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Meher Baba

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Meher Baba on the cover of his book, Discourses.
Meher Baba on the cover of his book, Discourses.

Meher Baba (in Persian: مهربابا), born Merwan Sheriar Irani (February 25, 1894 – January 31, 1969), was an Iranian-Indian spiritual master who said to his followers that he was the Avatar (an incarnation of God), and was indeed recognized as "Parvardigar" (God as the Almighty Sustainer) by the old Indian fakir and Perfect Master Sai Baba of Shirdi. Although he maintained silence for most of his life, his teachings spread worldwide, notably through Baba's extensive travels and publications. Some of his ideas were dramatized in The Who's rock opera "Tommy", whose main composer Pete Townshend wore a badge at the Woodstock Festival with Baba's quote "Don't Worry, Be Happy," which later became even better known after appearing in a song by Bobby McFerrin. This catchphrase reflects Meher Baba's teaching that all human experience reflects God's divine plan, and that in the end all souls will become united with God. His samadhi (tomb-shrine) in Meherabad (outside Ahmednagar, India) has become a place of pilgrimage.
 

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Meher Baba's Life

The events of Meher Baba's life are well documented. Typically he lived and traveled in company with the circle of his closest disciples ("mandali"), both men and women, from whom he demanded absolute obedience. He and his mandali voluntarily assumed a life of extreme simplicity, almost to the point of poverty.

He spent long periods in intense seclusion, often fasting. But Meher Baba would intersperse these periods with wide-ranging travels, public gatherings, and works of charity, including working among lepers, the very poor, and the "mad" and "masts" who were often destitute.

Early years

Meher Baba was born in Pune, India. His given name was Merwan Sheriar Irani. He was the second son of his father Sheriar, a Persian Zoroastrian who had been a wandering Sufi dervish before settling in Pune, and Sheriar's young wife, Shireen, who called him her most beautiful child. His schoolmates nicknamed the charismatic and sometimes mischievous youngster "Electricity." As a boy he formed The Cosmopolitan Club amongst his best friends, a club dedicated to remaining informed in world affairs and giving money to charity — money often raised by the boys betting at the horse races. Merwan had a sonorous singing voice, and was an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and poet. Fluent in half a dozen languages, he was especially fond of Hafez's Persian poetry, but also of Shakespeare and Shelley. He was known for his lightning wit and universal knowledge, embracing both commerce and the arts. He claimed that all major established religions are essentially different beads on the same string, quoting freely from all the holy books.

In his youth Merwan had no mystical inclinations or experiences, but was more interested in sports (especially cricket). At the age of 19, however, while bicycling home from Deccan College in Pune, he met a very old Muslim woman, a spiritual master named Hazrat Babajan, who kissed him on the forehead. Shortly after this, he also had direct contact with four other "Perfect Masters" (Tajuddin Baba of Nagpur, Narayan Maharaj of Kedgaon, Sai Baba of Shirdi, and Upasni Maharaj of Sakori).

Meher Baba explained that Hazrat Babajan was a Perfect Master whose kiss unveiled him spiritually, establishing him in a state of God-consciousness or God-realization. Subsequently, he went without food or drink for nine months, frequently beating his head against a stone to maintain contact with the physical world. Later he contacted the perfect masters Sai Baba of Shirdi and Upasni Maharaj of Sakori who he said helped him to integrate this experience with normal consciousness, thus enabling him to function in the world without diminishing his experience of God-realization.

After living for seven years in Sakori with Sadguru Upasni Maharaj, Merwan started to attract a following of his own. His early followers gave him the name "Meher Baba," or Compassionate Father.

Manzil-e-Meem and Meherabad

In 1922, Meher Baba and his followers established "Manzil-e-Meem" (the House of the Master) in Bombay. Baba demanded strict discipline and obedience from his disciples. Baba spent this period in meditation and fasting. After a year, Baba and his disciples moved to an area a few miles outside Ahmednagar, which he called "Meherabad" (Meher flourishing). This ashram would become the center for his work.

