at several places where Baba gave darshan. One day his wife, who was a staunch, orthodox believer in Guru Nanak and had no faith in any other divine being, stopped him from going. Yet in Meher Baba, Niranjan had literally seen his Guru Nanak. He was dizzy and could not believe his eyes when this phenomenon occurred. At times he would see Baba as Nanak, and at times as Baba himself. This sight created faith in him, and he wished his wife could have the same experience. That night, his wish came true when his wife dreamed of Meher Baba and became eager for his darshan. From then on she often went to Baba’s darshans, and gradually even surpassed her husband in love for Baba.

Niranjan invited Baba to his college to give darshan to the students. This was not in the original scheduled programs, but at the last moment it was hastily arranged. Although Baba had no time according to the schedule, he accepted the invitation and crowded it into his schedule. It proved to be the best function of all. On December 2nd, Baba went to the college at 7:30 P.M. Including the college personnel and students, there were almost three thousand people present. A grand reception was accorded him on his arrival by Niranjan Singh, Professor Jagindar Singh and others. Baba was led to the meeting hall, which was overflowing; hundreds had to stand outside, which created a commotion.

With Baba’s permission, the principal stood up to say a few words. On his rising, a hush came over the audience. Niranjan Singh said:

You know me as the principal. I also teach philosophy. You take me as an expert in the subject. Yet, like you, I too am still a student. Despite all, I know very little about spirituality. When I read Meher Baba’s discourses, which were lent to me by a friend, I began having full faith in him. The more I read the more I was drawn to him, whom I had never seen. When I met him personally and heard some of his explanations, I could not help but feel that I had found a Guru.

But I was in a fix. You know my wife and her dogmatic religious beliefs. It has never been possible for the two of us to live with any differences between us. I told her to see Meher Baba only once. I have met him three times, and she has, after that, seen him six times. Now I ask her to garland Meher Baba in the presence of all.

There was loud cheering in the hall as Mrs. Niranjan Singh garlanded Baba. All were delightfully surprised at this unexpected transformation in her. She would not even look at other religious scriptures. To accept Meher Baba as her Master was extraordinary indeed. Baba is beyond all religions, and Niranjan Singh and his wife acknowledged this. Professor Jagindar Singh and his wife also came close to Baba in their devotion.

[Bhau Kalchuri, Lord Meher, 11: 4000-1]

Joginder Singh loved Meher Baba as Guru Nanak, saying, "I feel as if I am in the bosom of my mother. I see no difference between Baba and Nanak." He first learned of Baba through Principal Niranjan Singh. After doing postgraduate work in chemistry at Punjab University in Lahore, he worked for Burma Shell Oil Company and later taught at Akal College, Mastana, Allahabad. He then became head of the chemistry department at Mohinder College, Patiala. Upon learning of Joginder's excellent teaching skills and reputation, Professor Niranjan Singh asked him to teach chemistry to the honors students of Khalsa College in Amritsar, which he did in 1930. In 1948, he joined Sikh National College in Kadian. Joginder learned of Meher Baba's visit to Delhi from Niranjan, and so attended the, Darshan at Camp College, Delhi, on December 2, 1952. Baba called Joginder along with his wife, daughter, and two sons to Meherabad on November 13, 1958. Joginder later reported, "Early in the morning, I met my Beloved and kissed Him. I kissed His lotus feet, hands and lips."

It was in a dream that Daulat Singh first beheld Beloved Meher Baba’s face, aglow with matchless radiance and an inviting smile. But he neither knew Baba’s name nor His whereabouts. “Is He the Awakener of this age? Is He Nanak come again?” he thought of

the face he had seen. Ever since this significant dream his eyes always longed to see the face of that Enlightened One, in flesh and blood. This was what he genuinely wished but hardly dared hope for. This vision seemed very significant to him (it was a sign from the sphere of ever shining light, he knew) but not knowing what to do about it he became very restless. In those days he was living in Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. He was practicing there as a doctor and was well placed in life.

In the early 1940s one of Baba’s devotees visited Kashmir to spread His name and message. He carried pictures of Meher Baba with him. Once he displayed a few of these in one of the small shops on the main road in Srinagar. By a stroke of luck, Daulat Singh happened to pass by and at once recognized the face as that of the One he had seen in his dream and for whom he was desperately searching and pining. He embraced that devotee with great fervor as tears of joy trickled down his cheeks. That day he first heard the Holy Name of this Age — Meher Baba. A wonderful lover had thus been drawn to the wonderful Beloved, in a wondrous way.

