… My nazar is on everyone all the time; however, it does not fall upon just anyone. Once it falls on a person, he would instantaneously become infinite power, infinite knowledge and infinite bliss!
– Meher Baba
… He who declared that he would write the Master’s messages in blood was to learn of the Master’s arrow; wounded, he would shed tears from the heart deeper than the flow of blood.
[Lord Meher, p. 1235]
आज हम अपनी दुआओं का असर देखेंगे
तीर-ए-नज़र देखेंगे, ज़ख्म-ए-जिगर देखेंगे
आप तो आँख मिलाते हुए शरमाते हैं,
आप तो दिल के धड़कने से भी डर जाते हैं
फिर भी ये ज़िद्द् है के हम ज़ख्म-ए-जिगर देखेंगे,
तीर-ए-नज़र देखेंगे, ज़ख्म-ए-जिगर देखेंगे
प्यार करना दिल-ए-बेताब बुरा होता है
सुनते आये हैं के ये ख्वाब बुरा होता है
आज इस ख़्वाब की ताबीर मगर देखेंगे
तीर-ए-नज़र देखेंगे, ज़ख्म-ए-जिगर देखेंगे
जानलेवा है मुहब्बत का समा आज की रात
शमा हो जायेगी जल जल के धुंआ आज की रात
आज की रात बचेंगे तो सहर देखेंगे
तीर-ए-नज़र देखेंगे, ज़ख्म-ए-जिगर देखेंगे
Lyrics: Kaif Bhopali
Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Music Director: Ghulam Mohammed, Naushad
Director: Kamal Amrohi
Aaj hum apni duaon ka asar dekhenge
https://youtu.be/LMIe7SgSXPA
… My work and aims are intensely practical. It is not practical to overemphasize the material at the cost of the spiritual. It is not practical to have spiritual ideals without putting them into practice. To realize the ideal in daily life, to give beautiful and adequate form to the living spirit, to make brotherhood a fact, not merely a theory as at present — this is being practical in the true sense of the word.
My work will arouse great enthusiasm and a certain amount of opposition. This is inevitable. But spiritual work is strengthened by opposition, and so it will be with mine. It is like shooting an arrow from a bow — the more you pull the bowstring toward you, the swifter the arrow speeds to its goal.
– Meher Baba [22 May 1932]
July 1932,
… Baba knew all this better than anyone else, yet he did it on purpose, and enjoyed it! For, as he explains, he wanted this opposition and delicate situation which he deemed essential for his great work, and hence created and courted it cheerfully, much to the embarrassment of all!
He said, “The more the bow string is drawn back, the greater the force for the arrow to fly farther, and this is exactly like that. The greater the opposition, the greater the force to my work; and for the welfare of humanity, as all my work is, I don’t mind in the least.”
. . . On 10 October[1946], Baba worked with nine masts on various subtle planes in Bikaner and remarked, “Some were slightly advanced and some not so much, but the work accomplished by working with all nine is equal to contacting one good mast who is advanced.”
Baba left Bikaner by the evening train and reached the small station of Narayanpura early the next morning. Four miles away in the village of Mitri, Baba wished to contact an old saint Laxman Das. To get there over the sandy terrain, Baba permitted the mandali to hire a camel, on which two of them at a time could ride. Baba himself rode for a short while, but found the camel ride uncomfortable and got off. Seeing that Baba preferred walking, the men could not bear to ride while he went on foot, but he directed them to stay on the camel, so they had no choice but to follow his wish.
Laxman Das had lived in a large temple for 50 years. He was 90 years old and had a fair, lustrous face. When Baba approached him, the old saint wept. It was a touching and beautiful sight. The mandali bowed to the saint from a distance, and the saint cordially extended his welcome to Baba, offering his hand to enter his room for a private contact. The mandali stayed back as ordered, and Baba and the saint sat inside the room alone. The contact was good, and they returned to Narayanpura station in the afternoon and boarded the evening train for Bharatpur.
