God Speaks

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A series of articles on Meher Baba

Terms and Concepts Perfect Master Mandali · New Life

Prayers and Practices Silence Day Amartithi · Dhuni O Parvardigar Prayer of Repentance Beloved God Prayer

Major Publications God Speaks Discourses God in a pill?

Organizations Avatar Meher Baba Trust Sufism Reoriented

Retreat Centers Meher Spiritual Center Avatar's Abode Meher Pilgrim Center Meherabad · Meherazad

Major Figures Hazrat Babajan Upasni Maharaj Mehera Irani Sheriar Mundegar Irani Norina Matchabelli Eruch Jessawala Faredoon Driver Bhau Kalchuri Francis Brabazon

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God Speaks by Meher Baba God Speaks, The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose (ISBN 978-0-915828-02-9) is a book by Indian guru Meher Baba and is Meher Baba's most complete statement of his view of the process of Creation and its purpose. First published by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1955. Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Writing without a pen 1.2 Editions 2 The Birth of Consciousness 3 Development of Consciousness 3.1 Evolution 3.2 Reincarnation 4 The Perfection of Consciousness 4.1 Involution 4.2 States of Divine Consciousness 5 Syncretism 6 See also 7 References 8 External links [edit] Overview

God Speaks is Meher Baba's major book and it is famously difficult. But not only is it Baba's major book, it is his only book. All other books by Meher Baba, such as the Discourses and Listen Humanity, are not written as books, as God Speaks is, but are collections of essays and messages. ^[1] God Speaks takes a strictly non-dualist approach in explaining the universe and its purpose, carefully clarifying and syncretising terms as it takes the reader through the spiritual journey of the atma (soul) through its imagined evolution, reincarnation, and involution, to its goal, its origin, of Paramata (Over-soul). The journey winds up being one from God unconscious (Beyond Beyond State of God) to God conscious (Beyond State of God). God Speaks draws the same conclusion as Adi Shankara, that atma (Atman) is Paramatma (Brahman). Meher Baba uses the analogy of the Ocean and its drops or bubbles to tell the "story" of the soul's search for its true and original identity. Although Meher Baba's metaphysics stress non-dualism from the perspective of conscious God, from the relative perspective of "Creation" Meher Baba's metaphysics are also compatible with theism since, as described in God Speaks, the conscious Beyond state contains, yet is still distinct from, the gross/subtle/mental spheres or worlds. The book includes eleven charts, many in color, including an insert fold-out chart of syncretic terms used. God Speaks is dedicated "to the Universe— the Illusion that sustains Reality." The copyright for God Speaks is held by Sufism Reoriented in Walnut Creek, CA. For an excellent description of the book's content see the extensive Book Description posted on Amazon.com.

[edit] Writing without a pen

Meher Baba, who maintained silence for 44 years (from 1925 until his passing in 1969), spent a year dictating the first eight chapters of God Speaks word by word on a hand-made English language alphabet board. Eruch Jessawala, a mandali (close disciple) of Meher Baba and Meher Baba's main interpreter, dictated the content of the book from the alphabet board as a second disciple transcribed -- content often changing languages in mid-sentence. There was no capitalization or punctuation on the alphabet board so extensive and meticulous editing was required under Baba's careful supervision. The book includes a Supplement that delves into various related spiritual and metaphysical subjects.

[edit] Editions

God speaks has been released in three major English language editions, with several printings, as well as one Spanish language translation.

1. The first edition was published by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1955. It was originally 255 pages. Of this edition there were four printings, 1955, 1967, 1968, and 1970. In the first printing 100 were printed in white cloth and were signed by Meher Baba. Other copies were printed in blue cloth. All dust jackets were blue with a silhouette of Meher Baba on the cover.
2. In 1973, four years after Meher Baba's death, God Speaks was released in a second revised and expanded edition, 313 pages, also blue and published by Dodd Mead. In addition to earlier charts included, the second edition had a fold out insert of syncretic terminology. After two printings of the second edition, 1973 and 1975, Dodd, Mead and Company went out of business in 1990.
3. In 1997, a third edition was published by Sufism Reoriented and is 334 pages. This edition, still in print, has a white cloth cover. However, it has the original blue dust jacket design. It is printed in a semi-glossy acid-free clay based paper for posterity.
4. In November, 2001 a Spanish language version of God Speaks, Dios Habla: La Creacion y Su Proposito, was published by Editorial Kairos.

The English language version of God Speaks has never received a paperback printing. All first edition printings are extremely rare, especially the 1955 printing of which only 5000 were pressed. No 1955 signed original copies remain in circulation, but are now kept in private libraries and archives.

