Friday, February 25, 2022

Remembering Meher Baba's Birthday


Today marks the 128th anniversary of The Ancient One. To celebrate I'll relate a most interesting incident that was reported in the book I read recently about Harry Kenmore's life with Baba. I made a post about my reaction to the book in a post titled Harry Kenmore. The incident occurred some months after Baba's death and I've taken the liberty of quoting from the book:

Tape Transcription - Sunday, August 24, 1969

Eruch and Harry are walking along the Khajgi Rasta Road

engaged in conversation about Baba and His work with the

lepers, when they meet an old Indian farmer. Later they realize

that looks can be deceiving.

Eruch: "Jai Baba. Here is an old man who wants to shake hands."

They are addressing a man they meet on the road. He had a red

turban on his head.

Harry: “He's a big man, isn't he? How tall is he?”

Eruch: “Just feel him, just see his shoulders.”

Harry: “How tall is he, about six foot.”

Eruch: “About six foot two inches, I'd say.”

Harry: “He's a big man in these parts.”

Eruch: "He's an old man too."

Harry: “And what does he do, is he retired?”

Eruch asks the man in an Indian language. The man replies to

Eruch that he does field work. Eruch: “He's a farmer.”

Harry: “Oh, he's a farmer.”

The man laughs.

Harry: "Oh, up in this town, a town nearby?”

Eruch: “Near Yoshindi.”

Harry: “Hmm, How old is he?”

Eruch asks his age and the man says seventy-five.

Harry: “Seventy-five.” Eruch and Harry are laughing. “My God

isn't that a very, very ripe old age.”

Eruch: “Very old age, but he is so strong and hefty.”

Now the man is laughing again.

Harry: “Oh, so strong. He understands English?”

Eruch: “No, no, he says from the gestures he understands."

The man continues to laugh.

Harry: “Oh I see he has a good laugh.”

Eruch: "Jai Baba."

Harry: “Namaste, Jai Baba. Oh he knows Baba.”

Eruch: “Hmm.”

Harry: “He's quite a happy old man isn't he?”

Eruch: "He wanted to embrace us.

Harry: “He did really?”

Eruch: “So, I said simply shake hands.”

Harry: “Why, just because he's a happy fellow?”

Eruch: “No, no, not a happy fellow. I don't know what it is.”

Harry: "Something he saw in us?”

Eruch: “He just came. He was walking on the side road. He came

with all smiles and his arms spread out as if he came to embrace

us."

Harry laughs and says, “Maybe because it's Sunday!”

Eruch: “God, no."

Harry: “You've never seen him?”

Eruch: “No, I haven't seen him. He looked very hefty. How did you

recognize he was hefty?”

Harry: “His distance of his hand above me and the size of his hand,

and the manner in which he shook my hand I could tell that he's

a big fellow. That's pretty good isn't it?”

Eruch: "It's common sense.”

Harry: “Yeah, I mustn't give away my secrets."

They resume the conversation they had before they met the

man.

Tape Transcription – Tuesday, August 26, 1969

The women mandali and Harry are talking about the things he

did during his stay and the unique experience he had with the

farmer.

Harry: “... ...And then we had the, let's see, the walks were very

fine. Did Eruch tell you about the interesting experience we had

Sunday morning? I think it was Sunday morning.”

Mani: “Yes.”

Meheru: “Mehera said she would like to hear it.”

Harry: "Well, this is what happened. We were walking up on the

road along the Rasta. This was Sunday morning and of course,

Eruch did not alert me to it. But a tall man approached us. He

seemed to come out of nowhere. He had on a white dhoti and a

white shirt with an attractive red turban. He was dressed simply

but he was clean. He looked up and he approached us with

outstretched arms. So Eruch stopped us and I asked what are we

stopping for? He said there's a man here who wants to embrace

us.

Mani: “Yes.”

Harry: “You know, we had met farmers on the road and other

people before, but they usually just say Jai Baba and they go on

their way. Or Eruch may have a few words in Marathi about

something - their crops or what not and then they go on their

way. But this gentleman was different, you see.”

Mani: "It's most unusual."

Harry: "Eruch said he wants to embrace us. So Eruch said, wait

shake hands with him. So he put his hand out and we shook

hands. The way he shook hands, it was just as though it was

Baba. And he spoke in a very cryptic tone, very terse answers.

Just one word answers. I said where are you from? He said,

Shinti. I said, what's your occupation? He said, farmer. You

know, just one word.”

Mani: "Yes.”

Harry: “Then I said how old are you? He said seventy-five. Then,

where's your chin” Harry says to Mani. “Then he took hold of

my chin, the way Baba did in playing with me - just like this.”

Mani: “My gosh!”

Harry: “You know, playing just like this. He was very happy,

smiling and we shook hands again. And the rhythm, give me

your hand.” He took Mani's hand. “The rhythm of the hand was

the way Baba would shake hands with me, you know.” Harry

demonstrated to Mani an up and down motion.