With his disciples he undertook long pilgrimages on foot, contacting and washing the feet of the poor and lepers as he traveled.

Prem ashram

In 1924, Meher Baba created a resident school at Meherabad, which he called the "Prem Ashram" ("prem" means "love"). The school was free and open to all castes. The school drew multi-denominational students from around India and Iran.

The Manzil-e-Meem and Prem Ashram years are well documented in the book Ramjoo's Diaries, 1922-1929: A Personal Account of Meher Baba's Early Work by Ramjoo Abdulla (Sufism Reoriented, 1979).

Silence

From July 10, 1925 until his death in 1969, Meher Baba was silent. He communicated first by using an alphabet board, and later by hand gestures which were interpreted and spoken out by one of his mandali (devoted disciples), usually by his disciple Eruch Jessawala.

Meher Baba said that his silence was not undertaken as a spiritual exercise, nor as a vow of silence, but undertaken and maintained solely in connection with his universal work.

I am never silent. I speak eternally. The voice that is heard deep within the soul is My voice...the voice of inspiration, of intuition, of guidance. To those who are receptive to this voice, I speak. [1]

Man’s inability to live God’s words makes the Avatar’s teaching a mockery. Instead of practicing the compassion he taught, man has waged wars in his name. Instead of living the humility, purity, and truth of his words, man has given way to hatred, greed, and violence. Because man has been deaf to the principles and precepts laid down by God in the past, in this present Avataric form, I observe silence. [2]

First contacts with the West

In the 1930s, Meher Baba began a period of extensive world travel, circling the globe many times. He made frequent trips to England, Europe and America. It was during this period that he established contact with his first close group of Western disciples.

On his first trip to England in 1931 he traveled on the SS Rajputana, the same ship as Mahatma Gandhi. Meher Baba and Gandhi had many private conversations onboard. In the West, Meher Baba met with interested individuals who had heard of his spiritual status and his work in India, many of whom were notable celebrities and artists, such as Hollywood stars Gary Cooper, Tallulah Bankhead, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and most notably the film producer Gabriel Pascal. He enjoyed watching Chaplin movies, comparing Creation to movie-making.

In the late '30s, Meher Baba invited a group of western women to join him in India, where he arranged a series of trips that became known as the Blue Bus Tours. When they returned home, many newspapers treated their journey as an occasion for scandal.

Baba's image on one of his many books.
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Baba's image on one of his many books.

The Discourses

During the course of early gatherings of his mandali (disciples) and followers, Meher Baba would give discourses on different spiritual subjects. Between 1938 and 1943, at the request of Norina Matchabelli, Meher Baba dictated a series of discourses on his alphabet board for the Meher Baba Journal.

These discourses, transcribed or worked up from points given by Baba by close disciples, address all aspects of the spiritual life, and provide practical and simple direction for the aspirant. During those years, at least one of these discourses appeared in each issue of the monthly Meher Baba Journal. C.D. Deshmukh, a close disciple of Meher Baba, compiled and edited the dictation, and Baba personally approved each discourse by signing the table of contents for that issue of the journal.

Between 1939 and 1954 in India, a five-volume compilation titled Discourses of Meher Baba received several printings. In 1967, two years before passing away, Meher Baba personally supervised the editing and publication of a new three-volume version of the Discourses, known as the sixth edition, which is available online. [3]

The widely available seventh edition of the Discourses (ISBN 1880619091), first published by Sheriar Press in 1987 (after Baba's death), contains numerous editorial changes not specifically authorized by Meher Baba.

Work with 'masts'

In the 1940s, Meher Baba did extensive work with a category of people he termed "masts" (short for the Sufi term "Mast-Allah" meaning "intoxicated with God"). These individuals are essentially disabled by their enchanting experience of the higher spiritual planes. Although outwardly masts appear irrational or even insane, Meher Baba claimed that their spiritual status was actually quite elevated, and that by meeting with them, he allowed them to move forward spiritually.

