Summer Sadhna( FOUR MONTHS IN INDIA)

[Guest guest]

I have nothing to say but, firstly apriciate tatwamasi's summing up,

and secondly about very last para line "person next to you!!!!! For

all is Tat twam asi". To corroborate Tat-Twam-Asi, can not refrain my

temptation to post(may be in 4 to 5 parts)experiances of an Amarican

gentleman about Meher Baba ( Here I request all to read "God" where

the words Baba or Meher Baba appears). The Amarican gentleman has

sent me an essay titled "Four Months In India"

PART 1---

FOUR MONTHS IN INDIA

 

 

 

It's now more than four months in India. The expectations and hopes

with which I came have either been discarded or forgotten, clearing

the way for the unexpected. I can characterize the entire time here

by simply saying there was less thinking about life and more living

it. This shift seemed to fit nicely with Meher Baba's prescription in

His Universal Message: There have been enough words given, its time

to start living those words.Much of my life had been devoted to words—

reading, talking and writing about my existence and aspects of the

world beyond my experience. Words have had a more profound effect on

my escape from living than I could have imagined. Words are an

addictive medium of thinking, a narcotic for the mind. They satisfy

and pacify, but sometimes excite and incite. Now, I wanted something

more than just new thoughts. I was not to be disappointed.Meher Baba

came to me in a near-death experience in nineteen hundred and eighty-

four, but not until the year two thousand did I realize Baba was my

Higher Self in another form. Even with that awareness, it was not

until this trip to India that the God-man's words had an impact. It

was due to one extraordinary experience. His words were brought to

life.I'd been content for a while with the routine of reciting

prayers and singing songs of praise at the Avatar's samadhi in

Meherabad and in other places visited in connection with the Avatar's

life and work, such as Dehradun and the Hamirpur District. But all

that occurred left me unsettled and unfulfilled. A dreadful sense of

monotonous conformity, that turned simple worship into ritual and

ceremony, resulted. I wanted no part of that.Even before departing

the Pilgrim Center at the end of the season, I'd stopped attending

morning and evening arti, except on rare occasion. Also, at the same

time, I stopped reading and started ignoring what people were telling

me. Being rude was not my goal. I was following the God-man's

words, "Don't go by books. Don't go by what people say. But do not

hesitate to follow where your heart earnestly leads you. And you will

have a big surprise!" Elsewhere He'd said, "Be honest and don't

imitate anyone, however great that person may be! How long are you

going to see and hear with the eyes and ears of others? How long do

you wish to be influenced and carried away by the thoughts and

feelings of others? Open the wings of your heart and fly straight to

Me."What a surprise this shift created. Little did I expect to

experience the true center of spirituality and have it begin to

reorganize my thoughts and feelings. Another change occurred

simultaneously. I began asking the question, what am I being shown?

Quickly this question became inappropriate because it was

intellectual curiosity, pure and simple. Life didn't require

analysis. GOD IS. In other words, what I was being shown was what I

was being shown, straightforward and uncomplicated. The value was in

the experiences not the analysis of the experiences.Almost

immediately came the impression that arti and puja, prayer and

devotion, were not the Avatar's focus when he said, its time to live

the words. "Arti and worship is for saints; I have come for love"

(Meher Baba). "Merely to chant the Arti, to perform puja, to offer

flowers, fruits and sweets and to bow down, can never mean that you

love God as He ought to be loved" (Meher Baba). "God is independent

and does not need to be worshipped" (Meher Baba).All the material I'd

read by the Avatar was taking on a new slant, giving me a fresh

perspective. For one thing, the gap between love and devotion was

greater than I'd imagined. The difference was also a direct

reflection on how we interact with people—more devotion and

affection, rather than love.To me, this difference was important to

realize if our purpose was to obey Him. Meher Baba explained devotion

seeks a blessing from God (and we could read, from another person),

whereas love seeks happiness for God (and we could read, for another

person). Love also seeks to shoulder the burden for God (and we could

read, for another person). In contract, devotion asks God to relieve

a burden (as it asks another person). This difference in the way we

interact with God and with other people is profound. Love is

selfless, devotion, selfish. Suffice it to say, the Avatar said, God

is love. He didn't say God is devotion.Looking back at what I read

the year before coming to India, I could see certain passages and

specific ideas expressed in particular books and articles by and

about Meher Baba were popping out at me. Reading this material was

not a spiritual experience, though it seemed like it at the time. It

was, however, a preparation for the experience that followed.To me,

the God-man's entire advent was about serving Himself as He really is—

everyone and everything in the physical world and, at the same time,

preparing us to do the same after He dropped the body. Meher Baba

wanted us attached to the impersonal form of God—everyone and

everything—which, paradoxically, is not easy to become attached to.

