~~ Working For Baba ~~

Meher Baba

 
A devotee from Bombay expressed a wish to offer one thousand rupees at Baba's feet. He lovingly placed this amount before Baba. Baba decided to use this money for His work with the poor. Accordingly, on June 9, 200 children below fifteen years, from the poor families, were brought to Baba. Baba bowed down to each one of them and gave each a packet of sweets and a piece of cloth as prasad.

 

There were also some who spontaneously offered what little they could give. Baba directed that this amount be sent for a newly opened Center and remarked, "Baba does not like to give money and expect work for Him in return. This is ridiculous. However, I am giving this money as PRASAD. Do not expect any more from Baba for His work."

 

In the course of discussion He humorously remarked, "It is easier for my lovers to give their heads than to give money!" About the attendance at the Centers, Baba said, "If five hundred attend the meeting it is well and good. If you try your utmost and people do not come, do not lose heart. Even if there are five persons present at the meeting, take it I will be there."

 

Baba further said, "Recently I heard that among some of My workers there has developed a considerable difference of opinion. Better you do not work for Me than develop such an attitude. I will appreciate your competitive spirit only in your surrender to Me and love for Me. To get yourself divided while doing My work shakes the very foundation of that work. That will defeat its own end. It is the height of hypocrisy to say 'I alone can do Baba's work.'"

 

Those concerned were given the opportunity to give vent to their feelings and express their thoughts freely. "When you get divided," Baba explained, "I and My work are set aside. You open a Center to spread Brotherhood but first see for yourselves how you behave among the group! If you cannot work together with concord, why open new Centers for Me? If you want to further My Cause, there is no escape but to become like dust in My work. There cannot be any compromise. Each of My lovers must become like dust. Then people of their own accord will flock around him and his own life will radiate My message of Love to others.

 

"I do not object to having Centers. There, lovers of Baba can meet and exchange their ideas and feeling of love for Me. But there should be concord. There must be a spirit of giving in. Today we must fix something - whether to have Centers or to dissolve them. The only solution is to become like dust in My work.

 

"But what do you understand by becoming like dust? How will you become like dust? If you could but do what I ask you to do, what else could you be but like dust? It is extremely difficult for you to do what I ask you to do. It is only possible when your heart is kindled with love for Me. If you cannot love Me as I ought to be loved, at least try to hold fast to My daaman. I will help you. Dust never complains even though we walk over it, trample upon it or use it in any way we like. If any number of calamities befall you and still you keep a smiling face, this may lead you to become like dust. You can become like dust only if you possess the highest type of love for Me. Becoming dust-like is the only link that would bring you together."

 

Referring to the older members of the group, Baba said, "As one grows old one is possessed by a peculiar spirit of expectation. He feels that the youngsters are purposely ignoring him or even hating him. My great expectation about you all, young and old, is that you should not entertain any expectation at all. Let the Centers newly created by you all be your school. Remember that everyone has his own peculiar way of expressing his love for Me; so try to behave like brothers. Let there be concord among yourselves. Try to accommodate one another. For the present, continue My work at the Centers as best as you can.

 

"I will lay down certain definite principles and they will be of real and lasting value. I intend to destroy the bindings of all superfluous ceremonies. The times when Jesus and Krishna lived were different; the present time is altogether different. I have to tell the people according to the needs of the time.

 

"In the present atom-age, material progress has nearly reached its zenith, and this is but the shadow of the internal progress in the realm of Spirituality."

 

In the end, Baba lovingly stressed again the following points. He said, "It is a fact that I am God. I am the Highest of the High. I wish that those who raised their hands should hold fast to my daaman for good.

 

"There is no need for My lovers to visit other saints. Stick to Me and spread My message of Love to all and become like dust in Baba's work."

  

The Best of the Glow, ed. Naosherwan Anzar (1984), pp. 23-24

  * * *

Hints For Spiritual Workers

Meher Baba

Spiritual progress consists in the spontaneous growth of understanding from within.

As spiritual workers, you have also to remember that the spiritual wisdom you desire to convey to others is already latent in them, and that you have only to be instrumental in unveiling that spiritual wisdom. Spiritual progress is not a process of accumulating from without; it is a process of unfoldment from within. A Perfect Master is absolutely necessary for anyone to arrive at Self-knowledge, but the true significance of the help given by the Master consists in the fact that he enables others to come into the full possession of their own latent possibilities.

 

Some questions are more important than answers.

