Theos-Talk Archives (April 2003 Message tt00178)

This story was told by Bhau Kalchuri, one of Meher Baba's disciples, who is currently the chirman of the Avatar Meher baba Trust. 

This happened presumably in the early 1950s



People do meditation, and it is not bad, but I remember one incident regarding meditation, involving repetition of God's name:

Beloved Baba was to enter into seclusion for four and one half months. He issued a circular, asking His lovers not to come to meet Him and not to correspond with Him. The Hamirpur lovers gathered together and considered what they should do during the four and one half month period. They discussed it and decided that they should meditate or repeat God's name for four and one-half months, continuously, without a break.

They formed twelve groups, and each group had to meditate or repeat God's name for two hours per day, and, in this way, twenty-four hours were divided into twelve groups. This chain was to last for four and one-half months. They also wrote a letter to Baba, saying that they were doing this because Baba would be in seclusion.

When that letter was read out to Baba, Baba said, "Just see what my lovers are doing outside! You are with me, and you don't do this; you must also do it."

In fact, we had no time to do this, because all the time we were occupied with other work. Sometimes, we would not even have any time to breathe.

Then Baba designated hours for all the Mandali: one hour to Gustadji, one to Eruch, one to Pendu, one to Nilu, one toVishnu, one to Donkin, one to Aloba, six to Baidul, twelve to Kaikobad, and one hour to me.

But my time was exactly lunch time.

I would take Baba to His bungalow, and when I would come back to the main bungalow, it would be my time to meditate.

I would close my eyes, sit on the bed and start meditating. Hardly would I meditate one quarter of a minute when the thought would come to me, "Lunch must be ready."

Again, I would repeat God's name, and another thought would come: the Mandali members must have started eating. Again, I would start meditating. But continuously thoughts would come, about correspondence, about different things. I would spend ten minutes meditating and fifteen minutes dwelling on other thoughts. I would feel very much disappointed. I would think that the others might be doing very well at meditating. But I could not do so, and so I would remain disappointed.

Then one day, when I was doing this, the thought came that I must tell Baba that I cannot do meditation. I must request Him to exempt me from it. And what did I find? Somebody knocked at my head. When I opened my eyes, what did I see?

Beloved Baba was standing over me.

He had come back from His bungalow alone. I looked at Him, and I said, "Baba, it is not possible for me to do this; I get so many thoughts."

"Who asked you to do this?" Baba asked.

I replied, "You asked me."

Baba said, "I asked you to repeat God's name; I did not ask you to stop your mind! So your mind works. I did not say that you should stop your thoughts. I have asked you only to repeat God's name, and you are doing it because it is My order. So why do you worry? Let the thoughts come and go. Just go on repeating God's name."

Then Baba gave a nice simile. "When there are mosquitoes, what do you do? You fix mosquito netting around your bed, and you sleep within the mosquito net. But what do you hear? You hear the buzzing sound of the mosquitoes outside the net. They don't come and bite you, but still you hear their buzzing sound. So also, when I asked you to repeat God's name, you are doing so. Thoughts and desires are like mosquitoes, but when you are following My order by taking God's name, you hear the buzzing sound of thoughts and desires. Because your remembrance fixes a net of love around your heart, mosquitoes, in the form of thoughts and desires, cannot bite you. You hear only their buzzing sound. Since you are following My order, you receive the effect.

"If anyone does this meditation on his or her own, not wholeheartedly, but as a ritual and without love, then it has no effect. In order to get rid of ritual, love for God should be there in any deed you perform.













Etzion Becker

P.O. Box 7398

Jerusalem, 91073

ISRAEL

www.3dsight.com/etzion


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]