Meher Baba visited literally thousands of masts throughout southern Asia, and occasionally set up ashrams where they were cared for. The best known of these masts, known as Mohammed Mast, lived at Meher Baba's encampment at Meherabad until his death in 2003. [4]

This work with masts was extensively documented in the book The Wayfarers: Meher Baba With the God-Intoxicated by William Donkin, Ph.D. (ISBN 0913078654).

The New Life

In 1949 Meher Baba began an enigmatic period which he called the "New Life." Following a series of questions on their readiness to obey even the most difficult of his requests, Meher Baba selected twenty companions to join him in a life of complete "hopelessness, helplessness and aimlessness." During this time, Meher Baba acted not as the Master, but as a companion.

He made provisions for those dependent on him, then he and his companions otherwise gave up all property and financial responsibilities. They then traveled about India incognito, without money, begging for their food, carrying out Baba's instructions and living in strict accordance with a set of "conditions of the New Life." These included absolute acceptance of the circumstances of their lives, and consistent good cheer in the face of any difficulty. Those companions who failed to comply were sent away.

About the New Life Meher Baba wrote:

This New Life is endless, and even after my physical death it will be kept alive by those who live the life of complete renunciation of falsehood, lies, hatred, anger, greed and lust; and who, to accomplish all this, do no lustful actions, do no harm to anyone, do no backbiting, do not seek material possessions or power, who accept no homage, neither covet honor nor shun disgrace, and fear no one and nothing; by those who rely wholly and solely on God, and who love God purely for the sake of loving; who believe in the lovers of God and in the reality of Manifestation, and yet do not expect any spiritual or material reward; who do not let go the hand of Truth, and who, without being upset by calamities, bravely and wholeheartedly face all hardships with one hundred percent cheerfulness, and give no importance to caste, creed and religious ceremonies. This New Life will live by itself eternally, even if there is no one to live it. (The God-Man, p. 187) [5]

Automobile accident in U.S.A.

Meher Baba ended the New Life after a period of intense seclusion, and once again began a round of public appearances and extensive travel throughout India and the West.

In the 1940s and '50s Meher Baba established two centers outside of India: Meher Spiritual Center, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Avatar's Abode, near Brisbane, Australia.

On May 24, 1952, Meher Baba's car was struck head-on near Prague, Oklahoma. He and his companions were thrown from the vehicle and suffered many injuries. [6] Meher Baba's leg was severely broken and he had facial injuries. The injured were treated and returned to Myrtle Beach to recuperate, including work done at Duke Hospital in Durham, North Carolina.

Highest of the High

In September, 1953 Meher Baba gave his "Highest of the High" declaration. [7]

On February 10, 1954 in Meherastana U.P., India, Meher Baba publicly declared his Avatarhood for the first time by spelling out on his alphabet board during a gathering, "Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai."

In September of that year, Meher Baba gave a "men-only" sahavas at Meherabad which later became known as the "Three Incredible Weeks." During this time Baba issued a number of messages and discourses, the most significant being "Meher Baba's Call." [8]

In October of 1954, Meher Baba discarded his alphabet board and began using a unique set of hand gestures to communicate.

In 1956 he visited Myrtle Beach and other places in the US as well as the newly opened Avatar's Abode in Australia.

 

Automobile accident in India

On December 2, 1956, outside Satara, India, the car in which Meher Baba was travelling went out of control and a serious accident occurred. Meher Baba suffered a fractured pelvis and other severe injuries. Dr. Nilu, a close mandali, was killed.

This accident seriously incapacitated Meher Baba. Despite his physician's predictions to the contrary, after great effort Baba managed to walk again, but from that point was in constant pain and was severely limited in his ability to move.

Meher Baba made one more trip to the West in 1958. On this visit, he often needed to be carried from venue to venue.

 

Seclusion and East-West Gathering

Meher Baba returned to India, and began more periods of fasting, meditation and seclusion. One might have expected such seclusion to be restful; on the contrary, Meher Baba's seclusion work was draining and exhausting. He claimed to be doing work on behalf of the spiritual welfare of all humanity.