They arrived on the morning of the 12th, but then learned that Pir Fazal Shah, the saint they had come to see, had left for Kotah. Baba decided to leave the luggage at the station, and they boarded the train for Kotah, where they arrived at 8:40 that night. They immediately went to the saint’s abode.
Pir Fazal, a salik of high caliber, was said to be 117 years old; nevertheless he was remarkably strong looking. He received Baba and his men with great fervor and brought a chair for Baba to be seated. He began muttering as if to conceal the excitement and emotion he felt at being in Meher Baba’s presence. After a while, Baba and the saint moved and sat alone in the adjoining room. Fazal Shah began crying and with profound feeling told Baba: “No one, until you came, has touched my heart so deeply as you have. You are the first to pierce my heart with the arrow of divine love!”
Fazal Shah further proclaimed: “You have the power to destroy and flood the world; no one fully knows the limits of your greatness. You are the Spiritual Authority of the time! If I were to die I would take another body just to be near you!” Fazal Shah then pleaded with Baba to write him as soon as he returned home, and commanded a disciple to write down his address on a slip of paper which he handed to Baba.
19 May 1963,
… The hall was full of lovers from Andhra, and Baba asked Kutumba Sastri to summarize what Baba had stated regarding the conduct of his work in Andhra. After this, Mohan-Saigal gave a wonderful two-hour recital, which Baba enjoyed. Once he sent Mohan out to take a break and have tea. While he was away, a blind man from Andhra played the violin, and then played the flute.
Explaining a few lines of the ghazals, Baba commented:
The lover says that his Beloved’s eyebrows are like bows, while his nazar is like an arrow. The lover asks his Beloved to shoot such an arrow as would go deep down into his heart! The lover’s weeping for the Beloved is so intense that there are waves of tears, a regular storm [of pain] so to say. He cries out that he does not know where his love will lead him!
He says: “I live. Why? To die for You!”
He says: “Even my enemies cannot bear the sight of my suffering for You, O Beloved!”
At 11:00 A.M. Baba’s arti was sung, and afterward all went for lunch. Baba came into the side room a few minutes later. Dhake narrated a funny story which made Baba chuckle.
… He who declared that he would write the Master’s messages in blood was to learn of the Master’s arrow; wounded, he would shed tears from the heart deeper than the flow of blood.
[Lord Meher, p. 1235]
… “My nazar is on everyone all the time; however, it does not fall upon just anyone. Once it falls on a person, he would instantaneously become infinite power, infinite knowledge and infinite bliss!”
– Meher Baba [5 May 1963]
… Madhusudan had composed a new poem for Mehera’s birthday. He read it and then sang it to the accompaniment of the harmonium. The qawaali program led by Habib Qawaal of Ahmednagar and his musicians then started. Baba would often explain the meaning of key verses of the ghazals, some of which were:
Once in a while comes a real brave lover of God.
One glance from the Perfect Master makes him realize his own Self.
Referring to the audience, Baba remarked, “All of you are not up to the mark, and so my nazar does not fall on you! … The Path is most difficult. You have to become like dust. Only then will you see Baba as he is within you. Only one, a rare one, sees Baba in this way! … The lover tells his Beloved Master how indifferent he is to him, for when he bows down to him, the Master kicks his head!”
Mentioning himself, Baba said, “I was a drop when Babajan kissed me, but then I swallowed the whole Ocean! If you are lucky and my glance of grace falls on you, then you will also become the Ocean! The main thing is that my glance should fall on you.”
13 January 1963,
… Bhikubhai had been instructed to bring the well-known bhajan singer of Poona, Gajanan Watve, to sing. Knowing Baba enjoyed ghazals the most, Watve had specially learned some. At one point, explaining about divine love, Baba observed:
Divine love is the gift of God to man. It can be compared with the grace of the Sadguru which enables man to realize God in a flash. The true lover of God [Mard-e-Khuda] is he whose whole life has become like dust. The agony of love is so dear to him that, although it burns him to ashes, he will not part with it for anything! Though it may make him an outcast from society, a stranger to sleep, hunger and comfort, he prizes this blissful torture above all things in creation. Only God can implant this divine love in the human heart.
