Across the Bridge

Figure 1: source

I was listening to Van Morrison's Across The Bridge Where Angels Dwell and was reminded of the widespread, popular images of of the scene where children are on or crossing a bridge while an angel is hovering over them". The image shown in Figure 1 is less common in that it's a photograph rather than a painting. 

The lyrics to the song go:

Across the bridge where angels dwell

Across the bridge where angels

Across the bridge where angels dwell 

 

Children play 

 

Beyond the place where time is still

Beyond the place where time is

Beyond the place where time is still 

 

Night is day 

 

Close your eyes in fields of wonder

Close your eyes and dream

Close your eyes in fields of wonder

Close your eyes and dream 

 

Along the path where heaven lies

Along the path where heaven

Along the path where heaven lies 

 

All is clear 

 

Ahead where home awaits the heart

Ahead where home is waiting

Ahead where home awaits the heart 

 

Peace is near 

 

Close your eyes in fields of wonder

Close your eyes and dream

Close your eyes in fields of wonder

Close your eyes and dream 

 

Across the bridge where angels dwell

Across the bridge where angels

Across the bridge where angels dwell 

 

Children play

Figure 2 shows another image of the scene.

Figure 2: source

I've also been playing the song on guitar and getting it sound reasonable enough. Below are the chords to accompany the lyrics.

[Verse 1]

G                         C

Across the bridge where angels dwell

G                         C

Across the bridge where angels

G                         C                    G

Across the bridge where angels dwell children play

  

[Verse 2]

G                        C

Beyond the place where time is still

G                        C

Beyond the place where time is

G                        C                      G

Beyond the place where time is still, night is day

 

[Chorus]

C           D        G         C

Close your eyes in fields of wonder

C           D        G

Close your eyes and dream

C           D        G         C

Close your eyes in fields of wonder

C           D        G

Close your eyes and dream

  

[Verse 3]

G                      C

Along the path where heaven lies

G                      C

Along the path where heaven

G                      C                  G

Along the path where heaven lies all is clear

 

[Verse 4]

G                   C

Ahead where home awaits the heart

G                     C

Ahead where home is waiting

G                   C                        G

Ahead where home awaits the heart, peace is near

  

[Chorus]

C           D        G         C

Close your eyes in fields of wonder

C           D        G

Close your eyes and dream

C           D        G         C

Close your eyes in fields of wonder

C           D        G

Close your eyes and dream

  

[Verse 5]

G                         C

Across the bridge where angels dwell

G                         C

Across the bridge where angels

G                         C                    G

Across the bridge where angels dwell children play 

Figure 3 shows a sculpture of the scene:

Figure 3: source

I discovered today that Jim Reeves has a song titled Across the Bridge with lyrics as follows:

I have lived a life of sin in this world I'm living in

I have done forbidden things I shouldn't do

I asked a beggar along the way if he could tell me where to stay

Where I could find real happiness and love that's true

Across the bridge there's no more sorrow

Across the bridge there's no more pain

The sun will shine across the river

And you'll never be unhappy again

Follow the footsteps of the King 'til you hear the voices ring

They'll be singing out the glory of the land

The river Jordan will be near, the sound of trumpet you will hear

And you'll behold the most precious place ever known to man

Across the bridge there's no more sorrow

Across the bridge there's no more pain

The sun will shine across the river

And you'll never be unhappy again

Across the bridge there's no more sorrow (Across the bridge there's no more sorrow)

Across the bridge there's no more pain (Across the bridge there's no more pain)

The sun will shine across the river

And you'll never be unhappy again...

Jim Reeves was one of the singers whose songs Meher Baba enjoyed listening to. Here are chords to the song. Although I've yet to try playing it on guitar, it doesn't look too difficult.

[Verse 1]

C

I have lived a life of sin

 

In this world I'm living in

       G7                                C

I have done forbidden things I shouldn't do

 C

I ask a beggar along the way

 

If he could tell me where to stay

              G7                                  C

Where I could find real happiness and love that's true

  

[Refrain]

C

Across the bridge there's no more sorrow

                                  G7

Across the bridge there's no more pain

             C     C7         F

The sun will shine across the river

           C        G7      C

And you'll never be unhappy again

 

[Instrumental]

C      G7      C 

 

[Verse 2]

 C

Follow the footsteps of the King

 

Till you hear the voices ring

           G7                           C

They'll be singing out the glory of the Land

 C

The river Jordan will be near

 

The sound of trumpet you will hear

           G7

And you'll behold the most precious place

              C

Ever known to man

  

[Refrain]

 C

Across the bridge there's no more sorrow

                                  G7

Across the bridge there's no more pain

             C     C7         F

The sun will shine across the river

           C        G7      C

And you'll never be unhappy again

  

[Final]

 C

Across the bridge there's no more sorrow

                                  G7

Across the bridge there's no more pain

             C     C7         F

The sun will shine across the river

           C        G7      C

And you'll never be unhappy again 

 

There is a wealth of symbolism associated with bridges:

The bridge is inherently symbolic of communication and union, whether it be between heaven and earth or two distinct realms. For this reason it can be seen as the connection between God and Man. It may be the passage to reality, or merely a symbol for travel and crossing.  Source.