 

You, as spiritual workers, must not lose sight of the real work the Master desires to get done through you. When it is clearly understood that spiritual wisdom is latent in all, you will no longer be anxious to provide others with ready-made answers and solutions. In many cases you will be content to set up for others a new problem or to clarify for others the nature of the problems they face. You may have done your duty if you ask them a question that they would not ask of themselves, when placed in some practical situation. In some cases you will have done your duty if you succeed in putting them in a searching and questioning attitude, so that they themselves begin to understand and tackle their problems along more fruitful and creative lines.  

 

To give them a deeper point of view or to suggest to them a fruitful line of thought and action may itself mean much more than thrusting upon them the results of your judgment.

The questions that you may help them formulate for themselves should neither be merely theoretical nor unnecessarily complicated. If they are simple, straight, and fundamental, these questions will answer themselves; and people will find their own solutions. You will have rendered indispensable and valuable service to them because, without your tactful intervention, they would not have arrived at the solution of their multifarious problems from the spiritual point of view.

 

Discourses, 7th ed, pp. 347-348

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF MY WORK

Meher Baba

 
It is absolutely impossible for an ordinary man to understand my work. With my universal mind, I work on an unlimited scale for the universe; to understand what I do is not within the bounds of human intellect. I always work for the universe and not for myself. Why would I need to work for myself? I do my work through various mediums. With that object in mind, I visit places, see different sights, or go to plays, films, and do a hundred and one other things. But I don't enjoy movies or plays as you do; I make them the medium of my inner spiritual work. My every breath does this work constantly, while outwardly you find me doing nothing special. You cannot grasp the internal mystery.

I have to do great work for the welfare of humanity - it is my universal duty. Times are critical and due to certain crises, my responsibility has increased in proportion to the circumstances and prevailing conditions. I am the Emperor of the spiritual kingdom and every second receive inner reports and messages from my agents in every corner of the world. Because of the troublesome times we are facing, I am inwardly receiving only distressing reports, such as the conflict between China and Japan. Such news pours in every moment from various parts of the world and I have to issue inner instructions to my agents.

You cannot see this outwardly, as I simultaneously manage an infinite number of things inwardly unknown to anyone. However, the effect of my work does appear outwardly. For example, you may find me suddenly and quite abruptly in a bad mood. One moment I may look happy in a jolly mood; the very next, you may find me serious, irritable and morose. All this depends on the reports I receive, and I have to plan my work according to them. Or suppose I am quite happily having tea, and at that moment I am inwardly informed that someone in India is passing through a great crisis. At that time, I send out a message in reply on how to cope with or remedy the situation. And while doing that, my mood will change so that I will appear absent from my present surroundings.

You will have a thousand and one thoughts at this sudden change in me; but it is your ignorance which prevents you from either understanding the nature of my work or the cause of the change in my mood. You will be pained at my behavior and pondering it, thousands of thoughts will pass through your mind in a second. But all this is beyond intellect and you will never be able to follow it with the help of an inquisitive or arguing mind.

 

EFFACEMENT OF THE FALSE SELF

There are different kinds of seekers of God in the world. Many want God, and at the same time, they also want the world. They try to follow God, but they have reservations and make compromises in their search. They are not wholehearted. There are also those who renounce the world externally and remain engaged in doing austerities and penance prescribed by certain religions, not for the sake of love of God alone, but to gain some power or for spiritual advancement.

But you, as Spiritual Trainees, should be serious seekers of God, renouncing your own false self and waging war against it. It is your duty as Spiritual Trainees to remain engaged in this inner war against the false self. It is a very difficult war! But Beloved Meher Baba is there to help you at every step. You should try to want God alone, being prepared to do everything

for Him. In this way you will become real warriors against the false self.

How can I describe the spiritual life in a way that will not be misunderstood? One thing is certain, that if you use your intellect, you will fail to even understand what the spiritual life is. The spiritual life is a life of forgetting your lower self. You become forgetful of your lower self, not through loss of memory, but through love of God. As you forget your lower self you lose name, fame, expectations, etc. And when the lower self is completely lost, you gain the Real Self, which is God.

Bhau Kalchuri  

The Spiritual Training Programme  page 42-43 

~~ Poetry Corner ~~ 

THE FIRE OF MY HEART IS CALLING YOU

How will I pass through this night of Your separation?

I have been unnecessarily wandering day and night to find You.

Not knowing that the slave one day becomes the Master.

For it draws me from the world and brings me to You.

I serve Him wholeheartedly-He appears not to love me at all.

The world will never understand why I love the One Who kicks me.

~ BHAU KALCHURI / Meher Sarod

~~ Baba's Mudras (part 1) ~~

Demonstrated by Eruch Jessawala

    Vol. 21, No. 1, p. 8