Rayala Rama Chandraiah

On Jan 31, 1969, Meher Baba dropped His body. The body was interned in the Samadhi built in 1938 atop Meherabad hill near Ahmednagar. The Samadhi crypt was covered on Feb 7, 1969.

During this period, Jan 31- Feb 7, Saudi Arabia witnessed floods in Mecca. Water level had risen to a height of two meters around the sacred Kaaba, media reports said.  

One night in January 1914, Hazrat Babajan in Pune kissed Merwan on his forehead and declared, “This is my beloved son. He will one day shake the whole world to its foundation and all humanity will be benefitted by Him”.

Years later, Meher Baba, as Merwan came to be known, declared: “My present Avataric form is the last incarnation of this cycle of time. My manifestation will be the greatest. Although I am born in India, I have to work more in this advent for those in the west. The mind of those in the West is very developed, but their heart is not active whereas those in India have a more developed heart”.

On 26 Sept, 1937 Baba gave a long interview to Seiber, a German seeker, just when war appeared inevitable. Baba told him: chaos and destruction are essential for reconstruction. It is the spiritual Law -create and destroy.

Baba purposely brought Seiber for His inner work. And he became the representative of Germany.

During 1938, Baba remarked about the impending war. All-Europe is preparing for war – Russia, France and England against Germany, Italy and others. “My agents are now very busy be in China and Japan”.

On 29 Sept 1938, the British Prime Minister Novelle chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler and Mussolini to avoid war.  

But a day later, on 30 September, Baba declared emphatically: “There will be war.”

Baba would daily mention about impending war, remarking that the First World War was not enough to bring about a change of heart in man.

On the first of September, 1939, Hitler’s army invaded Poland and heralded the Second World War.

Two days later, on 3 Sept 1939, Baba remarked: “This war is not like the last war, which was fought on land and water. Now it will also be (fought) in the air. It is all my game”.

Meher Baba observed two-month long seclusion during April and May, 1940 “for my special universal work, particularly to speed-up things regarding the war”.

Baba added: War is absolutely necessary for spiritual reasons. There has never been such a war, and never will be another like it. But when this is over, peace will reign for 400 years. All who die in this war will take form again and enjoy peace.

One after the other, 32 nations were drawn into the vortex of war.  Italy declared war on England and on 10 June 1940. America joined the War much later.

Meher Baba met his Master Upasani Maharaj on 17 October 1941, at a secluded place in the village, Dahigaon, near Sakori, the seat of Maharaj.

Nobody was allowed to go near the hut where the two met for half an hour. It was their first meeting in two decades. It was to be their last meeting just when the Second World War was about to enter its most crucial phase.

Less than two months later, on 7 Dec 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked and Japan declared war on America and Great Britain. Four days later Germany declared war on America.

Baba instructed the men Mandal to light the Dhuni (camp fire) every month at Meherabad from 12 Dec 1941.

Baba told them, “This time, the reason for igniting Dhuni, is not for rain; it is for a certain definite purpose of My work”.

The same day, Baba began fasting on water for a week and informed all his lovers everywhere to fast on the 12th December.

On 19 Dec 1941, Baba said:

“Hitler plays double role of hero and villain simultaneously and so marvellously, in spite of such a burden of worries that would make anyone else crazy, and as well as being surrounded by enemies and spies that endanger his life every moment. He would have been assassinated already, but for God’s will, to enable him to play the role assigned, which he plays so creditably.

“Due to this divine sight on him, a sincere belief and strong conviction are created in him. So, whatever he does, he thinks is for the goad of humanity and is therefore right no matter how wrong it is.

“Hitler is not an agent of Mine but an actor-perfect in playing the role ordained. Fighting all along against the whole world, against such formidable enemies as Britain, Russia and now America, truly great”.

In February 1942, Baba dictated four messages on

1.Spiritual significance of the present war.

2. Violence and Non-Violence

3. Action and Inaction.

4. Need for creative leadership in India

Baba specially wished these four messages to be delivered to the top leaders of India. He chose Chanji (Dadachanji, Baba’s first secretary) and Jal Kerawala ( a district level bureaucrat) for the task and sent them to Delhi on March 1942 saying, “You have to do this work even if you die doing it!”