Bridge, as a noun, translates to jembatan in Indonesia while bridge, as a verb, translates to menjembatani. Just as there is the question "why did the chicken cross the road?" with an accompanying answer of "to get to the other side", likewise it could be asked "why was the bridge built?" and the answer might come back "to get to the other side" (of the river, gorge or whatever). In other words a bridge can be quite mundane and yet sometimes quite beautiful. Figure 4 shows a pedestrian (in both senses of the word), simple and (to my mind at least) beautiful bridge.

Figure 4

Of course, both Van Morrison and Jim Reeves are singing about non-physical bridges linking two different planes of consciousness or areas of experience. There are seven planes of consciousness beyond the gross consciousness of the physical realm and, to enter each one and cross the bridge so to speak, the help of a higher consciousness is required. As the seventh plane is the level of God-consciousness, only a Perfect Master or God-realised being can help someone to cross that final bridge and enter the seventh, and ultimate, heaven.

Baba further explained the significance of the number seven:

 

The evolution of creation has seven stages. There are seven planes and seven types of desires. All these sevens should be eradicated once and for all.

However, the number seven is significant. There are seven types of sanskaras, seven types of colors, seven types of flights of imagination and seven types of sounds. The reason all these have seven variations is that in the beginning of creation – with the start of the original whim in the Beyond, Beyond state of God – there was a clash between Matter (Akash) and Energy (Pran), and Energy’s powers were divided into seven forces.

The original sound coming out of the Creation, or Om Point, also turns into seven sounds. This higher music of the mental and subtle planes is indescribably sweet. Even if you listened to it for twenty-four hours without a break, you would not tire of it. It is enrapturing; one absolutely drowns in its melody. But remember that in the mental and subtle sphere, the sweetness of this music’s sounds are only shadows of the Original Sound.

In the gross world, the shadow of this melody is again divided into seven parts; only expert singers can express these tones and octaves. Sound is created by contact between two things. When you speak, your voice passes through seven veils; but you do not notice this because the sound comes so quickly. Your physique, a by-product of your sanskaras, determines whether your voice is sweet or harsh.

Everything is made up of seven: seven sub-divisions of the first subtle plane (the astral), seven stages of evolution, seven planes and seven heavens in involution. 

Source.

Collective Karma

The law of karma applies to individuals of course but also to ethnic groups, nation states and the world as a whole. For the past couple of centuries humanity has tortured and brutalised animals via factory farming, medical research, the cosmetic industry, facile research for completion of doctorates and many other ways. Humanity is now paying the karmic price for the suffering it has imposed on the animal kingdom.

There have been many animal culls in the past but now the cull of humanity has begun. Our psychopathic overlords have decided that there are far too many humans on the planet and that a 90% reduction in the population is required. There are various mechanisms through which they will achieve their goals and they are indifferent to the suffering that will accompany this reduction, just as humanity as a whole has been indifferent to the suffering of the animals.

There is no escape from karma, just as there is no escape from gravity. The karmic liabilities of humanity must be paid and it is now beginning to pay. Just as animals have been herded, constrained, monitored and disposed of at will, so too will humans be herded into smart cities and similarly treated. How could it have ever been otherwise? 

Everything Old Is New Again

It was a week after my 21st birthday in April of 1970 that my freedom of movement was suddenly and drastically curtailed by my conscription into the Australian Army. 50 years later, in April of 2020, my freedom of movement was again restricted by the measures taken to combat the pandemic. These restrictions have gradually but progressively tightened to the extent that I cannot now enter any of the local malls because I don't have my vaccine passport. I certainly can't travel on domestic airlines and, were I to venture out more than I do, I would probably encounter further restrictions on my movement. Hence the title of this post: everything old is new again.

Having my freedom taken away from me at age 21 certainly made me appreciative when it was restored about nine months later in January of 1971. This followed the success of my appeal to be recognised as a conscientious objector. That was a pivotal point in my life. Part of the reason for my success was that the tide of public opinion had began to turn against the war in Vietnam and the conscription of Australian youth to fight in it. Even though the political parties of today are scarcely differentiable, such was not case back then. 