[Bal Natu, Glimpses of the God-Man, Meher Baba, vol. 2, pp. 117-18]

Daulat Singh, an Amazing Example of Discipleship during the New Life, May 1950

In 1949, Baba had sent Dr. Daulat Singh home to Bangalore from Belgaum with certain instructions. Accordingly, he was to live only on food obtained by begging for a fixed period. Daulat Singh was from a very respectable family, and his relatives were disgusted with the idea of someone like himself, an educated doctor, begging. Society ridiculed him and looked with disapproval at his peculiar behavior. But Daulat Singh was uniquely obedient, the type of man who would give up his life to keep his word. Finally, circumstances being so intolerable, he left his home in Bangalore to wander and beg for his sustenance in various places.

Unknowingly, the beggar at last reached

the doorsteps of the Only Real Giver

He had no idea that Baba was in Satara, but one day he happened to end up wandering there — begging right near Baba’s bungalow. Eruch was keeping watch outside. Suddenly, Baba asked him to find out who was sitting on the culvert. As Eruch neared the beggar, he could not believe his eyes. Daulat Singh was equally astonished to see Eruch. “Is Baba here? Can I come to Baba’s door to beg?” he pleaded.

Eruch went to inform Baba. Calling Daulat Singh, Baba heard his woeful story and gave him some food. Afterward, Baba praised his courage: “I am extremely pleased with your obedience. You are truly leading the New Life, and are an example to others. Although away from me, you are close to me. I am very pleased with you. I promise one day I will visit your house.”

Now that the New Life had developed into three plans, Baba freed Daulat Singh from begging for his food, and included him in Plan One-B to live and work independently as a physician. Soon after, with tears in his eyes, Daulat Singh left for home. He was an amazing example of living the New Life apart from Baba.

But in this man’s begging sack was carried a treasure,

which would one day transform his beggarly existence

into the true essence of life — life eternal.

Daulat Singh held fast to Baba’s feet until the last.

[LM 10: 3614]

The Saint Kirpal Singh Meets Meher Baba

A well-known spiritual leader who contacted Meher Baba was the Sikh saint Kirpal Singh.

It was in Delhi at this time [1952] that the Sikh saint Kirpal Singh, age fifty-nine, met Baba for the first time. Harjiwan Lal knew him and had scheduled one of the darshan functions at the saint’s place, where a large number of people assembled on the afternoon of Sunday, November 30th. But when informed, Baba objected that perhaps people would be confused, thinking they were coming for Kirpal Singh’s and not for his darshan.

Kishan Singh and Dr. Deshmukh were then appointed to inform the saint that Baba preferred giving darshan that evening in a more central location on Minto Road, and that the saint with his followers was invited to come there. Kirpal Singh came, and in the absence of a chair, Baba bade him sit on a suitcase on which Baba had spread a carpet. Baba remarked to him, “You have come; you are so humble. You have won and I have lost.” Baba embraced him lovingly as he left the place, and while Baba was getting into his car, Kirpal Singh once again asked Kishan Singh to request Baba to visit his ashram. Baba agreed, saying he would meet the saint and only his family members for fifteen minutes, and fixed the date and time for it.

A group of women who had gone for Baba’s darshan on Minto Road offered their residence at Rajinder Nagar in New Delhi for one of Baba’s programs, agreeing to make all the arrangements. Baba went there on the morning of December 3rd, but shortly before his arrival it was learned that the women were disciples of Kirpal Singh who were holding regular meetings at their house, and that the saint had also been invited by them. To ensure that Kirpal Singh was accorded an equal position with Baba, they had placed two chairs side by side on the dais in the tent, one for Baba and the other for the saint. Kishan Singh and Prakashwati prevailed upon them to remove the second chair, but the women objected. Harjiwan Lal approached the saint directly, who agreed at once and on entering the pandal had the chair placed at a lower level. Baba arrived immediately afterwards. Darshan was given and Baba spelled on the alphabet board, “The worst scoundrel is better than a hypocritical saint.”

[LM 11:4002]

Meher Baba Discusses Spiritual Experiences with Sant Kirpal Singh

The spiritual leader of the Sikhs, Kirpal Singh, met Meher Baba in Delhi in November 1952. On occasion, Baba would remark that Kirpal Singh was a saint and very dear to him. Of all the saints and yogis in India, Baba would say that there were seven who were very dear to him and he always mentioned Kirpal Singh’s name as one of them. (Kammu Baba and Gadge Maharaj were two of the other saints, but Baba did not name the other four.)

