Remember that the first step in spirituality is not to speak ill of others. All human beings have weaknesses and faults. Yet they are all God in their being. Until they become Realized, they have their imperfections. Therefore, before trying to find faults in others and speaking ill of them, try to find your own weaknesses and correct those.

LORD MEHER, 1st USA ed, vol. 6 & 7, p. 2506, Bhau Kalchuri
1994 © AMBPPCT

The Four Journeys

In reality these four journeys are never journeyed, for God has nowhere to journey.

Direct Journey To God

The masses who try to attain the Truth by following rites and rituals are, as it were, in the goods train which is detained indefinitely at various stations.

A Journey Without Journeying

When you awake you find that the Great Dream containing all the varied illusory aspects of dreaming, has vanished forever.

The Seven Realities

This message was especially significant because, for the first time, Baba ordered thousands of copies of it printed and then sent to his disciples and followers throughout India in order for them to distribute wherever they lived.

Stepping Out Of The Boundary Of Your Nature

Dust has no thought of its own, whether it is trampled upon, or applied to the forehead of a man, or remains suspended in air or water.

The Final Account

When the goal of life is attained, one achieves the reparation of all wrongs.

The Shock Of Their Lives

Truth never fails, and lovers of God will soon triumph.

It Is Not Necessary To Have A Complete Map

On the contrary, insistence upon having such complete knowledge may actually hinder rather than help the onward march.

The Unerring Voice of Love

The best of all forces, which can overcome all difficulties on the way, is the love that knows how to give without need to bargain for a return.

All Strength Freed From All Weakness

You have had innumerable forms as man and woman, beautiful and ugly, strong and weak, healthy and sickly, powerful and helpless, and now you are here again in another form.

A Widening of Interest, Not A Cutting Down

He wanted one to be fluid and adaptable, to accept the easy and the difficult, unattached to either, with equal poise and cheerfulness.

There Are No Two Kinds Of Faith

In whole-hearted faith, relief will be found from the many sufferings which afflict man.

Mantra/Zikr

A mantra is very beneficial to a neophyte on the spiritual path, particularly so when it is given by the guru.

Throw Everything In The Ocean

I am the Ocean; I can accept both flowers, coconuts and also filth.

What Is Grace?

The time is rapidly approaching when a tidal wave will rise in the ocean of grace.

Baba Allowed Him To Depart

He should be attached to nothing and follow the precept: The wandering yogi, the flowing water.

The Challenge Of Life's Game

A healthy approach to life contains the automatic answer to pessimism over the distance to be traveled.

At This Stage, He Is Blessed

I am the eternal Beloved, drawing the infinite number of lovers to Myself in infinite ways.

In One Sense We Are All Mad

For instance, you think you are the body — you are body-mad. Are you not mad?

To Feel Me All The Time

You cannot feel Me because I am there all the time; I will show you how to feel Me all the time.

Manzils And Muqams

There are seven planes, seven manzils, innumerable muqams in six planes, one muqam in the gross sphere, and one muqam in the sixth manzil. In the fourth plane there is no manzil and no muqam.

Worship From The Heart

It is the act of worship from the heart, and not thoughts and beliefs, that counts in the religious province.

Spiritual Dynamite

If he would know the depths of the ocean, he must be willing to plunge into it.

Be True To Your Duty

Your duty is to keep Me constantly with you throughout your thoughts, speech, and actions.

Making The Brotherhood Of Man A Reality

Nobody is utterly lost and nobody need despair.

Your Own Mouth Must Eat Itself

Those who do not love Me fail to understand Me; and those who do not realize My Divinity fail to understand it.

Gnosis

Gnosis is the internal but actual pathway inside a human being.

Meher Baba's Scent

Your coming here is like a preparation to catch the stealer of your hearts.

Sahaj Dhyan

Do it for four seconds every day, then you will be in the world, yet Baba will be with you all the time.

Conclusion

Therefore, the GOAL is to realize the Reality and attain the "I am God" state in human form.

That Pool Of My Love Within You

When you feel wretched, when you fall in your weakness, have a dip in that pool of love.

The Heart Should Be Linked With God

Sincere devotion gradually creates the thirst to love God, and eventually it results in merging in the Ocean of love divine.

Achieving True Self-Knowledge

There is a beautiful story of a kasturi-mriga, or musk deer, that brings out the nature of all spiritual sadhana.

Feel That You Are Not The Doer

You, as the lower self, are the curtain over your real Self. So what is the way out of this labyrinth, this quagmire?

Be Resigned Completely To His Will

At the most what could happen? You might die.

I Do Not Interfere

I allow vegetarians to follow their diet and nonvegetarians to eat meat, fish, etc.

Self-Effacement Contains The Spiritual Path

If we go blindfolded under the guidance of our Master who is Perfect, and try our best to exercise self-effacement, then we are absolutely safe.

From A State Of Bondage To A State Of Freedom

The gradual unfoldment of good brings in its train love, generosity, and peace.

