JUDAS ISCARIOT AND HITLER

Sometimes in the evenings at Meherabad, Baba would sit on his gardee and the women of the ashram, plus the servants, would bring their personal straw mat and sit cross-legged on the ground around Him. A few sat on chairs. Mehera always had a chair on Baba's right side, and one or two of the older disciples, whose knees were no longer supple enough for the floor position, would use chairs.

The gatherings were usually quite informal and Baba encouraged us to bring up subjects, give opinions, and then sometimes would show us that, although we might be thinking along the right lines from a worldly point of view, from the spiritual angle we were quite wrong.

One evening the subject of Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus came up for discussion and, looking at beloved Baba, our minds at once made the connection between Him and Jesus, and a certain amount of hostility was shown towards Judas, whose very name has come to mean "traitor." After a short time, Baba stopped this and explained that Judas was of Jesus's circle, and since the betrayal was a necessary prelude to the crucifixion, someone had to do it. Judas had been chosen and, blindfolded, he had served his Master.

After we had digested this, Baba added that Judas was again in incarnation and working in the Circle; and then, seeing our eyes shift uneasily from one to another, hoping not to be the one, He smilingly reassured the group that the reincarnated Judas was not present with us on this occasion.

Although we did realize the amazing service that Judas had done for Jesus, it was a relief to feel that one of us in an earlier life had not been called upon to serve our Master in this manner.

Baba was the first of the Avatars to travel around the world, unhampered by the lack of speedy travel facilities which had confined Krishna, Buddha and Jesus to small portions of the globe, from where the knowledge of them and their teachings had spread slowly outwards. Before World War II, Baba had already traveled to many countries and continents, and He called these many contacts, both personal and geographic, "laying cables." Later, when necessary, He would recontact these spots — perhaps by a seemingly accidental visit by a disciple, or perhaps giving a direct order that someone should go to a certain place. Even a letter or cable would sometimes do the job.

Although Baba Himself never went into Germany, He did send certain disciples who had social or business connections into the country to talk of Him. Just a few days before Hitler's big coup in Munich, a close disciple had been in the city.

It seems that since every personal ego has to come up to the surface and function before it can be destroyed, so the national ego, the religious ego, etc., must undergo in the same way the same process of destruction. Love can then flow in to replace them. After the war Baba told us this cleansing had by no means been fully accomplished, and that there was a choice of two ways to accomplish the rest.

One would be a third and devastating world war, and the other way would be through small wars, earthquakes, general physical upheaval, starvation for some groups, and religious groups vying with each other, their adherents killing each other to prove that their way was the only way to God.

Baba then looked around the group and asked which we thought was the better way. For once unanimous, we said, "The second way." He made no indications as to the direction in which humanity would be swept, but certainly most of the things that He mentioned as the second way have already happened and are still, in many parts of the world, continuing to cause a general upheaval.

Baba told us when our tongues were making an outraged attack on Hitler and his cruelties that again we did not understand, but that when He, the Avatar, comes into incarnation He needs opposition in order to function fully.