In 1962, Meher Baba gave one of his last public functions, a series of meetings he called The East-West Gathering. At these meetings, at which his western followers were invited to meet his Indian disciples, Baba gave darshan to many thousands, despite the physical strain this caused on his broken body.

"God in a Pill"

In 1966, at the height of the Psychedelic era, Meher Baba allowed individual visits by three young western academics, who asked about the spiritual aspects of drugs. In response, Meher Baba's words were collected in a pamphlet, God in a Pill, in which he stated that drug use was spiritually damaging and that if enlightenment were possible through drugs then "God is not worthy of being God." This pamphlet has been updated and is now available as a book entitled A Mirage Will Never Quench Your Thirst (Sheriar Foundation, 2003). At his request, the three returned to the West and spread this message, which increased Meher Baba's notoriety among the young. It was during this period that the popular poster of a smiling Baba, captioned "Don't Worry, Be Happy" became widely distributed, even appearing in day-glo versions.

Final Seclusion and Amartithi

From the East-West Gathering onward, Meher Baba's health deteriorated steadily. Despite the physical toll it took on his body, Meher Baba spent long periods in seclusion, fasting and meditating. His physical condition grew steadily worse.

In 1968, Meher Baba completed a particularly taxing period of seclusion, and emerged saying that his work "was completed 100% to my satisfaction." By this point he was confined to a wheelchair. Within a few months his condition worsened, and he was bed-ridden, his body wracked by intense muscular spasms that had no clear origin. Despite the care of several doctors, the spasms grew progressively worse.

On January 31, 1969, Meher Baba took his final breaths, conveying by his final gesture, "Do not forget that I am God." This day became known as Amartithi ("deathless day"). Meher Baba's body was laid in his samadhi, amongst ice and sawdust, and covered with roses. It was kept available to the public for one week before its final burial.

Meher Baba's portrait on a book by Josephine Esther Ross
Meher Baba's portrait on a book by Josephine Esther Ross

Last Darshan

Before his passing, Meher Baba had made extensive preparations for a public darshan program to be held in Pune, India. His mandali decided to proceed with the arrangements despite the physical absence of the host, saying that "God had invited them, and they were free to keep their appointment". Several thousands attended this "Last Darshan", including many hundred young people from the US, England, and Australia, who had been affected by Meher Baba's anti-drug message, and by his other teachings.

Cosmology

Meher Baba's cosmology, which syncretises Sufi, Vedantic, and Mystic concepts and terms, is fleshed out in detail in his 1955 book, God Speaks, the first eight chapters of which Meher Baba dictated using an English language alphabet board. Meher Baba said that God Speaks was the most important book for this age. In God Speaks Meher Baba says that he upholds without equivocation both the theory of identityism (wahdat-ul-wujud) and the theory of advaitism (God Speaks, 2nd Edition, p.170). These are, respectively, the Sufi and Vedantic theories that atma is one with and identical with Paramatma, i.e. non-dual. The Western mystic terminology for this concept is that the soul is one with the Over-soul. For a succinct encapsulation of Meher Baba's cosmology, see the book description at amazon.com of God Speaks.

Evolution and Involution

Meher Baba's cosmology is based on divine unity, the concept that diverse creation, or duality, is an illusion.

I tell you all, with my Divine Authority, that you and I are not "WE," but "ONE." The Oneness of Reality is so uncompromisingly unlimited and all-pervading that not only "We are One," but even this collective term of "We" has no place in the Infinite Indivisible Oneness. [9]

Meher Baba said that the goal of life is conscious realization of the absolute Oneness of God and that his work as Avatar is to awaken this Oneness in each heart.

Meher Baba compares God's original state to an infinite, shoreless Ocean which has only unconscious divinity — unaware of itself even though there is nothing but itself. To become aware of its divinity, the Ocean formed "drops" of itself, termed “drop souls,” each asking the question “Who am I?” In pursuit of the answer, to gain conscious divinity, each drop soul evolves through experience of each form in the seven kingdoms of evolution. These are: stone or metal, vegetable, worm, fish, bird, animal, and human.