You Will Find Me There

To follow me, you have not to give up anything. Begin to remember me from where you are, from what you are and how you are, because I cannot be excluded from any area, any vocation, anything.

What Is Spirituality?

It is the undoing of what you have been doing since ages.

Find Your Own Weaknesses

Remember that the first step in spirituality is not to speak ill of others.

The High Roads To God

It should be clear from the very beginning that though the Roads may be many, the Goal is and always will be only one, viz., attainment of union with God.

The Veil Must Be Ripped Off

Seekers advance on their own, but it is ultimately useless, as they inevitably become entrapped.

Expose A Layer Of Vital Awareness

Here is the real task of the aspirant: to pierce through his own layers of self-imposed self-sufficiency and insensitivity so that he may expose a layer of vital awareness to the world about him, which would teach him if it could.

The Only Reality

As compared with dreams, the physical life is indeed a reality. Similarly, compared with the reality of the path, the world and all worldly life is vacant dreaming on the part of man.

Either Love Or Lust

Never think that you have fallen so as not to rise again.

Reverse The Direction Of The Mind

It is, however, very rare for the mind of man to be finally turned away from the allurements of the world.

Unless One Seeks With All One's Heart

What else is life meant for but to love God and become one with Him?

Looking Towards The Future

A very good pattern to be followed by any person wanting to come closer to God.

Pseudo Sense Of Realization

The pseudo sense of Realization that comes at the intermediate stages is like an individual dreaming that he has awakened from sleep although he is actually still asleep.

Analogy Of The River

Treading the spiritual path is not like the riding of a saddled horse, but like walking on the sharp edge of a sword.

God Wants Love

The spiritual Ganga has been flowing nowadays. Wash your face and feet at least, if you are not destined to drink it.

Something One Can Measure Or Label

It's far from the Divine Plan to have no illness of the body — after all it is one of the main mediums of experiencing pain which is the opposite of pleasure.

Bondage Adds To Value Of Freedom

From the moment of initiation into the Path, the longing to unite with the source from which he has been separated becomes articulate and intense.

The Importance Of Meher Baba's Form

You don't know what you are saying. The path of Meher Baba's form is superior to all other paths.

This, They Will Have To Learn

In the West, people only follow the priests, go to church, bow down at the altar — they don't know how to love God.

The Deal

You just want the Real Beloved, and surrender to Meher Baba because He's your Real Father, your Real Mother, the one and only Real Creator.

For The Few Who Insist

For the few who insist, from the very depth of their souls and from the innermost core of their heart, on seeing the Reality actually face to face, at all costs and consequences, there is but one way.

Living Faith

Living faith in the Master becomes a supreme source of inspiration and unassailable self-confidence for the disciple.

Men Of God

There are only one hundred thousand Sat-purushas or Marden-e-Khuda (Men of God) in the whole of the universe.

Dealing With Failings

The Master is not perturbed by the failings of the disciple.

To Go Unconsciously

To go unconsciously, the second way, is when you are guided by your Master, Meher Baba, who takes you blindfolded.

Longing, Wanting And Attachment

Longing for the Beloved is the only longing worthy of its name and the only longing where wanting and attachment have no place.

Full-Fill And Fill-Full

Eagerly pursue Him, knowing for certain that at the end of the lane awaits the Beloved with open arms.

The Criteria For Making A Decision

In deciding not only what to take in school, but what personal relationships to develop in friends, and what life partner to choose if you decide to get married, ask this question: Will this relationship help bring me closer to my heart's desire: Meher Baba?

Between You And God

The individual must extricate himself from the herd.

Sincere Penance

When penance is carefully nourished and practised, it inevitably results in the psychic revocation of undesirable modes of thought and conduct and makes a man amenable to a life of purity and service.

Instantaneous Lifting Of Veils

These experiences were the means Baba used to inspire me to continue making efforts to "decondition" my mind.

The Lovers Of Meher Baba Do Not Follow Any Path

Remember that He is the pivot and as long as the concentration is all on Him, there is no such thing as path.

Inner Barometer

We all have an inner barometer that tells us what darkens or lightens the heart and lifts or dissolves the veils, and we can check the barometer while things are happening within us.

Pathless Journey

The journey is comparable in fact to a flight through the air, and not to a journey upon the earth, because it is truly a pathless journey.

Meher Baba: The Inner Path Is Irreplaceable

Even in Bhakti Marga as the ordinary religious man of the world practices it, this up-welling of love is absent.

Whether It Is A Path Or A Bath

If we really believe that Meher Baba has one hundred percent knowledge of everything, then does He not know when we are going to get God-Realization?

Be Determined To Be His

Once you are determined to be His, you will only do those things which won't prevent you from being His.

Nursing His Wound

In Brabazon's case, not only is Meher Baba the Beloved who is the divine wounder, he is also the divine comforter who alone can apply the appropriate balm.

First Glimpse Of Divinity Would Disarm Them

If people who say they believe in God were sincere, Meher Baba says, "they would earnestly start to find out what God is."

