LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE

 
Initially I had been surprised to discover that the people in the group who had not met Meher Baba physically before, but had travelled to India for the 1969 darshan, had felt Meher Baba's presence very strongly at Guruprasad, just the same as I had, even although He was not there physically. This brought home to me that things had not changed very much with the dropping of His body. His presence could still be experienced by humanity, and if new people wished to do so they could still love, obey and serve Him. This made me think about the future, and of the people who were to come later. What should they do?

Over the years I have made many trips to India on pilgrimage to Meher Baba's tomb, and also to visit His mandali seeking answers to the many questions that affect people's relationship with Meher Baba and God. During these visits I met many young people from different parts of the world, who had been drawn to Meher Baba and were there seeking the answer to the question of how they can love and obey Him now that He is no longer in the body.

It would seem to me that the pattern that Meher Baba laid down for our group to follow while He was in the body, is still a very good pattern to be followed by any person wanting to come closer to God, having Meher Baba as their Spiritual Master. Most of us in the group had very little external communication with Him and His instructions to us were usually of a general nature and for all, not specifically for an individual. For this very reason they would be applicable to all people who wish to have Meher Baba as their Spiritual Master today, now that He is no longer in the body.

These same instructions were also given to the Baba lovers in India, America and other places. But because so much other external activity associated with Meher Baba was usually going on in both India and America the pattern is more easily seen in Australia, because of our isolation from other Meher Baba external activities.

It would be appropriate to mention here about living Spiritual Masters. I myself sought to have a living Spiritual Master and I was very fortunate that Meher Baba was the one that I met and followed. It is normal with Spiritual Masters after they drop their body, that their power remains at their tomb, but although their power is there, they do not have the authority to use that power, they only have that authority during their physical lifetime.

In the case of the Avatar, however, this is not so and He is unique in this regard. God always has absolute power and also the authority to use it, whether He is in the body or not. It is His normal state not to be in the body, and when He returns to this normal state after the Advent He still has His absolute power and the authority to use it. He is still approachable through the Personality and the Name used during the Advent, and through remembrance of the physical Form, so He can be one's Spiritual Master even when not in the body.

For this reason I will list Meher Baba's general instructions to us, for those people who may be interested in obeying them. Knowing what I know now, if I had not met Him personally, this is what I would do. I have included additional information on how to carry out these instructions that I have learned mainly from His mandali.

His general instructions to us were:

1. Think of Me
2. Love Me
3. Obey Me
4. Repeat My Name
5. Hold on to My daaman
6. Do not take drugs unless prescribed by a medical practitioner for a specific medical treatment.

Thinking of Him is not so much a formal meditation, but more of a remembrance. Meditation is usually structured and for a fixed time whereas remembrance can be at any time while one is even doing other things. He would always want us to be active people carrying out our responsibilities at work, in the home and in the community. But performing these actions for Him and not for ourselves, and leaving the results to Him. I will give here a quotation from Meher Baba about work that I think is appropriate.

Do whatever needs to be done, but do it as a spiritual being.
As one who knows he is divine by nature and unlimited with the whole of life in essence.
Do it as if you are doing it for Me or for God.
Do it with equal consideration for the interests of all concerned, for God is equally in each.
Do it with utmost concentration, yet with utter detachment for the results of action.
Leave the fruit of action to Me or to God.
Do it as if it were the most important thing in the universe, yet let it be destroyed, or ignored, or ridiculed without concern, or let it be praised without elation.
Leave the response to Me or to God.
Do it, in short, as if you were not doing it at all, but as if I or God were doing it through you.