So the personal form (Meher Baba) was the crutch God used to enable

us to get from one to the other. The Avatar's explanations of who God

is were His efforts to shift us from the personal to the impersonal

forms, knowing the former is body identification and the latter

beyond the human mind's capacity to comprehend. The distortions that

have occurred throughout recorded history as a result of people

clinging to the personal form of God following the various advents of

the Avatar are well documented and widely known. As Meher Baba

noted, "Religions are an effort to commemorate the association with a

great spiritual master, and to preserve his atmosphere and influence.

It is like an archaeologist trying to preserve things, which

resuscitates the past. The living spirit being absent, religions or

organizations gradually loss their force."Despite the difficulty of

the duality-conscious mind of humanity in comprehending an

indivisible consciousness, Meher Baba told it like He IS. "I am God—

God the Beyond and God in human form. I draw you ever closer to me by

giving you frequent occasions of my companionship. But familiarity

often makes you forget that I am God" (Meher Baba)."The whole

universe becomes the body of the Truth-realized Master. Others, who

do not know his real seat or functioning, may falsely identify him

with his physical body, which they see in front of them with physical

eyes. This physical body is only one among the innumerable bodies in

which he knows himself as dwelling. His link with a particular body

is in no way greater than with other existent bodies in the universe.

The Perfect Masters live in all and feel equally for all" (Meher

Baba)."I am the Ancient One—so is each of you" (Meher Baba)."The goal

of life is to love God, and find Him as our own self" (Meher

Baba)."We are each God, yet each must become God" (Meher Baba)."The

heart has only one place, either the Beloved is in the heart, or the

heart is in the Beloved—both are the same place" (Meher Baba)."It is

the One who is sought is Himself the seeker" (Meher

Baba)."Essentially we are all one. I am greater than none of you in

the soul sense and, really-speaking, none of you have to receive

divinity from me—the divinity that is eternal existing equally in us

all; but what I have to give is the knowledge and the experience of

the oneness of us all' (Meher Baba)."Think of God as the ocean and

every drop in the ocean as the ocean itself" (Meher Baba)."I am not

limited to this form. I use it like a garment to make myself visible

to you, and I communicate with you" (Meher Baba)."I am God. I am in

you all. I never come and I never go. I am present everywhere" (Meher

Baba)."…I am the worshipped, the worship, and the worshipper" (Meher

Baba)."He plays the part of the Universal God who is beyond

everything that is conscious. He plays the part of being falsely

conscious of being this body. He plays the part of the Creator"

(Meher Baba)."…God is so intimately associated with our own being

that we are not conscious of God just as in the case of breathing"

(Meher Baba)."The finding of God is a coming to one's own self"

(Meher Baba)."We all are one with Him, but owing to our ignorance, we

feel ourselves separate from God…There is therefore no question of

becoming God, since we are already God…" (Meher Baba)."The

real `headache' lies in the fact that we really have to become what

we already are" (Meher Baba)."God is nearer to you than your own

shadow. In fact, He is not only within you but is your very self"

(Meher Baba)."Every second in Eternity everyone of us is the same One

indivisible God who has no second" (Meher Baba)."You are all in Me

and I am in you all" (Meher Baba)."I tell you with my Divine

authority that you and I are not `we' but `one'" (Meher Baba),"Thus

everyone of us is Avatar in the sense that everyone and everything is

at the same time, and for all time" (Meher Baba)."The fact that God

being One, indivisible, and equally in us all, we can be naught else

but one, is too much for the duality-conscious mind to accept. Yet

each of us is what the other is" (Meher Baba)."Essentially we are all

one" (Meher Baba)."The soul is really God. To those who are still

caught up in the illusion that it is the body or the mind, this seems

unthinkable" (Meher Baba)."Be pure and simple, and love all because

all are one" (Meher Baba)."The Self of selves is the one Truth that

manifests itself as the universe through all its multitudinous

distinctions" (Meher Baba).Even in the last hour before the God-man

dropped His body, He reminded the Mandali, "Do not forget that I am

God." This reminder to those closest to Him came at a time when they

were experiencing the illusion in full force. Even the Mandali had

become attached to the Avatar, God's personal form, and the Avatar

knew it. The reminder, though it may have fallen on deaf ears at the

time, was given at a particularly appropriate time, at that poignant

hour, because God was minutes away from resuming His impersonal

form.To become detached from the Avatar and see God as He really is

may be more difficult for those who knew Him in the physical body.