Burjor Gai of Delhi was sent a copy of God Speaks to give to the saint, and at this meeting Kirpal Singh expressed his desire to have Baba’s darshan again, since he would be going to Poona which was not far from Satara. Baba gave his permission.

Soon after, Kirpal Singh arrived in Kalyan. On May 14th, Eruch was sent to fix the time for his meeting with Baba.

On Friday, May 18th, Kirpal Singh came to Satara with two of his male followers and one woman and met with Meher Baba in the Judge’s bungalow at about 9:30 A.M. Baba was standing on the veranda and lovingly embraced the saint. Catching hold of his hand, he took him to his room, signaling the others to wait outside, except for Eruch who was interpreting Baba’s gestures. Baba sat on his usual seat and beckoned Kirpal Singh to be seated. With folded hands, Kirpal Singh said, “I am so very happy and fortunate to see you.”

Baba replied, “I am the Lord of the Universe; I am in everyone and am everything. I know everything and yet, simultaneously, I know nothing. . . .”

“That is the mark of real greatness,” Kirpal Singh interrupted.

“It is all of you who are great; I am but a slave of my lovers. I feel truly happy when I get opportunities to wash their feet. My delight is to embrace them. I am the Ocean of Love.”

Baba stood up and patted Kirpal Singh, who also rose immediately. Baba asked him to sit down, but he remained standing reverently until Baba was himself seated and resumed the conversation. “I am very pleased with the work you are doing,” Baba began stating. “It is I who, through you and others, do my own work.”

Kirpal Singh said, “How can people be expected to take interest in spirituality unless they have had some experience? Some miracle should be performed!”

In an emphatic tone, Baba replied, “Although it is good to have inner experiences, it is very dangerous to attach importance to them. If the aspirants are not pre-warned, then even petty experiences prove treacherous and hinder steady progress.”

A day before, Baba had stated, “He who knows everything, displaces nothing. To each one, I appear to be what he thinks I am.” Baba instructed Rano Gayley to write this line out in large print, and the message was hung near Baba’s chair. Baba pointed to it and explained to Kirpal Singh the true significance of the spiritual path.

Baba then cited two examples among his own followers who had had experiences. He told Kirpal Singh, “They now have their own followers and groups, and are initiating newcomers. Although they still love me, they have their own independent way of life.”

Baba emphasized, “Such irresponsible practices based on petty experiences are harmful both to the initiator and the initiated.”

Kirpal Singh interposed, “But if the experiences are utilized for the progress of the aspirants?”

“What I am pointing out is not meant for you, but I do want you to realize how petty experiences can trap aspirants and lead them astray.”

Baba signaled for a copy of Sobs & Throbs, Ramjoo Abdulla’s book, describing the Prem Ashram boys’ experiences. The moment Baba stood up, Kirpal Singh also rose and stood near Baba. Baba embraced him once again and asked him to sit down. He remained standing, however, as a mark of respect. Baba opened the book and showed Kirpal Singh the photographs of the boys who had had inner experiences.

Kirpal Singh innocently remarked, “At that tender age, it is not difficult for boys to have such experiences.”

Baba expressed surprise, “Tender age?” Smiling he said, “Age, whether tender or ripe, has nothing to do with experience gathered by the Self, which knows no limitations of age.”

Baba then drew Kirpal Singh toward him and, taking his hand, led him to Kaikobad’s room, telling him, “You are now going to hear something from an old man about inner experiences.” Baba sat on Kaikobad’s bed and asked Kirpal Singh to sit nearby.

“Kaikobad,” Baba explained to Kirpal Singh, “is my old lover and has had many inner experiences. Sometimes he tells me about them, but I do not understand. Perhaps you will understand what Kaikobad has to say.”

Baba permitted Kaikobad to relate all that he had experienced, requesting Kirpal Singh to hear him patiently, since he would speak in an odd mixture of Hindi and Gujarati languages, because Kaikobad did not know Hindi properly.

Leaving Kaikobad and Kirpal Singh alone, Baba left the room and joined the three devotees who had accompanied Kirpal Singh to have Baba’s darshan. . . . Meanwhile, Kaikobad narrated his experiences to Kirpal Singh, who commented, “Such experiences could only be had with Baba’s blessing! I have had no such experiences!”