Connect Bogie To The Engine

The engine will carry all the bogies to the goal, as long as they are connected to the train.

Someday You Will All Get The Opportunity To Be With Baba

You are inching ahead slowly, so slowly that sometimes it seems as if you are not moving at all, or that you will never reach His feet, but you will get there.

Arriving At Self-Knowledge

The child does not know how its physical body grows: the aspirant also is, in the same way, often oblivious of the law according to which he makes headway towards the destination of his spiritual progress.

To Have No Approach

So what is this "giving up of seeking"? What is non-seeking?

Subjective Or Full Illumination

In a sense, God is nearer the subjective realm than the objective, although ultimately He is inclusive of both, as well as beyond both.

Loyalty To The Unchangeable Truth

Loyalty to the unchangeable truth, guided by enduring love, is the simple way that leads to God and abiding peace.

Divine Desperateness

Divine desperateness is the beginning of spiritual awakening because it gives rise to the aspiration for God-Realization.

The High Roads

The high roads are important because they take the pilgrim directly to his divine destination, avoiding prolonged wanderings in the wilderness of complicated byways in which the traveler is so often unnecessarily confused.

Temperament And Environment

The particular route by which the worldly man will start his search is determined by his temperament and environment.

Learning In One More Lifetime

I always remember Baba saying to me one day, "If you only knew how many husbands and wives you have had down through the ages, you would not be so worried about this one!"

Burning Away Of All One's Desires

The ability to exercise constant control over one's low desires is no mean achievement.

The Path Is The Most Rugged And Mysterious In Existence

It seems the one thing that people in our country, or even in the western world resist the most is the idea that they need a guide.

Forbearance And Unassailable Moral Courage

If the aspirant is to love and serve the world which does not understand him or even is intolerant towards him, he must develop infinite forbearance.

The Path Through The God-Man

The Path through the God-man is available only to those fortunate ones who approach him in complete surrenderance and unwavering faith.

Decent Living

Every individual has got to work out his own salvation, and for that matter, he himself has got to create and choose the 'path', which is mostly determined and expressed by the collective force and momentum of impressions (called sanskaras in Sanskrit) acquired during previous lives.

Genuine Spiritual Aspirant

There is no obstacle which cannot eventually be overcome by the genuine spiritual aspirant.

God Is In All

The negative experiences of the "bad", with its consequent suffering, ultimately disgusts man and leads him to the positive force of "good," thus awakening divine love.

It Requires Great Heroism

From the materialistic standpoint it may seem cowardly to forsake the world, but it requires great heroism to lead the spiritual life.

Motives

You will find that Masters, and God Himself, always judge us by our motives.

Beware Of Pride

Beware of pride, not only because it is hydra-headed, but because it is deceptive.

When Heart And Head Are Equally Developed

When the heart and the head are equally developed and balanced, one's progress on the path is more rapid.

Love And God

Spiritual progress is like climbing through hills, dales, thorny woods and along dangerous precipices to attain the mountain top. On this path there can be no halting or return.

The Dark Night Of The Soul

Just as anything may happen to a man travelling over an unknown path in the pitch blackness of the night, so anything may happen to one who must pass through the fourth plane without the guiding hand of a Perfect Master.

'Man-O-Nash' Through Action

That means to act but in such a way that the effect is as if no action were done.

No Room For Any Choice

All binding can truly disappear only when all desires disappear.

Succession Of Surrenders

Spiritual advancement is a story of a succession of surrenders one after another.

The Distance To Be Traveled

Often the aspirant becomes discouraged when he begins to understand how very long and difficult the path is.

The Path To Truth

The path to Truth has three sections, and each section is a world unto itself, yet each world overlaps the other.

Three Types Of . . .

Three types of disciples, seekers, yogis, lovers, resigners.

Four Things Of Lasting Value

Divine love is purely a gift from God to man. It is not only the richest of all gifts on earth or in heaven, but it is indeed so rare that very, very few are blessed with it.

Hidden Treasure

In the human form, which is the crowning product of evolution, the divine life is enmeshed in the sanskaric deposits of the mind.

Become Footless And Headless

Just as it is difficult to distinguish an imitation from a real pearl, so it is difficult to distinguish between an imitation and a real spiritual experience.

Someone Else's Defeat

When we win it is always someone else's defeat but we don't see it that way. In a way we are celebrating someone else's defeat.

On Mantras

How is a neophyte helped by a monotonous incantation or repetition of a certain word or words?

Spiritual Experience Not Born Of Escape

The spiritual experience that is to enliven and energise the New Humanity cannot be a reaction to the stern and uncompromising demands made by the realities of life.

Vegetarian And Non-Vegetarian

After Eruch had narrated what had been said about food, Baba replied, 'No one sitting here is so very important that God is standing behind your chair watching what you are eating.'

Spirituality

Spirituality is an enlightened attitude to all of life.

Kundalini

Kundalini is a latent power in the higher body.