Mehera: “Isn't that wonderful.”

Harry: "Well, and then he said jaja - now you can finish your

walk.

Now a farmer never does that.”

Mani: "No."

Harry: “And He didn't seem to have a farmer's hand. You know,

they never say jaja they say, Jai Baba, they bow and they leave.

But he said jaja - keep going with you walk. Just like that he

went down the road. Unfortunately I didn't ask Eruch to turn

back to see if he was in sight. I swear if he had turned around I

bet in ten seconds, he would have been gone. Just like that.

What happened was I was thinking about it all day. Eruch, I

think was thinking about it too. Then in the evening he said, “Do

you remember that fellow on the road that we met with the red

turban?' Then I said, do you think he was an Abdul or

something?” Eruch said, 'No, I don't know. It might have been

Baba because he was very happy, smiling.'

Mani: “And he also laughed.”

Harry: “Yes, as if to say you fool, don't you recognize me or that

kind of an attitude. Eruch also said the same thing. And he only

had business to do with me. Not with Eruch.”

Mani: "No!”

Harry: “You see.

Mehera: Baba told you to come to Meherazad, not to Poona, so

Baba wanted to give you Darshan.”

Harry: “So I said to Eruch, why didn't you let him embrace us

when he came over to us? Eruch said, 'Well, you know how are

you to know what might sing out of something.' I said, “That's

ridiculous he came in a very friendly manner, alright!”

Mani: “I'll tell you something. When Eruch told me the story that

morning, I thought that Eruch usually understates things like this

then over. But even when he began telling me, and he told me

how that man looked, he said something strange happened this

morning. He said, 'Harry and I met this native and he was quite

unusual; he did unusual things. First, he approached us with his

arms out stretched towards Harry and wanted to embrace him.'

Eruch said he was so startled. It was all so sudden that he

automatically put out his hand to stop him. He said to the man,

“What do you want?' But even while Eruch was telling me this,

it was very strange to hear it. One had such a thrill of not

knowing what was coming. Now, after I heard the whole story I

came and told Mehera. Even as I began to tell her, she had that

same kind of look in her eye as I had when Eruch was telling

me. Because she had the same feeling that it was Baba.”

Harry: “Do you think it was Baba?”

Mani: “Yes, I have thought that. I told Mehera and I only just began

telling her that they met a man.”

Harry: “Do you think it was Baba?”

Mehera: "I felt it was Baba."

At this point Harry becomes very animated and excited in his

voice.

Harry: “Fantastic! Because he was a tall gentleman about six foot

or six foot two. He was cleanly dressed, simple but clean with a

properly tied turban. He had just a turban on his head - a red

turban.”

Mani: "We who know natives feel it is most unusual for a man to

come and shake hands like that and come and do that.”

Harry: “Do that, he did that just the way Baba used to do, when He

used to say, 'Oh you haven't shaved.'You know.'

Harry is referring to the times when Baba and he used to

compare the closeness of their shaves, and how Baba would

stroke Harry's chin.

Mani: “Apart from that he didn't say, oh, I know he's a doctor or

who are you, or Ram Ram or anything like that.”

Mehera said, “Did he ask any questions?”.

Harry: “No. But why didn't Eruch let him embrace me. I don't

understand it.”

Mani: “Eruch was also looking down, he was talking to you and

then suddenly he was there, you see. And you had your

apparatus there and suddenly it was automatic for him to do that.

He did contact you, he shook hands.”

Harry: "Oh definitely.”

Mani: "It's the same thing.”

Meheru: “Harry, Mehera says that because you didn't come for the

Darshan in April, Baba's giving you Darshan here.”

Harry laughs heartily and says, “You think that was Baba?”

Mehera: “Yes, definitely!”

Harry: “Really fantastic. I know he wasn't a farmer.”

Mehera: “He took the form of a farmer to come to you.”

Harry: “I said how old are you? What's your age? He said seventy-

five.”

Mehera: “Seventy-five was Baba's

age.”

Harry: “Seventy-five and it was cryptic, a terse answer. He gave

one word answers. He was giggling, laughing, you know, very

happy. Eruch said he was looking at him as though with the

attitude. Fool don't you know who I am? Don't you recognize

me?” Harry says this with a laugh in his voice.

Meheru: “Mehera says a native usually never knows their age and

even if they did they would never outright say it.”

Harry: "He said seventy-five.”

Mehera: “Baba's age. Yes, more signs that Baba gave to you and

yet you did not recognize Him.”

Harry: “I'll be dog gone! That might have been Baba.

Unfortunately, I just didn't remember. Eruch and I were deep in

a certain discussion about Baba.”

Mani: “Baba meant for you to be engrossed and not look back.'