After hearing what Kaikobad had to relate, Kirpal Singh joined Baba. He was invited by Baba to sit in a chair but preferred sitting near Baba on the steps. The party had brought a movie camera and desired to have some footage of Baba and Kirpal Singh together, which Baba allowed. Baba then ordered Kirpal Singh’s followers to “hold fast to the daaman of Kirpal Singh and follow his instructions with love and devotion.”

 [LM 14: 4924, 4926-27]

Kishan Singh, a government official from Rawalpindi, first heard of Meher Baba in 1933 and finally met him in 1945 in Hyderabad. He described his first impression of Baba thus:

“It is still beyond my power to explain or write what I saw in Meher Baba when he appeared on that porch to be seen. Suffice it to say that I simply felt stunned at the very first glance. The lustre on Baba's face at once attracted my mind to surrender to him wholeheartedly, regardless of his spiritual attainment — whether he was or was not the Avatar or a Sadguru, or even an ordinary saint or not a saint at all! Baba's smiling countenance cemented the tie of the little love that I then had for him in my heart. His brilliant eyes formed the index for what was in store for me in the near future. In fact, I presently felt the dawning of a New Era in my heart.

[LM 8:3022]

"What You See Is Not Me"

A group of Parsis from Bombay have been visiting Meher Center: Rashna Karachia and her friend Mithoo, accompanied by Mithoo’s son and two female cousins. My husband, Jonathan Burroughs, spent the day with them Tuesday, taking them on a tour of the Center and out to lunch, shopping, etc.

Rashna, whose mother, Sheroo Pauri, is a relative of Meherjee Karkaria, first met Baba at Guruprasad in 1960 at age nine, when she sat at His feet and enjoyed watching His changing moods and expressions—sometimes kindly, sometimes laughing, other times fierce or angry-looking (but even as a child she sensed his anger was due to some inner work he was doing). His eyes would dart here and there and she says she could never look steadily into his eyes.  

The story that Rashna told during the tour at Baba’s House is about her husband, Eruch Karachia. He was a college student in 1954 when he went with a group of college friends to catch a glimpse of Meher Baba at the railway station in Pune. Having heard that one who stands too close to a saint would risk becoming mesmerized, he stood at a safe distance on the fringes of the crowd gathered to see Baba. In Baba’s group were some young Western women, and taking note of this, Eruch K. wondered how it could be that a man claiming to be the Avatar was embracing and kissing women.

At that very moment Baba gestured for Eruch K. to come to Him. He hesitated but was pushed forward by his college buddies.

Baba embraced and kissed him, and he bowed at Baba’s feet, weeping. Baba then gestured:               

“What you see is not Me. What you don’t see is Me.”

 

Source: Personal communication to Jonathan Burroughs on July 31, 2012, written up by Kendra Crossen Burroughs and posted to Kendra's Notebook August 2, 2012. OK'd by Rashna.

—

Meditation of the Treetops

Growing up in New York City, I got my most powerful experiences of nature when I was sent to summer camp for a few years in a row. There I had the opportunity to lie in the grass and contemplate the bees dipping into the clover blossoms, the ubiquitous iridescent Japanese beetles that were, I later learned, a plague at that time, the grasshoppers that I captured in my hand (whereupon they released their “tobacco juice” as we called it), and the whole blooming buzzing madness of nature at the height of summer.

I remember trying to uncover the secret of life by opening the head of a bird I found dead. Thankfully my attempts to bash its brain open with a rock were not successful. I also picked plants apart trying to get at the internal essence, only to be left in puzzlement as the last petal or plant part was plucked off, revealing only nothingness (apparently).

I would gaze into ponds in awe at the jesus bugs skimming over the surface and the minnows darting beneath the surface. After camp, back in Manhattan, I would squat over puddles looking for signs of life — usually in vain, except for the stray earthworm after a rainstorm. I had an intense fantasy revolving around miniature microcosms that I wished to glimpse by gazing intently into small worlds of earth or water.