The number of "lovers" who have come to Baba around the end of His

physical presence attest to the fact that those closest to the Avatar

at that time were and are attached to God's most recent personal

form. The height of Illusion occurs, if there can be such a thing,

when one is able to see one's Higher Self manifest before one's

physical eyes in another human form and, all the while, that form

emphasizing that it's no more attached to the form its in than any

other body! What a revelation! Paradoxically, it is the beginning of

the ending of the Illusion for those who realize the true identity of

the Higher Self in another form. As Meher Baba has said, "There can

be no conflict between the devotion of the disciple to his Master and

his allegiance to his own Higher Self. On the contrary, at the end of

the search the disciple discovers that the Master is none other than

his own Higher Self in another form." Preferably sooner than later we

have to realize God as everyone and everything and act on that

realization, though difficult it might be. As we already know, acting

on knowledge we already have is most difficult. I believe it is not

coincidental that this awareness of God, the impersonal form, is

being emphasized to me and re-emphasized to many others. We need to

remember who God really is and what He was preparing all of us to do.

Nor is it coincidental that I do not follow those who are attached to

God the personal form. It would be one more conditioning to

break.Another point accentuated to me and, almost as difficult to

grasp as God, the impersonal form, is the realization of God is a

verb, not just a noun, and this aspect of God is important in the

attainment of the purpose of Creation. God IS the Goal and the Way we

are told. This means God IS both! This is another one of the

paradoxes so often found in the Avatar's life and work: Become God by

being God. God IS the WAY. God interacting (or being God) with

Himself as an infinite variety of forms so they all become aware, in

their own timing, that they are God. Meher Baba said, serve Me in

everyone, see me in everything. So, how do we serve everyone in a WAY

that all become aware in their own timing that they are God?The God-

man has told us God IS Love. This is "being God" to another when we

LOVE another, which amounts to nothing short of loving ourselves. If,

for example, one form of God is "being God"/loving another form of

God, the latter form experiences it's True Self/GOD/LOVE/TRUTH and if

the latter form responds as GOD/LOVE/TRUTH, then the former

experiences it's True Self. The Avatar was explicit on this point

when He said, "Love is essentially self-communicative. Those who do

not have it catch if from those who have it. Those who get love from

others cannot be its recipients without giving a response which

itself is the nature of love. True love is unconquerable and

irresistible; and it goes on gathering power and spreading itself

until eventually it transforms everyone whom it touches."But if one

form of God is being "not-God" with another form of God, the mental

impressions, with which we are familiar, begin to gather as a result.