I'll forever despise the Liberal National Party (LNP) in Australia for its introduction of conscription. Over 800 Australian males, many of them conscripts, were killed in Vietnam and these deaths can be squarely blamed on the NLP politicians of the time. When the Labor Party was elected in 1972, conscription was abolished. Of course, the Labor PM of the time, Gough Whitlam, was overthrown in a cleverly contrived coup three years later and the LNP took over the reins of government again.

I spent a weird nine months in the Army and how I got out is another story. None of my friends had been conscripted. Their birthdates had not come up in the lottery to decide who would be conscripted and who would not. Their lives rolled happily on, unlike mine. I emerged with an appreciation of my freedom and thereafter it was never curtailed, until now. It's become apparent how fragile that freedom was and how easy it was to shatter. 

Back in 1970, the Australian government declared that certain individuals must join the Army and, if required, go to Vietnam and kill the Commies. In 2021, governments around the world are declaring that all individuals must join the ranks of the vaccinated and a war of sorts has been declared on the unvaccinated. 

It's Been a Long, Long, Long Time

While having a shower this evening, the Beatle's song "Long, Long, Long" came into my head for some reason. After my shower, I decided to do a little research into the song. Below are the lyrics and Figure 1 shows the lyrics along with the guitar chords.

Figure 1: source

It's been a long long long time

How could I ever have lost you

When I loved you

It took a long long long time

Now I'm so happy I found you

How I love you

So many tears I was searching

So many tears I was wasting, oh oh

Now I can see you, be you

How can I ever misplace you

How I want you

Oh I love you

You know that I need you

Ooh I love you

Oh

The song was written by George Harrison and the Wikipedia article provides some interesting details surrounding its creation. Here are the opening paragraphs from that article:

"Long, Long, Long" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 album The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by George Harrison, the group's lead guitarist, while he and his bandmates were attending Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India, in early 1968. Although Harrison later stated that he was addressing God in the lyrics, it is the first of his compositions that invites interpretation as both a standard love song and a paean to his deity.

"Long, Long, Long" originated during a period in which Harrison emerged as a prolific songwriter, coinciding with his return to the guitar after two years of studying the Indian sitar. He based the chord pattern on "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" by Bob Dylan, while the song's understated arrangement partly reflects the influence of the Band's 1968 album Music from Big Pink. The Beatles recorded it in London towards the end of the White Album sessions, which were marked by acrimony among the band members in the fallout to their experiences in Rishikesh. An ambient and meditative ballad, it ends with a partly improvised segment that was inspired by the sound of a wine bottle vibrating on a speaker in the studio.

"Long, Long, Long" has received praise from several music critics. On release, William Mann of The Times rated it the equal of the album's best Lennon–McCartney compositions; Ian MacDonald later described it as Harrison's "touching token of exhausted, relieved reconciliation with God" and his "finest moment on The Beatles". Elliott Smith and Jim James are among the other artists who have recorded or performed the song.

The connection of the song to Dylan's "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" was a surprise. Reportedly, the only Western LP that Harrison took with him to Rishikesh was Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, which contains the eleven-minute "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". The Wikipedia article notes that:

In 1987, Daniel Amos vocalist Terry Scott Taylor recorded what Trouser Press admired as a "first-rate cover" of "Long, Long, Long" for his album A Briefing for the Ascent.

I quite like this cover and in fact YouTube Music has this to say about Terry Scott Taylor:

Terry Scott Taylor is an American songwriter, record producer, writer and founding member of the bands Daniel Amos and The Swirling Eddies. Taylor is also a member of the roots and alternative music group, Lost Dogs. He is currently based in San Jose, California, U.S. Taylor is highly regarded for his songwriting skills. These often include allusions to and reworkings of material ranging from Elizabethan poets to modern authors. Foremost among Taylor's influences is William Blake. The Daniel Amos album title Fearful Symmetry was drawn from Blake's poem "The Tyger," and numerous songs across The Alarma! Chronicles series of albums have Blake-inspired references. Some other poets who have influenced Taylor's work are T. S. Eliot and Christina Rossetti. Eliot's poetry inspired the song "Hollow Man" from the Doppelgänger album. "Where Dreams Come True" from Taylor's solo album, A Briefing for the Ascent, draws heavily from Rosetti's poem "Echo". The inspiration for many Daniel Amos and Taylor songs from the mid-1980s can be found in the book Behold, This Dreamer: Of Reverie, Night, Sleep, Dream, Love-Dreams, Nightmare, Death. 