A special activity that I discovered involved lying on my back on the ground and gazing into the tops of the trees until I sensed it as a different world, a world high up and far removed from the difficulties and sufferings “down here” — and I did experience quite a few difficulties as a perhaps oversensitive child. I felt that the treetops were a different realm, where only certain birds, insects, and maybe squirrels and bats could go. They were close to the clouds, which was yet a higher world, further removed. It was a hierarchy of states of consciousness, though of course I couldn’t articulate it to myself that way at that age. Much later (several years ago) I learned that there was something called the Meditation of the Treetops in Zen; it was mentioned in a book by William Segal (A Voice at the Borders of Silence), but I wasn’t able to find out much about it. I've never seen any other reference to this in connection with Zen, though there are Taoist meditations on nature.

The true death

Meher Baba said to Dolly, Adi K. Irani’s sister, when she was depressed:

“…if you want to die, die in my naad [infatuation] by holding on to me firmly. There lies salvation. That is real dying. Worldly death is not the thing. However, nobody has so far captured me. If one really catches me, I try to free myself. But so far, I have had no opportunity of freeing myself. On the contrary, it is I who have been trying to catch hold of you people” (Lord Meher, vol. 5).

This seems very profound. What does Baba mean by saying that if we capture Him, He will try to free Himself? And that no one so far has caught Him, so He has had no chance to free Himself? Instead, He has been trying to catch hold of "you people," His lovers.

I feel that to capture Baba means to make Him your only beloved, establishing Him on the throne of your heart, remembering Him to the extent that you live out of Him as your center instead of from your false ego. “He” means the Avatar, the God-realized master who is one with the Truth and thus an embodiment of your real Self. You are called to play the part of unconscious God loving conscious God, and this way you will merge with the object of your love and discover that it, or He, is in fact your own Self. There was no “you” or “He” all along — only One Infinite Consciousness.

Conscious Divinity, out of the Love that is its essence, made itself visible to you in the form of Avatar Meher Baba, and in that form He caught hold of you. Helpless as you are in the grip of His infatuation (which feels like “your infatuation with Him” but is actually His naad, not “yours”), you know that despite your protests and resistance, you will have to yield to His Will, which is nothing less than the death of this false “you” — and His liberation. That is true death, not the destruction of the physical body that some might choose when depressed, in the mistaken belief that they will thereby free themselves from suffering.

You may experience yourself as an ordinary gross soul, not an advanced aspirant who is ripe for Realization; yet as Avatar, the Savior of all mankind, Meher Baba has chosen to catch hold of you along with countless others whom He attracts to Himself as His lovers. Even if you have not attained union with Him, you will by capturing Him at least identify yourself with Him strongly enough so that that the foundation is laid for Him to free you by freeing Himself in you. As soon as you commit yourself to Him, like the moth succumbing to the attraction of the candle, His flame of Love comes alive and He is enabled to begin the struggle to free Himself from the prison of false self in which you are seemingly bound.

It’s one interpretation.

In Memory of A. K. Hazra: Two Book Reviews

 Today we fondly remember Prof. Amiya Kumar Hazra, who passed away today at age 80. Please visit his page at Remembrances. Here are two previously published reviews of two of his books.

The Memoirs of a Zetetic: My Life with Meher Baba 
by Amiya Kumar Hazra
Revised & expanded 2nd ed. Hyderabad: Meher Mownavani Publications, 2001. 394 pages.

Reviewed by Kendra Crossen Burroughs

Professor Hazra’s memoir is one of the most enjoyable collections of reminiscences of Meher Baba that I have ever read. The book was first published in 1987 by Dr. H. P. Bharucha, but now it has been reissued in a good-quality revised and expanded edition, with editing by Keith Gunn, wonderfully large, readable type, a few illustrations (facsimiles of letters), and a gorgeous cover painting of Baba by Nadia Wolinski.

The good professor (of English literature)—who was born into a Bengali brahmin family in 1931--has an endearing way with words. This is not “Indian English”; it is a skillful and animated use of language with a charming Indian flavor and a delight in words such as “zetetic,” which I challenge you to find in an average dictionary, unless you have one of those big Oxford monsters. It means a skeptic and a seeker, and that describes the young Amiya, an intellectual with a great curiosity about truth but a doubting mind. His story is the journey of a “head” that became pure “heart” after falling into Baba’s love-snare. Along the way we read of many entertaining autobiographical details, not to mention the touching and amusing encounters with Baba, correspondence with the Beloved (his first letter to Baba began with the salutation “My Surgeon-Lover!”), and a number of marvelous spiritual experiences.