[edit] The Birth of Consciousness

According to God Speaks, before the Soul has any consciousness of anything or itself, there is an infinite, impressionless unconscious tranquil state. Meher Baba calls this state the Eternal Beyond-Beyond State of God (or Paratpar Paramatma), which has no experience of Self, nor of any of its Infinite latent attributes. Meher Baba says that the state of the man's consciousness during sound sleep is literally the same original divine sound sleep state of God. Latent in this Infinite state is the undifferentiated and unmanifested Everything. In Everything is also included the Nothing. Latent in Paramatma is the First Urge, which is expressed by the question "Who Am I?". This First Urge at one finite but unlimited point becomes manifest as the "Om Point" or the "Creation Point." Through this point the Nothing gradually appears as the shadow of the Everything and this appearance starts expanding ad infinitum. Simultaneously with the manifestation of the First Urge, the infinite Soul, in a tremendous shock, experiences its very first gross impression as it identifies itself with the projected Nothingness. In this experience, the first illusory separation (sense of separate identity) takes place in the undifferentiated. The Soul, still not conscious of its true Self, becomes identified with its projected shadow through this very first impression, thus initiating the illusion of duality. This first event of consciousness might be considered to correlate with what is called the "Big Bang," although Meher Baba does not write this explicitly in God Speaks. Thus, Meher Baba can be understood to mean that the beginning of creation is in fact a beginning in consciousness.

To make this first event more approachable to understanding, Baba gives the metaphor of an Infinite ocean and a drop of that ocean. In this metaphor, Paramatma (a vedantic term, for which Meher Baba says Over-soul would be the closest western equivalent) is likened to an infinite and limitless ocean. Any drop of this ocean (the drop signifying the individuated soul) is the ocean itself, since no differentiation between drops has yet been conceived. If we liken the manifestation of the First Urge as the imagined separation of one drop from the ocean, then the infinite ocean comes to look upon itself through this drop as merely this most finite, most limited drop of the infinite and unlimited ocean. It is important to keep in mind that here Meher Baba is using metaphor and analogy to explain changes in God's imagination and the development of consciousness and that he is not describing a metaphysical ocean or literal drops in any sense.

[edit] Development of Consciousness

[edit] Evolution

The very first forms mentioned, which the indivisible Soul's consciousness identifies its eternal Self with, are seven gaseous forms (the seventh of which is Hydrogen, according to a footnote). Yet since these are very abstract forms, beyond ordinary human understanding, for the sake of convenience, the first form which consciousness associates itself with is described as the stone-form. Through the medium of this form the individualized soul, experiencing impressions related to the kingdom of stones, associates itself with the stone. When all impressions arising from this association have been experienced and exhausted, the soul dissociates itself from that form and associates with the next stone species. When the whole range of impressions through all stone species have been exhausted, the soul starts associating itself with forms of the metal kingdom, and so forth through evolution. In all, seven major leaps are mentioned in this evolutionary process in consciousness: from stone, to metal, to vegetable, to worm, to fish, to bird, to animal and finally to human.

Meher Baba describes an unfolding geometric schema of forms. In the stone and metal forms, consciousness asserts itself through a recumbent, folded-up position in the gross world, with no voluntary motion. In the vegetable forms, increased consciousness asserts itself through a vertical position and is depended on soil and rock to hold an upright position. In the worm forms (in which Meher Baba includes for his own purposes all worms, insects, reptiles and amphibians) an animate experience is reached, with voluntary movement, but in a creeping and now horizontal manner. In the fish form, consciousness asserts itself as a creature with voluntary movement in water, but still in a horizontal manner. In bird form consciousness is enriched by identifying itself with a form capable of flight and maintaining a slightly erect position. In (quadruped) animal form, an increasingly erect position is experienced, with much more developed attributes. When the human form is reached, consciousness is fully developed and asserts itself through the ideal medium in a fully upright stance.

Since in God Speaks there is no mention of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, the progression must be seen as a progression in consciousness rather than in biological linearity. Meher Baba's explanations do not come to disprove any scientific discoveries of biological evolution, but rather examine a different side of the process.

Throughout this process, every time the soul associates itself with a particular form, it collects, through this medium, and stores impressions of the gross world. When the impressions through association with a particular form have been exhausted, the soul dissociates itself from this form. Yet the collected impressions must be further experienced and for this the soul starts associating itself with the next more developed form. So when the human form is reached, although consciousness is fully developed, it has a very big collection of impressions that still need to be experienced. While the soul is no longer in search of a better medium, it has to go through numerous human forms, until these impression gathered through evolution get weakened and finally exhausted.