To my mind, he has a similar voice to David Byrne and as well his cover of "Long, Long, Long" on his A Briefing for the Ascent, I also like "Changeless" that has the following, spiritually-aligned lyrics:

Once upon a lonely hilltop

Where my heart could find no sleep

Rest came down and filled my soul up

From the everlasting deep

Changeless are the stars that shine

Changeless morn' succeeds to even

Still the everlasting hill

Changeless watch the changeless heaven

I need your love

Your changeless love

I need you

I have climbed some lonely hilltops

I have touched the fleeting soul

Dreamt I saw a billion teardrops

Falling down like ice and snow

Changeless breaks the tide to shore

Changeless are the times and seasons

You are the same forever more

I will keep these changeless reasons

(Why)

No shadow of turning falls

No promise is broken

No nothing can turn my heart

From the words You have spoken

Changeless Your love

Deep as an ocean

Taylor was born on May 24th 1950 so he's only a year younger than me. He is a complex character musically as his Wikipedia biography attests. His music deserves further investigation. Getting back to George Harrison however, it can only be noted that his time in India in early 1968 corresponded to a time when Meher Baba was still alive. Baba of course was quite reclusive at that time and it would have been difficult to have an audience with Him. Harrison certainly seems to have been the most spiritually inclined of the Fabulous Four.

The One

I was listening to Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" where he sings of giving praise to THE ONE. 

There's a love that's divine

And it's yours and it's mine

Like the sun

And at the end of the day

We should give thanks and pray

To THE ONE, to THE ONE

I thought I'd check out anagrams of THE ONE and discovered NO THEE which is most apt. THEE is an archaic form of YOU and so what more eloquent equation that this:

THE ONE = NO THEE

From the perspective of THE ONE, there is indeed NO THEE but our perspective that means NO ME. The mention of ME conjures up the word EGO and recently I came across another eloquent equation that involved this word.

For a mathematician, this makes perfect sense. This talk of Mathematics and ME and THEE puts me in mind of Omar Khayyam and his famous Rubaiyat where he says (in Edward Fitzgerald's translation anyway):

There was a Door to which I found no Key: 

 

There was a Veil through which I could not see:  

 

Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee 

There seemed — and then no more of Thee and Me.

I found this blog post from July of 2010 that interprets these words very well I thought:

It’s been too many months since we last had a selection from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat. First, just take a moment to speak these lines aloud. Really feel its rhythm on your tongue, and let its rhyme dance in your ear. I’m not normally a big fan of strictly rhymed verse, especially in translation, but something about Edward FitzGerald’s translations of Omar Khayyam bring a big smile to my face every time I read them. You can taste the sugar in each line.

There was a Door to which I found no Key:

There was a Veil through which I could not see…

The door that has no key and the veil through which one cannot see is the final barrier that separates us from the Divine Beloved. That barrier is dualism itself.

Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee

There seemed

At first there is the dualistic perception of “Me and Thee,” of the separate identities of the lover and Beloved. That sense of separation — separation from God, separation from Source, separation from the True Self — is the fundamental pain of the soul.

Caught in the midst of this dynamic, we feel pain, we struggle, we encounter a terrible emptiness we try to hide from through the dramas of life. But looking back from the perspective of deep realisation, it can be seen as a sort of dialog between the soul and the Eternal. The dramas of life… “Some little Talk awhile of Me an Thee…” But there is only a surface appearance here, a seeming — “There seemed”

— and then no more of Thee and Me.

When we look, when we learn to really see, that’s when an amazing thing happens — suddenly that final veil falls away. The barrier is passed, not through some action or “key,” but through the instantaneous recognition that the barrier does not, in truth, exist at all. We are stunned to discover that there is no separation (only the ego’s pretence of a separation). And then — “no more of Thee and Me,” only Divine Presence within, without, everywhere!

Omar Khayyam was best known in his time as a mathematician and astronomer. His theorems are still studied by mathematicians today. His poetry really only became widely read when Edward FitzGerald collected several quatrains (rubaiyat) that were attributed to Khayyam and translated them into English as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

The common view in the West of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is that it is a collection of sensual love poems. Although some scholars debate this question, many people assert that Omar Khayyam was a Sufi, as well as a poet and mathematician, and that his Rubaiyat can only be truly understood using the language of mystical metaphor.

The Master's Prayer

I've always had an aversion to prayers, ever since abandoning Catholicism in 1965. However, today's email from the Avatar Meher Baba Bombay Centre reminded of Baba's 1953 prayer, dictated 68 years ago today. Such emails are an important source of remembrance of Beloved Baba, a daily reminder of his Avatarhood.