These unnatural impressions begin to overlay LOVE/GOD/TRUTH. The God-

man said, "There is a deep and imperative need in the human soul to

love and identify itself with others; this is not fulfilled where

there is craving or hate, anger or fear. All exclusive feelings such

as cravings, hate, anger, fear or jealousy bring about a narrowing of

life and contribute to the limitation of consciousness; they are

instrumental to the affirmation of separateness and feed the ego." In

sum, "being God" to another is a specific WAY and is called "true

love" or Divine love: "The best of all forces, which can overcome all

difficulties"; "The love that knows how to give without the need to

bargain for a return"(Meher Baba). Selflessness and self-sacrifice

are other terms the Avatar used. "Being God" to others is the Way to

the Goal, to becoming God.This thinking suggests the need for

tolerance when another person or one's self is "not-God," Because we

know not what we do, nor who we are! Possibly this is what the Avatar

had in mind when he answered the question, "What is

spirituality?Pose…" He answered, "that state of mind in which

nothing excites you, nothing upsets you…. Thinking not of yourself

but of others."The Avatar's purpose was to "be God" to all, in

thought, word and deed, so we might see the WAY. Meher Baba described

the WAY in many different ways, many different times. "How to Love

God" and "My Wish For My Lovers" are a couple of examples.We are all

one another. What is done to another, in turn, rebounds upon the

doer. What we do for another, we have done for our self. That is why

the Avatar remarked that love begets love, as does all other

impressions acted upon. When we end the suffering of others, we end

the suffering for our selves.The foregoing was presented to point out

the new shift in the changing sands of provisional truth for me that

was occurring several months before coming to India. As I stated

before, this new truth only prepared me for what was to come: Not

only mentioning these ideas to others, but experiencing them as

life.Slowly and cautiously, I moved along the steep mountain path,

loose gravel under foot. The frequent switchbacks were made

dangerous, not by the lose gravel, but my weakened legs did. Walking

over forty kilometers since yesterday afternoon had my legs like

rubber!Stopping momentarily, I glanced at my watch: 4:30 p.m. Descent

into this steep bowl-shaped forested ravine had begun four hours

earlier on the backside of the mountain town of Dhanolti, but I'd

been walking since before first light on a mountain road between the

hill resort of Mussoorie and mountain town of Dhanolti. Although the

steep slope had begun to level off, I still needed a rest before

continuing on. Honestly, I had no idea where I was going! One thing

and one thing only had been on my mind since departing Mussoorie and

had kept me agitated and on the move. That was finding a secluded

spot to sit for forty days and forty nights, without food, without

water, without sleep.The Chilla Nashini was my secret ambition in

coming to the Himalayas. It's an austerity where a person forgoes

ordinary experiences to have one exalted experience of "seeing" God.

Some make it, I've been told, others die, and still others go mad.

For me the consequences were of no importance at the moment, only

finding a place where I could at least try the Chilla.Looking ahead,

I saw the mountain stream, which had gone unnoticed since the

beginning of my descent where it was just a trickle, but had

increased in size in the last four hours and was now a swift current.

The land on both banks was extensively terraced and cultivated. A

complicated irrigation system of concrete irrigation canals carried

water to the crops on the terraces. Wheat and potatoes were plants

quickly recognized at a distance from my boyhood on a farm.My two

feet were on a path leading directly through a small isolated

mountain village situated on the slope about fifty-five feet or so

above the river's level. At that moment I decided to avoid the

village in favor of a parallel path on the opposite side of the

river. Navigating along the edge of the different fields and crossing

a concrete bridge, I continued walking on the other side of the

river. There were only a couple houses on this other side and the

path abruptly rose along the slope, passing behind the houses and

continuing at the higher elevation for some distance.Passing the

houses and proceeding a short distance farther, I glanced up the

slope, noticing the land above was terraced, but not cultivated.

Maybe pasture, I speculated. Whatever the case, it was an ideal spot

for a tired traveler to temporarily rest his weary body. So I did.

After walking up a short incline to the level surface of the first

terrace, I released the backpack that fell with a thud on the grass

and me on top of it. Then I stretched out, removed my socks and shoes

and even took out the sleeping bag as a cover to make me comfortable.

Tired, I released a loud sigh and smiled. The comforts of a five-star

hotel were not better than pasture grass at the moment. Then I

laughed aloud, thinking' "Here I am on this path in a forested ravine

without the slightest notion of why I am here. Oh, I knew HOW I'd

gotten here, but WHY was I here? Why had God brought me here at this

moment?" These thoughts drifted away with the sensation of a cool

breeze on my cheek, which made me notice the quietness and the

natural beauty of the terrain.Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye,

movement was detected to my right. Swinging my head in that direction

I saw a man--young, slim, short--dashing toward me. Before I could

react, he was kneeling beside me, breathless. Even seeing him coming,

I felt no immediate threat. Maybe I was just too tired. But his

horribly disfigured face caught and held my interest. "My God, what

had happened to him?" I wondered.The left side of his face appeared

normal, but the right side-------what a mess! The eyelid was closed,

the area immediately below the eye socket was sunken and his nose

collapsed in the middle. A long crescent-shaped scare proceeded from

the right temple along the front of the ear down to the jaw line.

