BY MRS. INDUMATI DESHMUKH, M. A., B. T.
The whole world has been going
through a crisis. It is faced with innumerable problems. Racial hatred and
narrow nationalism, religious fanaticism and blind aggressiveness, worship
of gold and economic exploitation—
these have been poisoning and perverting the cultural life of humanity for
generations together: and the world'
s
most imperative and pressing need is
more light. In order to meet these forces
that tend to create chaos, there have
naturally come into existence many
spiritual movements which aim at
creating order out of this confusion.
Our age is, therefore, also an age of
spiritual awakening. But as there is a
keen rivalry between many spiritual
and religious forces, our minds are
tossed in the currents and counter-
currents of thought. In this critical
period of humanity there is in our midst
one Person whose teaching is destined
to restore steadiness to our minds by inculcating the right outlook and establish
unity amongst the people of the world
inspite of the differences of sex, nation,
creed, religion or culture. He is Shri
Meher Baba. He loves all; and His
comprehensive philosophy is bound to
influence the biggest sphere of human-
ity.
The modern world-culture has to
face the most important problems of
synthesising the material and the
spiritual aspects of life. Very few per-
sons can avoid going to one extreme or
the other. There are those who worship
gold and are utterly indifferent to spiritual values. And there are others who
try to seek spirituality by running away
from life and avoiding its responsibilities. Shri Meher Baba'
s teaching on
this point helps us to have a balance
between these two extremes. According
to Him, everyday life and true spirituality cannot be separated from each
other. If the world-culture is to be
sound, it must find a way of uniting the two.
Progress of humanity from the material point of view is not in any way
unimportant. If a man is required to
waste all his life only in the struggle for
maintenance, he can have no time for
higher things. Shri Meher Baba advises
His disciples to discharge their worldly
responsibilities completely. If He finds
any disciple neglecting, his duties He
admonishes him. He teaches that those
who can behave properly in everyday
life will certainly gain the higher life.
And those who cannot attend well even
to the ordinary things of life can never
achieve anything of spirituality.
But at the same time, material achievements cannot be looked upon as
ends in themselves. If they are not
completely subordinated to spiritual
values, they are likely to be used for
destructive purposes. Even today many
scientific inventions are used in wars
for killing each other. The kingdom of
eternal harmony and joy can come only
through the spiritualisation of life. The
way to achieve it is not bloodshed but
kindness, not war but friendship, not
enmity but love.
People have forgotten the true and
the lasting values with the result that
accumulation of wealth for selfish pur-
poses has been the guiding philosophy
of individuals and nations. This type of
outlook has created in our social structure pernicious class distinctions. There
is a wide gulf between the rich and the
poor. The rich are in possession of
abundance of wealth, whereas the poor
are half-naked and starving; and there is
exploitation of the poor and the weak
for selfish ends. Our political tangle
expressing itself through international
rivalry and conflict is also due to
collective greed for money and power.
Shri Meher Baba, therefore, uncompromisingly denounces all forms of
greed which is the root cause of all our
troubles. But He does not advise the
people of the world to give up their
worldly pursuits. He only asks them to
remain unattached in the midst of
worldly pursuits and to spiritualise
them by subordinating material acquisition to spiritual considerations.
The frame-work of the economic and
political structure of society must facilitate sound cultural life; and the application
of Shri Meher Baba'
s teaching concerning brotherhood and love requires
thorough reconstruction in these fields.
Not only will the basis of the new
world-culture of the future be thus
entirely transformed, but our very
ideas of true culture will change
radically in the light of His teaching.
Culture does not consist in possessions
or power or academic qualifications. It
is a certain attitude to life—the attitude
of love and reason. Shri Meher Baba
emphasises both of these aspects of
Divinity equally; and He is Himself an
inspiring example of a perfect development of love and reason. He is an
embodiment of true culture.
The sign of culture is a balanced
mind, not the static balance of a lifeless
thing, but the dynamic equilibrium of
mind which manifests itself through the
creative response of love and reason to
all the incidents of life. The spiritual
man does not shun life if sorrows befall
him; nor does he wish to add more
years to his life if years shower upon
him. He is not moved by the opposites
of joys and sorrows, pains and pleasures, hut transcends both and enjoys
eternal bliss in conscious union with
the Divinity within. Some persons have
a wrong notion that Supermen or spi-
ritually cultured persons go away from
the world and that they lead a life of
inaction, taking no interest in life. But
in truth the Super-man is more active
than ordinary persons. The common
man is engaged in activities concerning
his own self; but the Super-man has to
consider the good of the world and has,
therefore, a much wider sphere for his
activities. He takes great interest in life
and lives a full life of creative action.
He does not trifle with anything, but he
does everything with all his being.
For the transformation of our cultural
life we naturally look to religion. But
unfortunately religion has been often
misunderstood, with the result that it
has deteriorated into sectarianism. Sectarianism makes men fanatically aggressive instead of broadening their minds.
Instead of promoting the Truth, it leads
to the spreading of dogmas. Instead of
reconciling the differences among men,
it accentuates them. Instead of increasing the
happiness of man, it makes him
unhappy and narrow. Thus chaos and
the misery in this world are due to the
misinterpretation of the true meaning of
religion.
Shri Meher Baba preaches freedom
of spiritual culture. The freedom of the
individual in matters concerning
spiritual life should not in any way be
curtailed by convention or dogma.
There are as many diverse paths as
there are temperaments. All persons
need not accept. the same path to
Divinity. The basic belief of sectarianism is that there is only one path to
realization and that it is binding on
everyone. But this philosophy leads
only to external conversions and compulsions. Shri Meher Baba expects
from us not only tolerance of all religions, but the active attitude of appreciation for the truths which they
reveal. He brings to the forefront the
vital truths of all religions and shows
them as being identical. In his ex-
positions of the Truth we find him
using the terminology of the Sufis, of
Vedanta, or of the Christian mystics
without any sectarian bias. The spirit of
tolerance is a very healthy preservative
of the uniqueness of individuality. It.
secures in the cultural life of the world
a rich variety instead of dull uniformity.
Everyone has his own path to Divinity,
and yet the goal of all is the same.
Freedom of spiritual culture, therefore,
leads to unity, a harmony in differences.
The history of humanity has been a
history of blunders. But humanity has
been redeemed again and again by the
Masters of Wisdom and Love. Shri
Meher Baba brings to the world a new
dispensation of the spiritual Truth. He
has come to promote the life of the
spirit which alone can contribute to-
wards happiness and harmony. If a
person has learnt the art of spiritual life,
he is bound to express creative culture
in all the different spheres of human
activities, and thus transform entire life
by the release of love. Not only by his
teaching but also by the inspiration of
his supreme example, Shri Meher Baba
helps humanity in its onward march
towards Divinity. He sees God in every
person and teaches us the fundamental
truth of the unity of all life. The Light which he
brings will lead us towards that Abode
of Eternity which is God and which is
the fountain-source of life, creating
harmony out of chaos and giving
meaning to all the mundane activities
of man.
Meher Baba Journal, Volume 1, No. 4 February 1939