Opening page of Avatar Meher Baba
Bombay Centre website

To quote from Lord Meher, American ed., Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 12, p. 4209:

Meher Baba dictated the Master’s (or Parvardigar) Prayer in Dehra Dun on Thursday, August 13th, 1953 and from that day until the 2nd of September, it was recited every evening with Baba taking part in the prayer. Donkin would read it aloud in English, and it was repeated by another mandali in Gujarati. When it was over, Baba would lay his head on the feet of each of the men mandali. This is the prayer:

The Master's Prayer 

O Parvardigar! The Preserver and Protector of All.

You are without beginning and without end.

Non-dual, beyond comparison,

and none can measure You.

You are without color, without expression,

without form and without attributes.

You are unlimited and unfathomable;

beyond imagination and conception;

eternal and imperishable.

You are indivisible;

and none can see you but with eyes divine.

You always were, You always are,

and You always will be.

You are everywhere, You are in everything, and

You are also beyond everywhere and beyond everything.

You are in the firmament and in the depths,

You are manifest and unmanifest;

on all planes and beyond all planes.

You are in the three worlds,

and also beyond the three worlds.

You are imperceptible and independent.

You are the Creator, the Lord of Lords,

the Knower of all minds and hearts.

You are Omnipotent and Omnipresent.

You are Knowledge Infinite, Power Infinite and Bliss Infinite.

You are the Ocean of Knowledge,

All-knowing, Infinitely knowing;

the Knower of the past, the present and the future,

and You are Knowledge Itself.

You are all-merciful and eternally benevolent.

You are the Soul of souls; the One with infinite attributes.

You are the Trinity of Truth, Knowledge and Bliss.

You are the Source of Truth, the Ocean of Love.

You are the Ancient One, the Highest of the High.

You are Prabhu and Parameshwar;

You are the Beyond God and the Beyond-Beyond God also;

You are Parabrahma; Paramatma; Allah; Elahi; Yezdan;

Ahuramazda; God Almighty, and God the Beloved.

You are named Ezad, the Only One Worthy of Worship. 

Baba had indicated, “I have given these prayers to humanity to recite. They are for all posterity. Whenever anyone recites these prayers, they will be helped spiritually because of My present personal participation.” 

I should recite this prayer more often. My early years of reciting Catholic prayers mechanically and unthinkingly has left me wary. I don't want to relapse into doing that. If I do recite the prayer then if must be done with awareness and sincerity or not done at all. As Baba says, He only listens to the language of the heart.

Another option is to have it recited it to you. You can copy and paste the prayer into a site like Natural Readers and have it read back to you. I found setting the speed to zero and using the voice of Peter (Premium UK) gives a pleasing result. See Figure 1.

Figure 1: screenshot from this source

An even more pleasing result can be had by listening to YouTube versions of the prayer, spoken by an Indian women:

There's another version spoken loudly and forcefully by Harry Kenmore, the blind chiropractor from the United States, but it's less to my taste. However, in that video he also reads out the Prayer of Repentance (given by Meher Baba on 8th November 1952) which is quite powerful:

Prayer of Repentance

We repent O God most merciful, for all our sins;
For every thought that was false or unjust or unclean;
For every word spoken that ought not to have been spoken;
For every deed done that ought not to have been done.
We repent for every deed and word and thought
Inspired by selfishness;
And for every deed and word and thought inspired by hatred.
We repent most specially for every lustful thought,
And every lustful action;
For every lie; for all hypocrisy;
For every promise given, but not fulfilled;
And for all slander and backbiting.
Most specially also, we repent for every action
That has brought ruin to others;
For every word and deed that has given others pain;
And for every wish that pain should befall others.
In your unbounded mercy, we ask you to forgive us, O God,
For all these sins committed by us;
And to forgive us for our constant failures
To think and speak and act according to your will.

Here is a version of the prayer in which the words are displayed slide by slide with accompanying music. The words are not spoken but it's quite beautiful: 

ADDENDUM

added August 25th 2021:

Baba came into the hall on August 25th, (1959) after working with Kaikobad. The men assembled before him. For some time, Baba sat with his eyes closed. He stretched and rested his legs on the bamboo stool. A bed sheet was    spread over his legs for warmth. After resting for some time in this position, Baba signaled for the men to go outside. He remained alone inside for several minutes and then clapped, and the men reentered.

Baba instructed, “None of you should do anything which might disturb my mood.”

He informed Francis, “In connection with the repairs to the old bus, it will be enough to paint it, because if any of the work involves hammering, it is likely to disturb and spoil my mood.” He added, “The world is at stake, and my health is also at stake.”