The lover continually burns within himself in the fire of divine love. But the wonder is, that despite leading such a life of consummation, the real lover keeps it hidden within himself as an invaluable treasure. He does not want to give it up. His burning within is blissful, although in its fire he ultimately becomes the very dust!
Even such heroes don’t obtain my grace. Out of millions, only a rare one gets this nazar, this grace. This Path is not for the weak and the faint-hearted! Where even the Mard-e-Khuda is unsuccessful [in gaining my grace], what to say of you people here? My nazar is always there on all of you, but it is an entirely different nazar, a different grace from the Grace which makes one realize the Self in a fraction of a second.
Explaining the meaning of surrender, Baba continued:
I do not mean the kind of surrender offered by a poor man who came to Meherabad years ago and said he wished to surrender everything to me. When I asked what the “everything” was, he replied: “Myself, my wife and four children!” I could not accept such “surrender”!
Then, when I was in Toka [in 1928], one sadhu in quest of the Truth wished for God-realization. I told him no suffering or sacrifice was too great for it, and advised him to sit under a tree without food or water. He sat there for ten days, but thereafter, one night he abruptly disappeared.
God can never be fooled by outward show of church [ceremonies], [ritualistic] prayers, kusti [sacred thread] and ringing of bells [in temples]. He is deaf to all that and is not fooled. Only love, true love, can move Him. Love is a gift from God to man, and Realization is only [gained] by the grace of the Perfect Master.
God is nearer to you than your own self, but you are not aware of it because of the seven veils. If one veil is removed, another is there to be removed, and so on it goes. Up to the fourth plane, the pilgrim on the Path is liable to succumb to worldly temptations. Only the nazar of a Perfect Master can save him because, at every step, the seeker on the Path meets with obstacles.
… Hafiz says:
You yourself are the veil between yourself and God.
Remove your self and you will realize God.
This is as difficult as sleeping soundly and yet remaining fully conscious. This impossibility becomes a possibility by my nazar [grace].
On the slightest indication or hint from his Beloved, the lover gives all that he possesses in this world and in the next. The only thing he considers his own is his love for his Beloved.
At this point, Harry Kenmore was asked to recite the Master’s and Repentance prayers. Baba then went to the side room and discussed certain matters with the mandali for a short time. Later, he continued the explanation of the ghazal that Adi sang:
The true lover has no interest in places or things of this world. For him, each breath that he draws reveals a new world to him. Only those eyes which have intense longing for the sight of the Beloved can have some idea of the secret of that “intoxication” which the Beloved’s eyes impart.
One who is not advanced on the path and gives tall talks on Wine and the Wine jug cannot fathom the knowledge of the Master, who knows from the beginningless beginning the secrets of the Wine and the jug of Wine! Those who are raw in love do not know of the pain they give to the Beloved. That love which gives the slightest bit of burden to the Beloved is not love.
– Meher Baba [8 June 1963]
… The next morning, Sunday, 9 June 1963, Baba was in the assembly hall at 7:30 A.M. After giving darshan to those who had come, including Dharmarao from Andhra, a musician played the sitar. Baba liked the music very much. Mohan-Saigal sang ghazals, of few of which Baba explained:
The lover tells the Beloved: “While passing by, if you would just cast a glance at me, my destiny would be changed.”
The lover whose heart has stopped with the pangs of separation tells his Beloved: “O my merciful Beloved! You have come too late!”
The lover tells the Beloved: “I have been hearing for ages that you are very glorious, but my eyes have not yet seen your glory. So my complaint is not with my ears, but with my eyes.”
The lover complains to the Beloved: “There is only one defect in your heart, and that is that you are indifferent to my love!”
The lover says: “If it were in my fortune to become one with you, it would be unfortunate, for then I would merge in you and would no more have the sweetness of pain in longing for you!”