This appearance shocked me, leaving me unable to think for a moment

or two. Still out of breath, this young man struggled to say he

didn't speak English. Yet the hand gestures were adequate and enabled

me to determine he wanted me to go to his village--the one across the

river I had avoided minutes before--and eat with him.Exhausted, I was

in no mood to entertain someone or be entertained. Being rude wasn't

my aim, but the best I could do was to decline his offer,

repeating, "No, its fine here." Though persistent, the young man

realized my stubbornness rivaled his persistence. The only option

remaining was to tell; as best he could, why he was concerned about

me.Pointing to his face, he began talking in unintelligible Hindi

again. Then he pointed up the slope, where before I'd noticed more

terraced pasture. As he spoke, I watched the movement of his hands,

which unfolded the entire tale. I gasped! He'd been lying on the

grass one afternoon--not unlike myself at this instance--when

suddenly and without warning a tiger attacked him. Imitating the

action of big cat's paws, he pretended to fiercely claw the right

side of his face with one hand and, at the same time, with the other

hand, his right hip, as the tiger had done. He lowered his pants and

displayed the scar! During the attack he'd grabbed the tiger's upper

jaw with one hand, the lower jaw with the other. Had those jaws

clamped around his neck, I thought, death would have been

certain. "How was this man still alive?" I could only wonder as I

shook my head in amazement. The tale ended there, as he stopped,

panting from reliving his struggled and, most probably, from the

remembered terror. How he had escaped a fate almost certain was not

explained. But was obvious. He'd escaped death, but not

disfigurement. The message was loud and clear: "Paul, it isn't safe

laying out here". I nodded that I understood, but that wasn't enough

for this man. He began putting a sock on my left foot. In the face of

his determined kindness my resistance collapsed. I'd go with him.

After finishing putting on my socks and shoes and stuffing the

sleeping bag in my backpack I was ready to go. Immediately the man

grabbed the backpack, and slinging it over his shoulder, motioned for

me to follow, which showed me he was taking an added measure to

ensure I wouldn't get away.Now free of my pack I glided along,

watching the feet of the man in front of me and thinking how

gracefully he moved with a pair of flip-flops on his feet. Within no

time we were down at the water's edge, across the steam and climbing

the terraced fields to the village.Although dusk descended, the

villagers continued working, but their attention was now shared

between what they were doing and their curiosity about a stranger in

their midst. As I obediently followed the man through the village to

a one-room building, the villagers frequently stopped work for a

quick glance or a long look at me. The wooden-plank door to the

building was already open. The man motioned for me to remain standing

where I was. He dropped my backpack on the concrete slab in front of

the small building and entered the doorway. He returned momentarily

with a colorful straw mat, which he rolled out and motioned for me to

sit on. By now the children of the village had gathered and were

staring with great curiosity.One by one, the young man removed my

shoes. With water from a pot a young woman had brought and quietly

placed at his side before disappearing in the dim light, he washed my

feet and dried them--in front of all those young spectators no less!

Who was I to this man? In my opinion, such a stirring gesture should

be reserved for a person of greater importance in his life than me.

But, was there? This thought was churning up awkward and uneasy

feelings, while promoting an inspiration just being in the presence

of such a humble person. My mind couldn't grasp what was happening.

Like in all of life, there was more going on than could be imagined

at the moment."Chai?" He asked, his question putting an end to those

thoughts. "Ji han," I replied quietly and tentatively. My use of

Hindi brought a smile to an otherwise troubled face.The man pointed

to himself as I sipped the hot chai and said, "Sita Ram...Sita Ram

Josey." I fumbled with my response in Hindi for a moment or two

before finally saying, "Mera nam Paul Naragon hai." Just then another

person joined us, squatting on the slab next to me. His face and form

were not much more than a shadow in the dim light. Sita Ram simply

said, "Brother." The man looked at me and I could see his teeth in

the dim light. We both extended our hands to one another and as they

met, I said, "Paul." He shook my hand vigorously. At that moment Sita

Ram stood up and disappeared in the direction of the open doorway,

and I again became aware of the pairs of little eyes still staring at

me, the children now only vague outlines. A light suddenly appeared

from behind me, followed shortly by the sound of breaking glass. Sita

Ram stepped out of the building with a globe-less lantern in one hand

and a white, folded piece of paper in the other. In the growing

light, the sparkling eyes of the children and their smiles could

again be seen. Bringing the lantern close to me, Sita Ram handed me

the paper. Unfolding it, I immediately recognized the paper to be a

medical report, written in Hindi. Though unable to read it, I could

determine the contents from looking at the numbers. 1991 was the year

of the report, the year Sita Ram was attacked. That was eleven years

ago. He was twenty-two at the time; now he was thirty-three. As best

I could figure the plastic surgery to reconstruct his face cost

50,000 rupees at that time---around one thousand dollars. I looked up

at Sita Ram. He pointed to his face and rubbed it as was his tendency

to often do. Such a painful reminder that simple gesture must have

been, I thought. His sinuses were, undoubtedly, constantly infected.

