Weekly Reflections No. 41 - Aug 21 - Don't Worry Be Happy!

Avatar Meher Baba -- Love and Sweetness Personified

"The main thing that counts is love for me. How will you love me? By loving God as well as others. If you make others happy, God pays heed. Do you follow? I have been saying the same message throughout the ages that all are One. We are all One, and all of you love me. "

Meher Baba

-- Lord Meher online, p. 4990

Weekly Reflections No. 41

from Meher Baba Books

(Los Angeles, California)

Aug, 21, 2015

Hello Dear Companions and Friends:

Greetings from Los Angeles, California, once again. Summer (and I am sure winter, for those in the Southern Hemisphere) is now at its full force, and we are thankful for all His creations including four colorful seasons God has offered to us. Happy summer and winter to all of you.

Guess what? Time for us to meet again on Friday, for our weekly appointment with Meher Baba -- this time to remember Him through His gift to the New Humanity: "Don't Worry, Be Happy" in His Love Kingdom.

Meher Baba would frequently use the short phrase "Don't worry, be happy" when cabling his followers in the West. (He also expressed this in a fuller version, such as: "Do your best. Then, don't worry; be happy in My love. I will help you.") Apparently, the short form of the expression became popular in the 1960s and later, and it increasingly appeared on various posters and greeting cards. The creative American vocalist Bobby McFerrin saw one such poster (his musician-friend neighbors were Baba-lovers), and was taken by the message conveyed by the expression. He recorded and performed the 'Don't Worry - Be Happy' song which became a sort of cultural icon, even playing a role in the 1988 US Presidential campaign. All Baba. He surely was behind it. Meher Baba formulated the brief expression, and enjoyed broader cultural recognition and appeal among people in many countries.

Baba says: "Why worry?! Worry is unnecessary. Necessary worry is not good, but unnecessary worry is madness. If I say: 'Be happy!' be happy at once! Forget. Away with it! Why brood? I never brood. Laugh! Be cheerful! It is all illusion -- why not be cheerful, happy? Start now!!" (as recalled by Kitty Davy in Love Alone Prevails, p. 241.)

On another subject, In the early Twenties, Meher Baba predicted His work in the West would be done by women, and in the East by men. And so it proved, for many decades, both in Europe and America, where the strongest personalities and the hardest workers were largely women, especially those whom He contacted during His trips to the West in the Thirties.

Cover of the 30th Anniversary issue of The Awakener, published & edited by Filis Frederick. Used with kind permission of The Awakener Magazine online.

The 30th Anniversary issue of The Awakener was dedicated to "these several unique personalities who did so much to acquaint those in the West with the Avatar of the Age, especially since I had the unique privilege of meeting and working with most of them," wrote Filis Frederick. We have been reflecting on them for many weeks now, and this week, we include Filis's account of life of Delia De leon.

We hope you enjoy these small occasions for reflecting on the divinity of Beloved Baba's words and life. You may email us at:

[email protected]

with any questions and/or requests. Keep Happy in His Love.

In His Love and Service,

Mahoo S. Ghorbani for Meher Baba Books

Notice:

We strive to give proper literature citations & photo credits where source information is known. If we have missed giving credit where due, please promptly contact us at the email address noted above. (Some omissions or errors can be rectified in a corrected "archival edition" of each new issue.)

~ Don't Worry - Be Happy ~

"There are very few things in the mind which eat up as much energy as worry. It is one of the most difficult things not to worry about anything. Worry is experienced when things go wrong, but in relation to past happenings it is idle merely to wish that they might have been otherwise.

The frozen past is what it is, and no amount of worrying is going to make it other than what it has been. But the limited ego-mind identifies itself with its past, gets entangled with it and keeps alive the pangs of frustrated desires. Thus worry continues to grow into the mental life of man until the ego-mind is burdened by the past. Worry is also experienced in relation to the future when this future is expected to be disagreeable in some way. In this case it seeks to justify itself as a necessary part of the attempt to prepare for coping with the anticipated situations.

But, things can never be helped merely by worrying. Besides, many of the things which are anticipated never turn up, or if they do occur, they turn out to be much more acceptable than they were expected to be. Worry is the product of feverish imagination working under the stimulus of desires. It is a living through of sufferings which are mostly our own creation. Worry has never done anyone any good, and it is very much worse than mere dissipation of psychic energy, for it substantially curtails the joy and fullness of life."