The lover in his agony cries out: “If your arrow of love would have pierced my heart through and through, it would have relieved me of my suffering.”
The lover says: “To die once is easy. But I die and live for you every moment! At last my heart became so restless that my Beloved had to respond.”
The lover in his heart of hearts knows that the Beloved will not meet him and so he says: “I know you will not fulfill your promise. But your promise to meet me tomorrow makes me so happy that I feel I have already met you!”
Jigar says, “When I put my heart at the feet of the Beloved, my restlessness of ages came to an end.”
At 11:00 A.M. the arti was sung and all dispersed for lunch. Baba was in the hall again at 12:20 P.M. and Lata Limaye sang for a short while. A sitar soloist then performed.
Shankar and Shambhu, two famous qawaal brothers from Bombay, sang for three hours in the afternoon. Baba gave a handkerchief to each musician of their group (although, according to Adi Sr., Baba did not much like their voices). The arti was sung at 5:00 P.M. and everyone filed past Baba with folded hands. Baba retired at 5:30 P.M.
Many well-known singers sang before Baba that year, including two sisters, Hirabai Barodekar and Saraswatibai Ranay of Poona. Another well-known singer was D. V. Karandikar, who had previously performed at Guruprasad. Shahu Modak of Ahmednagar also sang before Baba.
… The Beloved’s indifference is his arrow which deepens the wound; and when the heart is pierced through and through and becomes broken, the Beloved becomes completely indifferent to his lover. The lover then becomes so despondent that in his despair for the Beloved’s attention, he goes as far as to entreat his Beloved to sprinkle salt on his wound if the Beloved so desires.
. . . On 19 July [1929], a man named Dhotiwala had seen Baba taking a walk the previous day and came in the morning for darshan. He complained about the scanty rainfall in the area and the farmers’ plight and probable heavy financial losses and famine. He requested that Baba bring rain. Just as he was stating his plea, a heavy shower began to fall and Baba humorously rhymed, “You have got the neer [water] and I have got the teer [arrow]!”
… On Thursday, 5 August 1926, while holding a discussion with Nusserwan Satha and Vyankatesh Sridhar “Kaka” Chinchorkar (devotees from Ahmednagar), the Master explained to them about desires and spiritual independence versus political independence. Baba ended by emphasizing:
Real bhakti [devotion] means “to die a thousand times a day.” Thus a poet has said, “If you have the longing to receive the wound of an arrow, then first create a heart that would venture on such a dangerous game, that would bear its hardships, and that is bold enough to endure its sufferings.”
This quotation expresses not only the literal and outer meaning that one should “create a heart,” but also the inner sense, that the sufferings of the wound should be borne without anyone else knowing it; quietly, without the slightest murmur or sign of pain.
There should be absolutely no outward show even though one may be suffering from deadly wounds and cut into pieces from inside!
Ah — what burning! What love, what desire! The terrible heat of the sun is as nothing compared to that burning sensation! All these burnings and other such ordeals are on the part of the independent seeker of Truth, who has not found a Guru or a Guide. Those who have found a Sadguru, however, have nothing to do except dedicate themselves to him with complete blind submission. Even if the orders of the Master seem incomprehensible or even repellent, you have to carry them out with bowed heads. Do as the Sadguru tells you to do, even if his instructions are against your will or beyond your understanding. This is the easiest way to God. For, if one at all desires to reach this Goal of Truth, one must burn and consume oneself in that desire, without any other consideration of mind, body, or soul: and this is most difficult. You are lucky to have found such a Sadguru in me.
30 May 1958,
… Baba remarked to the group, “I am in you all. But I can only enter your heart when you have driven out everything else.”
Again he stated, “I am God, I am in you all. But I feel shy, I do not enter your heart if I find there the slightest impurity.”
Anita asked, “How long have you been here at the airport?”
“Since eternity!” Baba said. “I never come and I never go. I am present everywhere. Isn’t it wonderful that I never leave? Isn’t it wonderful?”