The pain must have been constant too, not to think of the mental

anguish this horrible face had thrust upon his self-image. Sita Ram

pointed to the figure of RS 50,000 and said, "No money. You, my

brother. You help." Immediately I felt the weight of the sacrifice

being asked of me. I gazed at Sita Ram's face in silence for a few

moments while he rubbed his face again. I wondered, "Is this what God

wants me to----------." Even before the question was completed, the

words from my inner voice came crashing through: "GOD IS. GOD IS

EVERY HAPPENING IN EVERY MOMENT AND HE IS YOU, HIM, ALL OF THEM, AND

MORE." Those words were light in my own darkness, like the lantern

before me lighted the Indian night. I took a deep breath that

returned me to the physical present. Looking into Sita Ram's

disfigured face, I thought: "Kneeling before me is God, in one of his

infinite forms, suffering in a way I cannot possibly imagine, every

minute of every hour of every day, and was asking me for my help."

The moment was overwhelming because it was directly calling into

question all my selfishness in this one instance. I wanted to run,

far away from the situation, but this experience had affected me

instantly and made me see the true nature of life. I wouldn't run now

or ever again. "Forget about the Chilla Nashini, Paul," I said to

myself. "Here is life, as God wants me to live it: raw and unedited".

I'd finally experienced with a moment what the Avatar had been

preparing Humanity for in His life: To serve Him in everyone. Not

only are we all God, we can be "God" or "Not-God" to others, either

love for love's sake or not love. It's that cut and dried. Forget all

the reasons, the justifications for not loving. They keep us from our

True Self. God had been showing me my entire life. I had eyes and,

yet, couldn't see until this moment. The Way is by our actions, not

our words alone.Determining the cost of the surgery at today's

prices, paying for the surgery and being certain that the plastic

surgery was performed were now my responsibilities. This year or next

year the surgery will happen. This was my pledge to God. With the

lantern light flickering in his gruesome face, Sita Ram again

said, "You brother." I smiled, thinking he was right. He was truly no

stranger, but another myself, another form of God asking me to take a

single action to repair his broken life, his broken self-image. Maybe

that's why the "path" takes courage, because love is self-

sacrificing. Putting another form of God ahead of myself. I looked at

my watch, a few minutes before 8 p.m., yet I was spent, physically

and emotionally. I gestured to Sita Ram that I was going inside to

sleep. We both stood. I extended my right arm to retrieve my pack.

With it in tow, I followed Sita Ram as he carried the lantern in one

hand, the white, folded paper in the other. Entering the room I look

around. A single bed was against the wall to the immediate right. A

poster of Krishna with a table beneath it graced another wall. That

was it; the décor as Spartan as a jail cell. Stepping to the edge of

the table and placing the lantern there, Sita Ram joined his palms

and extended his arms upward. Turning his head in my direction, he

said, "Pray to Parvardigar and you come." Hearing the name caused an

electrical charge to pass through me. "The Preserver and Protector of

All" was a name of God well known to me since coming to Meher Baba.

The moment touched me deeply. My coming was obviously the answer to

his prayer, a solution for his face, for his life. He wanted a New

Life. The opportunity he presented to me was certainly offering me

the same. Maybe I am the most important person in his life at that

moment. Definitely, he was in mine. Sita Ram was the one person God

had selected at that moment to show me what he meant by loving

another for the sake of loving. I, in the same way, was selected to

show to Sita Ram at that moment that his need to feel love was just

as important, and just a valid, as any other person's. "By offering

pure unadulterated love to anyone and to anything you will be loving

me, as I am in everyone and in everything and also beyond everything"

(Meher Baba). "The one important thing is to realize the Divine Life

and to help others to realize it by manifesting it in every day life"

(Meher Baba). I didn't leave the following morning without Sita Ram's

mailing address. It was difficult to convey thoughts that contained

any detail. There was no means for me to express in Hindi what I

would do. In my departing remarks, I attempted to say I would return

and take care of this matter of the surgery for him. Whether or not

he understood my explanation is open to question. But since then I

have written a letter to him, transcribed it into Hindi, and sent it

to the address he gave me. The letter conveyed that, in meeting me,

God had answer his prayer---and mine! I would return to his village

of Simpari within two years at the latest, or, God willing, sooner,

to attend to the details of his surgery.The realization was vivid.

