“Consciously or unconsciously, every living creature seeks one thing.
The object of the quest is called by many names — happiness, peace, freedom, truth, love, perfection, Self-realisation, God-realisation, union with God.
Essentially, it is a search for all of these, but in a special way. Everyone has moments of happiness, glimpses of truth, fleeting experiences of union with God; what they want is to make them permanent.
They want to establish an abiding reality in the midst of constant change.”
— Meher Baba
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Big Questions
There comes a time for many when the small questions of daily life —
what shall I have for dinner?
do I need a haircut?
why is it so hard to maintain harmony with my parents
or my spouse?
become overshadowed by Big Questions:
Who am I?
What am I doing here?
Is there really life after death?
Why does my religion seem so empty?
What is the purpose of life?
What is Real?
How can I find God?
…and others.
At first these are a whisper. Eventually they grow stronger. And though one may continue with daily routines, an inner search for answers begins in earnest.
One has become a spiritual seeker.
Spiritual Teachers
As one explores answers to these Big Questions in books, YouTube videos, or conversations with friends or elders, it soon becomes clear that the world’s spiritual traditions are replete with men and women who have pursued these same questions and found answers. They are known as spiritual teachers, saints, gurus, and spiritual masters and have been recognized in every age and every continent. Among many others, they include:
Across all cultures and centuries, such figures have provided their devotees with spiritual practices and guidance with a common purpose: to nourish the inner qualities that transform consciousness.
Qualifications of an Aspirant
— Meher Baba
English
Hindi
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Moral Courage and
Confidence
Forbearance
Freedom
from
Worry
Cheerfulness
Enthusiasm
and
Equipoise
Accepting
the World
Patience
and
Persistence
One-Pointedness
Availing of Help from the
Master
The Avatar
Aside and apart from such highly respected spiritual figures, there is a rare one who might be thought of as the Master of masters, the Prophet, Messiah, Christ, Highest of the High, the Avatar. Within each faith-stream, he is celebrated as the archetype of humanity, the perfect representative of his age.
“The Avatar appears in different forms, under different names, at different times, in different parts of the world. As his appearance always coincides with the spiritual birth of man, so the period immediately preceding his manifestation is always one in which humanity suffers from the pangs of the approaching birth. Man seems more than ever enslaved by desire, more than ever driven by greed, held by fear, swept by anger.
The strong dominate the weak; the rich oppress the poor; large masses of people are exploited for the benefit of the few who are in power. The individual, who finds no peace or rest, seeks to forget himself in excitement. Immorality increases, crime flourishes, religion is ridiculed. Corruption spreads throughout the social order. Class and national hatreds are aroused and fostered. Wars break out.
Humanity grows desperate.
There seems to be no possibility of stemming the tide of destruction.
At this moment the Avatar appears….”
— Meher Baba
“The Avatar awakens contemporary humanity to a realisation of its true spiritual nature, gives liberation to those who are ready, and quickens the life of the spirit in his time.
For posterity is left the stimulating power of his divinely human example,
the nobility of a life supremely lived,
of a love unmixed with desire,
of a power unused except for others,
of a peace untroubled by ambition,
of a knowledge undimmed by illusion.
He has demonstrated the possibility of a divine life for all humanity, of a heavenly life on earth. Those who have the necessary courage and integrity can follow when they will.”
— Meher Baba
Avatar Meher Baba
“I was Rama, 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 is eternally worshipped and ignored, ever remembered and forgotten.
I am that Ancient One whose past is worshipped and remembered, whose present is ignored and forgotten, and whose future (Advent) is anticipated with great fervour and longing.”