. . . One Persian couplet states the following:
God the Beloved says to the lover:
Vacate your abode of its millions of strangers;
Then only, will I enter. I feel shy of strangers!
And who are the strangers? Wants, desires, thoughts! They are all so compressed within you that they leave no room for God the Beloved, whom you would invite in.
As the strangers begin to leave the heart, it becomes cleaner and purer. Then God peeks into it, and His all-loving glance wipes out all worries. And the glimpse of God that one experiences leaves no scope for any doubts about His sweet will that manifests through “good” and “bad” times.
The God-realized Soul lives in the world, but the world does not and cannot touch him. But to achieve God-realization is not child’s play. For this, one has to surrender all — body, mind and heart — to the Perfect Master.
– Meher Baba [23 May 1960]
28 May 1958,
… Baba entered the Barn at 9:50 A.M. and stated:
The most exalted spiritual experience is that of Oneness, and the most exalted spiritual status is that of the One who manifests unity in duality. The highest experience is the experience of Oneness which cannot even be called Oneness. The most exalted spiritual status is of the Perfect Master who manifests unity in duality. He, who after becoming one with God, through love for all beings, brings God down to earth.
Today, I ask God in His infinite mercy to forgive, up to this moment, all my lovers all over the world who are not present here physically.
Baba asked all to remain seated while Harry Kenmore recited the Prayer of Repentance. He then stated:
Hafiz says something very nice, and it is the truth. He says, “The Perfect One does not turn dust into gold, but turns it into a touchstone which turns everything into gold.”
This means Perfect Masters can raise those in the lowest depths to the highest level with one glance or nazar. Nazar means a glance. It means that if a Perfect Master so wills, while he is sitting here in the Barn and wishes to give God-realization to someone in India, one glance is sufficient. Hafiz says also, “But I am afraid that such a Perfect Master will seldom look at me. I love him so much, but I am afraid he will not even glance at me out of the corner of his eye.”
… When one of the group remarked that the people of Andhra were “madly in love” with him, Baba quoted these lines of the Urdu poet Jigar:
Now, the mere utterance of the word love is enough to frighten my heart!
O God, what complete devastation love brings!
Elaborating, Baba stated, “These lines of Jigar are most meaningful. Jigar is not a Realized soul, but due to poetic imagination, sometimes he conveys the best of spiritual thoughts — of course, it is a fluke. But Hafiz was not only a great poet, but a Realized soul.
“As for me, I don’t fear that love because I am that love. And I am in charge of that love. ‘Now the time has come when the Beloved is afraid of his lovers!’ “
… On 30 September 1968, Baba stated: “Today I have sown the seed. We shall eat the fruits on January 10, 1969.”
Now that the period of Baba’s exclusion had ended, the limit to his lovers’ patience had also ended, and correspondence was flowing in from lovers all over the world requesting darshan. Knowing their longing, Baba remarked to the mandali: “I know that they are impatient to see me. And what about me? I, too, am impatient for them to see me. But the time has not yet come. So, my lovers and I, we must wait a while longer.”
When Bhau was with Baba during nightwatch, Baba would ask about the letters received. One day Bhau answered, “All of the letters seek just one thing — your darshan, and you do not give it!”
Explaining, Baba replied, “My work is different. It is not my work to travel continuously and hold darshan programs simply to allow people to bow down at my feet. It is not my work to give long discourses, to perform miracles, or to attract crowds to me. I do not come for this. I come for all; I come to awaken all!
“Never before in any age have I given as much darshan to people as I have given during this advent. And still you and others complain! My darshan is something quite distinct.”
He continued to explain, “You have no idea what I am really doing. The more you stretch a bow, the greater the distance the arrow will fly and the harder it will hit the target. I am in seclusion now, yes, but I am drawing back my bow farther and farther so that when I release the arrow of my love, it will strike deep and wound the hearts of all. The wounds will make them have my darshan continuously. They will have that longing for me, and that is my real darshan.”