~ Meher Baba

from "Qualifications of the Aspirant II", Discourses, 6th edition, Volume III, p. 121

DO EVERYTHING, BUT DON'T WORRY

~ Meher Baba ~

Why worry?! Worry is unnecessary. Necessary worry is not good, but unnecessary worry is madness. If I say: "Be happy!" be happy at once! Forget. Away with it! Why brood? I never brood. Laugh! Be cheerful! It is all illusion - why not be cheerful, happy? Start now!!

Do everything, but don't worry. Worrying binds. When one is beyond worrying, one is happy. But you must consciously not worry. The stone does not worry, but unconsciously. It is all fun, all a game, happiness - if you don't worry.

from Kitty Davy, Love Alone Prevails, p. 241

Quotation at left side from Meher Baba, The Everything and the Nothing (1963), p. 49

CHEERFULNESS, ENTHUSIASM AND EQUIPOISE

Meher Baba

Among the many things which the aspirant needs to cultivate there are few which are as important as cheerfulness, enthusiasm and equipoise, and these are rendered impossible unless he succeeds in cutting out worry from his life. When the mind is gloomy, depressed and disturbed its action is chaotic and binding.

Hence arises the supreme need to maintain cheerfulness, enthusiasm and equipoise under all circumstances. All these are rendered impossible unless the aspirant succeeds in cutting out worry from his life. Worry is a necessary resultant of attachment to the past or to the anticipated future, and it always persists in some form or other until the mind is completely detached from everything.

~ Discourses, 6th edition, Vol. III, pp. 121-122

WORTHWHILE WORRY

Meher Baba

Duality implies separateness. Separateness causes fear. Fear makes worry.

The way of Oneness is the way to happiness; the way of manyness is the way to worry.

I am the one who has no second so I am eternally happy. You are separate from your Self, so you always worry.To you, what you see is absolutely real; to me it is absolutely false.

I alone am Real and my will governs the cosmic illusion. It is the truth when I say that the waves do not roll and the leaves do not move without my will.

The moment the intensity of your faith in my will reaches its height you say goodbye to worry forever. Then, all that you suffered and enjoyed in the past, together with all that you may experience in the future, will be to you the most loving and spontaneous expression of my will; and nothing will ever be able to cause you worry again.

Live more and more in the Present which is ever beautiful and stretches away beyond the limits of the past and the future.

If at all you must worry, let it be how to remember me constantly. This is worthwhile worry because it will bring about the end of worry.

Think of me more and more, and all your worries will disappear into the nothing they really are. My will works out to awaken you to this.

~ The Everything and The Nothing (1963), p. 62

~~ Farsi Version ~~

"Do Your Duty, But Don't Feel Worried about it"

... why worry about the future? ... "Why worry?" It never means anything ...

Do your duty, but don't feel worried about it.

Remain 100 percent happy, 100 percent honest.

Do the best you can; then at night, relax and forget about everything.

Keep happy. That is your duty.

And remain honest; don't compromise. When you do, you get a fear

complex in the heart.

I am telling the whole world not to worry. The time is fast approaching when I will give the Word. The whole world will know about it, and there will be many changes. You have no idea how insignificant your worries will become then. So why not stop worrying today?

November, 1962, at the East-West Gathering, Guruprasad, Poona.

Lord Meher online, p. 4867

~ Heroines of The Path ~

By Filis Frederick

Filis says, "It's time to get acquainted with some of these unusual women. They have been so devoted to Baba, however, that they have played down their lives previous to meeting Him, and 'hard' facts are hard to collect. Therefore I emphasize my own reminiscences."

VIII. Delia De Leon "Leyla"

In the early thirties, so many of the first Western followers of Meher Baba were connected to the theater in some way, it was as if Baba was a stage director assembling His "cast." Delia was no exception. A vivacious Spanish beauty (her family comes from Panama), she had been an actress and for many years ran the "Q" theatre in London together with her brother Jack (Baba visited it twice). In fact, she met Baba at the Coliseum theatre in London, at the performance of a play, "The White Horse Inn", in September, 1931. The "white horse" touch is interesting: in India, Baba is considered by the Hindus to be the foretold "White Horse" or Kalki Avatar. To please His disciples at one time He even rode a garlanded white horse seven times around Meherabad ashram.

Art work by Cherie Plumlee -- Happy Birthday Cherie.

