… “See the irony of it! In spite of the prevailing prohibition enforced by the government of Maharashtra, many people still drink alcohol. But although there is no prohibition against drinking the Wine of divine love — it is available to all in whatever quantity one desires — yet rarely does one thirst to drink that wine! What a tamasha [farce]!”
– Meher Baba [16 June 1963]
If God can be found through the medium of any drug, God is not worthy of being God.
– Meher Baba
… I recommend education, not coercion, to introduce reforms. Changes affecting the will of the people can never be brought about by legislature alone. The consciousness of the people must be transformed. They must be made to want something better than what they have. No one has as yet, however, gone to the root of the prohibition question. The problem is not whether prohibition should be maintained or modified or discontinued. People will continue to drink under any of those circumstances. The real problem is why they drink, and what would satisfy them instead of liquor.
There is no question but that those who drink habitually do so in order to experience release. They want something that will lift them out of their crystallization of thought and action, and free them, if, only for the moment, for original expression. That the fact of this method of obtaining release may not be the best one does not concern them – they know no other as yet. If they could be made to realise that the liberation that they seek could be more easily and more completely attained by the control of thought and desire they would certainly practise that control instead of drinking. I will teach many how to free themselves from drink.
– Meher Baba [1932]
… I believe in self-control, not in coercion. Coercion is based on oppression, and results in fear and hatred. Self-control requires courage and may be induced by love. We will do many things for those whom we love which we would not ordinarily do — which we would not ordinarily have the strength of mind and power to do. How many habits have we been able to break through love which we would never have the strength to break without love? And when the love is universal love, all habits which are detrimental, either to the individual or to the social order, will be dissolved in its light.
– Meher Baba [May 1932]
https://www.lordmeher.org/rev/index.jsp?pageBase=page.jsp&nextPage=1411
Mere Saqi Ye Tamasha Tere Maikhane Ka
https://youtu.be/kmUg7GyHbIQ
भूल जाऊँ मैं जमाने का गिला ऐ साकी
हाँ पिला और पिला और पिला ऐ साकी
बाँध कुछ ऐसी मुहब्बत की हवा ऐ साकी
फिर बदल जाए ज़माने की फ़ज़ा ऐ साकी
खनकते जाम का मोहताज मैं नहीं साकी
तेरी निगाह सलामत मुझे कमी क्या है
मेरे साक़ी ये तमाशा तेरे मैखाने का
मेरे साक़ी ये तमाशा तेरे मैखाने का
झूम कर आयी है बद-मस्त घटा ऐ साक़ी
तिश्ना-कामी का न रह जाये गिला ऐ साक़ी
मेरे साक़ी मेरे साक़ी
जाम पर जाम दिए जा तेरे मैखाने की खैर
मेरे साक़ी मेरे साक़ी
साक़ी तेरी हो खैर तेरे मैकदे की खैर
मेरे साक़ी मेरे साक़ी
गिला नहीं जो गुरेज़ाँ हैं चंद पैमाने
तेरी निगाह सलामत हज़ार मैखाने
मेरे साक़ी मेरे साक़ी
मेरे साक़ी मेरे साक़ी
मेरे साक़ी ये तमाशा तेरे मैखाने का
मेरे साक़ी ये तमाशा तेरे मैखाने का
सारी महफ़िल को नशा एक ही पैमाने का
अब किसी तौर से काबू में नहीं आने का
ख़ल्क़ देखे की तमाशा तेरे दीवाने का
बात कहता है कुछ ऐसी के न समझे कोई
ये भी एक गौर तलब रंग है दीवाने का
चश्म-ए-साक़ी है उधर और मेरा दिल है इधर
आज टकराओ है पैमाने से पैमाने का
बात बे-बात उठा देता है इक छेड़ नहीं
पड़ गया है उसे चस्का मुझे तड़पाने का
वो बहार आयी नसीर और वो उट्ठे बादल
जी चाहता है आज कोई ऐसी पिला दे जो मस्त बना दे
वो बहार आयी ‘नसीर’ और वो उट्ठे बादल
बात सागर की चले ज़िक्र हो मैखाने का
मेरे साक़ी ये तमाशा तेरे मैखाने का
If God can be found through the medium of any drug, God is not worthy of being God.