If you missed this book the first time around, now is the time to grab a copy and let Professor Hazra share with you the thrills of his love affair with God in human form:

In His letter, Meher Baba had asked me to "love Him more." Now, I had a photograph of Meher Baba in my hotel room. His beautiful face shone, His lovely eyes looked at me, His lips concealed a secret smile of affection. I looked and looked at Him and then one day suddenly I seized the photograph of Meher Baba and kissed the lips. I put the photograph on my bosom and pressed it onto my heart. What was I doing? I looked at Baba's face again. Did it shine brighter, was the smile more bewitching? I did not know, I understood nothing. I just madly kissed the photo again and again, hugged it to my heart repeatedly and still felt dissatisfied with all those adorations. Oh God, what was happening? That night I did not lie on my bed alone. Meher Baba's photograph was with me and first I kept it on my heart and then by the side of my pillow. I had the most intimate experience of companionship and the sweetest sleep that night. Morning came, and with it the unebbing conviction that this was the preliminary experience of that longing for the pure, the good, the sublime and the dear¬est entity--the love--that saints have called "love for God."

Seekers of Love

by Amiya Kumar Hazra and Keith Gunn
Hyderabad: Meher Mownawani Publications, 2008. 226 pages.

Reviewed by Kendra Crossen Burroughs

I’m a greater admirer of Amiya Kumar Hazra, author of the unforgettable Memoirs of a Zetetic: My Life with Meher Baba, so I was pleased to see this new book with his name on it, along with that of his friend Keith Gunn. Professor Hazra has collected, over many years, a number of personal stories by Indian Baba-lovers, most of them first-person narratives originally recounted in the speaker’s native Hindi, some of them retold by Amiya or Keith. Here Westerners will encounter some unfamiliar names and faces as well as old friends such as Pratap Ahir and Subhadra Pund of the Pune bhajan group; Shaligram Sharma, who toured the U.S. last year; Gita Ram Tiwari, a familiar figure at Meher Baba’s Samadhi; Pleader, a member of the mandali who was hell-bent on God-Realization; Janglimaster, “Baba’s servant”; and Kharman Masi, an important woman in Baba’s circle who He said would be His father in the next Avataric advent.
 
The book will be a treat for Westerners who appreciate the unique sensibility that Indians bring to their experiences with Baba. In his introduction, Keith points out two notable aspects seen in these stories. One is the degree of hostility that Hindus have had to suffer in their own communities because of their devotion to a “foreign” master—even to the extent of their lives being threatened. For example, in one story an invisible force narrowly saves a Baba-lover from being murdered by co-workers. (The examples in this book are Hindu, but certainly Parsi and Muslim Baba-lovers have also endured social opposition.)
 
The other aspect is the degree to which Indian lovers take “occult realities” for granted. I’ve often thought that the many instances in which Baba discouraged attachment to miracles or unusual spiritual experiences were chiefly aimed at His Eastern lovers. In India people grow up with a much greater awareness of God and the sacred dimension of life than in our society. (However, even an Indian is bound to be a bit startled when, as told here, a smelly, naked mastani suddenly appears and secures a seat for him on a crowded train.) I assume that Baba wanted His Eastern lovers to learn to depend less on the miraculous and to love Him for His own sake. He often told people in America and Europe, “The Eastern lovers revere me, bow down to me and worship me — but I want only love from you" (Lord Meher, 6: 1895). Yet, judging by these stories, Baba has clearly not withheld amazing experiences from His Indian lovers: rooms flooded with the fragrance of roses, Baba mystically standing in for someone taking an examination, the apparition of Baba at the deathbed of a loved one, a tiger lying down like a lamb. We even learn that someone who was harassing a Baba-lover dropped dead! Who says prayers aren’t answered?

Even in India, land of the miraculous, where gurus are common, Meher Baba stands out as something special: Pratap remarks that “in our traditions, Indians have information about God and all that, but until we came to know about Meher Baba, we had no thought of coming in God’s contact.” Incidentally, the book presents Pratap’s own version of a much-misrepresented incident in which Baba asked him as a young teenager to remove all his clothing. The event remains mysterious, in that we don’t know why Baba did it, but I think Pratap’s acceptance of it as a holy moment helps us to contemplate the mystery in the right spirit.
 
I’d love to give away more of the content, but I won’t spoil it for you. Seekers of Love is a welcome contribution to a growing oral history, and I thank Amiya and Keith for bringing us closer to our Indian Baba family through these accounts. The authors promise a sequel with stories from the West and conclude with one sample, from Vreiny Truitmann of Switzerland.