Pendu was asked by Baba to describe how Baba’s health was last night. “Last night, Baba’s health was very bad,” said Pendu. “These days, he generally feels unwell at night, but yesterday was worse.”

Baba’s face still appeared dark.

Baba stated that he would dictate a prayer, but before this he asked Aloba to perform namaz  (Muslim prayer). Eruch was directed to recite the Parvardigar Prayer.

“Last night, when I was in a very painful state, this new prayer came to my mind.” And humorously, he stated, “First, I memorised it, and now I will dictate it to you:

Beloved God, help us all

to love you more and more

and more and more and still yet more

until we become worthy of Union with you.

And help us all to hold fast to Baba’s daaman

until the very end!

Baba stated that the prayer would be recited again three days later on August 28th.

Lord Meher, American ed., Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 16, p.5633.  

Gulmai Irani

August 10th marked the anniversary of the death of Meher Baba's spiritual mother, Gulmai Irani, who died in 1962 at age 80. Figure 1 shows my favourite photograph of Gulmai with Baba because she looks so utterly content.

Figure 1: Source

The following extract is taken from Lord Meher:

MEANWHILE, Adi’s mother Gulmai’s ill condition, due to kidney disease, worsened in August. While at Meherabad on August 6th, Baba informed Padri to be prepared for Gulmai’s burial on the Hill, as she would be dying shortly. On the evening of August 8th, Gulmai’s condition became serious, and Adi sent Sarosh to Meherazad to inform Baba. Baba instructed Sarosh that when Gulmai passed away, he should be informed and her body removed to Meherabad, where her coffin would be lowered into the grave in his presence.

On the morning of August 9th, Baba unexpectedly decided to be driven to Khushru Quarters to see Gulmai. Although she had ceased to recognize anyone and was almost in an unconscious state, she opened her eyes and her face brightened when she saw Baba. She caressed his face and managed to utter, “Ba-ba.” After kissing her on the forehead and embracing Gulmai, Baba returned to Meherazad.

The next day, taking a critical turn for the worse, Gulmai was unable to speak and suffered spells of unconsciousness. Even so, with great difficulty she was moving her lips and repeating Baba’s name. At midnight, she startled from a coma-like sleep and loudly called out Baba’s name. With all her strength, she continued this for a few minutes without pause. While uttering Baba’s name, Gulmai merged in him forever at the age of seventy-eight.

Waman Padole was sent to Meherazad to inform Baba of Gulmai’s passing.

At 9:00 A.M., on Saturday, August 11th, Gulmai’s body was taken to Meherabad Hill where a grave had been dug. Baba arrived at ten o’clock and performed the last rites by placing flowers on her forehead and body. Almost two hundred persons from Arangaon and Ahmednagar were present. As the coffin was lowered into the earth, Baba, looking extremely sad, tossed flowers over it while Kaikobad offered prayers. Thus Baba’s spiritual mother Gulmai came to rest in Meherabad, the place she herself had been so instrumental in laying at his feet.

Baba remarked to Adi, “She is very fortunate that I was present at her burial.” As if in an additional tribute to her, this was the last time Meher Baba ever went to Meherabad.

Gulmai’s dedication, service and love for Meher Baba are truly monumental, for she and her husband, Kaikhushru (Khan Saheb), were the ones who gave him the land in Arangaon later called Meherabad.

Lord Meher, American ed., Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 17, pp. 5919 – 5923.

A full account of Gulmai's life can be found at this site. Figure 2 shows Gulmai's family tree.

Figure 2: Source

Figure 3 shows a photo taken of Gulmai, supposedly taken the day before she died, which seems to contradict the story told in Lord Meher (that she was at death's door). In any case, the photograph must have been taken not long before here passing. She has a faraway look in her eyes, that's for sure.

Figure 3: Source

Like Doctor Donkin whom I wrote about in my previous post (Baba on Masts), Gulmai is another person who surrendered to Baba completely and unconditionally.

Baba on Masts

I found this explanation, taken from Lord Meher, about how masts see the world to be very poignant:

Although Baidul would work wholeheartedly and very hard in the mast work, his mind would at times trouble him. He could not accept Mohammed as a saint or wali, thinking him to be mad for playing with dirt or digging with his fingers in dirt. Once in Ranchi it began raining heavily. Baidul tried to dissuade Mohammed from playing in the dirt (or “deesh” as he called it), and to come in out of the rain to protect his health. Baidul was rather harsh with him and Mohammed started crying. Baba happened to come by when Baidul was threatening Mohammed and forcefully pulling him out of the mud and rain. It was this incident that caused Baba to give a long explanation about the condition of these masts and the undesirability of using any force on them.