The political situation in India was becoming critical. Japan was approaching India’s border. At the same time, Mahatma Gandhi and others were clamouring for independence after more than a century of British rule.

In order to come to some settlement, with the Indian leaders, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill dispatched Stafford Cripps, a member of the war cabinet, to Delhi. He offered what amounted to a post-dated cheque: “First cooperate in defending (the country) and get independence after Japan’s defeat.”

Indian leaders rejected the offer.

Cripps Mission failed.

Baba was closely following the developments, and wished the leaders of the Congress Party to read His messages before Cripps arrival in Delhi. Accordingly, Chanji and Jal Kerawala spent a week contacting Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru and some thirty other prominent leaders besides Stafford Cripps himself. They delivered printed Copies of Meher Baba’s four messages to each of them.

On 30 March, Chanji and Kerawala returned to Dehradun where Baba was staying. After listening to their reports of how “lucky” they were in contacting all the leaders as Baba wished, the Master remarked: “I have contacted the leaders. through you. They will now make decisions according to the thoughts and wisdom God will give them. It was all according to God’s plan”.

At the end of April 1942, Baba sent Chanji to Delhi again to contact other influential persons who had spiritual inclinations and to disseminate His messages to them.

Baba particularly wished to contact Colonel Johnson, US President Roosevelt’s special envoy. Chanji gave him the messages and he promised to study them. Messages were also mailed to prominent nationalist personalities such as Aurobindo Ghosh, who, in later years, became known as Yogi Sri Aurobindo.

In May 1942 Baba entered a cave in Rishikesh, holy city on the banks of River Ganga at the foothills of Himalayas. His seclusion seemed to be connected with the war.

Because he had said once: “This war is a necessary evil. It is in God’s plan, which is to awaken humanity to higher values. This war is teaching that even the man in the street can rise to the greatest height of sacrifice for the sake of selfless cause.

“The greatest lesson that this war has taught to all of us is the futility of false values in life, such as wealth, property and possessions, which have no consideration for value at all when life itself is at stake.

“When truly understood, all conflicts and wars are part of the divine game; they are thus a result of the Divine will, which finds expression in the world of manifestation through the help of Maya”.

At Meherazad Baba asked ballet dancer Margaret Craske to look after a cat named “Gesu”.

At the beginning of June 1944, it was pouring rain one night when Baba suddenly ordered Margaret to throw the cat out. She hesitated and told Baba: “It is raining so hard that is cruel”.

The next night in pouring rain, Baba came to Margaret’s room and ordered her to throw Gesu out. Again, Margaret started to protest but Baba napped: “Whose cat is it any way, yours or mine?

She did as was ordered.

Coincidently, it had also been storming over the English Channel at the time.  Yet, Churchill, the Prime Minister ordered the British fleet consisting of over 700 battle-ships and 4000 landing craft to cross the English Channel to France.

The American forces were now sweeping across Europe, and on 23 August 1944, Paris was liberated by the advancing Allies, and General De Gaulle took command of Paris, two days later.

Mast Ali Shah was brought to Hyderabad from Ahmednagar on 21 April 1945. As Baba was working with Ali Shah, the Allied troops were pushing through German territory. He was sent back to Ahmednagar on May Day, just one day after Hitler committed suicide.

Baba commented, “Instead of committing suicide, it would have benefitted Hitler had he stood trial before the world and faced the consequences of his actions”.

Events in the War continued to climax. The U.S. Air Force dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945, respectively. Seven days later, on 15 August 1945, Japan surrendered marking the end of World War-II.

UNIVERSAL WORK   

As foretold by Meher Baha the world map radically changed after WW II.

Germany became divided, separated by the Berlin Wall. The rest of Europe was split into two parts- Western and Soviet Spheres of influence. The United Nations (UN) Organization came to be established in 1945.

The universal Declarations of Human Rights was adopted three years later in 1948.

It may seem strange to the modern man to hear that wars are controlled by spiritual Masters living quietly in some far corner of the world.

The perfect Masters are indirectly in charge of the execution of the Divine plan during the Avataric periods.

