Voices of Islam (268 page)

Meher Baba (1894–1969)

Meher Baba declared that he was the Avatar, the manifestation of God in human form, not merely a teacher, but an awakener, sent to awaken love

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through the power of divine love. He claimed to have lived before as Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Christ, and Muhammad. This list echoes Inayat Khan’s prayer ‘‘Saum’’ and Meher Baba’s claim to be Muham- mad locates him squarely in our discussion of teachers who are both steeped in either Islam or Sufism and who are also harbingers of the New Age Move- ment and the Interspiritual Age. He transmitted Sufi teachings to disciples in Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand, and around the globe. By 1958, he had established two teaching centers in America, one in Australia, and one in London. He represents a specific link between Sufism and the Inter- spiritual Age. In addition, he attempted to ‘‘re-orient’’ Inayat Khan’s Sufi Order.

Born in 1894 to a family of Parsis (Zoroastrians who emigrated from Iran to India beginning in the tenth century
CE
) in Mumbai, he was introduced to Sufism by his father Sheriar who had wandered as a dervish (Sufi mendi- cant) for 18 years in both Iran and India. Of five Indian ‘‘perfect masters’’ who initiated Meher Baba three had Muslim backgrounds. Meher Baba’s own teaching is infused with the Sufism of Persian and Indian cultures, espe- cially from Hafiz (d. 1389
CE
) and Rumi (d. 1273
CE
).

Meher Baba’s teachings pointed beyond the boundaries of scriptures, prac- tices, and institutions:

I am not come to establish any cult, society, or organization; nor even to establish a new religion. The religion that I shall give teaches the Knowledge of the One behind the many. The book that I shall make people read is the book of the heart that holds the key to the mystery of life. I shall bring about a happy blending of the head and the heart. I shall revitalize all religions and cults, and bring them together like beads on one string.
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Meher Baba declared the oneness of religious truth in love:

There is no difference in the realization of Truth either by a Muslim, Hindu, Zoroastrian, or Christian. The difference is only in words and terms. Truth is not the monopoly of a particular race or religion.
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I belong to no religion. Every religion belongs to me. My personal religion is being the Ancient Infinite One. And the religion I impart to all is love for God, which is the truth of all religions.
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Meher Baba culled from a variety of traditions, mostly those of his previous Avataric manifestations as well the ‘‘perfect masters’’ Rumi, Hafiz, Ramakrishna, Tukaram, Kabir, Milarepa, and St. Francis.
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In one of his two most important books,
God Speaks
Meher Baba takes a famous poem by Rumi as his point of departure to describe and explain in detail how souls return to God. This can be a challenging poem for some Muslims since it seems to carry overtones of metempsychosis:

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Voices of Change

I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant and rose to animal,

I died as animal and I was Man.

Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar With angels blest; but even from angelhood

I must pass on: all except God doth perish. When I have sacrificed my angel soul,

I shall become what no mind e’er conceived.

Oh, let me not exist! For Non-existence proclaims In organ tones. ‘‘To Him we shall return.’’
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This poem expresses God’s immanent and empathetic experience as He participates in all levels of being. (The Qur’an teaches that God sees through the eyes of all creatures [Surat al-An‘am (6):103].) God here is the subject, the ‘‘I,’’ who progresses through each of these stages. Meher Baba, teaching that each soul is an individual ‘‘drop’’ of the divine ocean returning to the divine ocean, sustains both this reading and his teaching that the soul transmigrates.

Meher Baba explains the journey Rumi describes in three parts: ‘‘evolu- tion,’’ ‘‘reincarnation,’’ and ‘‘involution.’’ In ‘‘evolution’’ the soul traces a path through the physical universe: gaseous forms; stone; metal; vegetable; worm, insect, and reptile; fish; bird; and animal; before finally reaching human form. In ‘‘reincarnation’’ the human soul goes through repeated rebirths and through its thoughts, words, and actions acquires new ‘‘impressions’’ (patterns,
samskara
[s]). As these impressions wind around it, they veil the soul from God’s presence. However, ultimately through rebirths charac- terized by morality, spiritual work and divine grace these impressions loosen and unwind until they progressively wear away. After evolution and reincarna- tion the soul moves into its third phase: ‘‘involution.’’ In this phase the soul passes beyond the first body, the ‘‘gross body’’ of human incarnation.