"You have no idea how these masts feel in this changed environment. All the care we bestow – the food and clothing we give – is no obligation to them at all, for they do not need it; rather they resent it. In allowing us an opportunity to serve, they are, on the contrary, obliging us. Otherwise, it is a binding to those accustomed to live freely and happily according to their own peculiar whims and methods. To distract them from a particular thing in which they are interested is a torture to them, for they find relief even in staying in their squalor and playing with dirt and filth.

A mast such as Karim Baba gulping five and six coins at a time and passing them out in his stools, and again gulping them down is an example of this. It is his method. If you try to stop it, even with the best of motives to keep him clean and out of the dirt, and he gets enraged, you could be doomed for life, because the wrath of masts and saints is very dangerous.

Mohammed’s trait of finding and looking at his “deesh” is a sort of relief to him to be thus occupied. You think that he is playing with dirt and is exposed to the elements. With the best of motives of safeguarding his health, you try to bring him in. When he resists, you forcibly try to pull him out and break his link to what he has seen in that particular object, through the higher consciousness of the spiritual plane on which he is. And what happens? The moment he finds you trying to dissuade him, he feels disturbed and is indecisive whether to be there or here, meaning where his consciousness has taken him on the higher planes through the thing he is looking at, or where he is called on by you to go, leaving his deesh on this earthly plane.

This is no joke. It is a regular torture to Mohammed to reconcile the two different and conflicting states of the higher and lower planes of consciousness. If, in the torments of this torture or excitement, he were to abuse or curse anyone for thus disturbing him in the enjoyment of his ecstasy, the cursed one would be doomed for this life. It is simply because of me that he cannot do this and you are saved from his wrath. That is why I have been asking you constantly to be very tolerant and lenient with the masts and never to disturb them if they are persistent, even when you have the best of motives such as to protect them from the elements, uncleanliness, et cetera, which is also one of your duties.

The best way to handle them is the way of love and mild persuasion. If these do not succeed, nothing else will. Compulsion or force would be worse, even if they cannot hurt you for my sake. It reacts on them and causes them to suffer, which I do not want. For I know what a torture it is to them, and how they suffer.

It is a torture both ways. First of all, the masts suffer from being deprived of their own environment and their freedom in the places where they used to live. To be thus kept confined, even with all the other liberties we give them, and best care we take of them is to suffer. Secondly, the masts suffer whenever disturbed and pulled out of their ecstatic enjoyment. It is because they feel happy in my presence that they stay. They see me and know me as none of you do. That is why they are quiet. Otherwise, they would be impossible to manage.

If efforts made with love are effective with worldly people, they would be all the more effective and essential in dealing with these saintly beings who are lost in the love of God. You love to enjoy one phase of some of their peculiar traits when they are quiet and pleasing. You should equally enjoy the other phase of their insistence in the experience of the bliss they find in certain things which your eyes cannot penetrate, nor your mind understand."

Lord Meher, American ed., Bhau Kalchuri Vol. 7, pp. 2583 – 2585.

There's not much that I can add to that. It makes you realise how little we really understand about what is going on. We are totally mesmerised by the world and experience it as the only reality. The masts become mesmerised as well and the reality they experience is very different to ours. They are still trapped in illusion but with far fewer veils of ignorance separating them from the ultimate reality. Yet the "well adjusted", those who are fully absorbed in the earthly drama, have no understanding of these masts who are seemingly insane or mentally handicapped. Even Baidul, one of Baba's mandali, failed to understand them.

Of course, with any mention of masts, one cannot forget Dr. William Donkin, or Don as Baba called him, who accompanied Baba on many of his journeys to find masts and who wrote "The Wayfarers" that chronicles these journeys.

Dr. William Donkin

Born : 14 November, 1911 - England

Died : 9th August, 1969 - India

To quote from Meher Baba's Life and Travels:

These Men of God, who are themselves the "Great Heroes" of the Spiritual Path, have at times spontaneously given expression to their recognition of Baba as He Is: they are able to see and know from personal inner knowledge The Real Being that is Baba. As Dr. Donkin points out in "The Wayfarers” from which these examples are taken, "In reading these brief paragraphs one should remember that, when on tour in search of MASTS, Baba is almost always incognito, and that when a MAST bears witness to Baba's spiritual greatness, he often does so without having any external means of knowing who Baba is; those (who do know Baba externally) have reputations as MASTS or saints quite independent of their contact or relationship to Baba, and this, I believe, adds greatly to the value of what they say.”

Bob Mossman has written a biography of Don titled "Slave of Love" and in this YouTube video he talks about the inspiration behind the idea of writing of the book as well as the process of of its creation. Unfortunately, it only seems to be available as a paperback and not in electronic form.

