… The significance of the dust under a Master’s feet is beyond one’s imagination. Like the dust which is being trampled upon and does not complain, so the one who remains under my feet will rise to the zenith. Your arrogance, conceit, and pride are to be turned into dust, and then alone will your dust be seen in its full brilliance.
– Meher Baba
… Knowing how incapable you are, I do not give you such orders, nor ask you to become dust at my feet, but only to love me and obey me and hold fast to my daaman. Hold on tightly and take my name constantly during the day, and especially just before you die.
– Meher Baba
शायद मैं ज़िन्दगी की सहर लेके आ गया
क़ातिल को आज अपने ही घर लेके आ गया
ता-उम्र ढूँढता रहा मंज़िल मैं इश्क़ की
अंजाम ये के गर्द-ए-सफ़र लेके आ गया
नश्तर है मेरे हाथ में, कांधों पे मैक़दा
लो मैं इलाज-ए-दर्द-ए-जिगर लेके आ गया
‘फ़ाकिर’ सनमकदे में न आता मैं लौटकर
इक ज़ख़्म भर गया था इधर लेके आ गया
Shayad Main Zindagi Ki Sahar
https://youtu.be/mcU7v7mLWts
23 February 1958,
… At this point, Baba asked Raosaheb to recite the couplet in Persian (which was later translated into Telugu and Gujarati) which means, according to Baba’s rendering in English:
O you mad one! If you have that madness to realize God,
then become the dust at the feet of a Perfect Master!
Baba continued:
We are coming back to becoming the dust at the feet of a Perfect Master. What does Hafiz mean? Dust has no thought of its own; it has no will of its own. It can be trampled upon, applied to the forehead or suspended in the air. There is no truer and better example of complete obedience than “of becoming like dust.”
If any of you do not understand, don’t worry about it. Just look at me and think of me. That will do. Words have no real value. It is good if you understand. But if you don’t, why worry about it?
Baba concluded with the question: “What do we mean by obedience?” He asked Eruch to read out the discourse on the four types of obedience which he had given the past week, as well as in Poona and Bombay. At the end of it, Raosaheb recited the lines of another Persian poet, which Baba translated:
After spending years and years of intense longing for God,
One, out of thousands of Mardan-e-Khuda [men of God],
realizes Him.
Out of millions of those who live, not so much for themselves,
But only for God, only one realizes God!
Baba concluded: “This gives us some idea of the great difficulties on the path of Self-Realization. Mardan means the male population. It means “the real male” or “real man” and he is of God. Only one out of such millions can realize God after years and years of intense longing for Him.”
https://www.lordmeher.org/rev/index.jsp?pageBase=page.jsp&nextPage=4308
1 April 1963,
… Baba recounted Hafiz’s arduous 40 years under the Qutub Attar of Shiraz, stating, “Hafiz knocked his head at the feet of his Master (literally!) for 40 years before his Master gave him God-realization in a moment. But first he had to become the dust of his Master’s feet, and that is no joke!”
Baba then described the Tibetan Sadguru Milarepa, who lived 900 years before (1025–1135):
He was the son of a rich man, but when Milarepa was [seven years old], his father died; and as often happens, his uncle raped his mother and stole the family fortune. The mother, in her hatred, asked her son to learn black magic to take revenge and ruin the uncle. The boy, while still young, learned the black arts to take revenge. He succeeded in mastering the destructive forces of nature and destroyed his uncle and his family and many others with a fierce storm. After the violent deed was done, he sat and wondered why he had done such a murderous thing. As he was an advanced soul, naturally he felt bad at having done such a foul thing for worldly purposes.
To repent, he took his black magic books and went in search of a Master. [He met the Guru Rongton, who sent him to Marpa.] After great difficulties, he found his Master, Marpa. Milarepa was 38. He had nothing but his books to offer in exchange for wanting God. Marpa took him on as his servant for six years but gave him no food, and after a strenuous day’s work, Milarepa had to go to the village and beg. Milarepa was given near impossible difficult tasks, such as building a small hut of stones with his bare hands. When completed, the Master Marpa would have the whole structure torn down on one pretext or another.
In this way, he would be harassed continuously; but Milarepa stayed on in the service of his Master, obeying his every word and so became the dust at Marpa’s feet. After several years of such miseries, one day the Sadguru, pleased with his disciple’s love and obedience, gave him God-realization in a moment, and afterwards Milarepa became a Perfect Master himself.
After relating these tales, Baba said, “Knowing how incapable you are, I do not give you such orders, nor ask you to become dust at my feet, but only to love me and obey me and hold fast to my daaman. Hold on tightly and take my name constantly during the day, and especially just before you die.”
Baba’s face became very sad. He said, “I am God but none of you can see and understand me. I tell you so many things, but you cannot imagine it really.
“The anti-God element has reached its zenith. So many sins have increased in the name of religion that I will have to fulfill my mission and finish my work soon. When I break my silence, things will happen which will make you realize who I am. Miracles have no value. Listen to what I say when I am in your midst and hold fast to my daaman. Even Peter denied Christ. I will break my silence and leave my body within a year. It will be soon now.”
Several times, he repeated, “There is nothing except God! This world is a shadow play! Just like your dreams, this is an awake-dream. When you are really awake, you will know. On the first plane one must never rest, but rush through it. On the third plane one must go cautiously as the fourth plane, the stepping stone, is near.”
Baba concluded with a smile, “Now, all of you rush away as they do on the first plane!”
https://www.lordmeher.org/rev/index.jsp?pageBase=page.jsp&nextPage=4940
30 November 1955,
… At about four o’clock, Baba started on foot for Arangaon accompanied by the entire sahavas group. There the villagers heartily received him. Baba first went to the samadhi of Buaji Bua. There the temple priest delivered a short speech thanking Baba for his mercy in gracing their humble homes. The priest recalled Baba’s early work with the villagers during the 1920s, how he had showered his love on the village.