– Meher Baba
DRUGS, STIMULANTS AND INTOXICANTS
https://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/drugs.html
http://www.meherbabadnyana.net/life_eternal/Book_One/Drugs.htm
http://www.meherbabadnyana.net/life_eternal/Book_Two/2_Drugs.htm
Chapter 39 NO DRUGS
Lord Meher, pp. 5081-5274
https://www.lordmeher.org/rev/index.jsp?pageBase=page.jsp&nextPage=5081
God In A Pill?
by Meher Baba
[MEHER BABA on L.S.D. and THE HIGH ROADS]
https://avatarmeherbabatrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/God-in-a-Pill.pdf
THE MESSAGES, DISCOURSES, AND SAYINGS OF MEHER BABA REGARDING DRUGS
https://avatarmeherbabatrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/701856.pdf
June 1963,
… On Saturday, 15 June 1963, the Andhra Pradesh state minister for Excise, Prohibition and Social Welfare, M. R. Appa Rao, arrived with his wife for Baba’s darshan. He longed to anoint Baba’s feet with milk and honey, but hesitated to ask Baba’s permission. Baba asked him what he wanted. Haltingly, he replied, “If it is no trouble for you, I would like to worship your feet.” Baba consented and instructed him to come the next morning.
Appa Rao returned the following morning at 7:00 A.M., and he and his wife anointed Baba’s feet with honey, milk, curds (yogurt), spices, et cetera. They then washed his feet with eau-de-cologne and lastly with rosewater. They offered Baba tea, of which Baba sipped a little and returned the rest to them as his prasad. Appa Rao said to Baba, “On behalf of myself and my wife, I wish to declare publicly what we believe in our hearts — namely that you are the Avatar — God in human form.” Baba appreciated the couple’s sincerity.
This was the final weekend of darshan and many came and were standing in a long line. Baba entered the hall. While he was giving darshan, Madhusudan sang bhajans. Baba also asked Lata to sing a ghazal.
Another girl gave a dance performance. Baba was very pleased with it, particularly when she danced standing on the rim of a brass platter. A qawaal then sang for about an hour and a half. Baba enjoyed his ghazals and gave him his handkerchief. At 10:50 A.M. the arti was sung and everyone was asked to leave.
Baba went to the side room to meet with the mandali. He repeated, “The next nine months are very crucial from the standpoint of my work.” He warned them that under no circumstances should they let go of his daaman. There was no special program that afternoon, and Baba retired at 3:30 P.M.
Baba went to the mandali’s room at 6:45 A.M. the next morning, 16 June. He asked them to repeat this invocation: “O God! Help us all to hold on to Baba’s daaman until the very end!”
Nari Contractor and Polly Umrigar, the two cricket players from Bombay, arrived. Baba embraced them, conveying how happy he was to see them both.
Then Baba entered the hall. Long lines of devotees waited for his darshan, since this was the last day Baba would be meeting with his lovers. Music was played and the darshan began. At 8:30 A.M., Harry Kenmore recited the Master’s Prayer.
About a dozen Gujarati women came for Baba’s darshan. They were led by one woman who was revered as a saint and had a large following in Gujarat. They asked Baba if they could be given the privilege of singing a bhajan. Baba permitted it and they sang in beautiful harmony. Others joined in the singing. Even Baba tapped his chair in time to the music. After this, Baba’s grandniece Mehernaz (Jehangu and Gulnar’s four-year-old daughter) gave a cute dance performance. Baba asked his brother Beheram, (the child’s grandfather), to take a movie of her. Beheram was kept busy with his camera that day.