Delia says "I sat next to Baba, but He took very little notice of me. I was shy and nervous, as if someone had taken a hammer and knocked me on the head. I hardly looked at Him. I heard people talking but felt dazed and far away. At the end I put out my hand and took His and looked mutely at Him. He nodded His head and I was told that I was to come the next day to Kensington (Kitty's home). During that week I went about like one in a dream. I was stunned with the wonder of Baba, nothing else existed for me. I saw Him every day, and from then on I had an implicit trust and faith in Him. I asked no questions, I wanted nothing from Him. I gave my life into His keeping and knew my search was at an end."

Meher Baba with Delia De Leon, Margaret Craske, Margaret and Meredith Starr, Quentin Tod

In an article in The Meher Baba Journal, she writes: "I felt shy and nervous. He looked at me kindly and made me sit next to Him. I had seen His face before in my dreams -- the eyes were startling in their beauty, the face seemed of luminous honey-color, framed by a halo of long dark hair. The hands were most noticeable -- they kept up an incessant pantomime, and were strong, slim and sensitive. Someone said, 'This is your surprise, Baba.' He patted my hand, and I think from that moment I must have intuitively recognized Him as my Master, for I suddenly wanted to cry. I felt stunned. The stage, the actors, seemed to recede and become vague and far away . . . "

Ever since a child, she had had an intense desire to know God; this desire had run parallel with her desire to be a great actress. Now she was meeting Him - and where else, but in a theatre! She too met Baba at a low point in her life and after a deep spiritual search. The figure of Jesus had always attracted her but "quite outside the Church," she relates.

Courtesy of The Glow International; Feb. 1972,

via the Meher Baba Travels website

In 1933, Delia with her sister Minta was one of those in the group of women called to India and sent back home to face the unpleasant publicity. Like the others she passed this test with unswerving faith. She was part of "Kim and Co.," soon shortened to "Kimco," and like some of the others, joined Baba on several visits to Europe. Baba had given special names to the "Kimco" gopis* - hers was Leyla, Margaret's was Zuleika, Kitty's was Saroja. Later on, Elizabeth Patterson was "Dilruba" and Norina, "Nurjehan."

In December, 1931, on His return from America, Baba invited "Kimco" on a short visit to Paris - also the Starrs, though Baba sent them back after a day or so, so only lighthearted "Kimco" was with Him. They visited the Eiffel Tower. Delia also shared in Baba's subsequent visits to Europe (Portofino, Santa Margherita, Cannes) and also joined the Nasik ashram group (1936-37) and the return visit to Cannes the same year.

Delia standing at left, next to Baba

from Meher Baba Travels website

During the war years, Delia remained in London and was supervisor of the Florence Nightingale Hospital for bombed-out people and held many Baba meetings there, helped by Will Backett and Charles Purdom.

