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This is an unpublished essay from
Adi Da.
 Meher Baba, the "Avatar" Tradition, and the Good Heart in All True Spiritual Masters Meher Baba's elaborate fourth to
fifth stage devotional mysticism of progressive ascent to
God-Consciousness via the "ladder" of the psycho-physical
cosmos generally corresponds to the traditional mysticism of
Persia (or Iran), which (in the form of the Zoroastrian
religion) was Meher Baba's family tradition. (An independent
description of the cosmico-Spiritual concepts of the
Persian, or Iranian, tradition is presented in the book here
cited, entitled Psycho-Mysticism Unveiled and The Revelation
of Celestial Bliss, by B. Mushtari.)
Meher Baba's style of life and Teaching, as well as his fundamental emphasis on the removal of sanskaras (or the accumulated impressions and tendencies associated with past experience and activity), is otherwise characteristic of the Hindu tradition in general and, in particular, of the life and Teaching of Upasani Baba (who was Meher Baba's principal Spiritual Master). The "Avatar of the Age" dogma about Meher Baba is, especially with its even numerically defined hierarchy of Savior(s), Perfect Masters, and their various appointed helpers, an example of "New Age" (and otherwise idiosyncratic, and even "Christianized") religious mythology. However, the larger (and ancient) "Avatar" tradition itself, which is prepared to acknowledge and receive a Divine "Avatar" (or a true God- Man) at any place or time, is a living, and authentic, tradition. And, in the context of that living, authentic tradition, Meher Baba is but one example of a Spiritual Master who, along with such others as Ramakrishna, Shirdi Sai Baba, Anandamayi Ma, Paramahansa Yogananda, Swami Nityananda, and Ramana Maharshi, is believed, by many, to be a Divine Avatar of the modern era. Even outside of their own Circle of devotees, all true Spiritual Masters should be honored as Real-God-Realizers and Real-God-Revealers (each in their own unique manner or stage or degree). The true devotee necessarily (and rightly) Sees the Divine most fully and directly in his or her own Spiritual Master, but every such devotee should (by Virtue of that Vision or Darshan) See the Divine also Present in all other beings (including the Spiritual Masters of other devotees). The degree of Realization of a Spiritual Master is Revealed only to the degrees of Real-God-Realization (and of ecstatic, and, necessarily, self-transcending, Real-God-Communion) in the case of those who are the practicing devotees of (or who at least sympathetically respond to) that Spiritual Master (or, otherwise, in the case of any others who are themselves Spiritual Masters, of one or another degree, capable of discerning the Signs exhibited by other Spiritual Masters of either the same degree or any lesser degree). Therefore, the process of discerning the degree of Realization in the case of any Spiritual Master is a Paradox associated with actual practice (and Realization) of the Spiritual Way, and the non-sympathetic observer is in no position to make a proper (and, necessarily, devotional, or even already Real-God-Realized) judgment in that particular matter. Nevertheless, all intelligent and good-hearted people can (and should) certainly feel and honor the Good Heart in all true Spiritual Masters of devotees. |
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