Meher Baba’s Last Discourse & Last Song Before Silence

"Flesh and Bones"

Meher Baba's Last Spoken Discourse 

July 2nd, 1925

 

Although it had been announced by mail that no outsiders should come to Meherabad after July 1st [1925], a group of Parsi politicians came to see Meher Baba on July 2nd. After discussing with them the political and spiritual situation of India, Meher Baba discoursed about the mind and body. This was to be his last verbal [spoken] discourse:
 

Human excrement is totally useless; only swine eat it. Similarly, when the flesh is cut from a carcass, only bones remain and these are thrown to the dogs. Man's mind is like flesh, and his body is like the bones.
 

We eat flesh (meat) and digest it, which means we use it. But the bones are uneatable and of no use; so we give them to dogs who can chew and utilize them. We, as men, must care for our mind, which is like the meat. We should use our mind by training it to flow into the proper channels. But we have to drop this physical body sometime, for it cannot be preserved. To exemplify this: Suppose one's finger is chopped off or a leg is crippled, we should not worry or weep over it because we know that this whole physical body has to be discarded one day. But we should be most careful about our mind which is of the utmost use to us. The mind should be directed toward proper spheres; it should be kept in check and utilized.
 

If this body, which we have to discard one day, is used for anything, it should be used in the service of three causes: God, the Master and our fellowman. The body may become weary and worn out — it may bring us suffering — but so what? Man, as a physical being, is destined to suffer. So long as the body is vibrant, active and under our control, man can be said to have used it for a good cause, by directing his energies in any good or noble work.

«You have to live for others and use your bodies for the benefit of others.»

—Meher Baba

Meher Baba's Last Song

June 26th, 1925

During a discussion of the upcoming year of silence, one person expressed the concern that Baba, on becoming upset with any person, might let a few words slip from his mouth. But Baba assured everyone present that once he started to keep silence he would not lose control of his temper or utter a word thereafter.

Baba concluded the meeting by singing a poem, which was to be his last song:
 

As soon as I became conscious of Shyam Sunder —

The Beauty of the Lord Krishna —

A mustard seed blossomed before my eyes.

Oh, its yellow flowers!

What I saw is indescribable!

Its seed moved the mountain

when it flowered before my eyes.

Afterward, Baba explained the poem: "The blossoming of the mustard seed represents God-Realization; the seed, itself, represents the soul. Hence, when the seed moved the mountain, I became divinely conscious, and simultaneously the soul engulfed the mountain of my ego. The beauty of the Lord is ineffable; yet, it is seen — it is experienced."

 

Sources
Flesh and Bones from The Awakener Magazine, vol. 22, no. 1 (1986), p. 51. Reprinted from Lord Meher 2:733 
Quote in blue: Lord Meher 2:735
Last song from Lord Meher 2:31