Involution takes the soul on a journey through seven planes. The first six planes are contained in two ‘‘bodies’’ or ‘‘spheres.’’ In involution the soul fi progresses to the ‘‘subtle body’’ which contains energy impressions. Next the soul moves into the ‘‘mental body’’ fi ed with impressions of instinct, intellect, emotion, and desire, before the soul completes its return to God. Located in the planes of the ‘‘subtle body’’ (the first four planes in a series of seven) are ‘‘psychic’’ or ‘‘magical’’ experiences and powers. In the ‘‘subtle body’’ one experiences—and is in danger of becoming distracted by—a variety of paranormal phenomena: images, colors, bright lights, circles, fragrances, music, and so on.

The fifth and sixth planes of the ‘‘mental body’’ symbolize the purification of mind and heart: ‘‘
...
Those belonging to the mental sphere only use their powers for the good of others.’’
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The ‘‘mental body’’ planes also describe the spiritual attainments of various holy people. The fi plane represents

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those known as
wali
(lit., ‘‘friend of God’’) the saints and yogis. The sixth plane includes the perfect masters:
murshid
(lit., ‘‘guide’’) and
pir
(elder). Those on the sixth plane see God face to face. The
qutb
(lit., ‘‘pivotal saint,’’ or perfect master) stands beyond these on a ‘‘seventh plane,’’ in a state Meher Baba describes as ‘‘God’s realization of Himself as Infinite.’’

Using traditional Sufi terms, Meher Baba describes the seventh plane as that of
fana’
(‘‘passing-away into God [becoming God]’’) and the immedi- ate stage beyond it as
baqa’
(‘‘abiding in God [being God]’’). Beyond these two journeys, only five perfect masters in the position of
qutubiat
(central saints) embark on the third journey in which they are ‘‘living God’s life (living both as God and man simultaneously).’’
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Meher Baba considered Inayat Khan a ‘‘sixth-plane’’ saint.

In
God Speaks
Meher Baba included a commentary on his text written by ‘Abdul Ghani Munsiff, a Muslim disciple among the earliest of Meher Baba’s
mandali
(inner circle of disciples). ‘Abdul Ghani’s commentary expresses the ideas of
God Speaks
mostly in Persian Sufi terms frequently quoting the Sufi poetry of Hafi Shirazi (d. 1389
CE
). Meher Baba repeatedly showed his supreme appreciation and reverence for Hafi whom he described as: ‘‘a Persian poet who was a Perfect Master.’’
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Two hours before he died Meher Baba dictated three of Hafiz’s couplets to be inscribed on his tomb.

In 1931, Meher Baba explained his mission in New Age terms:

I intend to bring together all religions and cults like beads on one string and to revitalize them for individual and collective needs. This is my mission in the West. The peace and harmony that I talk of and that will settle on the face of this worried world are not far off.
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Meher Baba also chartered a Sufi organization, ‘‘Sufi Re-Oriented.’’ Inayat Khan’s successor Rabia Martin and her disciple Ivy Duce both followed Meher Baba. Duce, who felt unequipped to succeed Martin, asked Meher Baba for help. On July 20, 1952 Meher Baba announced that he would charter ‘‘Sufism Reoriented.’’ As Meher Baba explained, through this action he intended to reinvigorate all spiritualities—all ‘‘isms’’—Sufi in particular, and especially the work begun by Inayat Khan:

So it is now time for me to re-orient these different isms which end in one God. I intend to make one unique charter regarding this re-oriented Sufism and send it to Ivy Duce from India in November with my signature, and entrust the American Sufi work to her
...
. [I]t will be applicable to the whole Sufi world—and will, by God’s grace—be lasting in its effect and influence.
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One of Meher Baba’s biographers summarizes the duties Meher Baba dictated in the charter:

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Sufism as reoriented by Meher Baba is based on love and longing for God and the eventual union with God in actual experience. The Charter states that it is the duty of every member: (a) to become conversant with the principles of Sufism by reading and studying the literature of Sufi saints, poets, and authors such as Hafiz, Jalaluddin, Shams, Inayat Khan, Ibn ‘Arabi, Shibli, Hujwiri, and others; (b) to necessarily read and study vigorously the Discourses by Meher Baba and the book by Meher Baba called ‘‘God Speaks’’ which depicts the ten states of God and other important truths, and which is his last and final book on this subject; (c) to necessarily repeat verbally daily one name of God for half an hour any time of the day or night; this is to be done consecutively if possible, but may be accomplished in smaller portions if necessary; (d) to meditate on the Master daily for fifteen minutes in any secluded spot.
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As a self-proclaimed Avatar of Zoroaster, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus Christ, and Muhammad, Meher Baba sometimes referred to himself as the
Qutb al-aqtab
—principal axial saint of all. But Meher Baba’s concept of the Avatar was not only a self-reference. In a 1954 gathering with Western disci- ples he commented: ‘‘I know that I am the Avatar in every sense of the word, and that each one of you is an Avatar in one sense or the other.’’ Delving into this universally shared ‘‘New Age’’ sense of Avatarhood, he explained:

Everything and everyone represents God in one way or another, in some state of consciousness or another, but the God-Man (Avatar, Buddha, Christ, Rasool) represents God in every way, in everything, and everywhere, in one and all states of consciousness, manifest or latent.
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One distinctive aspect of Meher Baba’s work and life is that for 44 years he maintained absolute silence. ‘‘Things that are real are given and received in silence,’’ he said. Feeling that the world had received and ignored so many words from so many teachers for so long, he remained literally silent.

I have come not to teach but to awaken. Understand therefore that I lay down no precepts.

Throughout eternity I have laid down principles and precepts but mankind has ignored them. Man’s inability to live God’s words makes the Avatar’s teach- ing a mockery. Instead of practicing the compassion He taught, man has waged crusades 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.
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You have asked for and been given enough words; it is now time to live them.
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Like many New Age teachers to follow, Meher Baba emphasized experi- ence over belief. He taught and communicated, but without speech. In films and photos we can glean what he meant when he explained, ‘‘I am eternally

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talking.’’
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From July 10, 1925, until October 7, 1954, he pointed to an alphabet board and used hand gestures. From then on he used only gestures.

In a very New Age-sounding pronouncement, Meher Baba declared that he would speak a word of love into every heart that would transform the world:

When I break my silence it will not be to fill your ears with spiritual lectures. I shall speak only One Word, and this Word will penetrate the hearts of all men and make even the sinner feel that he is meant to be a saint, while the saint will know that God is in the sinner as much as He is in himself.

When I speak that Word, I shall lay the foundation for that which is to take place during the next seven hundred years.
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Meher Baba declared that he was engaged in ‘‘universal work.’’ He declared that his actions had an impact on all beings which would produce a ‘‘transformation of consciousness’’ and bring about a ‘‘New Humanity,’’ focused on the oneness of life and even bringing about a cooperative relation- ship between science and religion. At the least Meher Baba’s vision of renewal, optimism, and universal love—plus announcing his intention to inaugurate an awakening which would merge science and religion—parallels the vision of the New Age Movement and those who have embraced, or are anticipating, the unfolding of an Interspiritual Age.

Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (1884–1986)
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Discovered in the 1940s emerging from the jungles of Sri Lanka by Tamil Hindus, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen taught disciples as a Hindu until he was recog- nized by Muslims as a
shaykh
and
wali
(‘‘friend of God’’). By 1955 he had laid the foundation for a mosque in Sri Lanka. Interestingly, this pattern was repeated when he came to Philadelphia in 1971. There he was first known as Guru Bawa until he gradually adopted an Islamic framework. Artist and disciple Michael Green describes him as ‘‘the sublime master Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, who was also Guru Bawa, who was the Qutb [axial saint] that came to the West, may this secret be known.’’
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