Silence Day 2021

Another Silence Day. For the first time ever, I was aware of needing to maintain silence in my dreams and remember making at least a couple of slip ups in them. It's only mid-morning now in my waking life and so far so good. In the past, I've slipped up by speaking a word or two to my dog. Not so this morning. 

The current climate of fear makes it easier to keep silent due to the reduced opportunities for visiting people and the fewer people likely to visit. These are strange times and the need to maintain equanimity or poise is greater than ever. As Baba said:

What is spirituality? It is the undoing of what you have been doing since ages. You always thought of selfish motives for eating, preserving your life, and attending to every need with zeal. All these lives you have made a habit of looking [out for] yourself. If the slightest thing goes against your habit you are upset. Now, to undo all these selfish bindings, you have to do what you have not been doing, or not to do what you have been doing.

What you have been doing always is thinking of yourself; so now you must not think of yourself, but think of others. This is what is called love. But it needs character, poise, perseverance. Poise — what is it? That state of mind where nothing excites you, nothing upsets you. Only [if you have poise] can you help others, then only can you make others happy. That means love. Thinking not of yourself but of others.

If you are in the Sahara, and for four days you have no water to drink and all of a sudden one bottle of water appears — how do you react? If you have poise, you will let your companion drink and not mind dying and letting her live. But if you fight and grab for it, you lack poise and spirituality. It is this poise that makes you sacrifice and [make] others happy.

I just reread my post of December 25th 2020 titled Complete Detachment. In that post, I wrote:

As humanity heads into a dystopian future, it's not all bad news. If it lived in a utopia, the incentives for individuals to turn inward would be minimal. In a utopia, the lure of attachments draws the individual away from the inner life and makes detachment difficult. The growing dystopia that humanity is now entering poses the danger that individuals will actively shun the world and retreat into isolation, cynicism and misanthropy. 

In our pre-Covid world, we were attached to travel, socialisation and an illusion of freedom. Suddenly that was taken away and severe restrictions were placed on travel and socialisation. The illusion of freedom was cruelly shattered. For some, this was accepted as the necessary price for combating and controlling a dangerous pathogen. For others, like myself, who understand what is really going on, acceptance is not easy. 

It's tempting to be drawn into the great divide that is opening up within humanity between those who accept what is happening and those who do not accept it. Amongst the former is the belief that governments and the medical establishment are doing the best they can for us. If we just cooperate, we'll get through these trying times and, while things will never return to the way they were, things will at least get better.

For those who do not accept what is happening, reactions are mixed. Some want to resist. Others are resigned to the "sound of inevitability" as Agent Smith put it in the original Matrix movie. Whether an individual embraces opposition, withdrawal, resignation, acceptance or cooperation, there is in each case attachment. It's difficult not to take a side or choose a position. The powers-that-ought-not-to-be know this and exploit it, playing different sides off against one another.

It's not easy to remain detached. Retreating into "isolation, cynicism and misanthropy" is not detachment but instead it is a very powerful form of attachment. The fact that our former way of life has disappeared should remind us how illusory it really was to begin with. The freedoms that we thought were our God-given right were snatched away or willingly surrendered by the muzzled masses. These freedoms were not God-given after all but granted by our benign overlords.

Worldly-wise, things have gotten worse since I wrote those lines, making detachment even more difficult, and things are going to get far worse. The abnegation of basic human rights is chastening for the egos of those who realise the game plan of the cabal but seem powerless to oppose it. The spiritual aspirant must learn the learn the lesson that the ego is nothing but now even the non-spiritually inclined are learning that lesson as they are trampled underfoot by the fascist boot of the State.

What is the difference between squished under the fascist jackboot and being dust at the feet of the master? Someone who has been reduced to dust at the feet of the master has had their ego crushed by a spiritual master who has the enlightenment of the disciple as the goal. It is a very personal process between master and disciple. Someone who is being squished under the fascist jackboot is a victim of an impersonal process that is spiritually barren and that seeks to enslave and not liberate.

Humanity is currently being herded into a spiritually barren future and all we can do is to nourish our spiritual roots so that we do not wither and die. Baba of course saw where humanity was headed and it was not his intention to see a spiritual winter descend over the Earth only a few decades after he dropped his body. A spiritual flowering will occur but Baba, as Lord and Master of the Universe, works in mysterious ways and we can only hope and wait, and not lose faith in Him.

In these trying times, when the evil forces seeking to control the world have come out of the shadows, it's more important than ever to cling to Baba's daaman and not let go. It's easy to fall prey to despair and depression unless we constantly remember Him. Jai Baba!