The drop soul experiences (by associating with) and discards (by dissociating from) forms in all these kingdoms. The final form of the soul's evolution of consciousness is human. Only human consciousness (being full in consciousness, yet misdirected) can achieve awareness of divinity, according to Meher Baba.

During its evolution, however, the drop soul also accumulates numerous sanskaras (or "impressions"), which prevent the drop soul from automatically realizing its true identity as God (Ocean) once it attains human form. To gain its true identity, the drop soul traverses an inward spiritual path called involution through which it gradually eliminates all sanskaras which cause the appearance of separateness from God (Ocean).

Once the sanskaras are gone, the goal of knowing itself as conscious divinity is attained. The drop soul once again becomes merged in the Ocean, that is, it realizes its true Divine indivisible and eternal nature. It has now answered the question of “Who am I?” with “I am God.”

The first drop soul to answer this question is the Avatar. He is responsible for each drop soul after him. [10]

Sanskaras

As the drop soul progresses through successive lifetimes, it creates and exhausts sanskaras. Gross sanskaras become more refined over many lives and become subtle sanskaras, and these over lives are refined and become mental sanskaras. Mental sanskaras can be completely eliminated. A sadguru or Perfect Master can eliminate any and all sanskaras of any kind. Sanskaras are described as binding or unbinding, natural or non-natural (also sometimes as unnatural, although the distinction between the prefix non- and un- in relation to Meher Baba's explanations about sanskaras has been the cause of some confusion). Actions such as murder create non-natural binding sanskaras. Even good actions can create binding sanskaras [11].

Sanskaras are individualized and so there is no way of determining the effect of a particular action. An action may be good in one instance and bad in another, based on the person's intent [12]. The law of karma (cause and effect) balances good and bad actions and their subsequent sanskaras.

Inevitably, the individual seeks a life of love for God, which is beyond the duality of good and bad. This inward journey towards God gradually awakens consciousness, until the grace of a Perfect Master wipes all sanskaras out. Meher Baba stated, "The wiping out of sanskaras can be effected only by the grace of a Perfect Master" (Discourses).

The Avatar, according to Meher Baba, is the eternal living Perfect Master.

The Avatar

Meher Baba claimed to be the Avatar, a Sanskrit word meaning "descent of God," the ancient soul who is literally God in human form. Meher Baba stated that the Avatar is the same ancient soul taking birth in human form every 700 to 1,400 years.

Meher Baba's followers believe that the Avatar incarnated, in this cycle of time, as Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad. Some followers believe that Abraham is also the Avatar incarnated in a previous cycle of time. Bhau Kalchuri, one of Baba's close mandali, stated that he believes that Noah was the Avatar.

Role of the Avatar

Meher Baba describes the Avatar as a "...gauge against which man can measure what he is and what he may become. He trues the standard of human values by interpreting them in terms of divinely human life" (Discourses).

In spiritual terms, the Avatar awakens all souls towards their true identity as God. Meher Baba stated, "In his own ways, the Avatar unfailingly fulfills his incarnation by giving a spiritual push to his age" (Beams from Meher Baba..., p. 32). The Avatar helps each individual to break free from his or her bondage in his or her own way.

In practical terms, the Avatar lives a human life which provides for future generations a model for compassionate thoughts, words, and deeds. While the Avatar is omnipotent and omniscient, he completely inhabits his human form, and lives, for the most part, within a human body's constraints. In some situations, however, he may make use of his Infinite Power, Knowledge, or Bliss.

As Jesus Christ, the Avatar made use of powers on the fourth plane of consciousness, the plane of miracles. This power could have also prevented him from being crucified; however, he used his powers to have those events occur in order to benefit all of creation.

For more information on Meher Baba's concept of the planes of consciousness, one may refer to his book God Speaks.