God IS. God IS everybody and everything before me. God IS each and

every moment of my life. God IS each and every happening in those

moments. This is how God is showing Himself to me now, with one

caution: "Through your mind, your understand who you are, what you

are and why you are. This is, mentally you can understand. But even

in spite of this don't go posing that you are God, although you are.

Unless you have that experience you should not say you are God"

(Meher Baba).I can only reiterate, all is God. That's why Meher Baba

said over and over to serve Me in everyone, see Me in everything. In

the same indivisible oneness, if we see ourselves as everyone and

everything, we begin to grasp the Law of Love, of Karma, of Cause and

Effect, that rules the Universes: What a person does to another, in

turn, rebounds upon himself. What he does for another, he has done

for himself, although it may take time for him to realize that this

is exactly so. Ignorance keeps us from seeing we do everything to our

self, as everyone and everything is us. We are the LIVING Law of

Love, of Karma, of Cause and Effect.By personal contact Meher Baba,

the God-man, radiated Divine Love to others, who He knew were just

other forms of Himself. He prepared us to see this is our WAY as

well: Divine love by personal contact. Just as Meher Baba was making

this point clear to me at 53 years of age, he insisted, "Every being

is a point from which a start could be made towards the limitless

ocean of love, bliss, knowledge and goodness already within him."

And, "Just as it can never be too early or too late to learn to love

for the sake of love, so there can be nothing to small or too big to

be sacrificed for. The flow of life, the flow of light and the flow

of love are as much in the drop as in the ocean. The smallest thing

is as the biggest and the biggest thing as small as the smallest"

(Meher Baba). At another time the God-man stated, "God is each one.

What are the divisions, why are you separate? This is nothing but

ignorance. There are no divisions, no separations. Think of God as

the ocean and every drop in the ocean as the ocean itself."To serve

Him in others would also aid us in thinking of Him constantly.

Remembering Him would then, become an effortless-effort! God is

everywhere and in everything. How is it possible that He could not be

remembered constantly if this attitude was taken up.Those who become

aware of the God-man were blessed, according to Baba. Those who met

Him while in the body were doubly blessed. But the blessing given to

a person is not an end in and of itself, as many seem to think. "Yet

with every blessing bestowed," Eruch Jessawala, one of the Avatar's

close Mandali, aptly wrote, "follows an even greater responsibility.

And what is that responsibility? It is to strive within your hearts

to begin to live the New Life in our daily lives. Uphold the Trust He

has reposed in you. Live and work together in harmony, love and

cooperation without hatred and backbiting, neither coveting honor nor

shunning disgrace, but unified in your total faith in and reliance on

you beloved….Such lives will reflect the endless and eternal path of

the New Life…"This New Life is what, I believe the God-man has not

only prepared us for, but has called us to take responsibility

for. "All of you love Me," The Avatar once said, "that alone will not

do. You must love each other too. You must practice in your life what

you preach." He further indicated, "The greatest work one can do for

Baba is live a life of love, humility, sincerity and selfless

service, in which there is not a trace of the slightest hypocrisy.