Harry: “That's it, because somehow I didn't say turn around to see

if you could see him. I bet you if he turned around, in ten

seconds, he would have be gone. I bet you he wouldn't have

been on the road. We were on a long stretch of the Rasta road

and you could see way down the road. There were no side roads,

you see. We were right on that main road.”

Meheru: “You didn't get it on your baby either?

Harry: “I don't think so. I think when he stopped, I shut my baby

off. Because we'd been stopped on the road so many times I

figured this is just another incident. So I didn't catch it on the

baby. But he spoke low, like he didn't want to reveal his voice.”

This encounter was caught on Harry's 'baby'. And the previous

taped transcription of Harry and Eruch meeting the farmer with

the red turban was the actual encounter.

Meheru: “What was the voice like Harry?”

Harry: “Well, it was very..... I'll tell you one thing he was very

happy and he was giggling. He was very happy, you know. He

was giggling about something.”

Mani: “You said the hand wasn't like a farmer's.”

Harry: “It wasn't a farmer's. No. It almost felt a little bigger, like

the shape of Baba's hand.”

Mani: “I'll tell you something, a farmer who was seventy-five

years old, his hands would be very much like a farmers.”

Harry: “Oh, this is no farmer. He was straight, he was vigorous,

you know, vigorous, no question about it. There was vigor,

strength and clarity about him. There was nothing old about him.

He was very self-contained and had tremendous self-confidence.

Everything about him was different. He was just different.”

Mani: “And the way he was laughing, he was enjoying the joke,

you see.”

Harry: “He was giggling and he was very happy. And the way he

said jaja, you know.”

Mani: “Keep going”

Harry: “Go on with your walk.”

Harry laughs.

Meheru: “No farmer would have said that.'

Harry: “No farmer, so I knew he wasn't a farmer. So I kept thinking

about it and thinking about it. And I said was he an Abdul, you

know. Eruch said, “No I think it was Baba.' I said, I thought of

that but I don't know.”

Mani: “The jaja was accompanied by gestures, as Eruch showed us.

It was very much like Baba's.”

Harry: “Oh, really?”

Mani: “He said more than that to Eruch, take him for a walk; go on

with your walk.”

Mani demonstrates the gesture to Harry with Harry's own

hands.

Harry: “Fantastic!”

Mehera: “Wonderful experience you had.”

Harry: "It was a marvelous experience. Let's see I think it

happened that morning.”

Mehera: “On Sunday?”

Harry: “Last Sunday morning. So probably that was my Darshan

with Baba, I don't know.”

Mehera: “It shows that Baba is happy with you. He loves you.”

Harry: “Yes, you really feel that was Baba?”

Mehera: "Yes, yes definitely!”

Harry: “Fantastic!”

Mehera: “Baba could take any form He wants.”

Harry: “Any form, ah, I see, because he came taller. He was about

six foot two."

Mehera: “Yes.”

Harry: "He was chesty with broad shoulders. He was a fine looking

man.”

Mani: “Mehera says no Hindu, let alone a farmer, would do this.”

Harry: "He just took my chin, just the way Baba would, just like

that.”

Mani: "No stranger would just approach like that with arms

outstretched. They would first say Ram, Ram, where are you

going? They always go round about.”

Harry: “It was as though he was expecting us on the road. He came

with outstretched arms. I don't remember if I shook hands with

him a second time, I don't remember. It was all so quick.”

Meheru: “He both hid his identity and revealed it at the same time.”

Harry: “I see it was a wonderful experience.”

Mani: “Even shaking hands, a farmer would know that they don't

shake hands. He might have come like this. No, they don't shake

hands."

Harry: “No, he came with his hands just like that. And the rhythm

was like Baba's.”

Mani: “By the time a farmer is seventy-five he would have such

gnarled hands."

Harry: “It was like the shape of Baba's hand

the broad palm.

Because in November, 1968 Baba must have shaken hands with

me three, four or five times. We'd shake hands and He'd say,

'It's a deal.' Then He'd be talking and again He would say, 'It's

a deal.' That's the first time Baba asked me to shake hands with

Him, which was last November.”

Mani: “Oh really?”

Harry: "Oh, yes.”

Mani: “Ah, you mean Baba put out His hand first.”

Harry: “Baba indicated through Eruch, that He wanted to shake

hands. It's a deal, and Baba would say, it's a deal.”

They continued their conversation but now they were asking

Harry how many times he was embraced by Baba.