WW II was in God’s plan, which is to awaken humanity to higher values.

The Sahavas of Meher Baba lovers was scheduled for four days from 1-4 Nov 1962 in Pune before the God in human form.

Two great crises were unfolding -one in the West between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and the other in the East across the Himalayas between India and China.

The crisis in the West, known as the Cuban missile crisis after the US reconnaissance planes noticed that Soviet missiles were installed in the tiny island nation of Cuba off the American coast. These missiles were capable of launching nuclear war- heads on all major American cities. President John F. Kennedy ordered a Naval blockade of Cuba on 24 October, 1962. He even threatened to in vade the Communist nation, if the nuclear missiles were not dismantled.

As news came that the Soviet Union had agreed to pull its missile from Cuba, Baba remarked that he had averted a nuclear war that looked imminent.

EASTERN CRISIS

The Eastern Crisis ended up as a full-fledged war. China attacked India. The People Liberation Army (PLA), as the Chinese military is known, crossed the disputed McMahon Line on 20 Oct, 1962.

Meher Baba said that the Chinese would retreat in the winter and added that India would win in the end. The statement was widely published. And was juxtaposed with the reality that China was advancing daily and India was retreating.

Mohammad mast was seen killing ants and when asked, Baba explained that Mohammad had been working to save India by killing the enemy through ants.

Two weeks later, on 20th November 1962, China to the utter surprise of all, declared a ceasefire and withdrew its troops across the border. This is how the Avatar averted the war though the world was totally ignorant about his healing touch.

In 1955, Baba placed a pan on Dr. C.D. Deshmukh’s head (editor of the first edition of Meher Baba discourses) and said, “one day the Chinese would walk into India and the pan represents protection from the bombs”.  Significantly, during this war, China did not use fighter Jets.

The Avatar’s working is anyhow beyond normal comprehension. Meher Baba sent a telegram to Sripat Bhai Sahai of Jarakhar, Uttar Pradesh, “If you turn to North and say loudly seven times, “Chine go away, Chine will go”.

Sripat Bhai did as directed. He stood facing the North and repeated “China go away”, seven times. An hour later, he heard about China’s unilateral cease-fire on the radio.

Said Baba: “You see Me sitting with you in Pune at the gathering of My lovers from the East and the West from Nov 1 – 4, 1962, but I am simultaneously on all the planes of consciousness. There are souls in the subtle world who want me, and I am there with them. There are those in the mental world, who want me, and I am there with them”.

Baba said that through the East-West gathering, he had opened the window of His heart just for His Lovers just for a while, but when He breaks His silence, He will open it permanently.

NEW HUMANITY

Before organizing the East-West gathering Meher Baba made two world tours. He also went abroad 11 times. He gradually collected His Western lovers over four decades.

The lovers and disciples from the West got an opportunity to be presented before Meher Baba’s Eastern lovers. Baba was in fact laying the foundation of the great event in human history when the East and West are going to mix together and a “New Humanity” will emerge from this intermixing.  

Meher Boba declared “I intend bringing together all religions and cults like beads on one string, and revitalize them for individual and collective needs”

BABA’S WORK FOR WOMEN

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Since ages past women were treated as subordinate to men. But in this Avataric Advent, Meher Baba had done special work for the liberation of women. Meher Baba began His work for Women when He visited the West for the first time in 1931.

One of the strangest and probably most significant episodes of Baba’s European visit was his trip to Paris with the Western and Eastern women. He took them one night to the Eiffel Tower, where He had held one of His most important “inner-meetings” with Saints and Masters of the sixth and seventh planes of consciousness.

Shortly afterwards. French women were bestowed equal rights with men.

UPASNI-WOMEN UPLIFT

Perfect Master Upasani Maharaj also did special work for virgin- girls (Kanyas) in his ashram at Sakori. Durgabai, who was regarded as a spiritual mother of Maharaj, could not understand his work with Kanyas as she did not like the Maharaj to sit surrounded by girls in a secluded room. It is said that because Maharaj was old, he was unable to travel to Western countries to work for Women.

Baba took on the work of reshaping Western women as Maharaj did the work for Indian women. (South Asian Tribune)