[edit] Reincarnation

Through the entire process of evolution, the soul has been consciously identifying itself with the evolving gross body (sharir), yet, unconsciously, it has also been identifying itself with the evolving subtle and mental body (pran and mana). The subtle sphere refers to energy, or prana, which is a higher form of what we know as nuclear energy. In the book it is also referred to as the life-giving energy, or the breath of God. The mental sphere refers to the domain of instincts, feelings, and eventually also of thoughts and desires. When the human form is reached, along with the gross body, the subtle and mental bodies also reach full development and although they remain unconscious, the soul indirectly works through them in the corresponding spheres.

When the human body dies, the soul retains and further experiences the collected impressions through its identification with the subtle and mental bodies, until it associates with the next human form and takes apparent birth in it. During the interval between death and birth, the soul experiences intensively an unfolding of the impressions collected, so depending on what quality these impressions have been of (virtue or vice, good or bad), the consciousness of soul experiences either a heaven state or a hell state. After most impressions have been exhausted, a certain temporary equilibrium is reached and the soul is ready to associate itself with the next human form. The process of the soul's successive association with human forms is called reincarnation.

It is worth noting that Baba's use of the word "reincarnation" does not correlate precisely with what is described as "transmigration of the soul" in theosophy and other esoteric New Age schools of thought. For Meher Baba the soul does not actually 'migrate' because it doesn't go anywhere, since it is eternally within the Over-soul and has nowhere to go. Rather, for Meher Baba, "reincarnation" refers only to identification and dis-identification with forms conceived in illusion, or association and dissociation with forms.

During reincarnation consciousness tries to liberate itself from the burden of collected impressions. Yet, since it tries to achieve this by associating itself with impressions opposite from the previously accumulated ones, it gets further entangled in accumulating fresh impressions. Thus the soul experiences itself in a seemingly endless succession of human lives, as a man or a woman, as rich or poor, strong or weak, beautiful or ugly, black or white, in various places, religions, castes etc. It is only after numerous apparent births and deaths, that the range of human experience starts to get exhausted. In this way the soul starts dissociating itself from the gross world, enabling its consciousness to become aware of the subtle sphere.

[edit] The Perfection of Consciousness

[edit] Involution

When gross impressions become fainter, consciousness starts turning its focus from the apparent outer world inwards. This marks the beginning of its involution. Gradually the thinner gross impressions become subtle impressions, through which the soul experiences the subtle world, and as subtle impressions get exhausted, they become mental impressions, through which the soul experiences the mental world. While doing so, the soul continues to work through its gross medium, seeing, eating, drinking, walking, sleeping, but consciousness is no more entangled with the gross body or world and eventually with the subtle body and world. Finally when mental impressions have been exhausted, consciousness snaps its connection with Illusion and perceives the Soul directly. This course of involution is described as the spiritual path. In traversing it, the soul's consciousness crosses six planes, the seventh being its final liberation from all illusion.

The first three planes belong to the subtle sphere, the fourth is on the threshold between the subtle and the mental spheres and the fifth and sixth planes are in the mental sphere. The first plane starts from the threshold of the gross and the subtle sphere. The soul here starts experiencing subtle phenomena simultaneously through its gross and subtle senses. It starts hearing subtle sounds and smelling subtle scents, although their nature is far different from their gross equivalents. Eventually it starts perceiving the subtle world through its subtle body and so comes to the second plane. Here the soul becomes aware of infinite energy and can perform minor miracles, like stopping moving objects or filling dried wells with fresh water. Being not conscious of the gross world its experience gives rise only to subtle impressions of the sights, scents and sounds of the subtle world. Further involution of consciousness makes the soul experience the third plane. Here the soul can use more aspects of the infinite energy by performing greater miracles, such as giving sight to the blind, or restoring maimed limbs.

When consciousness reaches the fourth plane, it finds itself in a very particular state. It is fully conscious of the infinite potential of energy and can make full use of it and it also becomes aware of the mental world. This new contact creates very strong desires to make use of this huge potential. At this point consciousness finds itself in the biggest danger of its long development. Not being able to control its feelings or thoughts, the soul is strongly tempted to handle infinite energy. If the infinite potential of this plane is misused, consciousness gets completely disintegrated and the soul finds itself back to the stone-form consciousness and has to start again the long course of evolution from there. If it abstains from using this energy it enters the lower mental plane and if it makes a completely selfless use of it, for the benefit of the spiritual development of others in illusion, it even moves directly to the higher mental plane.