Baba concluded, “I am working in seclusion to give the world my darshan. It is this darshan that will have meaning for those who love and know me.”
Still, as his lovers went from place to place spreading his message, a greater and greater number of letters were received from people asking for darshan. Baba would hear these letters as they were read aloud in mandali hall, those in English and Gujarati by Eruch, and the Hindi ones by Bhau. Those in Persian were read by Aloba.
During this period, an entire week passed by, during which Bhau had no opportunity to read aloud those letters forwarded to him. On the morning of the eighth day, Bhau took the considerable stack of letters with him into the hall, thinking that that day Baba would hear them and dictate suitable replies.
Baba looked at him and gestured, “Today, I have got a headache; you reply to them.”
As soon as he conveyed this, a thought came into Bhau’s mind: “What sort of God is he? His lovers are really great. They do not want anything spiritual or material from him; they only want his darshan. And he says, ‘No darshan!’ Then they expect a few loving words from him directly, and he says, ‘You reply!’ “
But Bhau did not say anything, and Baba also did not ask him anything. When Baba retired to his room that afternoon at three o’clock, Bhau followed him. At one point, Baba asked, “How many letters did you write today?”
Irritated, Bhau replied, “Not a single letter, Baba!”
“Why not?”
“Where was the time? I was with you in the hall and when you came here I followed you.”
“Yes, you are right. But tell me, what were you thinking back in the hall?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me the truth!” So Bhau repeated what had passed through his mind — about Baba’s lovers being great and only wishing for his darshan. Baba replied, “Yes, you are right. My lovers are really great. But what do you mean by thinking this? You have been with me for so many years, yet you still don’t understand what I am doing for them! If they come to me, what will they see? This physical form. This is nothing!”
Baba hit his thigh with his fist, the sign he would make for his seclusion work, and gestured, “This is the real thing I am giving them, and you will witness with your own eyes what will happen to those who have not seen me physically. Although they have not seen me physically — they are with me and I am working for them. They are present here.”
… Age declared, “The Ancient One drew back his bow and released the arrow carrying his Word. The arrow lodged in his lovers’ hearts and made a deep wound, through which the Word can be heard. The wound knows that Meher Baba is everlasting, and longs to attain that state. As time passes, the wound makes itself deeper and deeper, seeking to grasp the meaning of the Word. It prays to the Beloved to put more salt on it, so that it can fathom the profundity of His Word.
“Beloved Baba, truly you did not come to teach but to awaken, and this Word of words that you have dedicated to the world will gradually penetrate its heart and awaken it to your Truth! May our heads remain forever bowed at your feet, and may our memories of you become our every breath.”
Bhau says, “O my Beloved! Your mercy is infinite, your love is infinite, your Self is infinite! You have given me tears, but it is no less your mercy — tears that have their source in my heart, which my heart alone knows.”
Bhau remembered the last line Baba dictated to him on 29 January 1969, “What will we do with our lives now, when You have gone away?” and composed a ghazal on it. [Ab ji kar kya karenge jub tum hi chale gaye?]
Ab ji kar kya karenge jub tum hi chale gaye?
Mukh kiska taka karenge jub tum hi chale gaye?
Ai Meher! Kya hua jo tum ham se bichur? gaye?
Ab ansu piya karenge jub tum hi chale gaye.
Yah jina nahin gavara, ali hai chipa kali se.
Ab har pal mara karenge jub tum hi chale gaye
Ab cumban kahan milega? Ab bahen kahan milengi?
Ab baten kahan karenge jub tum hi chale gaye?
Ham mar kyon nahin gaye jab jhapkin tumhari ankhen
Ab gam men jala karenge jub tum hi chale gaye
Ai priyatam! Nazar karo tum jag se hamen utha lo.
Yah hasrat rakha karenge jub tum hi chale gaye.
Ab jal ke bina tarapti haim sab machliyam Bhau
Kya unki dava karenge jub tum hi chale gaye?
Meher Songs 