Painting of Meher Baba by Lyn Ott
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Painting of Meher Baba by Lyn Ott

Followers of Meher Baba

Meher Baba traveled around the world several times, attracting followers on all continents.

Although he sometimes participated in large public gatherings, Meher Baba discouraged his followers from proselytizing on his behalf. Rather he stated, "Let your life itself be my message of love and truth to others" (The Silent Master, p. 17).

There are no special requirements, rites or rituals associated with becoming a follower or devotee of Meher Baba; nor are there any specific duties, rites or rituals required of his followers (commonly called "Baba lovers"). Many of Baba's followers observe a few common practices, however, on a very informal basis. These include keeping pictures of him, remembering him, and refraining from what they call "psychedelic drugs" (which includes marijuana). Baba lovers sometimes differentiate between those who accept Baba's claim to Avatarhood, called Baba lovers, and Baba likers, those who are attracted to Baba in some way, but do not have any faith in his divine status.

Gatherings of Baba followers, when they occur, are typically informal and highly social in nature. Special effort will be made to gather together on Amartithi, the anniversary of Meher Baba's death, and on his birthday.

Most of Meher Baba's followers observe "Silence Day" on July 10 of each year by keeping verbal silence for 24 hours (in accordance with the requests Baba often made during his life that his followers keep silence or fast on this day).

Three prayers written by Meher Baba, the "Master's Prayer" (sometimes referred to as "O Parvardigar"), the "Prayer of Repentance" and the "Beloved God Prayer," are recited morning and evening at his samadhi, and are often recited at gatherings of his followers. At Meherabad, his followers maintain Meher Baba's practice of lighting a dhuni fire in a fire-ring on the 12th of each month. After dhuni prayers, participants throw sandalwood twigs dipped in ghee into the flame as physical representations of fears and desires they wish to relinquish.

Devotional music also frequently plays a substantial role in gatherings of Baba lovers (as his followers call themselves). This feature is common to his followers in both the West and in India, although in India music seems to play a substantially greater role.

How many Baba lovers there are is difficult to gauge since there is no official creed that is required and no central authority, thus there are no membership rolls. One's relationship with Baba is considered a person's private affair. However, pilgrimage sites in India and America do report an increase in new visitors, so it is plausible that the overall number of followers is increasing slightly. Some estimates (including one made at the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach in the late 1990s) are that there are approximately 3,000 in America, 3,000 in Europe, and about 100,000 in India. The average Amartithi gathering each year in India sites about 30,000 visitors.

Influence on Pete Townshend

Meher Baba achieved additional fame in the West through the work of Pete Townshend of The Who. Parts of the rock-opera Tommy were inspired by Townshend's study of Meher Baba, to whom the album was dedicated, and whose eye appears on the cover sleeve. Meher Baba's comments on the feelings of hatred, greed and violence which man entertains are dramatized through the characters of Cousin Kevin (sadism), Uncle Ernie (lust) and Tommy's parents (greed). The stardom thrust upon Tommy as the pinball wizard is an apt metaphor for what Meher Baba called Maya, or the life of mere appearances. The dramatic highlight of both the album and the movie by Ken Russell (1975) is the smashing of the mirror, i.e. the annihilation of the Ego. Townshend's first commercial solo album Who Came First was dedicated to Meher Baba, whose large photograph adorns the inner sleeve, and he participated in several limited release albums (notably a solo effort I am, 1972). The song "Baba O'Riley" (often mistakenly called "Teenage Wasteland"), originally written for an unfinished rock opera project entitled Lifehouse, contained synthesizer passages in the style of American minimalist composer Terry Riley generated by the programming of biographical details of Meher Baba's life. The song opened the album Who's Next. Later songs inspired by Townshend's study of Meher Baba (whom he incidentally neither met nor corresponded with) include "Love, Reign O'er Me" from Quadrophenia, and "A Little Is Enough" and "The Sea Refuses No River" from Townshend's solo albums.

 

Bibliography

Books by Meher Baba

Books fully about Meher Baba

Books about Meher Baba and other subjects

External links

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