Having abstained from tampering with the energy of the fourth plane, consciousness enters the fifth plane, also described as the lower mental world. This is the inquiring and reflecting state of mind and functions as thoughts mostly. Consciousness on this plane makes one capable of creating or controlling thoughts (but not minds) of gross- or subtle-conscious souls. Although a soul here cannot yet control its feelings or desires, it is safe from making any misuse of its abilities and is no longer conscious of the subtle sphere and can perform no miracles. With more involution consciousness enters the sixth plane, which is the higher mental world. Here the soul is beyond thoughts and is conscious only of feelings. The soul here sees God "face to face" in everything and everywhere, but it cannot yet see God in itself. A soul here can master its feelings and desires completely and governs also the feelings (but not hearts) of gross- and subtle-conscious souls. The longing for union with God, or the Divine Beloved, is here in its most intense expression. Yet the soul cannot bridge this final gap by itself. Only through the grace of a Perfect Master, or Sadguru, can this final union be accomplished. So, in the fifth and sixth planes, predominant is the soul's love for God, as lover of the divine Beloved.

[edit] States of Divine Consciousness

When the soul has gained Self-consciousness, it merges with God in one of three distinct states:

1. Either by dropping immediately all its illusiory bodies or by retaining them for some time, yet remaining absolutely unconscious of them, the atma eternally enjoys individualized experience of the infinite power, knowledge and bliss of God, without ever using their attributes.
2. Retaining its gross, subtle and mental bodies and consciousness of them, simultaneously with Self-consciousness, the atma experiences the infinite power, knowledge and bliss of God, as well as God's shadow (gross, subtle and mental worlds of illusion), but does not use their attributes for other atmas whose consciousnes is still within these illusiory worlds and so it is indepenent.
3. This state is the same as the previous one, except that the atma uses its infinite power, knowledge and bliss for advancing gross-conscious atmas to subtle consciousness, subtle conscious atmas to mental consciousness and mental-conscious atmas to Self-consciousness. It may even bring gross-conscious atmas directly to Self-consciousness.

Each of these states is an eternal state for the consciousness which has overcome all illusion. Yet from the point of view of souls still within the domain of illusion, they have a sequence in time. Therefore from their point of view, a God-realized soul first "passes away into God" or "becomes God" (as in state 1), yet outwardly it is in a divine comma, oblivious to the world they perceive. Most souls in this state, soon drop their body. Few souls however, continue to be in this divine comma for quite a while, until, with the help of other Perfect Masters, they regain consciousness of illusion (as in state 2). They are said to have gone through the "second jouney" ("first" being the traversing of the spiritual path, before merging with God). In this state they are "abiding in God" or "they are God". In Sufi terms this state is called Baqa. Very few of them (according to Meher Baba, there are always only five of them alive on the earth), arrive at the state of "living God's life" (as in state 3). This state is described as the Man-God state, or in Sufi terms, Qutubiyat. They are Perfect Masters, who can use their (God's) attributes of infinite power, knowledge and bliss to help others progress on the spiritual path and beyond. In Avataric times, one of them becomes the Avatar, or God-man, whose work is for the spiritual elevation of all of humanity and everything in creation. When the time for any of the Perfect Masters or the Avatar comes to drop their body, they are said to "pass-away as God".

[edit] Syncretism

In God Speaks Meher Baba syncretises three distinct lexicons to make clear or expand upon previously diffuse spiritual subjects: Vedantic, Sufi, and what Meher Baba referred to as Mystic. The latter should not necessarily be equated only with Christian mysticism. Various western sources, from diverse schools, including several western mystic poets, e.g. Emerson ("Over-soul"), Novalis ("God-intoxicated"), and Goethe ("God-man") have employed similar terms (likely derived by them from other sources and translations), in addition to well-established traditional Christian authorities such as Origen. ^[2]

It is worth stressing that Meher Baba's particular use of expositional syncretism does not automatically merit the sometimes derogatory judgments pronounced upon syncretism by more traditional religious or metaphysical writers. In God Speaks, syncretism is not employed simply as a hodgepodge method for lack of other means (as, it might be argued, many New Age writers can be prone to do), but syncretism is used as an expositional tool to further clarify and show relationships between Meher Baba's own categorical framework and already existing traditions. In this sense, although sometimes syncretistic in exposition, Meher Baba's explanations in God Speaks are viewed by many of his followers as a Revelation on its own terms.

[edit] See also

• Discourses
• God in a pill?

[edit] References

1. ^ Kenneth Lux, July/October 2005 issue of The Love Street Lamppost
2. ^ Dictionary Of Philosophy And Psychology, James Baldwin, 1901.

[edit] External links

• God Speaks available to download in two pdf files (Among numerous other books available to download)
• God Dreams Divinely (Excerpt from God Speaks)
• God Speaks on Amazon (Includes an especially well written summary)
• Theme of Creation Chart from God Speaks