MSI Collection: 1931 East Challacombe, England - Delia is seated on the right

From Meher Baba Travels website

The separation from the Beloved during the war years was hard for all the gopis, but it was sweetened by loving letters from the Master such as these:

~~~~~~

Nov. 5, 1938

c/o MS Irani

Meherabad

Ahmednagar

Dearest Leyla:

So you received a cold letter of welcome from your darling Baba. That was too bad. But have you not misunderstood My words? It is true that I need no disciples here or elsewhere. I can do My work alone through the heart of man without choosing a few selected ones. But in this Avataric period, as in the time of Jesus, I choose to live in close contact with Me (either here or elsewhere does not matter) those who have been with Me from ages past and who love Me deeply and whom I have loved since eternity.

Still this does not prevent My saying 'I can carry on My work without you.' All could leave Me, but the work would go on. It would be harder for Me. It would be a crucifixion but nevertheless the work of Love would not suffer. Nothing can stop God's work. If my own refuse or disappoint Me I must get the work done through some other medium. But I would suffer, so my faithful Leyla must never let Me down, but stick it right to the bitter end, whatever hardships may be in store. Why did I call you the faithful Leyla? Not for no reason. You know, in spite of what you say in your letter that nothing can separate you or all mankind from Me, because I am in all and God cannot be separated from Himself, can He? But as I have explained so often, that just as the eye or the ear may be more useful and necessary to a man than, say, his sense of smell or touch, so some are more necessary to Me for My present work than others. I say now as always 'Kimco is My heart and will remain forever My heart' wherever they are and you know the value of the heart to the body. Without it man in the human form could not exist, and I too without My heart would feel part of Me was missing.

Have I not shown you many times both in the past and now, how deeply I love you and I know how much you are capable of feeling My love at certain moments when I wish it so. I know the inner growth of each. Must I further demonstrate My love to convince you? Where would your faith come in?

Your third point, 'are you as I made you' . . . the sanskaras you have I gave you to work through, for My work, so it is true to say you are as I made you, but the goal still remains for you to attain perfection through duality. Remember, maya is My shadow, so indirectly, is Me too and is the means by which the Soul, divine though it is, but unconscious as yet of its divinity, must become conscious of its oneness with God.

Herein lies the riddle of the Universe and My game too. Perfect you are because Soul is always perfect being God but it must wade through duality to attain conscious perfection. And as My Circle are already God-Realized (but the curtain being drawn are unaware of it) I gave them, at the appointed time of birth these sanskaras to work through. Now is it clear? And how can you help Me in this game of Mine? By love and service. By control of your mind and moods and yes, weaknesses which are there for the purpose of exercising control over them. Often the greater one's love, the greater is the tendency to moods, because the pangs of separation are more acute. But I do not like moods and therefore to please Me, which is one of the best ways of showing your love for Me, try your best to overcome them.

Now cheer up, my faithful Leyla. I love you as always and you love Me infinitely more then you used to. I will come to the West soon - that I promise you and let Me see you looking plump, well and happy. A joyful heart will help you most to get strong.

All My love,

M.S. Irani

Bhopal

5th March 1939

Next week we will continue with Delia De Leon (Part 2).

from The Awakener Magazine online,

Vol. 20, No. 2 (1983), pp. 43-45, used by kind permission.

Editor's Note:

Delia ( Cordelia ) De Leon

Born : 10 February 1901 - Colon, Panama

Died : 21 January 1993 - Kew, Surrey, England

Nationality : English

East-West Gathering, Poona 1962

The Glow International (Feb. 2001)

~ For the One Who loves the God-Man There is no Wandering ~

In answering your question, I recall a story. It is about a lover who loves Meher Baba, and a seeker who is in search of Truth. Of course, Baba is Love personified, he is Truth personified, he is Everything. There is no difference between Truth and Love. But there is a difference between one who loves the God-Man and one who aspires for the Truth. The aspirations of the seeker of Truth will lead him through all sorts of byways and alley-ways, mountain passes and valleys.

But for the one who loves the God-Man there is no wandering. He is simply in love with the God-Man, for him he is the Beloved, and he has one-pointed absorption in him. He simply loves his beloved Lord and is completely content with no aspirations whatsoever. He has no questions to ask and nothing to seek or to find. He is quite content in just loving the Beloved.

So in this story that I recall there was such a one. And there was another person who was a seeker, and in his seeking he observed all sorts of austerities. He underwent fasts, he meditated, he carried out many yogic exercises. He was told that in the course of his pursuit of Truth, he would gain many powers, such as raising the dead, causing death, curing the sick and the blind and so on. He was charmed at the thought that through these things he would be able to help others, and he sought in right earnest to invoke the blessings of the Lord.

Years passed by. He continued strenuously in his efforts on the various paths to Truth. And while doing so, he remained in one place and was seated all he while on the same stone. He thought that by renouncing everything and remaining in the one place, God would be pleased with him.

And it so happened that after years of these practices, God was very pleased with his devotion. While seated on the same stone in the same place these many years, he heard God asking him what he wanted. He replied to the Lord: "Lord, you are the doer of justice and it is foolishness for me to ask anything else of you but justice. Please do justice to me."

The Lord replied, "All these years you have been a burden on this stone, sitting here and invoking my blessing to gain powers. If I were to dispense justice, justice demands that you unburden the stone of its burden, and put the stone on your head and have it as a burden on you."

That is the end of the story. You can guess whatever you want from it.

~ Eruch Jessawala

from William Le Page, It So Happened (1978), pp. 70-71

Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy

In 1988, Bobby McFerrin's a cappella effort, Don't Worry, Be Happy, won him three Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance respectively.

The lyrics are minimal centering on the catchy title.

"Do your best. Then, don't worry; be happy in My love. I will help you".
-- Meher Baba.

McFerrin noted that the abbreviated version "is a pretty neat philosophy in four words". Jai Baba.