He praised his munificence and blessings by his taking up residence in their close proximity. After a short time, Baba was buried under dozens of garlands and soon began perspiring. Eruch was continually taking the garlands off Baba’s neck and wiping his face and brow. Deshmukh’s son, Prabodh, began fanning Baba with a book, but Baba stopped him, indicating that he was afraid of catching a cold.
Gadekar sang Baba’s Marathi arti (composed by Deshmukh), and Baba then visited almost every house in the village. Men and women fell over one another trying to pick up the dust from his feet to apply to their foreheads, and amidst the mêlée, women dragged their tiny tots and children and forcibly placed them on his feet. Age observed, “In the morning Baba was the worshiper and now he is the one being worshiped!” In every house, Gadekar repeated Baba’s arti.
Pointing out the villagers’ poverty to Ambika Charan Shukla, Baba remarked, “Materially they are very poor, but in my love they are really rich!” The villagers had cleaned their huts, and some had even decorated them. Baba spent more than two hours going from house to house, trudging through the narrow, dusty lanes. But Baba did not mind the dust because of their love, and he chatted and laughed with all as if he himself were one of them.
Baba then walked to the Family Quarters, where the women of the resident families performed his arti, and he met the masts Ali Shah and Mohammed before returning to Meherabad.
Before departing, to prevent a throat infection, Baba instructed each man of the sahavas group to wash his own face and feet and gargle before drinking water, which each should do only after fifteen or twenty minutes. He also instructed them to gargle with hot salt water the following morning before washing. It was past 6:30 P.M. when Baba took his seat in the car and left for Meherazad amid continuous acclamations.
That afternoon, Dr. Moorty told Baba that he had urgent work in Poona and requested permission to leave. Baba asked, “Can’t you remain until the sahavas is over?”
Although it was untrue, Moorty replied, “No, I have to see my father’s friend who is seriously ill.”
Baba permitted him to leave, but told him, “Go, but never return here again.”
When Moorty reached Poona late that night after many delays, he found to his astonishment that his father’s friend’s residence was locked and no one was around. He did not know anyone else in Poona. He had told Baba a lie and as a result had to spend the night on the railway station platform. The next day, he went to Bombay where he had a friend, but this friend was in a coma. He decided to return to his home in Kharagpur and bought a train ticket to go there. But at the station, his ticket and wallet were pick-pocketed, and he was left with only Rs.15. Despondent, he purchased a ticket to Ahmednagar and returned to Meherabad. When Baba saw him he said, “I told you never to come here again. Why did you do so? Go at once, you are a liar.”
Baba’s mood suddenly changed. He embraced and kissed Moorty, reiterating, “Never doubt for a moment I am God. I forgive you. I know everything.”
Moorty learned a hard lesson about lying to Baba, but the incident established his deep faith in Baba and his head bowed at Baba’s feet.
https://www.lordmeher.org/rev/index.jsp?pageBase=page.jsp&nextPage=3888
… March 21 [1927] was Jamshed-e-Navroz, the Persian New Year. Baba was bathed and worshiped, and his arti was sung. Group photos were also taken. While walking behind Baba, Sohrabji Desai, who was fond of collecting “treasures” from different Masters, began collecting the dust under Baba’s feet.
But as he was doing it, he thought that he must look ridiculous to the others. Baba stopped and remarked to Sohrabji, “The significance of the dust under a Master’s feet is beyond one’s imagination. Like the dust which is being trampled upon and does not complain, so the one who remains under my feet will rise to the zenith. Your arrogance, conceit, and pride are to be turned into dust, and then alone will your dust be seen in its full brilliance.”
Baba’s words made Sohrabji ecstatic. The wish to have a photograph of the Master arose in him, but he was too shy to ask for one. Without his asking, Baba lovingly handed him a photograph, thus firmly convincing Sohrabji of the Master’s omniscience. Sohrabji fell to the ground and prostrated himself before Baba. While bowed at Baba’s feet, he uttered these words with tears in his eyes and a heart overflowing with love: “O Omniscient One, the glory of God is in you! May my life pass in your remembrance. And at the end, may I become one with you. Let the glory be thine, thine, all thine!”
Baba gestured, “It shall be as you wish. I promise you.” Thus he assured Sohrabji that he would always be with him.
https://www.lordmeher.org/rev/index.jsp?pageBase=page.jsp&nextPage=789
February 1937,
… After the two days of celebration, Baba’s lovers left for their respective homes and took his love with them in their hearts. During the birthday celebrations the Westerners saw for the first time the Indian custom of washing the Master’s feet. Baba explained the purpose of this on a later occasion:
The feet, which are physically the lowest part of the body, are spiritually the highest. Physically, the feet go through everything — good and bad, beautiful and ugly, clean and dirty — yet they are above everything. Spiritually, the feet of a Perfect Master are above everything in the universe, which is like dust to him.
When people come to a Perfect Master and touch his feet with their heads, they lay the burden of their sanskaras on him. A Sadguru’s feet collect the sanskaras from all over the universe, just as an ordinary person when walking collects dust on his feet. This is the burden to which Jesus referred when he said, “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Those who love the Perfect Master deeply, and wish to lighten his burden as much as possible, wash his feet with honey, milk or water. Honey represents red sanskaras [mental]; milk represents white sanskaras [subtle]; and water represents yellow sanskaras [gross]. Some devotees place at his feet a coconut which represents the mind and symbolizes their complete surrenderance of their will to him.
https://www.lordmeher.org/rev/index.jsp?pageBase=page.jsp&nextPage=1789
Meher Songs 