At about 9:30 A.M., Vithal Shinde arrived; he was a famous All India Radio musician from Bombay. He had come on his own for Baba’s darshan, and he sang a number of ghazals. He had a sweet voice and Baba enjoyed the performance. On hearing a particular ghazal, Baba remarked, “See the irony of it! In spite of the prevailing prohibition enforced by the government of Maharashtra, many people still drink alcohol. But although there is no prohibition against drinking the Wine of divine love — it is available to all in whatever quantity one desires — yet rarely does one thirst to drink that wine! What a tamasha [farce]!”
A Parsi priest came, and Baba asked him to sing a bhajan. The man loved Baba and complied. It was quite an unusual scene to see a Zoroastrian priest (most of whom, like other priests, are so engrossed in ritualistic ceremonies) singing a Hindu bhajan, wherein the theme was that only Ram (the Avatar), and nothing but he, exists.
At 10:30 A.M., Baba’s arti was sung and all departed. Baba came to the side room half an hour later and met Polly Umrigar, Nari Contractor and three other Parsi cricketers from Bombay. He reminisced with them about his school days when he used to play cricket, and then stated, “To know me as I am is very difficult. I am Infinite and I experience it continuously. Only a rare one experiences this state.”
Baba commented to Nari Contractor, the cricket team captain, that he often wished to witness good cricket matches, but people would not allow him to do so in peace. Nari invited Baba to Bombay, saying he would make all the arrangements for him to see a match undisturbed. Baba replied, “For nine months, I shall be at Meherazad, and I want to remain undisturbed. I may remain for many days without food and water. When I break my silence after nine months, the world will come to me, for they shall then know who I am. But there is no charm in coming to me after I break my silence. Blessed are those who come to me now!”
He added, “Truth cannot be hidden. If there were no Truth, no amount of words and shows can help my divinity. If Baba were not Baba, of what use would it be if so many came to see him?”
Baba again returned to the side room at 11:50 A.M. and asked a woman devotee from Navsari to sing. She had sung before Baba many years before.
At 12:20 P.M., Baba returned to the hall, where people were waiting for his darshan. As mentioned, because it was the final day, there was a large crowd. Madhusudan sang a few bhajans.
When the young four-year-old girl Mehera Kerawala went to Baba for darshan, he asked her to recite the Master’s Prayer over the microphone. She did so without faltering. Kohiyar Satarawala of Mahabaleshwar was asked to chant an ancient Zoroastrian prayer. He said it with such feeling that though many did not understand the words spoken in Persian, it brought tears to their eyes.
Madhusudan had composed a new song in honor of Guruprasad. He had had the words printed and framed and presented it to Baba, who gave it to Maharani Shantadevi. Baba asked him to sing it. Vithal Shinde, who had sung in the morning, sang a few more ghazals. Golwalkar was also present and played a final tune titled Bhairavi. Practically all those present in the hall were weeping. After that, Madhusudan sang a parting song of love. Those hearts which had not melted into tears, did so now.
Harry Kenmore was asked to recite the Repentance Prayer, which was followed by the arti. Those who had not taken Baba’s darshan that day came to him for the last time.
Baba left the hall at 5:15 P.M. and his lovers departed with a combined feeling of pain and joy in their hearts — the pain of separation and the joy of having partaken of his company.
Age recorded: “Thus ended the ten weeks of darshan programs at Guruprasad during the summer of 1963. Men, women and children belonging to all castes and religions, from all over India, made their pilgrimage to Poona to have a glimpse of the beloved God-Man and to bask in the sunshine of his love. For those who came every weekend, Baba’s radiance sustained them throughout their weekly sojourns from homes and jobs, traveling on overcrowded trains and buses to journey to his feet. But the peace they derived from his presence gave them the strength to resume their roles in life and to serve his cause, renewed and invigorated.”
Lord Meher, pp. 5032-5035
https://www.lordmeher.org/rev/index.jsp?pageBase=page.jsp&nextPage=5032
Meher Songs 