Such a life and such a love are vital in Baba's work. They carry the

weight of the highest responsibility because they really and truly

carry Baba's love and message to others—much more than and in

contrast to mere words." C.B. Purdom, an early Western Baba lover

from England wrote, "Baba invites those who listen to him to do the

impossible because only the impossible has divine meaning. All that

is possible belongs to the world of illusion. The reality is the

undreamed of, the hidden ideal; even what it is has not entered into

the heart of man to conceive. He invites us to be different, looking

at one another with different eyes, taking up our work each day with

a different impetus and vision from what we have hither to known so

that we can say as once was said in the world, `The Father who

dwelleth in me, he doeth the works'."For those of us who let the

words "…and help us all to hold fast to Baba's daaman till the very

end" pass between our lips need to look more seriously at what we

say. "Do you know what this means?" The God-man asked. "It means

obeying implicitly, doing everything I say. I am God. I am Truth."God

lived the most recent Advent as God-man to express the course of life

that we must tread to achieve the "New Life", where suffering and

chaos disappear and real happiness and peace take their place through

selfless love and universal brotherhood. My experiences tell me that

I had never comprehended what the Avatar's work was all about. When

it became obvious that living is what God IS, and realizing that the

God-man has explained how to live as God, I saw that I had not been

living God in my life. Am I alone?Now THE CALL of the Avatar is clear

to me and so is the real test of my spirituality: Whether I will live

as God the remainder of this life or bow to hypocrisy. In this

regard, I am so thankful for the words of another Mandali member, Bal

Natu, who's words of hope spring eternal:- "Whenever Baba

sends you a call, He clears from your way all apparent obstacles,

although at the onset the odds may seem insurmountable, but the very

attempt, prompted by His love, to answer His call, invariably results

in circumstances arranging themselves favorably beyond one's

expectations."!

( to be continued in Pt 2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

, "tatwamasi" <tatwamasi> wrote:

> Dear All

>

> I am back from an exhilarating trip to India to meet friends,

family,

> and spiritual family, and catch up on guidance /instruction for my

> own personal practice.

>

> As is typical of a journey to India it was checkered with

experiences

> that are sublime, joyous, exciting, frustrating, disappointing, and

> sad; an image of the entire spectrum of life as it is. It is, as

> always, a wonderful opportunity to learn to practice what we preach

> and to walk the talk we speak, for all those who have attempted to

> live the truths they have discovered, know it is far more

challenging

> to practice in the real world, than to live it in books, or

isolated

> in forests and behind computer screens.

>

> Congratulations SVCS, Sankar and Erica, pyari for keeping the club

so

> active and alive. Thank you to the members who have participated

and

> shared your journey. Of course, I am waiting to see the posts of

> several of you who promised me they would join the discussions on

the

> board and let us participate in your journey. Radhakutirji, thank

you

> for your message; please continue sharing your views with us,

> specially on the issues presented here by our seekers.

>

> I am yet to catch up with the club activities and past posts in

> detail, but have been in touch with some of our co-founders/members

> who have brought me up to date. Some comments –

>

> 1. A member in India pointed out to me that our subject index link

> was not working and I apologize to all those who have attempted to

> use it. On my return, I sought the help of Erica who has made it

> accessible again. I am not sure how many of you use it, but from my

> end, it is available once again.

>

> 2. It is heartening to see so many interesting web sites come up

> everyday on the subject of spirituality and transformation. I

welcome

> all the new members who have joined us to share their efforts

through

> web pages, in holding together the high spiritual values that has

the

> potential to bring "heaven on earth".

>

> I also ask them to participate in our discussions and dialogues,

for

> the value of that kind of participation is very different from

> reading information on a web site. A dialogue presents a sadhak's

> journey; the issues, the questions, and the obstacles that they

face

> along the way, and all sadhaks have been down that road before. A

> sadhaks current topic of interest, more often than not, reflects an

> evolutionary stage in their journey, issues that they are working

> with presently. The purpose of this forum is to be a catalyst for

> growth and understanding and sharing of like-minded energy, and

> assist all those who are open to such methods of spiritual

evolution.

>

> So do feel free to jump in and share your thoughts on the issues

and

> thoughts presented. In my experience, it is not in talking that we

> learn, but in listening, attending and responding. I also encourage

> members to read these wonderful web sites and pick up issues that

you

> would like to discuss here and pursue them with the same interest.

>

> 3. I read with interest some of the issues in the past few weeks.

> What it reminds me of, is that a sadhak's current attachment, or

> object of devotion is also a part of their spiritual journey. Like

a

> lover, they often are able to see nothing else aside from the arms

of

> their love, blinded to all else.

>

> While there are layers of Self-Realization, and not all are at the

> same place, there will be a day when wherever one looks, one will

> see the LIGHT taking the forms of Maa, Krishna, Christ, Shiva or

the

> person next to you!!!!! For all is Tat twam asi - some have

realized

> it totally, others don't have a clue, still others are at various

> stages in between. When one gets there, all words, all experiences

> are sent by the GURU of all GURUS - OM TAT SAT.

>

> _/\_ Tat Twam Asi

>

> Uma

>

> ******************************************

> This is a reply to Post 3881 by tatwamasi.

> ******************************************