Tuesday, February 08, 2022

The Ancient of Days


Figure 1: The Ancient of Days
by William Blake (1794)

In my mid-twenties I had a quite large poster of Blake's "The Ancient of Days" that adorned the walls of the various abodes in which I lived during those years. To quote Wikipedia:

Ancient of Days is a name for God in the Book of Daniel. The title "Ancient of Days" has been used as a source of inspiration in art and music, denoting the creator's aspects of eternity combined with perfection. William Blake's watercolour and relief etching entitled The Ancient of Days is one such example. This term appears three times in the Book of Daniel (7:9, 13, 22), and is used in the sense of God being eternal.
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
Daniel 7:9

In this sense, "The Ancient of Days" is more akin to what Meher Baba termed "The Beyond the Beyond State of God" in his book "God Speaks". However, Christians nowadays clearly associate the phrase with Jesus. In the well-known song "Ancient of Days" by CityAlight this is clearly the case, although Jesus is not mentioned explicitly:

Ancient of Days

CityAlight

Though the nations rage, kingdoms rise and fall

There is still one King reigning over all

So I will not fear for this truth remains

That my God is, the Ancient of Days

None above Him, none before Him

All of time in His hands

For His throne it shall remain and ever stand

All the power, all the glory

I will trust in His name

For my God is, the Ancient of Days

Though the dread of night overwhelms my soul

He is here with me, I am not alone

O His love is sure, and He knows my name

For my God is, the Ancient of Days

None above Him, none before Him

All of time in His hands

For His throne it shall remain and ever stand

All the power, all the glory

I will trust in His name

For my God is, the Ancient of Days

Though I may not see what the future brings

I will watch and wait for the Saviour King

Then my joy complete, standing face to face

In the presence of the Ancient of Days

None above Him, none before Him

All of time in His hands

For His throne it shall remain and ever stand

All the power, all the glory

I will trust in His name

For my God is, the Ancient of Days

For my God is, the Ancient of Days

Source: Musixmatch


Van Morrison also has a song titled "Ancient of Days" from his album "A Sense of Wonder", released way back in 1985. The lyrics are quite different:

Ancient of Days

Van Morrison 

Saw you shining in the sun this morning 

Saw you shining in the moon at night 

Saw you shining in the sun this morning 

Saw vou shining in the moon at night 

Ancient of days, ancient of days, ancient of day a a a ays 

Saw you standing by the winding river 

Saw you standing by the shining stream 

Saw you standing by the winding river 

Saw you standing bv the shining stream 

Ancient of days, ancient of days, ancient of day a a a ays 

Felt you stirring in my heart this morning 

Felt you moving in my heart at night 

Felt you stirring in my heart this morning 

Felt you moving in my heart at night 

Ancient of days, ancient of days, ancient of day a a a ays 

Saw you shining in the sun this morning 

Saw you shining in the starry night 

Saw you shining in the sun this morning 

Saw you shining in the starry night 

Ancient of days, ancient of days, ancient of day a a a ays   


 Meher Baba often referred to himself as "The Ancient One":

"I was Ram, I was Krishna. I was this One, I was that One, and now I am Meher Baba. In this form of flesh and blood I am that same Ancient One who alone is eternally worshiped and ignored, ever remembered and forgotten."

Lord Meher Online Edition 

"I belong to no religion. Every religion belongs to me. My own personal religion is of my being the Ancient Infinite One, and the religion I teach to all is of love for God. This love can be practiced by anyone, high, low, rich, poor; and everyone of every caste and creed can love God. The one God who resides equally in us all is approachable to everyone through love. So I give my blessings that at least some of you will love God as He is to be loved."

Lord Meher Online Edition

"I am the Ancient One. I came as Ram in the world. I was Krishna and Muhammad. And I was the Christ who was crucified."

Lord Meher Online Edition 

"People say that I am the Avatar, but when it is impossible for rishis and munis to understand me, how can they know me? Only the Perfect Masters know me. I am that Ancient One — Zoroaster, Ram, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad. But how will you know that I am the Adi Purush [Supreme Power]? Rare are those who have the fortune to know me. So do one thing. Leave the thought of understanding me altogether. Love me, obey me; that is all. "

Lord Meher Online Edition 

"I am the Ancient One, the one residing in every heart. Undoubtedly, I am the Ancient One. So if you love others, make others happy, serve them even at discomfort to yourself, you would be loving me, the Beloved residing in every individual heart."

Lord Meher Online Edition 

The Van Morrison song would be impossible for me to sing but the CityAlight song is relatively easy to play. Here is the Ultimate Guitar link to the chords. Baba also referred to himself as the Avatar but this term has become somewhat debased by its association with an icon or figure representing a particular person in video games, internet forums, etc. and also the James Cameron movie "Avatar". Therefore the term "The Ancient One" is preferable to both "Avatar" and "God", both of which terms carry a lot of baggage.

That's not to say that "The Ancient One" doesn't have any baggage. It does. For instance, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

The Ancient One was the Sorcerer Supreme as well as the leader of the Masters of the Mystic Arts. For centuries, the Ancient One protected Earth from mystical threats, and dedicated herself to helping others in need by educating them in the magical arts to give them new hope.